I think there's a good bit of discipline and virtue in not doing/buying stuff you don't need.
Now, is driving a car with rusted-through doors excessive? Probably. But a lot of the reason people who are rich become so is good financial decisions. Taking the car for example, they aren't continually locking themselves into car/lease payments they can't afford. Then they "make it" financially, and sometimes it's like "well, I made it this long without a Corvette, why get one now?"
I think the "dragons" are the ones that continually need gadgets and new stuff on a loop, regardless of whether they can prudently afford them. The guy described above may have gone a little overboard (but I'm a big AC guy so to me he's a monster), but at least he can say he doesn't "have" to be rich. He's been responsible with what he makes, but if it all went away it sounds like he'd be ok. Sounds like his priorities are setting his family up for success, leaving a good bit behind. I'd be willing to bet his kids' educations are paid for in cash, and they probably take some pretty neat vacations.
It's weird when I see comments like that because sometimes the rich can't win. NFL player gets rich, goes bankrupt, everyone's comment is "wow what an idiot, I'd be so much more responsible." A rich man spends to live luxuriously, but still within his means, he's "out of touch with the common man, sitting in his mansion not knowing the struggle the rest of us have." Then, if a guy who's rich saves well, still denies himself some comforts, he's a "miser, a dragon sitting on his hoard."
At some point it just seems like some people are mad that some are rich and they aren't.
/rant