# Things you vowed you'd buy when you were a grown-up **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 10, 2016, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064 "2016-06-10T23:17:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064/101 "2016-06-17T00:06:13Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I always wanted to hire a local artist to paint murals on my walls. My parents wouldn’t allow it. > > Neither will my wife. ;). I still think our bedroom and living room would benefit from murals. But that’s a dream left unfulfilled. You know that you can buy off-the-shelf full-wall murals? (they are more common in some countries). Also, speaking of which, did you ever see the Paddington Bear movie? Not that I recommend it, but the single best moment of the whole film is the animation of the fabulous wall mural. Personally, I wanted to have kids. I’ve got one, which is all I’m going to get, so I’ve half made it. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064/102 "2016-06-17T00:30:18Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always wanted one of those boxy US Mail Jeeps. I think there are companies that convert them back to left hand drive and sell them. It just looks like a great little car to take camping and fishing. I lived with a pastor in Wisconsin for a winter… (surprisingly, not the first line in an Oprah Book Club tragedy) And I have fond-yet-horrifying memories of sitting in the passenger seat of his postal mini-jeep-truck. Being the defrost. Yep, scraping as fast as I could. It was below zero without heat or much of a fan, so I would have to scrape a frisbee-sized hole in the icy windshield in front of the driver, making a huge shower of snow. Hard to do while I shivered and my teeth rattled (from the lack of functional shocks, too, but mostly from the cold). But, hey, Rev. Aging Hippie was sticking it to the man by not really buying a car. So, enjoy your Mail Jeep… in a temperate clime. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064/103 "2016-06-17T15:54:05Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > A Corvette, but it’ll never happen. Like most sports cars, when you’re old enough to afford it you’ll look stupid in it. Same here but it’s totally going to happen. That’s my retirement plan. And I will look smokin’ hot in it. 😉 For me it wasn’t stuff I would buy, but stuff I would do as a grown-up. Long story short: I’ve seen all my favourite bands in concert and traveled to almost all the places I’ve wanted to go. (I’m not finished yet.) ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064/104 "2016-06-17T18:31:35Z")
I said to my kid self “when you are grown up, you can buy a pound of Fannie May candy and eat it all yourself.” And I have, several times. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064/105 "2016-06-17T18:47:15Z")
Obviously not something from childhood, but for a very long time I’ve been intending to stock the home bar with _good_ booze someday. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064/106 "2016-06-17T22:31:41Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > A Corvette, but it’ll never happen. Like most sports cars, when you’re old enough to afford it you’ll look stupid in it. This used to bug me. I’ve owned sports cars all my life, and when I hit 50 it got really annoying to hear the comments about “mid-life crisis” from strangers. :rolleyes: And it’s weird how sports car and motorcycles are different. Riding is much more demanding than driving (especially now that lost of sports cars have automatics or assisted clutches), but people seem much more enthused about an old guy that still rides than one that still likes sports cars. Well, if you’re riding an old bike, at least. The guys on shiny new cruisers get the same flak. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064/107 "2016-06-17T23:31:43Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > A Corvette, but it’ll never happen. Like most sports cars, when you’re old enough to afford it you’ll look stupid in it. My father always wanted a Corvette since he was a teenager. After listening to him on the phone talking about buying a hypothetical Corvette for the 1000th time, I finally just told him that he needed to stop talking and just go buy one. He has enough money to buy anything he wants so he went down to the dealership and told them he wanted the baddest Corvette made. They came up with a Z07 (a Z06 with track modifications) a couple of states away and shipped it in for a test drive. He bought it on the spot. It is a true supercar and a really good deal when you look at the price/performance curve. He is 67, has had it about a year now and only takes it out on sunny days with no traffic. It is his garage queen just to look at the rest of the time. I think he just really wanted his kids’ permission to finally buy one even though he never really needed that. A lot of his new friends are in the local Corvette club and about his age as well. He told me a couple of weeks ago he has regretted buying many things in his life but his Corvette is the opposite of that. Regardless of what the ads say, that is really what they are for at any age. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064/108 "2016-06-18T00:12:49Z")
When I was a kid what I truly lusted after was the Ruby Slippers. The first time I saw the movie I was a goner. Then, when I was in high school, MGM Studios did their big sale of old stuff, and I thought “Here’s my chance!” But a kabillion other people had the same idea, and there was no chance. I was so disgruntled I didn’t even go to the sale at all. Regretted it later. One of my friends got the sweetest old tuxedo complete with top hat. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064/109 "2016-06-18T19:01:10Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > When I was a kid what I truly lusted after was the Ruby Slippers. The first time I saw the movie I was a goner. > > Then, when I was in high school, MGM Studios did their big sale of old stuff… But aren’t the Ruby Slippers in the Smithsonian? Maybe if you’d bought the slippers, you would’ve donated them. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064/110 "2016-06-18T19:36:35Z")
> [@digs](#): > > But aren’t the Ruby Slippers in the Smithsonian? > > Maybe if you’d bought the slippers, you would’ve donated them. There was more than one pair I think. I’m glad the movie made them red instead of silver. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2016, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064/111 "2016-06-18T23:57:10Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Same for me. I still look at them online and in magazines at least once a week but then I realized what a horrendously bad financial decision that would be. The only way I would buy a plane would be if I stumbled across a really old classic like a Piper Cub or Aeronca that needed a good home for a cheap price. Those exist but even that would be questionable. > > It would still be a (fun) money sinkhole but at least it wouldn’t break the bank. When I was 10, I was thinking more of the lines of a Mooney or even a small jet but the money for those today will make your eyeballs pop out of your head (even a new Cessna 172 is prohibitively expensive at about $300,000 and those are just the Toyota Corollas of the airplane world; helicopters are much worse). > > I still plan to get something but it may just be a fancy ultralight or a powered parachute. That will do just as well because, truth be told, I have little practical use for a real airplane even if I could afford any one I wanted without blinking. Just tell people you’ve got one, that works just as well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064.md?page=5)