bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

i think it's a jeep wagoneer, probably 30-40 years old?

jrmckinley

Love those things. Classic.

mjeds

I know a few wealthy people that have massive vehicle collections, but their daily drivers are old *** POS's.


my former employer (the owner of the company) has a net worth of over $500 Million, lives in a $30 million house at the top of Pacific Palisades, owns 20+ collector cars like Porsches, Bentley's, even a 1927 Rolls-Royce Drop Head Coupe. all with less than 10K miles, most with no more than a couple hundred miles.

His daily driver. a 1989 Ford Explorer. like 400K on that POS. though it basically looked brand new except for the worn out drivers seat. he takes good care of his cars, or I should say his personal mechanic does.

Even the CEO of my current employer who makes over $4 million a year, while he has a Panamera Turbo Executive ($170K car) and a MBZ AMG GT-R, his daily driver is his first car, an early 1980s Audi 5000

Stroock639

i'd absolutely keep rockin my LS and E55 if i were making that kind of dough, i know ludacris still drives his 1993 acura legend with like 300k on it

i know things like the grand wagoneer and fj60 land cruiser are starting to become projects for rich people, they could easily afford something newer and "better" but there's an appeal to those older SUVs that make them more charismatic and fun

i also still have a tough time imagining bill gates as some tyrant dictator manager type when all the footage you see of him is just like this soft spoken nerdy software developer, and knowing what a genius he is, it makes it all the more puzzling that he put someone like used car salesman steve ballmer as CEO, a man who describes "bing" as one of his crowning achievements lol

riredale

It's completely understandable to me, it's an "individuality" kind of thing.

If everyone wants to drive a $100K+ fancy car, then I can see someone with a near-infinite supply of cash to say to himself or herself, "To heck with that. I will demonstrate that I am beyond playing that silly little game of one-upmanship!" And the creaky older car becomes a badge of individuality.

MattyG

Didn't know he had one of these old wagons. These are really cool and his looks like it's been restored to an inch of its life. But to put it in context though, Gates has a 23 car garage for his collection - especially the Porsches, which he really likes. He has a rare 959, and of course had the 911, and a 930 as well.

I doubt he needs the Wagoneer to run around Lake Washington all that much, he has the Eurocopter for that of course! Still there are old stories floating around about him going to and from Microsoft HQ back in the day in a 2008 Ford Focus.

And his good buddy Warren Buffet, always frugal to a tee, always buys and keeps his vehicles for quite awhile. He had a Cadillac DTS and then moved on to a XTS in 2014. Apparently Buffet likes hail damaged cars he can fix up and end up driving cheap.

SW17LS

The Grand Wagoneers are becoming very collectible, they're very "hip" right now. Nice ones can go for $50k+, no joke.

mmarshall

I can understand why people like them....nice, rich-looking wood trim on the side (even if it's only a big piece of tape LOL), handsome-looking hood ornament in front, roomy space efficiency from the tall roof, and big, square windows you can actually SEE out of.



My late aunt, in Northeast Ohio with its severe winters, drove them for years to get through all that snow coming off Lake Erie, while her husband, a well-known cancer surgeon, had a FWD Olds Toronado.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

There's nothing space efficient about that pile of junk.

mmarshall

That so-called "pile of junk" once appealed to a LOT of people in the Snow Belt. Don't forget, before 1980-81, and the AMC Eagle and the first AWD Subarus and Audis, there was no such thing as car-based AWD or crossovers. The Jeep Wagons were arguably the closest thing to it. The rear-engine air-cooled VWs had better traction than most of front-engine/RWD vehicles of the time, but were too small and light to really give good Snow-Bunny-traction....and their hot-air/exhaust heating/defrost systems could be dangerous, with CO leaks.

SW17LS

Have you driven one? They are not junk. They're actually incredibly well built, and drive great even today. Very cool vehicles.

jrmckinley

I remember these as a kid - liked them back then...love them now. The TV show "This is Us" showcases one of these things in mint condition - it's what the family drives. Love seeing it every time they include it in an episode. A classic design IMO.

mk416

Simple: they don't need to flex with petty things like cars. Their names far outweigh what most of us can showcase with everything we have.

SW17LS

You're assuming we all buy cars to flex. I spend money on good cars because I really enjoy them. I enjoy every minute driving my car, it brings a lot of pleasure to my day.

Stroock639

well of course nobody looks at a lexus LS and thinks DAMN he must really be flexing... but aventador svj or chiron is definitely flexing, and someone like bill gates could easily have a few of either if he wanted to