My 1987 Ford Mustang

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand – "My 1987 Ford Mustang" (June 15, 2026)

Podcast by iHeartPodcasts

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Episode Overview

This episode of Armstrong & Getty On Demand centers on the theme of personal mistakes and the life lessons learned from them. Sparked by a question from Armstrong’s son—"What's the biggest mistake you've ever made?"—the hosts reflect on their own regrets, bad decisions (especially about cars and finances), and how these mistakes have informed their current perspectives. The tone is reflective, modestly humorous, and anchored in the idea that learning from mistakes is as valuable, if not more, than the pain they sometimes cause.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Prompt: "Biggest Mistake You've Ever Made?"

• [02:00] Armstrong shares his son's question and muses on what truly counts as a "biggest mistake" when you remove tragedies and issues outside one's control. He ties in his own answer to a past radio segment where listeners couldn't use childbirth or tragedy as their worst pain.
  • Quote: "My son asked me, and I, you know, I had to come up with an answer or tried to come up with an answer. He said, what's the biggest mistake you've ever made?" — Armstrong [01:51]
• The group frequently returns to the difficulty of identifying a single, defining mistake, instead landing on a collection of regrets and what they've learned from them.

2. Car Purchases: Financial Mistakes

• [02:18] Armstrong recounts buying his 1987 Ford Mustang — the only new car he ever bought, which turned out to be both a “really, really crappy car” and a poor financial decision.
  • Quote: "It's the only new car I ever bought. It just happened to be a really, really crappy car. But it was a dumb idea to buy a new car anyway. I don't ever buy new cars." — Armstrong [02:18]
• [03:24] Getty and [03:44] Michael chime in with their own stories:
  • Getty impulsively bought a car and realized he was getting hustled when the salesman celebrated excessively.
  • Michael points out that, while regrettable, these aren't necessarily the single biggest life mistake, but rather a category of recurring regrets for many people.

3. Opportunity Cost Regrets

• [04:45] Michael reflects on spending his youth "falling in love with smoking pot." Looking back, he sees it as something that dulled his intellect and ambition, especially considering opportunity costs.
  • Quote: "Kind of falling in love with smoking pot when I was a teenager / college student didn’t do me any good. No good. I enjoyed the hell out of it at the time. But in retrospect. Nope." — Michael [04:45]
• [05:07] Armstrong shares a story about spending too much time in dark bars during the day, and wishes he could recover those hours, acknowledging that moderation truly is key.

4. Reflecting on Regret: Is There a "Biggest Mistake"?

• The hosts agree that, for most people, there might not be a single “clear-cut, biggest mistake” unless it’s something truly catastrophic (like losing one’s entire fortune). For the most part, their regrets are more nuanced or incremental.
• [06:40] Michael gives the example of buying a house before the 2008 crash—while painful, he doesn’t see it as a pure “mistake” but rather a lesson in skepticism and the danger of following conventional wisdom.

5. Smaller Mistakes & Lessons Learned

• [07:20] Getty mentions credit card debt as a youthful mistake that took years to remedy.
• [07:29] Armstrong regrets spending too much time in the sun for the sake of being tan, valuing appearance over health.
  • Quote: "Valuing being tan. I would rank that way up toward the top... your skin looks when you're older versus people who protect their skin." — Armstrong [07:34]
• The group riff on how “you look better when you’re tan,” but ultimately conclude it’s not worth the health risks.
• [09:13] Getty prompts discussion of physical injuries from childhood “stupidity”—like trying reckless stunts—but the consensus is that such mistakes are often essential learning experiences.

6. The Value (or Not) of Regret

• Armstrong leans toward optimism, wondering if every mistake was needed to learn important lessons and shape who he is.
  • Quote: "Maybe I get. Maybe I'm working too hard to be glasses half full guy. But on a lot of my stuff, I feel like I needed that to happen, to learn a lesson..." — Armstrong [09:48]
• Michael tries to quantify whether the wisdom acquired ever outweighs the suffering, joking, “If, like, I lost my temper and murdered 10 people... No, that lesson is not worthy of the bad.”
• The overall philosophy is that risk is part of life, and not all regrets or mistakes can or should be entirely avoided.

