Private car hoards?

[nick8086]

Does any one still look for this stuff? or Just when you need parts??

 

https://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos/articles/2013/08/19/car-hoarders

[R Walling]

 Kinda looks like my house!

[Paul Dobbin]

 

Good article and we all know someone like that.   It's sad when it goes to that extent, especially when the hoarder dies and a large portion of the collection has to be discarded due to lack of preservation.  I knew a guy in Florida with a 300+ car accumulation of cars that wanted to buy my old 34 Ford Tudor.  My wife had sense enough to not allow me to see it to him because it would become yard art.  At one time he had a house on a Florida lake with over 100 cars decorating and deteriorating on the lake shore.  The county cited him for an unlawful junk yard and threatened to clear the property.  After some delaying tactic's, the county scrapped the cars and cleared the property.  Before you get mad a government, keep in mind it had gone on for years and most of the cars had be come almost worthless and were infested with rodents.  He had plenty of time to clean it up, but was to busy accumulating to preserve anything.

I know many more small collectors with garages full of cars and parts and no plans to complete any of them, just satisfaction with knowing there could be a nice cars in there somewhere if only they could wiggle their nose and magically fin d the time and energy to restore them.

If you are one of those people, rest assured that 40 to 100% of the value of that non drivable stuff dies with the owner.  Heirs tell me, they "don't want that stuff, just the money".  

If you are one of those people, rest assured that 40 to 100% of the value of that non driveable stuff dies with the owner.  Heirs tell me, they "don't want that stuff, just the money".  

[Digger914]

I have a friend that hoards Jaguars and I honestly think he wants to collect one of every serial number. He also collects big boats, I asked him not to put me in his will.

[Xander Wildeisen]

I think every car guy\gal likes the thought of finding a collection of vintage tin, the thrill of the hunt. But there is a sad side to some of that stuff as well. If you live in a part of the country where weather is bad, it will destroy the cars over time. As stated above, most family members do not have the same desire to collect the car, so most of them can fall to the crusher. It can also invite people who like to go parts hunting at night. And if you look at the cars as a product. It can be a way of locking up a product that is needed by restoration\builders to make a living. Kind of like controlling the flow of lots to build homes on. It gets really sad when you see the aftermath of a death, and a lifetime of collecting fall in the lap of a now single older lady. Who has no idea what stuff is worth, and how to sell it. Most likely she will get ripped off, and all that stuff does have a value. And the money from it would help her out with the rest of her life. It would be nice if people who collect and understand the value of the stuff, to deal with it before some thing happens to them. So their loved ones do not get hit with a large headache with the cars and the title issues. I have personally seen a few cases where every thing I have stated has happened.

[John348]

I had a similar situation with my Father. The easy part was I was an only child so the family dynamics of liquidating the estate was not that complex. He had a few cars some running most not, all stored inside which was a good thing. He was a toy collector and had accumulated well over 15,000 pieces, some good some fair and some were really junk. I have and had no interest in the stuff. What I had found that since the internet, prices have diminished and the selection is much greater. I have been selling it off but it takes a lot of time and in some cases too much effort for the return. The contributing factor I had found is that many toy collectors are in "that" age group where they are passing away and the collections are all hitting the market at the same time. I have been chipping away at it, but my fear is I will pass and leave my sons with the same mess I inherited.

These type of collections are out there and pretty soon it will be a buyers market, the problem is there is a lack of buyers 

[Matt Harwood]

I was recently invited to an estate where there were reportedly 400 cars. There were--sort of. The fellow's father had died suddenly and while everyone in the area sort-of knew about the collection, nobody knew the extent of it since it was back in the woods. There was the usual rampant speculation about a gold mine of rare beauties just waiting for new caretakers and that it was surely worth "millions" of dollars. So after a bit of a hike, we found two large barns and a field full of rotting cars out in the woods, most with trees growing through or around them. There were a few that might have been borderline interesting at one time, but mostly garden-variety stuff from the '60s and '70s. In the barn there were supposedly better things, mostly muscle Mopars, and I was able to catch a glimpse of them here and there buried under piles and piles of parts, boxes, old tires, and other things. The guy would point to a corner of a quarter panel and say, "That's a matching-numbers 440 Six Pack Road Runner," but there was just no way to know without days of excavation. He wanted me to buy everything in one shot and then it would be up to me to figure out how to liquidate it. No thanks.

