I just saw the feature on Curries "Fireant" TJ in Off-Road magazine. They estimate the value at $125K?!?. I know it's a trick jeep and all, especially the narrowing, but come on. Maybe they got that much tied up into it, but I think they're smoking crack.

I agree....

Then again, If I added up all the crap in my measley little Toyota truck I know I have over $20k SPENT in it so you never know :rolleyes:

they say that for the tax man that thing is a rolling right off.

when i spoke to john currie about it he estamited 90K not to hard to do when you have employees that work on it. think about it for a second.


general shop helper makes at least 10 bucks an hour. thats 20k per year

skilled fabricater makes a minimum of 30 per hour , thats 63k per year.

machinest makes the same.

take a year to develop and built a rig like that is not out of the question. plus the parts cost.

also you need to consider that as a business they are inclined to associate as much cost with it's devolpment as allowed by G.A.P. for tax reasons.

Thats with their labor @ $100 an hour.

Welcome to the exciting world of auto racing:flipoff2:
Hell ,Joel Randall has that in his tow rig.......

I think there full of shit. for $125,000 I could build a hell of alot better rig than that :D Besides its a Currie Jeep, just says pretty boy all over it! The thing is shiny and mint after ever course, not to mention Jeff wagner and Johns cute little matching shirts and outfits. :flipoff2: dumbass's!!

Maybe Curry uses the same fabricator as BTB products. It might be worth $125,000 pesos. Some people think their sh!t don't stink.

Charles

Camo is right on the money there. Expecially if they were using the "Shop rate" Which would include not on the labor of the person working on the rig but all the overhead associated with it. Electricity to run machines, Heat to keep employees happy, Water, Machines, Parts...the list goes on and on and on. But adding Direct Labor, Overhead labor and GM up for a "Shop rate" of $100 or more is not out of the question. So $90k is roughly 900 hours of work. Shit I have that into my rig alone...and I bet most of the rest of you do too. :D:D:D

IT DOES NOT SAY MUCH FOR THEIR FAB SKILLS IF THAT IS ALL THEY COULD COME UP WITH FOR 125K. MAYBE THAT IS ALSO COVERING THE MONEY THEY USE TO PAYOFF THE JUDGES.

Originally posted by Rockbuggy
I think there full of shit. for $125,000 I could build a hell of alot better rig than that :D Besides its a Currie Jeep, just says pretty boy all over it! The thing is shiny and mint after ever course, not to mention Jeff wagner and Johns cute little matching shirts and outfits. :flipoff2: dumbass's!!

gettin tired of hearing what you could do....lets see what you Have done

Originally posted by KYODER
IT DOES NOT SAY MUCH FOR THEIR FAB SKILLS IF THAT IS ALL THEY COULD COME UP WITH FOR 125K. MAYBE THAT IS ALSO COVERING THE MONEY THEY USE TO PAYOFF THE JUDGES.

ya all they acomplished was win the ARCA championship in it. hey and imagiane that. they did it using a suspension that they sell to your average joe to bolt on to his daily driver. i am sure your fab and engering skills are far suberior :rolleyes: probally why your company is more sucessfull than currie. ...ya right :flipoff2:

Originally posted by camo


ya all they acomplished was win the ARCA championship in it. hey and imagiane that. they did it using a suspension that they sell to your average joe to bolt on to his daily driver. i am sure your fab and engering skills are far suberior :rolleyes: probally why your company is more sucessfull than currie. ...ya right :flipoff2:

:laughing: SMMMAAAAAAAAACCKK :laughing:

So that's how it is! Thats funny, I have never seen a narrowed TJ body in their catalog or that coilover suspension conversion either. Don't forget the soft compound tires that you can spin each lug 90 degrees. The one thing I can say is John can drive, But the vehicle never took the top spot he was just consistant.

