I got involved with Cryptocurrency last fall. September to be exact. I bit the bullet and bought $3300cdn worth of components for a six card RX480 mining rig. Being that I had a wife and new baby, I felt that if the world of crypto didn't work out for me, I could at least sell the components and recover some of my costs. The goal: To make enough cryptocurrency over time to buy a 2002 Pontiac Trans Am. You can read one of my earlier posts regarding this by searching my posts.
I began mining ethereum, and got my 6 card rig running mid September 2016. I chose to exchange the Ethereum I got for Bitcoin. I continued doing that until June of 2017 when I sold that rig for $4000 and bought a new gtx1070 rig for $4400. On the way when crypto was going crazy in the spring, I played the shitcoin markets very conservatively and made an additional .5 btc. I also made some additional BTC off the BCH fork. The only thing I spent any of my bitcoin on was a Trezor. As of Oct 1st 2017 from both the mining and the trading I ended up with 5 Bitcoin! :)
Now came for the big decision. I had clearly made my goal of enough money to buy a car of any value. Being the conservative person I am I spent a long time deliberating whether I should spend any of the BTC given my confidence that it would continue to rise in price. I checked out the classifieds every few days, sometimes every day honing in on prices and types of cars I might go for. In the end my interest peaked when I came across a 2000 Firehawk edition car with 150,000km priced at $13,500cdn. Almost at the same time a friend linked me to another car. A 1995 Pontiac Firebird Formula which had no rust, and had been heavily modified with a 383 stroker for $9500cdn. I took both cars out for a drive, but was leaning towards the 2000 Firehawk. I told my friend, I would maybe consider the Formula if it was cheaper, but hesitated to put in an offer on either car.
Then things took a turn for the worse. I got an email from a close friends wife. We had just visited them a few weeks prior. She said he had been experiencing flu like symptoms, got some bloodwork done, and had been sent to the hospital where he was diagnosed with a rare form of Lukemia. I sent him some emails because we weren't allowed to visit. A week later he caught an infection, and a few days following that he passed away. I was heart broken, and still am. This was a friend I had gone to university with, spent almost every day of my life with. A friend who I had now spent two decades building a relationship with sharing all kind of life experiences with both good and bad. He was only 38, and his youngest of three boys isn't even 1 year old. Of course, we will continue to support our friend his wife and the boys through the healing process. But this will be a hole in all our worlds that will never be filled.
I have now been reminded how fleeting life can be, and while I have done my best to hodl my bitcoin I realize you can't just keep waiting for the future to happen. Last Monday I noticed the fellow who had the 1995 Formula reduced his price to $6000. He just needed it gone before winter, and nobody was really interested in a fast car this late in the season. Wouldn't you know...1 Bitcoin was worth $6000 cdn at that same time. I said to myself hey, I reached my goal, it's time to enjoy life, I will still have 4 Bitcoin left that I can hodl for as long as I like. But for now...it's time to buy this car. So I did it.
I have since called up all my friends and family and taken them for short joy rides. It's given me a great chance to have some conversations with my buddies and inform them I intend to reach out to them more to hang out. They were 100% game, and were really excited I reached my goal. I look forward to driving with the T-Tops off as time goes on, and maybe even getting a paint job with a big bird on the car one day.
1995 Pontiac Firebird Forumula
Colour: Purple
Trim: Leather w/ T-Tops
Blueprinted LT1 w/ 383 Stroker 40k on it
Composite Cam
msd adjustable distributer and coil
1.5 ratio rockers
hyperutectic pistons
dual disc centerforce clutch
3.73 gear rear diff
holly external fuel pump, pressure regulator
accel injectors, performance throttle body, and cold air intake
new brakes, tires, clean glass, not much rust
Needs a paint job due to rock chips.
Here it is. I wish I could take my lost friend for a rip. We would have had a blast and laughed all the way home.