 

I did take a friend up there who owns an auction company and even he was overwhelmed with the magnitude of the job. It would take a team of knowledgeable people months to dig through the parts and determine if there were any gems, then excavate the cars, then hold an auction. The cars would just be dumped by the side of the road with a front-loader and let the auction bidders figure out how to drag them away. Parts (and there were hundreds of thousands of parts) would probably just be sold by the pound or in lots. Maybe you get lucky with something rare, but probably you end up with more junk for your own pile. Even for the auction company, there wasn't any money to be made given the level of work required just to get ready.

 

I don't really understand this hording mentality, but if there were valuable cars and parts in there, he rendered them virtually worthless by burying them in junk. And the magnitude of effort it required just to amass all that junk and pile it up in the barns! Holy crap! Maybe the cars were nice once upon a time, but decades of sitting outside in Ohio has reduced most to empty rusted shells. There were no worthy restoration projects and nobody has the time or money to go through there hoping to find a diamond in the rough (and whatever you do find will most certainly be ROUGH). I recommended that he sell it all for scrap for whatever the scrap guy will give him just to be done with it and move on with his life. None of it is going to get more valuable in the future and the only way to turn any of it into real cash is to figure out what's there, catalog it, and sell it individually. A task of Herculean proportions to be sure.

 

Don't hoard. It makes everyone who used to love you hate you.

 

 

[Terry Bond]

I can envision someone with a drone marketing their services by locating stashes of collector cars.   I once knew some folks I Michigan who periodically used a small plane to scour the countryside looking for old cars parked out behind the barns.  I'm sure there might even be the capability to use some kind of radar to penetrate garage walls and actually see what's inside!   Technology is amazing. 

Terry

[DAVE A]

A number of years back I was talking to an old gentleman that I knew about his collection.  He told me that when he died his daughter was going to have everything crushed just to clear the land. Now he had over 200 air cooled! Autos of every kind stored out in a woods just rusting away.Most were just junk but had a lot of hard to find parts on them. There was also literally tons of nos Japanese sheet. Metal "returning to the earth" and 3 school buses loaded with nos parts  in their factory boxes. pout I promised him that I would try to prevent that when the time came. When he died it took me 3 weeks to contact her. He words "the crusher will be there in 30 days"..  I managed to save some but I still cry to think of all that was lost.

[greenie]

I have a rule that one should not buy an antique car part unless it is needed for a car I already own; or unless I have a real plan to resell the item in the short term. This stuff ages poorly, and with the changing demographics of the hobby, it might lose value while you own it. Several years ago, a noted parts collector in SE Penn. passed away and the auction to liquidate his hoard took 9 days! There are so many people with large collections of this sort, and over the next several years I expect to see some of it coming back into circulation as we all age. Every time I see a part for sale at a swap meet like Hershey, and it still has the paint stick lot number from the hoarder's auction- I just chuckle and reflect upon the future of our hobby!

[Xander Wildeisen]

49 minutes ago, Terry Bond said:

I can envision someone with a drone marketing their services by locating stashes of collector cars.   I once knew some folks I Michigan who periodically used a small plane to scour the countryside looking for old cars parked out behind the barns.  I'm sure there might even be the capability to use some kind of radar to penetrate garage walls and actually see what's inside!   Technology is amazing. 

Terry

Google earth.

[mike6024]

We had a Mack Truck collection in the neighborhood, many parked in the yard inoperable, every time a new one was purchased for the business the old one was kept for sentimental value. Offers to buy any one them were either brushed off or answered with an exceptionally high price. I wondered what do you gain by just leaving them sit? I remember something like 10 of them, but supposedly there were much more.

 

 

Mary Hitchings Mack Truck

Besides its construction and its Mack bulldog, 

there's something else that makes this truck special: 

it belonged to Mary Hitchings, The Lumber Gal 

She earned her stripes hauling lumber for the lumber yard she co-owned with her husband Andrew. 

For three decades, Mary Hitchings made the run 

between Santa Rosa and Fort Bragg daily six days a week, clocking two million miles in the process. 

The lumber yard had become an informal Mack museum due in large part to the fifty Mack trucks spread over the yard's acreage. 

