Micah's Read of the Week, Vol. 72
Old trucks for new money, invading armadillos, Lorne Michaels, Recipe Corner, and more.
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Old Trucks for New Money
The booming market for certain vintage vehicles is driven by a particular vision of authenticity.
Here’s a fun story about the growing popularity of old trucks. It’s really a story about nostalgia, entrepreneurship, and tech money.
One evening last fall, a man in Marble Falls, Texas, listed a 1989 Ford F-250 for sale on Craigslist. Not long ago, the boxy, brick-nosed pickup might have drawn the interest of a bricklayer or a roofer looking for a cheap work truck. Even to Ford fans, the truck was nothing special. “They’ve always been less desirable, because they have this ugly front end. It’s just super eighties, but I dig it,” Stephen Billick, a thirty-nine-year-old filmmaker and old-truck enthusiast, told me. The truck was listed at 8 p.m. on a Saturday, for twenty-three hundred dollars—twice as much, approximately, as it would have sold for just a few years ago. Billick scrounged up the cash and showed up at the listed address at six the next morning. He handed the seller a wad of hundreds without bothering to take the truck for a test drive. By the time the transaction was done, a half-dozen interested buyers—several of them “Austin hipster types,” Billick said—were there, glaring at him. “I’m the bad guy because I got there first. But that’s how cutthroat it is,” he said. “It’s a lot like Austin real estate.”
Between 2010 and 2020, Austin and its suburbs gained more than half a million new residents, making it the fastest-growing big city in the country. Many of the newcomers work at the tech companies that have opened headquarters or satellite campuses in the city, including Google, Facebook, Apple, and Tesla. The influx spiked during the coronavirus pandemic, when the average price of a house in the city went up a hundred thousand dollars in twelve months.
Truck flipping became a lucrative business—buying a vehicle for a few thousand dollars in one of the small towns on Austin’s periphery, then driving it into the city and unloading it for two or three times as much. “People are moving from L.A., and the first thing they do is they go to Maufrais and get a Stetson, they go to Tecovas and get boots,” Billick told me. “Then they start looking around on Craigslist for a truck. And they can afford more than most of us can.”
While it’s keenly felt in Austin, the hunger for beautiful old trucks is a national phenomenon.
Prices for vintage trucks rose more than fifty per cent in the past four years, twenty per cent more than the vintage-vehicle market as a whole, according to data from the collectible-car-insurance company Hagerty.
In 2008, you could buy a functioning 1970 Ford Bronco for around twelve thousand dollars; since then, the price has gone up more than sevenfold, while top-quality seventies Broncos sell for more than two hundred thousand dollars.
So why are these vehicles so popular right now?
Trucks and S.U.V.s became ubiquitous during the nineties, formative years for millennials and Gen X-ers, the age groups driving the truck boom. And, if an Italian sports car brings to mind a baby boomer in the throes of a midlife crisis, a thirty-year-old Land Rover or Chevy Blazer connotes a different kind of escapism: road trips, national parks, off-road adventures. “These younger enthusiasts, they want to do something with their vehicle,” John Wiley, a Hagerty senior analyst, said. It’s also still far cheaper to buy a Bronco as your status vehicle than a Ferrari.
Of course, in Austin, as we discussed last week in this space, it all comes back to tech money.
In Austin, as in the Bay Area, Nonnenberg told me, tech workers make up a large share of buyers. “People are spending a whole bunch of money to buy a 1964 Ford pickup truck, which is so rudimentary in its construction and design and capability,” he said—they’ll joke about spending a fortune on what amounts to a tractor. “But, frankly, I think that extreme analog nature is appealing for people sitting in front of a screen all day.”
So what does this mean to me?
Thanks to those high-paying tech jobs, Austin will continue to be a destination. So what does it mean for those of us who live here?
It means the best time to buy in Austin (and Texas) was yesterday. Get in the game now.
The first step to any home search, especially in a super competitive market is pre-approval. Interest rates are still at historic lows, but appear to be headed higher.
Now is a great time to start planning for the next year and beyond. If your plan for 2022 includes looking for a new home, the best thing you can do is start the conversation now. Let’s talk.
Schedule a risk-free mortgage consultation with me right now HERE. Or get started in just a few clicks at micahwiener.com.
Thank you for your support. Happy Holidays!