7. Revisiting Moderation & Time Management

• [12:37] Armstrong and Michael lament the hours spent watching sports. As Armstrong puts it:
  • Quote: "I used to regularly watch all three NFL football games... That's nine hours you could have done something else with." — Armstrong [12:47]
  • Michael adds: "If you kind of feel that, like you're, like, spending too much time, wasting too much time, you probably are." [13:25]
• Ultimately, the group emphasizes being honest with oneself about time spent, while allowing space for harmless fun and relaxation.

8. Final Insights

• Armstrong closes with the idea that, maybe, the costly Mustang was worth it for the lesson learned—he’s probably saved more over the years because he learned not to buy new cars.
  • Quote: "So buying that new car that lost me money and was a pain in the ass, how much money have I probably saved over the years from that lesson?" — Armstrong [13:53]
• The core message: Embrace mistakes, learn from them, seek wisdom over regret—and always be wary of euphoric car salesmen.

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Notable Quotes and Moments

• On Bad Car Purchases: "On an impulse, I wonder how many. For people it is a big purchase of some sort, and often a car." — Armstrong [03:31]
• On Regrets as Lessons: "I feel like I needed that to happen, to learn a lesson... I wouldn't have wanted to be the kind of guy that never did anything risky." — Armstrong [09:48]
• On Substance Use and Friendship: "If you are either drinking or doing drugs... with a group of people who are your friends, you all have a mutual friend. The alcohol or the drugs, you're not really each other's friends." — Michael [11:54]
• On Time Spent Watching Sports: "I used to regularly watch all three NFL football games. The early game, the late game, in the night game. That's nine hours you could have done something else with." — Armstrong [12:47]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [01:09] Armstrong introduces "biggest mistakes" inspired by a question from his son
• [02:18] Armstrong’s story about the 1987 Ford Mustang
• [03:29] Getty and Michael add their bad car purchase experiences
• [04:45] Michael reflects on youthful pot smoking
• [05:07] Armstrong & the bar/French toast story (regret about wasted time)
• [07:20] Getty discusses youthful credit card mistakes
• [07:29] Armstrong regrets excessive tanning
• [09:13] Discussion of childhood physical injuries as life lessons
• [11:54] Michael on substance use and friendship, lasting insight
• [12:37] Armstrong on too much time spent watching sports
• [13:53] Armstrong wonders if financial mistakes pay for themselves through lessons learned

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Conclusion

This episode of Armstrong & Getty On Demand is candid, relatable, and often gently humorous. The hosts dive into personal regrets, mostly involving impulsive decisions and the lessons those decisions provided. Listeners come away reminded that everyone has regrets, but the growth and wisdom gained from them can greatly outweigh the sting—if you’re honest and willing to learn. Armstrong and Getty encourage embracing moderation, skepticism, and a willingness to reflect (but not dwell) on past mistakes.

Transcript

[Karen and Georgia]

This is an iHeart podcast, Guaranteed Human

[America 250 Announcer]

this July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party, hosted by America 250. America's Block Party is a can't miss 4th of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Experience music, performances from major artists, patriotic tributes, and the kickoff to giving 4th, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks. Learn more about this landmark celebration at america250.org,

[Karen and Georgia]

hi, it's Karen and Georgia from My Favorite Murder. We cruised around LA in the Hyundai Ionic 5 and dove into the fascinating life of actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr.

[Michael]

Want the full story?

[Karen and Georgia]

Take a listen. She starts dating Howard Hughes, and in fact, she helps him design a faster plane. So she finds the fastest bird and the fastest fish and sketches out a drawing of what the two would look like as a plane. And that becomes the plane that we know today. And he calls her a genius. Check out our new episode spotlighting groundbreaking innovators like Hedy and Lamar and Billie Jean King. Presented by the Hyundai Ioniq 5.

[Armstrong]

Goodbye, my 1987 Ford Mustang. It's one more thing.

[Getty]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Michael]

One more thing.