Since the Hitchings had no children, those trucks would be sold at auction after her death. 

http://www.ironmartonline.com/1954-mack-ltl-single-axle-tractor-used-for-sale/

 

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/2279624-181/mary-hitchings

Hitchings became known for logging 2 million miles while hauling lumber between Fort Bragg and the Santa Rosa business that she founded with her husband, Andrew Hitchings.

For more than 30 years she drove her powder blue Mack trucks six days a week, sometimes making the eight-hour run twice in one day.

?I loved every minute of it, especially rounding all those curves on Highway 128 in the Anderson Valley,? she recalled in a 2006 Press Democrat story.

[Xander Wildeisen]

At some point, you do not own that stuff anymore. That stuff owns you.

[poci1957]

16 minutes ago, Xander Wildeisen said:

At some point, you do not own that stuff anymore. That stuff owns you.

 

Yup, that is right.  I got to reflect on the old car hoarding mindset for years as my dad aged and eventually passed on and I think the article is spot on in its conclusion that “…..for some it is about the hunt or the having.”

 

In his 40s and 50s my dad looked for and bought a few old cars—mostly low cost postwar drivers or projects, some were bought and sold, some saved as restoration projects for retirement.  But upon retirement it seems my dad found that actually working on the cars was slow, tedious and solitary; much less fun than the “hunt.”  His half-hearted restoration efforts quickly fizzled but swap meets and collectible auctions remained very appealing—the thrill of the hunt.  He was much happier going places to meet colorful characters, brag of his old cars and collectables and buy more stuff.

 

We encouraged him that (tell me if you have ever had this conversation) he could sell off the excess and put his money in one nice car that he could drive and enjoy. He was not really interested in that; I think psychologically this man who grew up poor found more comfort in all the stuff.  Stuff he could see, own, tell stories about, and especially tell himself and others that it was all a good investment that he could enjoy and then pass on as a nest egg for my mother.  Anyone had THAT conversation?  The nest egg caused years of dithering still not over yet, plus 25% to the auction house. 

 

Related, we all meet owners of junk cars who are “going to restore it one of these days.”  I think for those people the dream of the restoration that will never happen has a similar sort of a comfort, Todd C

 

[auburnseeker]

I just made a huge liquidation of alot of my parts and kept probably less than 20 percent of what I had.  If you sell them cheap they will sell.  Many were NOS.  Lots of NOS side trim.  I sold the lots for around $1000  each and the last one filled a 16 foot moving truck atleast 2 feet high.  

  I have also been sought out to buy 2 different parts hoards in the last year.  One a large lot of 28-42 Cadillac stuff.  Mostly used including a couple of restored cars and another 20 in various stages.  That one was 1 Mil.  Way out of my league.  The last was a collection of NOS mostly trim parts for 1955-1970 Fords.   That one i believe is 350G  if I'm not mistaken.   I told the person with the Caddies to hold an auction.  That would be the best way.   I'll go to it and buy the few parts I want.  The Ford stuff I think may just sit as it has done for the past 30 years,  Both collections are atleast inside out of the weather.  I think even if i had the money the logistics of trying to move a collection like that and find a place near you to store it would be astronomical. 

Really an auction company is the best way to go if you have some decent some crap and some really good stuff.  They will auction everything off including the garbage can full of garbage and leave you with an empty building. They leave you with a check and the keys to the empty building.   Atleast from what I have seen of the absolute auctions i have attended. 

I limit my stuff to what  I can store in my own buildings.  Nothing outside.  Not even my parts cars when I have them.  The Northeast will devour an old car in no time. 

Edited October 28, 2016 by auburnseeker (see edit history)

[poci1957]

7 minutes ago, auburnseeker said:

Really an auction company is the best way to go if you have some decent some crap and some really good stuff.  They will auction everything off including the garbage can full of garbage and leave you with an empty building. They leave you with a check and the keys to the empty building.   

 

That was what we did, that is what happened and I was satisfied with their service.  Fortunately we had an auction company in our area that was very well known in collector circles and they knew what they were doing and how to get a broad audience.  This was for antiques and collectables, not car parts. 

[Xander Wildeisen]

Do keep me in mind Auburnseeker when you want to rid your self of unneeded worldly possessions like that Cord you have. I would be willing to donate my time to help you dig it out. I think I just noticed you will sell stuff cheep to get rid of it.