Back to the read…
Instagram of the Week
We got some wedding photos this week. They are beautiful, just like my wife. I’m very lucky.
‘It’s like hunting aliens’: inside the North Carolina town besieged by armadillos
Thanks to climate change, armadillos, native to southern America, are making their way up north. And there’s no sign of them stopping their relentless march
Armadillos are invading, they are destroying property, and people don’t know what to do.
Homeowners, perturbed at their lawns being torn up by the newly arrived mammals, initially deputized Bullard as a sort of armadillo bounty hunter, handing him $100 for every dead carcass he produced. But armadillos have wreaked such horticultural havoc that dozens of people in and around Sapphire, North Carolina, now have Bullard on a retainer, allowing him to prowl around their properties at night, armed, in the hope of shooting the culprits.
In addition to being destructive, armadillos are remarkably resilient and hard to kill.
The task has been learned hastily on the job. The standard .22 rifles Bullard used on the first armadillos didn’t seem to kill them outright. One of the creatures bounded away in a freakish, kangaroo-like hop, leaving an astonished Bullard flailing. The armadillos give off a sort of loamy grey color at night, a shone light absorbed by their bodies, rather than reflected in their eyes.
“It’s like hunting aliens,” said Bullard, who is more used to hunting feral pigs. “We know nothing about them. We can’t seem to kill them easily. They show up unexpectedly. And their numbers have just exploded.”
Do you think you don’t have armadillos where you live yet? Not for long.
“It’s only a matter of time before we see range expansions into other states,” said Colleen Olfenbuttel, furbearer biologist at the North Carolina wildlife resources commission. The agency confirmed the first armadillo in North Carolina in 2007 but numbers have rocketed in the western half of the state since 2019. “It’s challenging to deal with armadillo damage. They are hard to trap and I don’t know if there’s a repellent for them,” said Olfenbuttel. “I’m as curious as anyone as to where they will pop up next.”
An emerging theory for this advance of armadillos is the climate crisis. The animals dislike freezing conditions and global heating is making winters milder, turning northern parts of the US more armadillo-friendly. Around Sapphire, the armadillos happily root around in the dirt with their snouts and claws, feasting on insects at elevations above 4,000ft. “We just don’t have those really cold winters any more and I’m sure that’s helped them,” said Olfenbuttel.
The armadillos have made it into Missouri, Iowa and even the southern reaches of Nebraska. Barriers such as rivers aren’t a problem – the animals can hold their breath for up to six minutes and walk on the riverbed, or even inflate their intestines to float across to the other side.
Lorne Michaels still lives for Saturday night
The showbiz impresario steers SNL toward the half-century mark
Lorne Michaels needs no introduction, yet he’s been seemingly hesitant to participate in profile pieces. This is a good one.
“I think this is as important as anything else, any other art form,” he says of his life’s work. “I won’t want to see it go down. That’s important. On the other hand: 50 years is, for a television show …”
Before SNL, Lorne had been writing for Phyllis Diller, Lily Tomlin and “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In.”
“The kind of comedy and work we were doing was so disconnected from what people my age were going through — you know, in the streets, universities,” Lorne told an interviewer when he was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame in 1999. “It was a time of turmoil, and this was very traditional television. … I wanted to do the kind of comedy that was making me and my friends laugh.”
As the show debuted, Lorne was about to turn 31. Both Nixon and Saigon had fallen in the preceding 14 months. The United States was stagflating; New York teetered on bankruptcy. “Saturday Night,” as the show was first called, was designed to give rebellious voice to young baby boomers and revolutionize comedy the way the Beatles had blown up pop music.
The show “impacted the way people over a certain age think,” says Candice Bergen, who hosted the fourth-ever episode (and four more since). “It shaped the culture, and how the culture responds to politics, to important figures. Nobody’s ever had an impact like that on our society.”
The role that Michaels plays at SNL is fascinating.
Today is a Tuesday, a writing sprint, and by tomorrow his team will have the beginnings of a show. Wednesday afternoon, at the table read, Lorne will sit at the head and, in the voice of God, mumble aloud the stage directions of each sketch. He’ll be at least 30 years older than anyone else at the table; everyone will look to him for the slightest sign of approval.
Recipe Corner
Sweet Potato Planks With Chicken, Spinach and Peanut Sauce
Ok. So the holidays are almost here. We could all use a few easy and healthy weeknight meals. Here’s another one. It would make for great leftovers too.