Originally posted by camo


ya all they acomplished was win the ARCA championship in it. hey and imagiane that. they did it using a suspension that they sell to your average joe to bolt on to his daily driver. i am sure your fab and engering skills are far suberior :rolleyes: probally why your company is more sucessfull than currie. ...ya right :flipoff2:

actully Kevin has been in and placed top 10 in all but the last Warn comp's
with home built Shiat

Bolt on queen nope!!!!




:rolleyes:


Adam,

Originally posted by KYODER
So that's how it is! Thats funny, I have never seen a narrowed TJ body in their catalog or that coilover suspension conversion either. Don't forget the soft compound tires that you can spin each lug 90 degrees. The one thing I can say is John can drive, But the vehicle never took the top spot he was just consistant.

And how many times did you take top spot?? :D:D:D It's a business man, you need to understand the economics behing it all.

I'm not bashing the Curry TJ, but I was just wondering how this vehicle would rate if Curry had to build his own with his own money. It doesn't seem right that he is competing with others when it is a business write off for him. Do they have a "pro" division in ARCA and an amatuer division to equalize things?

Originally posted by GloNDark


And how many times did you take top spot?? :D:D:D It's a business man, you need to understand the economics behing it all.

Twice Johnson Valley 2000, 2001

of course they have a pro division.....it's called ARCA :rolleyes:

Originally posted by fj40charles
I'm not bashing the Curry TJ, but I was just wondering how this vehicle would rate if Curry had to build his own with his own money. It doesn't seem right that he is competing with others when it is a business write off for him. Do they have a "pro" division in ARCA and an amatuer division to equalize things?


it is his own money....currie enterprise......??????? who do you think signs the check?

Originally posted by KYODER


Twice Johnson Valley 2000, 2001

:laughing: Sorry my bad! hahaha

125k dose not surprise me


Camo, good job, you couldnt be more right.
erifilar@fatcity

Well, where they get it completely wrong is the "VALUE" is stated as $125k. Nope, sorry, not even close. The definition of that is that they should be able to get that for it - ha try putting that pretty little Jeep on e-bay with a reserve of 125K and see how it does.

Maybe that's a rough estimate of what they have invested......but that's a far cry from its value.

Shoot - if I calculated my annual salary and divided it into an hourly rate, especially on days when i only fly a 3 hour sortie and then go home, and added that rate up for what i have in my rusty ole homebuilt unibody POS its VALUE would be about half a million dollars!!:rolleyes:

And I agree with those that think it's lame for that much invested....big deal.

And I'm not just all talk - my web page is in my sig, so you can see what I have done. Sure' it's ugly and amateurish and I had to teach myslef to weld etc etc....BUT I did it myself, I'm proud of it, AND I freely share all I can with people

Currie, on the other hand, when I talked to them treated me like dirt when they didn't think I was going to drop 10k on their silly overpriced axles....I'll never forget it, never buy a thing from them, and won't likely forgive them...they were assholes to me plain and simple.

And if were gonna get all snotty and compare stuff, you only get to compare to me when you spend more than 6 months of the year deployed in the middle of some godforsaken ocean and you can track and attack a billion $ worth of Russian Nuclear Sub and you build your rig too.

Busines..investment...ARCA...blah blah blah....it sucks, they suck. Nuff said:flipoff2:

Originally posted by camo


gettin tired of hearing what you could do....lets see what you Have done

Here ya go: These are older pictures but here. This is mine so far, im working on extending the wheelbase 10", tube front fenders, and alluminum fuel cell in da-tub.

http://home.off-road.com/~rockbuggy/wheelin112601/P1010097.jpg

http://home.off-road.com/~rockbuggy/Sept%208th.%20big%20bear%20trip/redflex.jpg

It aint no Currie Jeep but I could have 20 of my jeeps for the cost of Curries one. :D

Originally posted by BillaVista
Well, where they get it completely wrong is the "VALUE" is stated as $125k. Nope, sorry, not even close. The definition of that is that they should be able to get that for it - ha try putting that pretty little Jeep on e-bay with a reserve of 125K and see how it does.

