Well it wiped out most of my savings that were earmarked for restoring my 3 cars. So all work is on hold. If anybody wants to help out you can send me a couple of bucks with the donate link at my website.

http://www.nostalgictrio.com/blog/

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...................www.nostalgictrio.com...................

The recent economic collapse has had little or no affect on me, because I had very little in the time just before the collapse and still have very little now.

I did not benefit from the Dot Com bubble.
I did not benefit from the Enron bubble.
I did not benefit from the Housing bubble.

In all of these situations, I was not in the group stealing from the rest of society, or in the group downstream from that group to reap what trickled down from them.

The last time of prosperity that I remember was Reaganomics. Everything has been one unending down hill slide since then. We haven't had a conservative economic policy since 1988. And it won't be changing for at least four more years.

Fortunately Texas hasn't seen much of this "economic slowdown", and I'm very thankful for that.



x2

But I would say no "fiscally responsible" economic policy since the late 80s...



But as for how it's effected my hobby, I'd say none at all. I could let it worry me, and stop spending money on my cars. But I know this is a consumer-driven economy. Gotta spend money to make money...

It's definitely affected us here at JNC because a magazine needs ads to survive and that's usually the first thing to be cut when a company's not doing well.

And it's scary out there. We've heard from some aftermarket companies that they have virtually no income coming in. Those who saved wisely in good times can weather the storm, but we will see a lot of our favorite parts makers go under before this is all over.

We're still plodding along though. Luckily we don't have expensive leases on office space, a big staff, or much overhead at all. The contributors to JNC do it out of generosity and a labor of love so that's why we can continue on, unlike some titles that have folded in recent months.

As for my car, the ol' wagon needs a bit of work now and then but nothing serious (fingers crossed). It helps a LOT that old Toyotas are near indestructible. I'd like to buy a set of proper wheels for it but that'll have to wait.

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I have also dwindled all my savings down and am finally pulling back out of debt. I lost my job when the company I worked for went bankrupt. It was a retail store chain.

I have no money for the car at the moment. I had planned on doing the bodywork on my car this winter/spring. Now it is a no-go until probably fall if even then.

I disagree with the Reaganomics thing though. I wouldn't say that's what made the economy so good for that time frame. I believe it had a lot more to do with booming technology. Look back--twenty years ago, during that time frame there was no cell phones, i-pods, personal computers in every home, widespread internet, etc. Now that the boom has settled down and things are back to "normal" the money is not there anymore. That coupled with credit that was being given out like candy on halloween, has lead to where we are now. You can only give out credit for so long before it needs to be paid back. Well now it's payback time. We will pull out, but it will take a while or there will need to be the "next big thing" to come out again. We are still a manufacturing based society no matter what people say. When times get hard and money gets tight, people don't spend as much money on frivolous items.

Sorry for the soapbox....

I currently work for the unemployment department so I see what's going on every day of the week.

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Ron

1977 Toyota Celica GT liftback

ive gotten some good deals recently from people who needed some cash, so in a way its helped out a bit.

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74 260Z(sold)
80 corolla 4dr(sold)
81 corolla 2dr sedan(dd)
93 240sx(for sale)

Yup. Now's a good time to buy.

This is true. Good deals to be had.

As for my project spending. I just picked up a new one and I don't expect to hold back too much. Mostly just working on a little bit of cleaning up nothing crazy but I will put down 1k to get it nice.

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[url=http://japanesenostalgiccar.com]
1971 2dr [/url]Datsun 510 - L20b, 219 SSS Head, Roundtop SU's

Well hmmm lets see...

In May of last year we get a call from the landlords (who are realtors also) saying we had 45 days to move cause they were wanting to sell the house cause of they were seeing housing prices starting to move (a few months before everything went south mind you). So we had to move and luckily a friend of ours was over visiting and checking on her house that was just cleared out from a eviction but needed work. The work needed was too much and we didn't want to live there due to the disrepair. And being that we have 3 dogs there was no way we could get a house to rent also. Our friend offered to let us store our stuff there. That also put my project on the way back burner and everything was tossed into the garage at friends house. And the wagon is sitting outside as we speak. We moved back into the in-laws basement and now are paying off all the bills so we can hopefully be able to at least afford to find a place to rent and at most to buy considering the prices for housing has gone down (even though there is a place near here that is asking 226k for a house that they will never see in this economy as of now). Sooooo it has hampered me in a big way but at least I have some job security even though my work just laid off and had early retirements of 70 people and repositioned/demoted alot more people. We are all praying that the bad weather doesn't stop (it's a chainsaw bar and chain manufacturer so bad weather is a good thing for business lol).