Edited October 28, 2016 by Xander Wildeisen (see edit history)

[keiser31]

My friend, John Finn lived in the desert east of San Diego. He had 100s of old cars and thousands of parts and other antique stuff scattered around his ranch. He also had a few old motorcycles. One was an Excelsior around 1919 and about a 1923 Harley Davidson. They were stored in an old Quonset Hut. Years ago, he told me that his son who owned an earth moving company would just cover it all over with dirt after John died. I know that John died and a battleship was named after him (the John W. Finn) since he was the first Congressional Medal of Honor receiver in WWII. He was wounded 14 or so times on Pearl Harbor during the attack by the Japanese. I never found out what happened to all of the stuff or cars. I tried to find it on Google Earth, but lost his address and it is not easy to find his old place.

Edited October 28, 2016 by keiser31 (see edit history)

[60FlatTop]

Nuthin' but a couple daily drivers here.

 

[Xander Wildeisen]

I think we all know collectors that have gathered up stuff over the years. I wonder if some of it is due to this country being a cusumer based society? We are pounded with comericial ads telling us buy this, and buy that. Some people can not pass a good deal, and not buy it. But is It really a good deal if you do not need it? More, more,more... It is pushed in this country. We have a tv show called American Greed. How come we do not have a tv show called American Prosperity?

[CarlLaFong]

1 hour ago, keiser31 said:

My friend, John Finn lived in the desert east of San Diego. He had 100s of old cars and thousands of parts and other antique stuff scattered around his ranch. He also had a few old motorcycles. One was an Excelsior around 1919 and about a 1923 Harley Davidson. They were stored in an old Quonset Hut. Years ago, he told me that his son who owned an earth moving company would just cover it all over with dirt after John died.

 

 

I will be there, with a shovel, to help cover that Renault Dauphine

[keiser31]

1 hour ago, CarlLaFong said:

I will be there, with a shovel, to help cover that Renault Dauphine

That cars was in sweet condition....it was just parked there. He bought most of his stuff in from the surrounding desert. LOTS of rust free cars.

[auburnseeker]

2 hours ago, Xander Wildeisen said:

Do keep me in mind Auburnseeker when you want to rid your self of unneeded worldly possessions like that Cord you have. I would be willing to donate my time to help you dig it out. I think I just noticed you will sell stuff cheep to get rid of it.

I'll keep you in mind.  Same with your Auburn,  if it Ever gets to be just something that's in the way,  I would be glad to help you get it out of their. 

[1912Staver]

There is a bit of a catch to all this. At times I have wanted to reduce the size of my collection {10 cars} , my tastes have changed over the years and I have 3 or 4 cars that I would like to find new homes for. They are for the most part reasonably rare and pretty collectable cars but unrestored projects.  Some go back 40 years in my ownership. Over the years I have bought a substantial quantity of parts for most of them.  They are definately for sale.

The problem is always the price. I make a list of the 25 % of the car that I know is in signifigant demand on eBay and add up the numbers. I then arrive at a price for the whole car as a project that is roughly the sum of a reasonable average of the parts value or in some cases even a little less. It is almost always several thousand $. The trouble is that most people think a project car should be $2000.00 - $2500.00 Despite the fact it has say a ram air 428 CJ and a "N" 31 spline rear.  And I certainly don't want to sell for $4000.00 to someone who is just going to cherry pick the parts and double his money on the bay; I could do that and make my price, but I want the car{s} to end up in the hands of a good owner.

 I know a lot has been discussed about project cars and how most of them become money pits, but someday worthwhile starting point cars are going to be in short supply. Think of all the full classics that were scrapped in the 40's and early 50's. I am sure many of todays survivors have a dark period where they were on the verge of being scrapped outright or parted and 80 % of the car scrapped.

I am also unfortunately someone who can not afford to find a enthusiastic new owner and give him or her a sweetheart deal of 10 cents on the dollar . I paid good money for the cars and subsequent parts purchases , often meaning I had to without a lot of things in order to keep money available for the cars. As I have said, I see what the parts sell for. I just want a buyer who is looking to pay a reasonable value, not a flipper looking for a quick pay day.