Maybe that's a rough estimate of what they have invested......but that's a far cry from its value.


Sorry man but I gotta disagree. If he put that thing on ebay, seeing as it just won the arca series, I bet someone would pick it up for allot more the $125K. I bet he could pull half a mil if it was on ebay.

Originally posted by toymaniac


Sorry man but I gotta disagree. If he put that thing on ebay, seeing as it just won the arca series, I bet someone would pick it up for allot more the $125K. I bet he could pull half a mil if it was on ebay.

I beg to differ.. I'd hope there isnt someone that stupid out there. :D

Originally posted by Rockbuggy


I beg to differ.. I'd hope there isnt someone that stupid out there. :D


I have to agree but their are some really stupid people out there..

Originally posted by camo
of course they have a pro division.....it's called ARCA :rolleyes:

..........AND TWO!!!!....any mmore questions???.......Nice one.

Like Camo said its a write off so why not. If you could do it too I'm sure you would maybe not quite thier style of rig but I'm sure you would. A nice shiny rig is a great advertisement especially when its winning.:smokin:

Originally posted by BillaVista

you can track and attack a billion $ worth of Russian Nuclear Sub and you build your rig too.

[/B]

do you suppose those ruskies can get a billion for that sub on e-bay? i doubt it. did it cost that much to build? probally more :D:D:D:

Who knows where this post is going, but I gotta agree that Currie has no business competing with the average Garage Mechanic. He better damn well win, he's paying somebody to do all the sh!t for him. I think he and Walker Evans need to start their own Rich yuppies who don't build their own sh!t Association. Leave the sport to the guys who started it, and aren't out to rape people or make it a mountain dew commercial.

I think if they would try to sell the fire ant for $125k someone would buy it.:flipoff2: They have never had a problem selling any of their other Jeeps. I know that it is hard to believe but, some people will buy a 1 million dollar motor home also. I think the Curries did a great job on building the rig, it works and its a great marketing tool. That is the reason they are making money, they are smart in business.

Hey Rockbuggy, is that a Currie rear bumper on your Jeep?:flipoff2:

Originally posted by Lost_Soul
Who knows where this post is going, but I gotta agree that Currie has no business competing with the average Garage Mechanic. He better damn well win, he's paying somebody to do all the sh!t for him. I think he and Walker Evans need to start their own Rich yuppies who don't build their own sh!t Association. Leave the sport to the guys who started it, and aren't out to rape people or make it a mountain dew commercial.

ya right thats how all motorsports are run. :rolleyes: anyhow alot of the guys running ARCA are far from your average working stiff. face it people competition is a major finicial comitment. if your a po boy get a po boy hobbie. l rock crawling at national competitions is not it.

Originally posted by Rockbuggy


Here ya go: These are older pictures but here. This is mine so far, im working on extending the wheelbase 10", tube front fenders, and alluminum fuel cell in da-tub.

http://home.off-road.com/~rockbuggy/wheelin112601/P1010097.jpg

http://home.off-road.com/~rockbuggy/Sept%208th.%20big%20bear%20trip/redflex.jpg

It aint no Currie Jeep but I could have 20 of my jeeps for the cost of Curries one. :D


Talk about shiny and pretty boy, do you even have a scratch on that Jeep? And is your driver side front shock disconnected in that 1st poser pic?:flipoff2:

and if anyone had a clue other then camo get off the soap box, 1/2 of business ownership is having the guts to put it on the line and the other 1/2 is the ability to get shit done.....$100 for labor isn't much in the order of profit when the big boys in Motorsports drop that on a wheel design....yes that's right $125k to save 5 lbs yet have an advantage, do they always use it no, sometimes they hit the wall......lets face it the divisions of motorsports have done this all along and will continue until the end and thank god for that,.....off my soap box and back to the beer.....Cruise on and challenge assumptions!

hey rockbuggy i could build that heep for 4 bucks :flipoff2:

Originally posted by BillaVista
Well, where they get it completely wrong is the "VALUE" is stated as $125k. Nope, sorry, not even close. The definition of that is that they should be able to get that for it - ha try putting that pretty little Jeep on e-bay with a reserve of 125K and see how it does.