So all being said and done I am just lucky to be still employed and also have a roof (and a few floors) over my head right now. Just wish I could have time/money/room for doing my project.

I guess it's been mixed for me. Mostly for the good.

Good:
I bought a house with a garage in Oct. '08, for less than I originally thought I would pay.
I Put a new engine in my Raider and a new trans will be going in later in the spring.
My Conquest is nearly "done", I basically just need time to put it back on the road.

Bad:
Since I bought my house prices have continued to fall and mortgage rates have dropped...if only I had waited.
The new house is taking up most of my spare time & money.
My income has dropped about 25%

So, overall, I guess it's a plus that I'm in a good position right now. I have no big expenses outside of my house. I now have a garage so I can really give my cars the maintenance that they deserve, and since work has slowed down I can devote more time to wrenching/maintaining them.

But the loss of income and the new issue of maintaining a home, with less money at my disposal, is going to be a challenge.

I am thankful for what I have though. I know that there are thousands of people in much, much worse situations right now.

Like Ben mentioned, we've definitely felt the effects of the economy here at JNC, but fortunately we don't have too much overhead at the moment. The unfortunate thing is that we just can't grow as fast as we would have liked to when we started out.

And man, I knew the economy was doing real bad, but hearing all these stories really makes it hit home. Hopefully 2009 will bring better times for us all.

Just remember, even if you've had to put your nostalgic project on hold, there's always a place for you here

Cheers,
Dan

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Bad here in the UK as well more jobs going daily

Well, now I don't have a job anymore. No more funding available for my position. I was kind of expecting it though.

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...................www.nostalgictrio.com...................

My wife lost here around x-mas.
Yesterday 15 of 20 on my work.http://www.npb.se
It will probably effect me!

This will probably not be a great summer!

//magnus

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Magnus Berglund
Mazda Rx7 Mariah
Mazda Rx5 x2
www.swedishrotary.com -----Updated Oct 2010

My work has cut all overtime and a few hours from the day, but still got a job so that's a bonus!

As some of the other guys have said though, a great time to buy projects. I've just signed a contract on the new house and land for the museum - VERY nice. Might be a while though before any major construction might happen as cash is tight.

The collection has grown by 15 cars since all this crazy stuff has started though. Many people selling up to get cash.

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Too many Mazda's in the collection. 4 Mitsubishi's, 6 Toyota's and now 3 Datsun's as well.
Putting together a Mazda/Japanese motor museum. New bigger venue for the museum has been bought, watch this space!

Downside:
its F@#^ed up my plans on buying a KGC10 from Japan, as my job and industy was hit hard. now im in a lower job earning 1/2 what I should be.

I lost Money on the stock market, while slimey pricks are getting paid ridiculous bonus for being failures (If I failed at my job I would loose my job! not get paid millions of dollars!)

Upside:
Has pushed me to continue to futher my Mechanical Engineering studies so I can get higher up in the food chain.

Fingers crossed im hoping USA and China will swap places on the Economic ladder so myself, girlfriend and future inlaws can benifet so in the future I can buy a KPGC10 not just a KGC10

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well i wanted to get an engine swap for my daily but since im afraid of getting laid off i decided to just wait it out till my engine blows and just save my money instead.

well my work just made it worse, everyone is now on 4 day work weeks including me

One thing has really annoyed me about the recent economic situation. The exchange rate used to be 120 Yen per dollar, and slid slightly, until last Fall when it plummeted to 90 Yen per dollar, and can't seem to recover above 97-98 Yen per dollar.

So all the window shopping on Yahoo Japan and Goo Net has been a little more depressing than usual for the last several months. It used to be "I don't have enough money for that.". But now it's "I have 20% less than not enough money for that.".