What did you first buy?

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The Innkeeper

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Rural western Canada
i was recalling the first major purchases when I started working (after baby sitting) I worked part time starting summers when I was 14. The first major purchases in order
1) a .303 British Lee Enfield back when you could get them from the Sears Catalogue
2) a complete set of the works of Charles Dickens in hard cover
3) a snowblower so I could earn income in the winter
4) my first vehicle - 1957 Ford F-150 beater

How about you?
 
Some of my first purchases in life included the following:

1) A Remington pump action tube fed .22 rifle at a garage sale. I handed the guy the money, he gave me the gun. I was perhaps 10 years old.
2) A Sear & Roebuck FS1000 blue & yellow BMX dirtbike (because I could deliver paper SOOOO much faster)
3) A kit to build a .45 caliber Kentucky Rifle to take deer hunting (I thought it looked cooler than my Dad's .50 Hawken)
4) A brand new 1985 Honda Rebel 250cc motorcycle. It was the biggest bike my Dad would let me buy. It was the first of many.
 
I guess it depends on the definition of major purchase. I bought a 12 transistor AM/FM radio when I was around 9. I put it on layaway and paid every week for a month before I got to take it home. No idea how much I paid for it but it was pretty expensive.
My next expensive purchase was a 64 Ford. It was a real slug. 60 MPH top-end downhill. Found out it had been a taxicab before bought it from a sailor.
Sold it 2 years later for what I paid for it so it worked out OK.
My next expensive thing was my wife. Not a purchase exactly, but expensive in the long run. I still have her so I guess it was money well spent. :)
 
1) A d-35 Martin acoustic guitar... I found several for sale on the net today (none were actually in stock) average price $4.500.00. I paid $800 way back when. Probably the best investment I ever made.
2) A .243 Winchester semi-auto.
3) A pre-war gibson banjo... average price today $9000, wish I held onto that thing. Paid $1000 but got in a money crunch way back when, had to sell it.
4) a 69 Ford farm truck sitting on blocks behind a barn. A 289 ci engine I pulled out of ford galaxy, built my 2nd car from the ground up.
 
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The first major purchase would have been a VW bug that had been cut into a pickup but never finished. I turned it into a woody.
The next thing I can remember was my first house. I rented it out and lived in a converted time shed on my parents place for the first three years. Two of those years I was working the tugs so I was rarely around anyway. I made regular payments plus all the rent went to principal on the note. I paid that one off in something over five years. It wasn't much of a house but it was mine.
 
My first car was 57 Ford Fairlane, paid $500.
Washed dishes in restaurants to pay for it.
I was 14.5 years old.
Took 16 months to get car paid for.
My second major purchase was 77 Austin Heally paid $500.
Worked as waitress, dishwasher in restaurant to pay for car, car insurance.
My lastest major purchase was new to me 2015 Fiat 500 Lounge.
 
First major (to me) purchase was a faux leopard skin coat for my mom for Christmas. She wore it for years

Next major purchase was a bus ticket to Chicago when I graduated high school.

Next major purchase was my first car--'72 Ford Maverick. Only Ford I ever owned and I drove it almost 300,00 miles.
 
I started babysitting around 10 or 11. I bought myself clothing and fabric to make clothing. I bought shoes for myself. Prior to that, I had been wearing clothing that was given to us and it never really fit right. (Narrow feet, and being tall and thin, clothing given by a chubby girl)

I had won a transistor radio and it went missing. (Much more to that story) I bought myself another transistor radio, on layaway.

First car was a 1973 Toyota Hilux pickup with a camper shell that I used for traveling and camping and everyday driving. I bought it after I finished college. I saw a lot of the country in that pickup and had it for many years. I moved a couple times with it as well.
 
1) 1965 Rambler Classic 550 station wagon (used)(Bought in 1976) (125 bucks, my salary from Working the BSA day camp all summer)
2) Families first color TV with UHF. (Did TV repair from age 16-17)
3) Dishwasher for Mom and Dad's anniversary. ("Real job", at the local nursery and crafts store)
 
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What’s it say about me? It seems I’m the only one with a penchant for high end vintage acoustic instruments. There is a vintage instrument shop in Nashville where I always stop to drool… I could spend a week in there.

