Here’s the latest reader question, along with my reply:
Angelo writes: I have for years been looking for a 4×4. I lost hope seeing the prices at the dealership found a place called Japanese classics they sell 1990s Japanese cars most are under 20k. I’m saving up now and that place gives me hope of getting a car it’s hard to find nice cars today at low prices though this place might help others who don’t have endless cash to spend. Second thing I’m seeing a lot online about what’s called van life mostly young people buying a vehicle and making a tiny house out of it though it would make a interesting article I’m thinking most these people can’t afford a house I know that feeling.
My reply: I’m
also looking to get one of those ’90s-era JDM vehicles; specifically, a mid-’90s diesel 4WD Toyota HiLux, which is basically a Tacoma (or 4Runner) with right-hand drive and that diesel engine, which Toyota isn’t allowed to sell here. Not because it “pollutes” but because it is not compliant. If you’re interested in more about that distinction, see some of the articles (posted in Politics) that I have written over the years.
In any event, these vehicles aren’t just interesting. They are very desirable. Because – unlike the stuff they’re trying to cram down our throats now – they are simple and free of the electronica; the cloying “driver assistance technology” and alienating systems that pre-empt the driver by trying to control how he drives. The mechanically injected diesels from that era are also anvil-reliable and will burn almost any fuel oil. They do not even require a battery. So long as you have a hill you can roll them down to clutch start them.
On van life: I would probably do something like that if I were in my 20s today. What I’d really like to see, though, is an end to zoning laws. This would enable a person – young or just not wanting to spend a fortune – to buy a small plot of land and put a small house, or a van or a trailer/RV on it and live in it at very low cost. This would enable young people to get a leg up, so to speak. And it would allow everyone to have the option of a much lower cost of living.
. . .
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Another benefit of no zoning. You could have a business on your residential land too. Very few places one can actually do that “legally” in this day and age.
The last thing the government wants are millions of self sufficient let alone comfortable or even wealthy, self employed “citizens”.