 

Greg in Canada

Edited October 29, 2016 by 1912Staver (see edit history)

[Dave Mellor NJ]

There's a place near me that I've known about for years. A friend told me there were some old cars in his neighbor's yard mostly in buildings that have fallen down around the cars. The owner went blind and died about 20 years ago, his wife wouldn't sell or let anybody look. She died about 10 years ago, the same as my friend. Recently I drove by and there was a for sale sign on the property. Nobody around so I helped myself to a look see. Lo and behold the cars are still there, or what's left of them. 

32 Chevy coupe, 27 Buick coupe, 29 Model A sport coupe,66 Chevy Impala 4dr hdtp, early 60's International pickup with utility body,2 early 60s Beetles, one with a sunroof, one squareback and a Mercury Montego about a 69. and a scooter. If I were younger and I had a big place to store I'd make a pitch for it all then I'd ask, "What have I done?" and my wife would call a lawyer or the booby hatch or both and I'd be one of those guys that you guys were all just talking about.I'm going to be thinking about these cars the rest of my day till the crusher gets them or the worms get me.

[nick8086]

19 hours ago, Roger Walling said:

 Kinda looks like my house!

It could be your house.. I was at a car show.. The guy worked at the local crusher.. If the car was too  good to scrap or rare.. He would buy it and move it to his property..  I wanted to buy stuff from him .. nothing was for sale..

 

The picture is a random Pic.. from google.. 

 

For hoarders, it’s all about the hunt or the having.  - I love the hunt..

 

I support  hoarders of cars. I would not have got my car on the road if they did not save it..

 

Hoarding get a bad rape.. The kids born in 1931.. Have the memories of not having any thing..  I understand this.. You have to work with what you have...

 

Not getting rid of junk is a different story.. 

 

 

Edited October 29, 2016 by nick8086 (see edit history)

[alsancle]

10 hours ago, 1912Staver said:

parts value or in some cases even a little less. It is almost always several thousand $. The trouble is that most people think a project car should be $2000.00 - $2500.00 Despite the fact it has say a ram air 428 CJ and a "N" 31 spline rear.  And I certainly don't want to sell for $4000.00 to someone who is just going to cherry pick the parts and double his money on the bay; I could do that and make my price, but I want the car{s} to end up in the hands of a good owner.

 

 

I don't have to tell you what an original S tube or snorkel from a 428CJ goes for these days.  I assume you have CJ powered Torino or Fairlanes?

 

Also, the definition of "hoarding"  probably has different meanings to different people.  Would anyone disagree that that A.K. Miller was one of the kings of hoarding but at the same time a great hero?  Maybe the same for Bernie Pollard?

[auburnseeker]

Some people, I think thought, I was a hoarder when they walked in my shop.   Most loved looking at all the stuff.  My problem is lack of time and my business of selling parts.  You are constantly buying and end up with a lot of surplus which I actually have wholesaled portions of several times including the last huge purge.  (I emptied my storage unit and returned it,  as well as emptied about 90 percent of my 28 foot storage trailer which was packed full) But you have to buy when the parts are available.  It's not like a regular store,  where you can place your weekly order and restock on what sold that week with one phone call. 

You also have the problem of organizing when almost every part is different and fits everything from the engine to the dome light and everything in between. If you had a separate spot for everything neatly labeled in it's own bin,  you would need a 500 foot long building and $100,000 worth of shelving. 

I culled everything enough, I think I can somewhat keep it a little organized now when I get it moved to my new location, which is also smaller than the old. 

[Xander Wildeisen]

In my opinion, this is why the custom car scene is so big. There are just so few project cars left out there, that have a high restored value. These large collections of parts, will most likely get scrapped, repurposed or used on a custom or traditional style hot rod. It is good that there are people who have saved all of that stuff. It just needs to be dealt with by the owners while they are alive. They have the knowledge of what they have and the history on the piece. Some cars and parts will bring strong money no matter what their condition is, most will not. When I was 16 and joined the Hudson club, the average club member owned 10 cars. With some owning hundreds. I am glad people have stored cars and saved them, it is stunning to think about how much one cars restoration\build can affect so many businesses. There was a salvage yard about 10 miles from my house, it was one of the best ones around. The owner got led down a road to scrap all of the cars, and sell the land to a developer to put houses on. Cars got crushed, developer went bust (most likely on purpose) and all of the car related shops around here. Got a big kick in the blank! What one industry sees as a quick buck on a bogus land deal. My industry just lost 1000 paint jobs, 1000 interior jobs, 4000 new tires, 1000 engine rebuild\crate engines, 6000 pieces of glass and so on. Clunker laws, zoning laws, environmental laws, passing of collectors, targeting of small businesses, cost of restoration and fewer people wanting to devote the time needed to rebuild a car. Are all leading this hobby\industry down a road. You can have a million highly trained builders\restorer, and with out a product to work with. You are dead in the water.