In case anyone is curious… high end acoustic instruments are made with very expensive woods that are carefully selected by experts. Every day of such an instruments life the sound it makes gets richer, deeper and more beautiful… as the wood ages all these things change…

A rich person would buy a Stradivarius violin because of the name. A musician would buy it for the way it sounds. Not only are the woods perfect, the craftsman who put them together was a true artist in his own right.

D45 Martin 1 (1)_v1.jpg
D45 Martin 1 (2)_v2.jpg
 
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First purchase I recall was a nice Fishing rod and a Mitchell reel. Must have been 9 or 10 at the time. Later as a teen I bought a used Ithica 12 gauge pump shotgun. Don't even recall the model number. It was sweet shooter and very light. Years later times got hard and had to sell it.
 
What’s it say about me? It seems I’m the only one with a penchant for high end vintage acoustic instruments. There is a vintage instrument shop in Nashville where I always stop to drool… I could spend a week in there.

In case anyone is curious… high end acoustic instruments are made with very expensive woods that are carefully selected by experts. Every day of such an instruments life the sound it makes gets richer, deeper and more beautiful… as the wood ages all these things change…

A rich person would buy a Stradivarius violin because of the name. A musician would buy it for the way it sounds. Not only are the woods perfect, the craftsman who put them together was a true artist in his own right.

View attachment 26014 View attachment 26015
I’m nearly tone deaf and would not be able to appreciate the differences. I have a musician friend who is a guitar connoisseur and another who isa classically trained violinist with an incredible ear. They both differentiate with ease things I cannot even hear.
 
Okay, I have to ask ... why thanks to the Spurs?

They were having training camp in San Marcos and ate breakfast and lunch at the restaurant I was working at. The players were very polite and great tippers. The coaches...were not. George Gervin had the breakfast bar one morning, $3.99 and left me a $10 tip. Another benefit was that because the players were there. the place was packed. I made over $1,000 that week.
 
I started babysitting summers at age 11 so I could buy my own school clothes. First car at age 16 was a '63 Plymouth Belvedere, army green. I could fit a lot of friends in there. I grew up outside of San Francisco, so no guns for me. But have made up for lost time after living in New Mexico.
 
Gee from my first pay I was paying off my secondhand Mazda 323 with very few kilometres on it and I think I shouted myself some nice leather court shoes a few pays later.

Most of my pay went to pay my mother board $80 per week out of $125 but my sisters never had to pay it. Oh well it made me way more independent than the others.
 
My first job was assembling bicycles at Western Auto for the Christmas rush when I was about 14. I purchased a used Suzuki TS185 dirt bike. I remember the manager saying you know there is a left and a right pedal don't you. I said yes it is impossible to get that wrong. He said no it isn't that is why we have an opening. They kept me on after school way after the holidays.
Come to think of it I don't think my work ethic kept me punctual. It was probably the large breasted cashier that gave hugs. Did I mention I was Short? :great:
 
Gee from my first pay I was paying off my secondhand Mazda 323 with very few kilometres on it and I think I shouted myself some nice leather court shoes a few pays later.

Most of my pay went to pay my mother board $80 per week out of $125 but my sisters never had to pay it. Oh well it made me way more independent than the others.
It’s funny how times change meanings. You paid room and board to your mom (as did I as soon as I started working) but I read your post as motherboard, the main driving circuit board for a computer. I was wondering how young you were to be buying a motherboard from your first pay. Took a moment to catch on
 
Worked as runner/messenger boy in a 10 story Insurance company , nights , while in HS.
Saved my pennies, .....
Bought a 1959 Beetle Bug.
Lived it .froze to death , no heat.
Kept it till Uncle Sam took me away in 1966.

Jim
I had a '69 bug. My parents have it currently and have restored it. Mom says the title is still in my name which I think is funny.
 

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