Maybe that's a rough estimate of what they have invested......but that's a far cry from its value.

Shoot - if I calculated my annual salary and divided it into an hourly rate, especially on days when i only fly a 3 hour sortie and then go home, and added that rate up for what i have in my rusty ole homebuilt unibody POS its VALUE would be about half a million dollars!!:rolleyes:

And I agree with those that think it's lame for that much invested....big deal.

And I'm not just all talk - my web page is in my sig, so you can see what I have done. Sure' it's ugly and amateurish and I had to teach myslef to weld etc etc....BUT I did it myself, I'm proud of it, AND I freely share all I can with people

Currie, on the other hand, when I talked to them treated me like dirt when they didn't think I was going to drop 10k on their silly overpriced axles....I'll never forget it, never buy a thing from them, and won't likely forgive them...they were assholes to me plain and simple.

And if were gonna get all snotty and compare stuff, you only get to compare to me when you spend more than 6 months of the year deployed in the middle of some godforsaken ocean and you can track and attack a billion $ worth of Russian Nuclear Sub and you build your rig too.

Busines..investment...ARCA...blah blah blah....it sucks, they suck. Nuff said:flipoff2:


A little cheese with that WINE...


FUCK!!!!....

Thats what they said it's worth... If you buy it... Thats what it's worth.

QUIT you're BITCHIN...

All wright...
a mint condition Shelby Cobra goes for what... 1/2 mill or something...
do you think it takes a 1/2 mill to build it....NO!!!! :mad3:

Take you're head out of your're ASS, and use it for something else.

eric filar@fatcity

P.S
It's the streight and narrow, whether or not you like it, don't blame me

That was not dirrected only at you, Billa Vista

Right now, an above average fabricator, with a well thought out rig, and excelent driving skills, could still expect to compete at the top levels. But its very expensive. The top teams I suspect will start to distance themselves more and more, as time goes on, and the classes below will also become even more competetive. Such is the nature of motor sports.
Compete at whatever level you can excell at, if you wish to compete.
Ignore the competetive world of rock crawling altogether.
Or bitch and moan about the direction that the top teams are taking the sweet science of rock crawling machinery.
In any case, it will continue to evolve, with or without you.
I personaly like the idea that the top teams will move ahead, and leave me to whoop up on the rest of you would be garage mechanics in the next level down. :flipoff2:

do you suppose those ruskies can get a billion for that sub on e-bay? i doubt it. did it cost that much to build? probally more

Damn do I like the way you can dish and take...that is some funny sheeat!

You're right...they're getting pretty rusty now...but in their day...you know they had one that was, i dunno, prob 40 000 tons and constructed almost entirely of Titanium...no shit. Prob cost 100 billion...I hear John currie designed and built it :D :D

Funny off-topic story. When we visited Vladivostock...the city was a depressed dump, EXTREMELY poor..I'mtalking fights in the market over a bucket of fishheads...but the 2 Ruskie destroyers we tied up next to had brand new fresh coats of paint. I had lunch on one, and asked about the cats.....they keep em on the ship to keep the rats down. can't you get rid of the rats I ask, stupidly....oh no, they reply...we keep them around to keep the roaches down !! No word of a lie! Anyway - 'nuff war stories from me.


if you wanna win don't start blamin the rich guys for being rich

Oh I'm not, I couldn't care less about the competitions...personally I don't like them ..more like rock racing than rock crawling...but if you like them that's cool. I don't care about Currie and the competitions either...........just that they treat people like ass...and that they are, IMHO, guilty as sin in the world of gouging 4x4 customers, supposedly their kin. And they were famous for doing that in racing circles way before they got on the 4x4 bandwagon. i just hate the....my right:flipoff2:



a mint condition Shelby Cobra goes for what... 1/2 mill or something...do you think it takes a 1/2 mill to build it....NO!!!!