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, pounded to 1/2-inch thickness
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons neutral oil, such as canola, grapeseed or safflower, divided
1/4 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon table or fine sea salt, divided
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 large sweet potatoes (about 14 ounces each; look for potatoes that are rounder rather than longer)
5 ounces fresh baby spinach leaves
1/4 cup natural creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons rice vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1 1/2 teaspoons honey
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes, plus more to taste
2 scallions, thinly sliced on the bias
1/4 cup roasted, unsalted peanuts, coarsely chopped
Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Place the chicken in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish, brush both sides of the chicken with 2 teaspoons of the oil and season with 1/8 teaspoon each of the salt and pepper. Cover the pan with foil and bake for about 18 minutes, or until the chicken is just cooked through and reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees on an instant-read thermometer. Remove from the oven (keep the oven on), and set aside to cool. Using your fingers, or a knife and fork, shred the chicken; you should get about 2 1/4 cups.
Increase the oven temperature to 425 degrees. Cut the potatoes lengthwise into planks about 1/3-inch thick. Use the 12 center-most planks for this recipe and save the remaining ends and slices for another use. Using the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil, brush both sides of the 12 planks, then place them onto a large, rimmed baking sheet and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Roast for 20 minutes, then use a metal spatula to flip the potatoes and roast for an additional 10 minutes, or until they are tender and browned in spots.
While the potatoes are roasting, place the spinach in a large, microwave-safe bowl, cover, and microwave on HIGH until the spinach is wilted but still bright green, 90 seconds. (Alternatively, you can steam the spinach in a steamer basket set over a pot of boiling water for 90 seconds.) In a medium bowl, stir together the peanut butter, water, soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, lime juice, honey and red pepper flakes until well combined and creamy. Taste, and season with more red pepper flakes, if desired.
To serve, place 2 to 3 sweet potato planks onto each serving plate. Top each plank with some of the spinach leaves, then a layer of shredded chicken. Drizzle each with a scant 1 tablespoon of peanut sauce, then sprinkle with sliced scallions and chopped peanuts. Serve warm or at room temperature.
charred carrots with herb drizzle
This looks like a showstopping Christmas side, or a mid-week main.
FOR THE PICKLED SHALLOTS:
½ cup thinly sliced shallot divided (about one large shallot)
1 tbsp roughly chopped golden raisins
3 tbsp champagne vinegar
FOR THE CARROTS:
2 lb rainbow carrots peeled, ends trimmed, and halved or quartered lengthwise
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp maple syrup
juice of ½ an orange about 2 tbsp
1 tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp Kosher salt
Cracked black pepper
FOR THE HERB DRIZZLE:
½ cup chopped fresh dill plus more for garnish
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 large cloves garlic roughly chopped
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp champagne vinegar
1 tsp. lemon zest
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
½ tsp kosher salt
FOR SERVING:
¼ cup roasted shelled pistachios roughly chopped
loosely chopped fresh dill fronds
loosely chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Flaky salt
Preheat oven to 400. Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.
In a small bowl, add the shallots, golden raisins, and champagne vinegar. Stir, and set aside until you’re ready to serve.
On the prepared baking sheet, add the carrots and drizzle with olive oil, maple syrup, fresh orange juice, smoked paprika, cumin, cinnamon, salt, and pepper. Toss to coat well, and arrange the carrots, cut side down. Transfer to the oven and roast for 20-25 minutes, until they’re tender.
Meanwhile, in a wide mouth mason jar, add the herbs, garlic, oil, vinegar, lemon zest and juice, red pepper flakes, and salt. Using an immersion blender, place the head of the blender in the bottom of the jar and begin to pulse. Blend until mostly smooth. Set aside until you’re ready to plate.
Once the carrots are tender, turn the broiler on high and broil the carrots until they begin to char, about 2 minutes, watching carefully to not burn.
On a serving platter, add a large spoonful of the herb sauce. Using the back of your spoon, swoosh it across the plate to make an abstract line.
Pile the carrots atop the sauce in the middle of the platter. Drizzle over a bit more herb sauce.
Strain the shallots and the raisins from the vinegar and sprinkle them over the carrots. Garnish with pistachios, dill, cilantro and flaky salt.
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