[Armstrong]

So my son asked me a question the other day that prompted this thought. We used to do a topic on back when we used to take phone calls. Geez. Many years ago, different kind of talk radio, but we used to take phone calls. Remember when we do, tell us your worst pain, but. But we would eliminate childbirth or tragedy.

[Michael]

Right? No childbirth. No tragedy. Yeah.

[Armstrong]

So I'm. I'm applying that to this one. I'm not the childbirth part, but tragedy really don't. Don't use a tragedy, I suppose, for the answer. But my son asked me, and I, you know, I had to come up with an answer or tried to come up with an answer. He said, what's the biggest mistake you've ever made?

[Michael]

Oh, my God. Oh, wow.

[Armstrong]

So staying away from, I guess, childbirth or tragedy or whatever rules you want to put on it. I was trying to think of big mistakes I've made in my life because there's value in that, you know, if I can pass along big mistakes I've made in my life to my son. That's why I mentioned my 1987 Ford Mustang. That is among my biggest mistakes I've ever made. It's the only new car I ever bought. It just happened to be a really, really crappy car. But it was a dumb idea to buy a new car anyway. I don't ever buy New cars. But I feel like I can have a much better car for the same amount of money. Anywho, I certainly could have done that then back when I was poor, I could have been driven away, nicer car for the same amount of money I bought that new Ford Mustang for. And it just happened to also be a really crappy car. It was at the time that American car companies were making really crappy cars. But that decision hounded me for years because I was upside down in it, as you are with new cars immediately.

[Michael]

I was gonna say, not your conscience, your pocketbook, your actual. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Fiscal situation. Yeah.

[Armstrong]

Anyway, you got any off the top of your head, Michael? Worst mistakes you've ever made?

[Getty]

Definitely a car. Same same type of thing about a car.

[Armstrong]

On an impulse, I wonder how many. For people it is a big purchase of some sort, and often a car.

[Getty]

I was young and I was really disturbed because as soon as I said yes, the sales guy, like, started jumping up and down and was happy.

[Michael]

And I. Wow. Whoa, whoa. I got an idea. Who's getting the better of this deal?

[Armstrong]

It's like, I got him.

[Getty]

I got him, you know?

[Armstrong]

Wow.

[Michael]

Wow. I. I've got to admit, I. I don't mean to be unkind or anything, but obviously we're going with. I mean, it's beyond no tragedies. I mean, the worst purchase you've made is an interesting topic, but there's no way the biggest mistake I've made is the worst purchase I've made.

[Armstrong]

Well, I don't know.

[Michael]

Way.

[Armstrong]

I honestly don't know how I would answer that question. What's the biggest mistake I've made? I mean, my. My marriage didn't work out, but I got two kids that I can't imagine not having, so there's just no way I would. And it was great for a while, so I just.

[Michael]

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because the answer I had at the top of my head was,

[Armstrong]

I guess

[Michael]

this is a mistake. Yeah. Kind of falling in love with smoking pot when I was a teenager slash college student didn't do me any good. No good. I enjoyed the hell out of it at the time. But in retrospect. Nope.

[Armstrong]

Yeah. With. With age, opportunity cost becomes a thing.

[Michael]

Yes.

[Armstrong]

Which you. You have to get to a certain age, I think, to really realize that. That's funny. Henry and I ate at a. Basically a bar yesterday that also serves food, and they have really, really good French toast. So we went there, but it was the middle of the day and it was full of people in there. On a beautiful day inside this dark bar. And now I, you know, no judgment on that. They're watching the soccer match, whatever. But I have spent a lot of my life in dark bars in the middle of the day instead of outside enjoying the beautiful day and doing anything productive or whatever, I would like to have a lot of those hours back. That would add up to many, many, many, many days. So that's an opportunity cost thing.

[Michael]

Yeah, that's.

[Armstrong]

That's, you know, that's just basically every. Everything's okay in moderation. But if you spent too much time on whatever.

[Michael]

Right. And, you know, the outcome has been just fine. I. I've got to admit, I. There are times I wonder, what if. But, you know, I think everybody has that.

[Armstrong]

But you don't have a. I don't know. Do most people. Do most people have a clear cut, biggest mistake? Like, they could quickly answer that question because I couldn't. I still can't.

