Did your dad grow up with subsistence farmers?
I also encountered plenty of hobby farmers who joke about the cost of their hobby which used to get me confused a bit since it was very much a food on the table thing for my grandparents and at least a small financial bonus to me.
Then again I don't buy much new other than seed. Everything feels like a ripoff nowadays.
It came in handy living in the country, when occasionally someone would get bogged down on a dirt road, and this thing would come to the rescue.