Thank you, you make my point exactly. there is a big difference between cost to build / develop and value. The shelby is worth 1/2 mil, fair market value, regarless of what it cost to build and develop (Iwouldn't dare hazard a guess...) The Fire insect may have cost 125k tobuild, but it aint worth that....fringe moron wierd souvenir lunatic buyers not included.

That was the whole point of the original post...as in "no way do I think that thing is worth $125k"

Take you're head out of your're ASS, and use it for something else

Umm, EXACTLY...wise advice indeed :D

That was not dirrected only at you, Billa Vista

No sweat mate, i've got thick skin, and besides, you get to mouth off, you've got credability, AND you share and help...don't see old JC on here sharing tech tips do ya! that's MY point.......They suck :flipoff2:

Originally posted by camo


ya right thats how all motorsports are run. :rolleyes: anyhow alot of the guys running ARCA are far from your average working stiff. face it people competition is a major finicial comitment. if your a po boy get a po boy hobbie. l rock crawling at national competitions is not it.


All I'm saying is I hate to see rockcrawlin get to the point to whoever spends the most money wins, that takes all the sport out of it. Hell they can build computer controlled Indy cars that change the suspension for every turn and control braking until the last second. How bad will it suck when the ARCA title just goes to the dude willing to spend the most money? That's all. :flipoff2:

Originally posted by Lost_Soul



All I'm saying is I hate to see rockcrawlin get to the point to whoever spends the most money wins, that takes all the sport out of it. Hell they can build computer controlled Indy cars that change the suspension for every turn and control braking until the last second. How bad will it suck when the ARCA title just goes to the dude willing to spend the most money? That's all. :flipoff2:


So who should the title go to?
The guy who spends the most time behind the wheel of a hunk junk?
The guy most willing to spend the time swapping in only his own fabrications, without anyone elses help.
Maybe we should make the cut off at a certain dollar amount, or a certain amount of time spent on fabrication and repairs.
The top teams are always gonna be driven to try to stay at the top at all costs, thats why we have Nascar, the IRL, and then all of the leagues below them.
A good team will still need a good driver, a good machine, good organization, and some luck.
Look how much Avalanche spends on their rigs, and they have not monopolized the events, by any means.

I want only my stuff, to be able to win, is a pretty pathetic way to look at the future developement of the sport.:flipoff2:

Do you really want this sport to become Nascar or the IRL to where if you don't have millions of dolllars backing you will not even be able to compete, you might as well sit on you a$$ at home and watch it on TV. I want this sport to evolve and develop as much as anybody, I just hate seeing it become commercialized. Just what I want to see is a Jeep with VIAGRA down the side of it. I guess I would like to see it at a point where an average (maybe above) person, willing to put in the time (yes and the money) can stay in the ARCA field. Maybe they should start a higher class, I don't know what to do. It is inevitable that this will happen. Just another good, all-american sport being raped for the commercial gain of somebody else.

why doesnt someone move this tripe to chat?

Sorry your right. :mad3:

honestly i wish we had a 100 teams capable of spending what the likes of currie does. the more money the top teams put into r@d the more we all will benifit. it will be through competive development and the money egos that people and compinies like currie and tera put into developing products to win at all cost that will be able to someday all be able to afford brand new cro-mo dana 60's for under 3k. if compinies don't spend the money on product development where will we get the next atlas type goodies from?. more than i care to write a articale on here but in american capitilism or your marketing 101 class i belive they call it "the product to market cycle" goes some thing like this.

first stage. somebody has to pay for the first one. (usually a very large $ amount)

second stage. select group of elite consumers willing to pay high value prices buy a few.

third stage. mass production and affordable prices.

take a look around you and you should be able to see many consumer products that fit the mold.

example. hand held calculators. first one probally cost millions to invent. then you could buy a very basic one for around $100. now you get them free with a tank of gas. apply the same product cycle to our beloved dana 60's and it is gonna take people like tera, dynatrac and currie to forge the way so we can all afford 60's some day.

anyhow do i like currie? don't have any feeling either way actually. but i do applod what he is willing to commit to our sport.