[Michael]

Oh, wow. I mean, yeah, I don't.

[Armstrong]

Wouldn't you have to almost make a really. Well, I mean, a really big mistake? Like if you put all your. We're talking to a financial guy earlier on the radio show. If you put all your money into SpaceX, that would be a bad idea. Well, yeah, that would be a bad idea. I suppose if you lost all your money and you were then broke, you could say that was the biggest mistake of my life.

[Michael]

Right, Yeah. I mean, we bought a house that was expensive right before the giant crash of, oh, seven, oh, eight, whatever. But, you know, I've spent so much time thinking about that and how that financial crisis came to be and how everybody became convinced that, okay, I'm told by every single authority that this is legit. It's not a bubble. This is because of population, blah, blah, blah. Nobody'd heard the term credit default swap, et cetera, et cetera.

[Armstrong]

Right.

[Michael]

I think of it less as a mistake and more as an example of how you should be skeptical. Skeptical about the conventional wisdom, I guess.

[Armstrong]

You got one, though, Michael.

[Michael]

It was unfortunate.

[Getty]

Well, credit cards, when I was young, I got. They said, hey, you can sign up for a credit card. And of course I did. And, yeah, it took me years to clean that up.

[Armstrong]

I just thought of one. I wish I hadn't gotten so much sun.

[Michael]

Oh, wow.

[Armstrong]

Valuing being. Valuing being tan. I would rank that way up toward

[Michael]

the top and quickly, by God, let's get this job over with. Let's get good and burned.

[Armstrong]

Yeah, that one is not worth it. Both in terms of skin cancer stuff. But just, you know, your. How your skin looks when you're older versus people who protect their. I know a woman who's early 50s now and she went, she went no tan through her life. And all her friends say to her, oh my God, I wish my skin was like your. She looks completely different than the average early 50s woman because she didn't do the damn thing.

[Michael]

Yeah, that really like a catcher's mitt that was left out in the rain. It's terrible.

[Armstrong]

But you sure look good when you're tan, though. Everybody does.

[Michael]

Oh, yeah.

[Armstrong]

Sexy.

[Michael]

Dead and sexy. Makes your teeth look whiter too.

[Armstrong]

You look better in clothes. You look thinner. You look. Everything looks better when you're tan.

[Michael]

Sure. Of course, you get laid a lot to party. You get invited to the good parties, but don't do it. Kids. Of course, kids these days don't care about getting laid. I mean, all the hormones in the water.

[Armstrong]

What I don't have a story like the Filipino horror bit my nose off like Chris Farley does in the movie Dirty Work.

[Michael]

Biggest mistake I ever made was wandering into that Filipino whorehouse who bit my

[Armstrong]

nose off, Ended up without a nose,

[Michael]

as you can see.

[Armstrong]

I was hoping through this I would come up with a better answer for my son with some life's lessons.

[Michael]

Oh, well, feel free to use mine.

[Getty]

What about physical injuries through stupidity? Like when I was a kid?

[Michael]

The list is too long.

[Getty]

I put up a board and tried to jump, you know, a bike. And it went very, very poorly. So.

[Michael]

Yeah, but even that, though, you learned something. You learned risk assessment.

[Getty]

I learned physics.

[Michael]

Learned about gravity. Exactly.

[Armstrong]

I learned about force and mass and inertia and gravity and all kinds of stuff.

[Michael]

I learned the fancy names of several different kinds of injuries. Contusions, lacerations, abrasions.

[Armstrong]

All of them I must have. Maybe I get. Maybe I'm working too hard to be glasses half full guy. But on a lot of my stuff, I feel like I needed that to happen, to learn a lesson or that happened. But I did other bad things bunches of time. And I wouldn't have wanted to be the kind of guy that never did anything risky.

[Michael]

Right.

[Armstrong]

To avoid the times that it didn't work out. I don't want to live that life either. So I don't know, maybe I'm trying too hard to turn lemons into lemonade. I don't know.

