No, just inflation sticker shock. You'd probably be okay paying $9,000 for those mods 2 years ago.

BrazosDog02 said:

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12th Man Ag said:

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Watching these shows on MotorTrend TV today and FourWheeler has a brand new, 2-door Bronco they say they are going to make a "few" tweaks to so it is better on and off road.

They proceed to add an ICON Stage 7 coilover suspension ($8000), ICON wheels and 37" tires ($4000), Havoc Off-road front and rear bumpers ($2000), full undercarriage skid plates ($3000), and a few other things like a Pedal Commander and aluminum covers ($1000).

Is $18,000 considered a "few" tweaks? If so, I ain't got enough money to play in the upgrade game!

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You are not a LOLPOOR.

You are a LOLREGULAR that doesn't get perks and free parts to showcase on a tv show. Those parts cost those folks nearly nothing, and in return the manufacturer gets a lot of free advertising.

You just need to follow the business plan and money trail.

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No

You are not taking into account how many idiot credit card millionaires are out there.

Follow THAT money.

Absolutely true. And fair point.

ElephantRider said:

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Tim Weaver said:

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I see kids driving the hand-me-down trucks that probably cost 70-80k to build just a year or two ago so that Daddy can buy and "build" a new raptor, trx, or bronco.

It's actually sickening what some people spend on trucks around here (Montgomery/Conroe). I see so many jeeps running around with 20k worth of worthless bling on them. Always washed and waxed and never off road......

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Living in College Station, I see college kids every day driving $70k+ trucks. It's insane.

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Saw a sweet Mercedes sedan driven by a student recently. Still had paper tags.

Tesla models of all types as well.

Sorority Row is packed with new shiny Jeeps. I don't think you can get a bid now without one.

12th Man Ag said:

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Watching these shows on MotorTrend TV today and FourWheeler has a brand new, 2-door Bronco they say they are going to make a "few" tweaks to so it is better on and off road.

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It is also worth mentioning that if you are seeing it on TV or shouted loudly on social media like IG - a lot of that is either donated or bought at deeeeep discounts in exchange for the publicity. I have a friend with a YouTube channel that I just checked, has 81k subscribers (43k IG followers); that is not a huge following, yet I am surprised at the amount of stuff he receives to promote.

That said, everything else posted above is true and we need rule 1 on those bewbs.

CanyonAg77 said:

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A friend's son got into modding diesel trucks. He now runs a 8000 sq ft shop with 5-10 employees. Kids show up with brand new $80,000 brodozers, and add another $50k in mods. I checked on getting injectors on old diesel, and they quoted 20% above the guy who got the job, AND I had to drop the truck off to even get on the waiting list. Which was at least 4 weeks.

God bless him for his success, but one wonders what he's going to do when the suckers run out of credit card limits.

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The credit card limits will never run out. The banks love all of this.

Naveronski said:

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CanyonAg77 said:

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new $80,000 brodozers, and add another $50k in mods. I checked on getting injectors on old diesel, and they quoted 20% above the guy who got the job, AND I had to drop the truck off to even get on the waiting list. Which was at least 4 weeks.

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If that's the work they usually do, he likely didn't want your injector job.

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You may have a point, but when normal rates are $4k, and he was charging $5k, still seems like a good profit for him.

I get what you are saying, and I understand everyone is different and everyone has a different situation. This "house" may very well be paid off and it affords the owner a tremendous amount of cash to play with. It's possible.

However, my point is the majority of people that have the vehicles I described above along with the toys I described, are absolutely leveraged to the hilt as it was all bought on credit.

Here is a pic of the house for reference. You can see one of the toys in it. There is no shop. There is no land. There is nothing of real value other than the lot it all sits on.

jrrhouston98 said:

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I was doing some work at a facility in Galveston a few weeks ago. It's on Stewart Rd just outside of town. I drove by a "house" that had a huge jacked up Can Am SxS and almost as big Can Am 4 wheeler. The truck used to pull it was a lifted 4x4 top of the line GM. There was also an Escalade, I believe. The "house" was a dressed up and elevated mobile home. As a good friend of mine used to say, you can live in your car but you can't drive your house. I'll never understand the mentality of spending that much on toys. I'd much rather have a nice house and put enough money away so that I can stay in the nice house.

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I assume you're new to Galveston and/or the mobile home culture.

Most of my family works at "The Plants".

These dudes make bank and spend out of control on the toys.
Primary residence not too important.
But the 5th wheel to go to The (Deer) Lease - top priority.

What's tragic is when there's a downturn in the economy. A lot of the wives don't understand that when hubby doesn't have a job anymore, he can't afford all the toys anymore.

Watched a family member leave her 3rd husband over him selling off all the toys.
She wound up in her 4th marriage downgrading from custom Jeeps to custom SxS for fun.

She could have had 10 acres and a paid off house by now but... toys, gotta have toys.

Naveronski said:

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Don't forget to have the dealer do the install. Sure, it'll cost a little more, but you can roll it into that 84 month note!

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Yep. When I bought my Wrangler JLU in Feb 2020, they damn near wouldn't let me out of the dealership without buying accessories so I could roll them into the loan.