Originally posted by mj
why doesnt someone move this tripe to chat?

because it goes to the very root of our sport. and if you pay attention you just might learn something

Alright Camo I have to agree with you on all points. I hate to admit it but you are right. There still should be something for the garage mechanic though. We can't let everything we do and love become some corporate exposed grab for more money. We just need to take care of our own. I don't know if our own has an income bracket or not, but it just seems to me that they (Currie, Evans) are not our own.

i would suggest that they are our own. i have had the pleasure of speaking with both men on several occasions and can tell you that they are more driven to win and succed than they are greedy money grubbers. back when i used to race and would attend meetings with walker he is and was very concerned about the very same issue's that concern every recrationial off roader and if anything he is more involved because of his high profile. belive it or not walker was at one time a garage racer just like you mention and only got to where he is today by working his ass off for years. trust me nbody just handed him millions to go play with. a very good friend of mine worked for him for several years as a fabricator and i can personally tell you from helping him in the baja 1000 that the sponsor money he does get does not come with out its own headache. ( do you really think dodge gave him millions and didn't expect him to win)


anyhow people don't become succesfull with out years of blood sweat and tears to get them where they are. my hats off to them and i consider them our own. they have just put more into it then we have.

I got in here a little late but here's my two cents.

I happen to know John currie and have seen that jeep built from a burnt salvaged body and frame. He actually does alot of the work himself and has some help by Tony and some of the other guys that work there. Just because he is fortunate enough to have a job where he can work on his own jeep and its work related doesn't mean he's an a-hole.

Probably half the ARCA competitors don't do their own fab work, not everyone has the talent or equipment to do it. How do you think Fatcity, tricounty or avalanche makes a living (OK maybe not avalanche), Walker Evans has successfully made a business out of racing, and thats not an easy thing to do, his spotter Randy Anderson works for Walker Evans Racing and has built 40 race trucks in the last 20 yrs. and if you don't like competing against him, its Goodyears fault (ARCA probably wouldn't happen without Goodyear).

Originally posted by camo
honestly i wish we had a 100 teams capable of spending what the likes of currie does. the more money the top teams put into r@d the more we all will benifit. it will be through competive development and the money egos that people and compinies like currie and tera put into developing products to win at all cost that will be able to someday all be able to afford brand new cro-mo dana 60's for under 3k. if compinies don't spend the money on product development where will we get the next atlas type goodies from?. more than i care to write a articale on here but in american capitilism or your marketing 101 class i belive they call it "the product to market cycle" goes some thing like this.



Hey Camo, Why dont you tell all the kids what your paying Sandy to build your 60 front end, probably twice what Currie or Walker spent on their front and rear ends.

LOL might scare em. :D

current budget for my one off front and rear 60's is 11k

This is hard for me not to respond to yet has the potential to really miss me up. I'm with eric and camo. No I'm not a big time promoter like others out there. Nor do I wish to become one, but if you wish to run with the big dogs go big............ not from just a competitors stand point but from all sides of the 4x world. If your bag is running trails and having fun, great, but 10 years ago my mb38a could walk and now it has a warm spot at home to stay in.
If you want to compete find a place that has a place where you can be competitive without spending millions. If you want to sell your work to a mass of people, better be ready to dump hugh amounts of cash into proving that you can really build something worth buying. I too know the Curries (it's not just about John), and if you want to just sit and talk, they'll talk, of course they are busy unlike myself, so I try to talk when they have the time.
Anyway, The fire ant is worth the 125k, did any manufacture build the protypes for the amount they sold the final product for....I'd guess not........
Rich Klein
CalROCS

current budget for my one off front and rear 60's is 11k


DAYUM.......you da man dumping that into a set of axles.