[Michael]

There's some sort of formula here. Was the wisdom required, Wisdom acquired greater than the pain endured or the screw up negative effects? I mean, if, like I lost my temper and murdered 10 people. And from that I learned you really needed to take a deep breath and control your temper. No, that lesson is not worthy of the bad. Right. The net takeaway is still negative. And if the net takeaway is positive, well, then, well, how much of a regret is it? How else are you going to get wisdom?

[Getty]

Yeah.

[Armstrong]

Or, you know, I like taking my chances with certain things. And if you get a negative outcome sometimes, but most of the time, it's okay or good. I'm not a. Eliminate all of those chances because of

[Michael]

a couple bad times. Yeah, yeah, I know. As a young man, I was, like, half reckless. I would try things, do things, and think, well, if this goes sideways, all right, I'll deal with it. That's fine. And other people would be like, you look like an idiot or a scumbag or whatever. Again, wisdom, balance. Right? That's why young men go to war, because they give zero shits about a lot of things.

[Armstrong]

Do you think most people who like whoever smoked pot the way you did would say that? Look. But looking back on it years later, I don't know.

[Karen and Georgia]

I don't know.

[Michael]

It affects different people different ways, too. So I don't want to speak for anybody. Just the reason I say that, number one, it dulled my intellect to some extent. It dulled my ambition. And I realized, and I've mentioned this more than once through the years of the show, that if you are either drinking or doing drugs, you know, whatever drug with a group of people who are your friends, you all have a mutual friend. The alcohol or the drugs, you're not really each other's friends. Because when the drinking stops, the friendship almost always stops. And I found that out fairly painfully.

[Armstrong]

I wish I'd have watched less sports. I used to watch as I sit

[Michael]

here in my hockey team T shirt having watched the entire Stanley cup finals.

[Armstrong]

I've started adding sports back in because I'd cut it out completely and decided that I got to do something that's fun and frivolous. You know, back to the moderation thing with everything. But, man, I used to regularly watch all three NFL football games. The early game, the late game, in the night game. That's nine hours you could have done something else with.

[Getty]

Dude.

[Armstrong]

I mean, come on.

[Michael]

Yeah, that's a lot of time. Yeah. Oh, oh.

[Armstrong]

There's lots of people that do that, though. That's what keeps the NFL and businesses, people who do that.

[Michael]

Right, Right. Yeah.

[Armstrong]

Yeah. Teach your own, maybe you bust ass all week long, and that is your. Your outlet because you got to have an outlet.

[Getty]

Yeah.

[Michael]

Again, I don't judge, you know, you. You do you. And in the balance, you think. But just be honest with yourself. That's. That's what it all comes down to. If you kind of feel that, like you're, like, spending too much time, wasting too much time, you probably are.

[Armstrong]

Yeah. And my final note on this will be back to the life lesson thing. So buying that new car that lost me money and was a pain in the ass, how much money have I probably saved over the years from that lesson?

[Michael]

Oh, again, I'm sure the net. Yeah.

[Armstrong]

Interesting.

[Michael]

And if you're going to see a fish get stoned, go ahead. Trust me, I'm not against it. I'm just in moderation.

[Getty]

The car salesman jumped up and down.

[Michael]

Wait a minute.

[Getty]

Well, I guess that's it.

[Armstrong]

Hey, Ed. He actually bought it at the price

[America 250 Announcer]

this July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party. Hosted by America250. America's Block Party is a can't miss 4th of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Experience music, performances from major artists, patriotic tributes, and the kickoff to giving 4th, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks. Learn more about this landmark [e-mail]

[Armstrong]

hi,

[Karen and Georgia]

it's Karen in Georgia from My favorite Murder. We cruised around LA in the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and dove into the fascinating life of actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr.

[Armstrong]

Want the full story?

[Karen and Georgia]

Take a listen. She starts dating Howard Hughes, and in fact, she helps him design a faster plane. So she finds the fastest bird and the fastest fish and sketches out a drawing of what the two would look like as a plane. And that becomes the plane that we know today. And he calls her a genius. Check out our new episode spotlighting groundbreaking innovators like Hedy and Lamarr and Billie Jean King. Presented by the Hyundai Ioniq 5. Goodbye.