Tax returns are coming! Tax returns are coming! Tax returns are coming! Is anyone else super excited about getting their refund checks in the mail or seeing a few extra numbers boost up your bank account? Sure, we all want to be somewhat financially responsible adults, using some of that bonus cash towards bills, home improvement, whatever you fancy…but obviously we need to dish a few dollars towards purchases that benefit our inner hoon. Maybe you want to add a few more Hot Wheels cars to your massive collection or scoop up an old bike off Craigslist to transform into a flashy café racer. Gosh I miss that green 1982 Honda CM250c I rebuilt in my parents’ garage during my college years. Perhaps you’ll use it towards a down-payment on a new car. Yes, while writing this post, I opened a separate browser window open to realistically determine how much higher my tax return would need to be in order to secure a down-payment on a new Challenger Hellcat. Doesn’t hurt to dream right? Or you’ll just finally buy and install a few go-fast parts on your project car.
What’s on my automotive shopping list for this year’s tax return? I’m thinking about a set of lowering springs for my beloved 2001 Chevrolet Camaro I’ve owned for eleven years now. A new year’s resolution I drafted-up was to compete in a few charity road rallies and autocross, like I actively used to. Time to get my car hobby quota back up to speed and my tax return is tempting me to do all sorts of modifications. I’ve already got a gorgeous set of black and chrome wheels to compliment the rally-red paint job- yet there’s an embarrassing gap between the tires and the fenders. One friend with a newer Ford Taurus SHO that I’m still convinced is an undercover cop car, jokingly refers to my Camaro as the ‘Monster Truck’. If only I had a mullet, jean jacket and Iron Maiden blasting through the t-tops, the stereotype for a Camaro driver would then be mastered. Another friend, who drives a modified Honda S2000, even to rock climbing endeavors at our local crag, Devil’s Lake State Park, commented once on a photo I posted with “DROP THAT THING!” Clearly my fourth-gen Camaro needs to drop it like it’s hot. I mean, I had to throw in a Snoop Dogg reference. Had to.
That now begs the question, what automotive-related purchase will you be cutting part of your tax return for? Choose wisely my friends, choose wisely.
[Image: Copyright ©2016 Hooniverse/Robby DeGraff]
Hooniverse Asks Bonus: How Are You Spending Your Tax Return?
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19 responses to “Hooniverse Asks Bonus: How Are You Spending Your Tax Return?”
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Something Quiet and Rewarding https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/81afa2e831e1028f6f1e07ce0ef06848b1531dd0b89ec6c7b806e44294c2c662.jpg
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Might buy a car too.
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When my interest-free loan to Uncle Sam comes back to me, I see all-new brakes and a fresh set of Continentals for the ’82 Volvo 240 Turbo wagon that I picked up last summer. I just completed a huge laundry list of work under the hood, removed the dead A/C system and replaced the heater blower motor, among other repairs. I’ve been patient, but I’m itching to get it on the road and spool that snail up.
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What? You’re not getting interest on your tax returns?
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Ha! Not only do we not get interest, they’re counted as income on the next year’s taxes! Gives me the fantods.
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You’re joking?
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da Saab’s gonna need new rubber for the summer (we’re still a good month or more away from taking off the snow tires though).
Undecided yet – the last 2 sets were Continentals. We’ll see. -
Shit.
I yanked several $k out of my 401K for mods on the 2012 GT last year.
Now I owe the gubment $700.
I still win – IRS peckers. -
I should invest the money into my new Lemons racer and some summer tires for the Mazda, but Craigslist has other plans:
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2875de5e9e252abaa7c7e7f388ac210b2207b86b65b54cd648a93e4e8281a22a.jpg
https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/wsh/cto/6045258257.html -
I’m unhappy when I get to the end of my return and find that I’m due a refund. It’s bad enough to not get to see two days’ pay out of every 10 on my fortnightly pay periods, let alone taking more than is actually due. If I’m due a refund I have it paid ASAP and if I need to pay more (which is my usual situation) I don’t let that go out till April 15th even if I do my taxes in February or March.
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Exactly. People who get excited about tax refunds simply don’t understand the system. Why would you let anyone else (the government, in particular) hang on to your hard-earned money any longer than you had to let them? While my ultimate goal is to see a zero at the end of my tax return, my more realistic goal is to be +/- $100. I’m pretty consistent with that on the federal but the NC state income tax people keep moving the goal posts (fortunately, in a net positive direction for me but they make it difficult to be accurate from year-to-year). Bring on the FairTax!
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I owe,
I owe,
it’s off to work I go… http://www.iheartthemart.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/7dwarfs23.jpg
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Ideally I would like to owe $20 come April 15th. Unfortunately this year it is a lot more than that this year.
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Strictly speaking, I don’t think it’ll be coming out of tax return money (that’ll probably end up being a portion of this year’s trip), but the only car purchase planned is a roof rack, something to haul around a kayak or bicycles (which barely fit in the hatch, with about ten minutes of fighting and scratching things up).
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My 71 Alfa Spider is getting a new set of cams installed. In theory anyhow these cams are the result of 40 years of advances in design knowledge. They are not race cams, or even horsepower cams, but torque cams. At 1779 cc displacement, torque is at a premium – stock numbers say 137 lbs – and even though the car only weighs 2260 lbs and has a 5-speed, more (a lot more) torque would be nice in city traffic. If I get as much as a 10% bump in torque though, I’ll be thrilled.
Horsepower figures for the stock 1971 engine are all over the map with claims of 122 to 135 HP. Road & Track in March 1971 cites 135 BHP. However the next year’s 1962 cc engine is also rated at 132 HP albeit with a lower 6,000 rpm redline. Then there’s the question of metric HP vs SAE vs BHP and the fact that Alfa cited the exact same HP figure for the European carbureted engine as the fuel-injected U.S. engine. So, who the Hell knows, except that whatever the figure, it’s not going to win a drag race with a Civic Si.
Besides, there are limits to what I can do in terms of chasing HP via the cams without modifying the fuel injection system; it’s mechanical and a marvel, but has limits to how much fuel you can push through the stock system. Sure, you can have a performance injection pump built, but that runs about $1500 if you install it yourself….so that’s unlikely to happen.
Too long didn’t read version: Speed is money ; I can’t spend that fast. -
Adding it to my fund generated by an insurance claim and sale of my old GMC pickup truck to fund the purchase of a van.
Ford E-150 Extended is what I’m thinking. Dirt bike camping, that’s what.
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Straight into savings so I can get a house with garage space. A little will go to summer tires for the Saab though; I’m thinkig RE760s.
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Paying for the nice Kuat bike rack on our new Mazda CX-5 we bought in a hurry after our Saturn lunched its transaxle.
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New winter rubber for the Tucson. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/224f7100e25f6f3fa68a60a1d37f2735a58b7fc1791e98bf42184a0fb8dfbb1c.jpg
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