OK, I have to put my $.02 in now. As far as the sport going to the high dollar world, that is somewhat true. Like has been stated before, it is the natural progression of motorsports. Now on the other hand, that you need to have lots of money to compete and win. That is wrong. Just look at Jason Paule. Sure he just drives the buggy, but they only have $25000 in parts in that thing. They are selling them for about $40000. I know that may seem like a lot, but when you look at what you get, that is nothing. It isn't that they don't spend much money, it is that they can drive. Jason competed most of the season in a SOA CJ 7. He was in the top 15 everytime. If that doesn't say something for driving ability than nothing does. Sure it is nice to have all the fancy gadgets, but they aren't neccesary.

Erin

Okay, I've thought about this a fair bit, and figure I'll toss a few more things in the fire.

Competition classes. There's a bunch of ways to delineate classes--wheel travel, tire size, body (or lack thereof), frame (or lack thereof), etc. Camo, your past years in buggy racing, you remember some (if not all) of this, I'm sure. The dez guys have wheel travel limits on some classes, require stock appearing bodies, etc., to try and keep some classes budget. Stock class would be up to 33" tires, say, Modified, up to 38", Super Mod, up to 42", and Open... well... anything goes, including implement stuff.

Claiming classes. This is my favorite, personally. I want to see an ultra-budget class, where, anywhere you finish, anybody who finishes below you, can (by the rules) buy your truck after the event, for a predetermined value, say $5k. If you won't sell, you're DQ and/or blacklisted from the next event in that series, or the rest of the year. Second place gets first dibs on buying First's truck; if he doesn't want it, Third gets next call. On down the line; if Eleventh wants Tenth's truck, and has the cash, he gets it. Set the dollar value low enough to cover a $500 truck, a winch, and a set of tires, and maybe an extra grand worth of cage and whatnot, and you'll see massively competitive beater piles.

Now, as for Currie's Fire Ant being worth $125k... if that's what they tell the IRS it cost them to build, that's one measure of value. Would you buy it for that? Probably not. Would I? Hell no. But somebody might, and you know what... if somebody will, that's actually a good thing for the sport. Wait... what? How can that be? 'Cause that guy, who's dropping $125k on the Fire Ant, is funding Currie's development of more new cool stuff, some of which you and I can afford, some of which, we might use. I see it all the time, guys call up wanting to talk suspension development, want to know what a one-off will cost them. Then they ask what the second one will cost. They're not stupid, and it's economics--the proto time to build the first one, if it's a custom and one-off, is huge. Pulling the jigs out of mothballs to do the second, is a hell of a lot cheaper than one-offing it again.

I've seen a lot of guys on the trail with a brand-new (whatever), that went from the dealer lot straight to the 4x4 shop, maybe even on a trailer, with the gold card in the glovebox. The proud new owner picked it up two weeks or a month or whatever later, after everything but the body and the frame had been removed and replaced with stuff the factory never intended... I wouldn't be even remotely surprised if some of those guys were dropping $60k or more, on a brand-new (whatever) to 'wheel. I've seen 'em follow my lines in the rocks, following a fullsize (sorta) Toyota, with a truck that's a foot narrower, two feet shorter, and has steering that you *can* smash on a rock. Then they look at me and wonder how I got through without mangling my steering, with no concept of that mine's IFS and skidplated. Or (if it's the red truck) above and behind the axle.

Basically, the bottom line is, some guy pushing the envelope, making cool parts that nobody needs, is developing the technology. Whether anybody buys it from him may be a different story. But look around you... right here. How many guys are on this thread bitchin' that John Currie is a prick, that Walker Evans is an a-hole, or that they're all just money-grubbing greedy little (whatever)? Now how many of those same guys, here bitchin', have made their own parts? How many have swiped a concept that they saw on somebody else's truck, made it a little bigger, a little stronger, a little better? And benefitted from somebody else's pushing the envelope? Maybe you've never bought from Currie; maybe you never will. But the technology Currie's working on, does wander out from the "Currie Compound", and get used elsewhere.