I declined the winch and didn't buy one until 18 months later after I needed one in the middle of the Mojave Desert and didn't have one. Even though it cost me $2,000 cash, I'm still glad I didn't roll the winch into the loan.

HollywoodBQ said:

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jrrhouston98 said:

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I was doing some work at a facility in Galveston a few weeks ago. It's on Stewart Rd just outside of town. I drove by a "house" that had a huge jacked up Can Am SxS and almost as big Can Am 4 wheeler. The truck used to pull it was a lifted 4x4 top of the line GM. There was also an Escalade, I believe. The "house" was a dressed up and elevated mobile home. As a good friend of mine used to say, you can live in your car but you can't drive your house. I'll never understand the mentality of spending that much on toys. I'd much rather have a nice house and put enough money away so that I can stay in the nice house.

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I assume you're new to Galveston and/or the mobile home culture.

Most of my family works at "The Plants".

These dudes make bank and spend out of control on the toys.
Primary residence not too important.
But the 5th wheel to go to The (Deer) Lease - top priority.

What's tragic is when there's a downturn in the economy. A lot of the wives don't understand that when hubby doesn't have a job anymore, he can't afford all the toys anymore.

Watched a family member leave her 3rd husband over him selling off all the toys.
She wound up in her 4th marriage downgrading from custom Jeeps to custom SxS for fun.

She could have had 10 acres and a paid off house by now but... toys, gotta have toys.

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Sabines are better

Tim Weaver said:

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I see kids driving the hand-me-down trucks that probably cost 70-80k to build just a year or two ago so that Daddy can buy and "build" a new raptor, trx, or bronco.

It's actually sickening what some people spend on trucks around here (Montgomery/Conroe). I see so many jeeps running around with 20k worth of worthless bling on them. Always washed and waxed and never off road......

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You're basically right that people are overspending, but "sickening" is a little much. I like getting out on a sunny weekend around Magnolia or Montgomery and watching all the nice vehicles that come out to play. Might see a Lambo, or a C-2 Corvette, or a restored muscle car, or brand new C-8. New, high end trucks are so common they sorta blend into the background.

HollywoodBQ said:

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jrrhouston98 said:

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I was doing some work at a facility in Galveston a few weeks ago. It's on Stewart Rd just outside of town. I drove by a "house" that had a huge jacked up Can Am SxS and almost as big Can Am 4 wheeler. The truck used to pull it was a lifted 4x4 top of the line GM. There was also an Escalade, I believe. The "house" was a dressed up and elevated mobile home. As a good friend of mine used to say, you can live in your car but you can't drive your house. I'll never understand the mentality of spending that much on toys. I'd much rather have a nice house and put enough money away so that I can stay in the nice house.

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I assume you're new to Galveston and/or the mobile home culture.

Most of my family works at "The Plants".

These dudes make bank and spend out of control on the toys.
Primary residence not too important.
But the 5th wheel to go to The (Deer) Lease - top priority.

What's tragic is when there's a downturn in the economy. A lot of the wives don't understand that when hubby doesn't have a job anymore, he can't afford all the toys anymore.

Watched a family member leave her 3rd husband over him selling off all the toys.
She wound up in her 4th marriage downgrading from custom Jeeps to custom SxS for fun.

She could have had 10 acres and a paid off house by now but... toys, gotta have toys.

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That's really Santa Fe culture not Galveston. Although, I will concede that area around 103rd is very similar. Galveston culture is more TDCJ prison guard pulling up to hoop at Wright Cuney in a new Escalade on 22's while living in Ashton Place.

I grew up playing baseball with the guy that lives in that house and can confirm he is way out over his skis with all the toys. Caddy driving wife was in medical coding/billing or some such last time I heard. Makes me uncomfortable thinking about all the debt they must have.

So no, OP, you're not going crazy. Everyone else is.

Tim Weaver said:

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Buck Turgidson said:

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Tim Weaver said:

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I see kids driving the hand-me-down trucks that probably cost 70-80k to build just a year or two ago so that Daddy can buy and "build" a new raptor, trx, or bronco.

It's actually sickening what some people spend on trucks around here (Montgomery/Conroe). I see so many jeeps running around with 20k worth of worthless bling on them. Always washed and waxed and never off road......

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You're basically right that people are overspending, but "sickening" is a little much. I like getting out on a sunny weekend around Magnolia or Montgomery and watching all the nice vehicles that come out to play. Might see a Lambo, or a C-2 Corvette, or a restored muscle car, or brand new C-8. New, high end trucks are so common they sorta blend into the background.

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You don't see a problem with 60k+ dollar trucks being so common that they "fade into the background"?


I don't see the greater population around here making 60k a year, yet I consistently see people driving trucks worth 1.5 times their annual salary. I also see a LOT of wives and teenagers that don't work at all and still drive 60k+ dollar vehicles. Many of those vehicles are 100k and up, especially Teslas.

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The number of folks I see out here in LA driving $60,000 Jeep Rubicons is ridiculous but... even flipping burgers is paying $20/hr these days.

But the number of women I see driving $150,000 Mercedes G-Wagens and even worse, the $300,000 Lamborghini Urus is nuts. Where are these folks getting their money.

Or course a lot of these folks do live in multi-generational houses and/or with other families from the same cultural background (I've got at least 8 Filipinos living in a house 3 doors away).