A Ho-Hum cloudy day
So dark and gloomy outside I have the lights on. The rain has passed, but the clouds linger. I am living dangerously. I have gotten tired of opening and closing the front door every 5 minutes to let one or both cats in or out. So I have propped the door wide open and am trying to ignore the small sounds coming from other rooms. Could be the cats, could be a snake or a fox. Schrodinger's rule. It is all those things until I get up to look. Maybe it is a topless Playboy model. Maybe I should go look?Nah, just one of the cats. He saw me and with a guilty expression scooted back outside. Sigh. Now I have to check and make sure he wasn't hiding half a baby rabbit or some other such valuable treasure under the bed. I took inventory last night of stuff in my basement then googled some of the finds. I decided many things I have had for decades can go away now. Although I had thought they might, ,some of our more expensive purchases did not appreciate in value. Indeed I learn with a little googling many dropped enormously in value the longer I kept them.
A 1963 Johnson 3 HP outboard 2 cycle motor. Bought new by my grandfather and used on his 12 foot rowboat for flounder fishing often with me along, long, long ago.
My old US Divers Co. Navy MK I SCUBA tank (with J valve) and backpack. Used only a few times in the early 70s and early 80s it gave me trouble free performance.
It's regulator. Ibid.
A Schwinn 1973 Continental woman's 10 Speed bike. Manufactured in the USA. My wife's. Once upon a time, when it was new, she used it for commuting when she lived only a few blocks from OPM. She continued to ride it until about a year before her passing.
A Schwinn 1995 centennial woman's Cruiser bike. Only one speed. As soon as they came out, wife decided she had to have one. I have no idea why. I don't believe she ever rode it after getting it home. If I was female I would stick a small motor on it. Or add gears, but I certainly wouldn't want a bike with no gears in this hilly area.
My Mother's Zephyr TriStar. A 3 speed tricycle for adults. Ideal for a senior citizen living in an area with paved roads who wants to do some grocery shopping or still scoot around town after his/her driver's license is revoked. In theory anyway. In actuality I think Mom used it only one time, then decided bike pedaling was no fun compared to the convenience of having me do her grocery shopping for her. If I was a decade older I would stick a motor on it. It has the brackets for mounting one and I really don't understand why she didn't get one with the motor already installed.
I learned yesterday most of these things have declined in value to less than 1/3 of the value of their original purchase price. Together they eat a fair amount of basement floor space. Today, all of them went on Craigslist at about $200 each. LoL the Johnson motor cost just about that when new, so at least it breaks even. Of course in real dollars, it lost a lot of value. $200 was a lot more money in 1963.
Hmm, the other cat just poked his head in, looked at me and ran back to the front door. I really should just close the door I think.
Comments (13)
Reminds me of my grandma's things...my aunts kept most of them and showed me when I went home last summer, they offered them to me as I am the only grand daughter and the favorite one. Sadly, I couldn't take them with me. I would love to have her old sewing machine and old wooden chest though
and my grand father's very old type writer...that I used to play with when I was a little girl
A little off the topic but relevant. Pet Doors. I rememver you said it's not an option where you live. I saw a nifty gadget on the Internet. It comes with two collars and only animals wearing the collar can open the little door. I'm going to get one for sure.
Well I hope the stuff moves on out. I didn't know that there was a recall on US Divers MK I tanks, or that the recall ended in the 1990s until I read about it last night. Likewise the newer tanks are much, much cheaper than SCUBA tanks were in the early 1970s.
Once upon a time Schwinn was a US bicycle company. The 1973 Continental was made at about the peak of that time. A few years later a US President and changing tax laws convinced Schwinn to move production out of the US. It went through a dozen new owners. The 1995 Cruiser model (an official 'retro' copy of the 1949 - 1950s Cruiser design my wife remembered from her youth was actually made in Taiwan. Even so, both of them cost way more than $200 when new. Of course today with the flood of el cheapo bicycles from mainland China selling for about $150 (some even marked Schwinn) even $200 may be too much to ask. I spoke with the owner of a local bicycle shop and he summed it up by saying, 'once upon a time Schwinn made good bicycles. Today it is a name available to the highest bidder to stamp on whatever kind of junk you want to sell be it a bicycle with bad welds or a plastic golf club.' The good news is the Continental was a solid bike made while the company was still turning out good products from their Chicago factory. Likewise the original Cruisers (aka beach cruisers) were the ancestors of the mountain bike and although the Schwinn quality started dropping like a stone by 1997, the ones made in 1995 were fairly faithful to the originals and are still sought after by folks wanting to actually build a sturdy, quality mountain bike. Lots of mods can be done to those. So I think $200 is a good price for either one.
The tristar tricycle has had a half dozen makers since my mom bought hers from Zephyr. Even Schwinn makes a (Chinese made) copy called the Meridian. The Meridian retails for about $350. The current holder of the actual Tristar name is a company called Torker. Their current Tristar (which primarily differs only in that the Tristar basket is now black instead of white) is about $400 without a motor. I seem to recall Mom paying about $500 back in 1995. So I think $200 is a fair price for one only ridden once.
Now if I can just get someone reading the local Craigslist to buy the stuff..
There is a pretty good chance that those items might sell. Especially the bike!
I do likes bikes like that myself. So there is other websites to list them on. But! I'm sure that you already know that....
some Truck Drivers Ive Seen Carrying Their ten Speeds With Them On The back of Their Cabs.....................
What About>>> BACKPAGE.COM?....
I'm sure he can take that tank
and that motor attach it all to the bike
and turn it into an airplane
853 frame, but made in Taiwan, currently has 22,000km on it,
I love it so comfortable.