Maybe they could start a "junkyard" competition version. You pay $$ to enter the yard and you get so many hours to build a competitive machine.....

Or, maybe claimer classes. John, I want your machine, here's the $125k claimer fee.

Jay

I say we turn the whole damn thing into NASCAR. Why not? It's not like I can't go race at the local dirt track for about $1500. Having an elite group gives people something to strive for. Shit, how do you think NASCAR and the IRL got started. It's the same deal here folks. Why do people go to the dunes, so they can pretend to be Robby Gordan or Walker Evans. Why do people race at these little mom and pop circle tracks, so they can pretend to be Richard Petty or A.J. Foyt. Why did I spend years going a 1/4 mile at a time straight, I was trying to be more like The Snake or Big Daddy. If you can compete, then compete. If you can't, do the best you can and enjoy your weekend on the rocks.

You have to pay to play here folks. I think it is obsurd to tell people to NOT spend as much money as they can to be competitive. How many of you put off a home improvement or even decent food so you could afford to have that 60 front so that the next time you went to the trail, you would conquer something (or someone).

As for the value of the vehicle, I claimed my truck was worth about $12,500 with the insurance company, because that is what I have in it to date. I know GOOD AND WELL that I would only get about $5k out of it if I tried to sell it, but that is not what they needed. They wanted a ***VALUE*** as in what would it take for me to recreate that truck from scratch. Same with all classic cars. My 72 chevelle is insured for a HELL of a lot more than I could sell it for.

It sounds to me like there is a LOT of bitching and moaning about NOTHING!!!


It's called evolution folks. Without it, we would all still be running 33's and thinking we were BADASS!!!

Originally posted by H8monday



Talk about shiny and pretty boy, do you even have a scratch on that Jeep? And is your driver side front shock disconnected in that 1st poser pic?:flipoff2:

Shiny???? What the fawk are you talking about.? The only thing that shines is the garnite in the dirt or scrathces shining away. I havent washed my peice in 2 years...
And yes that is a quick disco shock setup :flipoff2: I broke the other off that day two. They were just temp welded after the Dana 44 front install but never got around to making permanant ones..

Originally posted by camo
hey rockbuggy i could build that heep for 4 bucks :flipoff2:

Sure you could slick. Maybe mine would be cool if I was dumb enough to spend 10K on some axles... :flipoff2: :flipoff2:

rockbuggy i never said yours was not cool....just tired of reading your post when somebody says they did it for a dollar you say you can do it for fifty cents. whatever.

Originally posted by camo
rockbuggy i never said yours was not cool....just tired of reading your post when somebody says they did it for a dollar you say you can do it for fifty cents. whatever.

That's what I was thinkin', thanks. :D

To avoid the crap slinging and address the title of this thread, I will simply quote what my momma has told me all my life:

"Something is only worth as much as someone else is willing to pay for it".


Therefore, all of us sitting here arguing about "worth" when we all have different standards for what something is "worth" is simply absurd.

*TO ME* that Jeep is not worth $125k. Not worth $25k either. Just doesn't yank my chain enough...

To someone else, it may be "worth" $1 million.

What *would* make it worth $125k to me? If I had a buyer who said they would give me $150k for it, then all of a sudden me buying it for $125k seems like a super deal :p



Who's right? Everybody is :D:D:D

how much money should YOU spend on YOUR rig?
i propose not more than 20% of your adjusted gross income.
If your'e married cut this in half. Subtract 2% for each kid, 3% for alimony and child support. Take your age divide by 2 plus 7. This number times 100 should be mulitiplied by your I.Q. (if your I.Q. is 72 than multiply 72%) If you exceed this final amount then you are baned from driving through the 'box, which by the way is still impossible. :beer: bbuuurrrppp.