[1912Staver]

alsancle;  a 69 Cyclone CJ, R code ,buckets console , rim blow etc I have owned for 30 + years  plus a lot of " good stuff" from two CJ Torino's I parted many years ago. My Brass era project and my vintage racing project are keeping my hands full , but you never know I might fit the Cyclone into my lifetime yet. Lots of other cars and car "stuff" that does have to go. But if I end up keeping the Mercury I won't regret it.

 

Greg in Canada

Edited October 29, 2016 by 1912Staver (see edit history)

[Larry Schramm]

Truer words  "You do not own the stuff, the stuff owns you"  were never spoken.  I have heard that a number of times.

 

Everything that I have is drivable except the '17 car & '18 truck.   I have promised myself & the wife that I will not buy any more cars or trucks until I get these two fixed and drivable. The '18 truck will get a large push to drivability this winter.

 

On the parts front, I have started to collect every part laying around the garage and house that does not fit what I have in the fleet and are selling them.  If I go to a couple of swap meets and get no interest in some of the parts I scrap them.  I had some aluminum Buick wheels that I had priced at $10.00 and took them to three swap meets including Hershey.  Did not even get one looker.  On Tuesday after Hershey they went over the scrap scale for $9.50 each.  I had a large tarp of stuff for only $1.00 each and only sold maybe $20.00 at Hershey.  Grabbed a handful of that stuff and scrapped it.

 

My life will be simpler over time....sooner than later.

[Xander Wildeisen]

I like what you said Larry. If I go to sell a part, I price it to sell. If I get 50 bucks for it, and in all reality it is worth 100. O'well. I do not look at it as loosing money, because in theory I am not in it 100 bucks. I gather parts for cars I have when ever I can find them, but I need them. My dad would say "handy if you never use it" I guess? What if you never use it? How handy was that? BUT, I have gotten rid of stuff that I needed down the road. When you watch the video above, has any one ever considered having a club meet in a area close to some one pictured in the video. Who is willing to deal with a large collection. That way you could get a lot of parts buyers there, have a meet, help out a collector thin out stuff. If the AACA advertised reaching out to people who have collected large amounts of stuff over the years. And then plan meets in those regions. It might be a win, win for every one.

[auburnseeker]

It all boils down to pricing.  Almost everything will sell if the price is cheap enough.  If you are looking to really get rid of it,  then you accept that the next guy might just be buying it to flip it.  It's going to happen.  The difference is now he has to sell it.  He has to mark it up and market it as well as hopefully sell it. In my 1300.00 pile I made.  I could reach in and pick up several 50.00 parts and even some easy 100.00 parts.  They all required special boxing and may not sell right away for 100.  The buyer was giving me cash on the spot and all the stuff went.  Nothing was left at the end of the day.  There is alot to be said for that.  I sell stuff for a living.  It's alot of time and work plus aggravation dealing with the public to sell stuff plus a 15 % fee. 

I took the money from those lots and put it with some other i had saved then bought a 2 month old enclosed car hauler to move the contents of the house I sold,  then move the equipment from my shop that I need this year and the rest will be stored in it until next year when it can go in the new shop.  

Seems like a wise choice. 

 

[nick8086]

I picked up some 58-461  Water pumps .. I looked for six month - so I bought 7 of them..

 

Hard to find stuff.. You can not go wrong..

 

 

[36 D2 Coupe]

Twenty years ago I hit the wall and ran out of storage for some tough but rare cars - 1947 De Soto convertible, 1934 De Soto Airflow Brougham, !934 Chrysler Imperial Airflow, 1936 Chrysler Airflow. No funds foreseeable to bring these cars back to life. SO I bit the bullet and let them go for perhaps 25% of what I had in them just to see them go to people who could and would restore them. The '47 De Soto and the '36 Chrysler didn't make it but the '34 Airflows got beautiful and costly restorations that I never could have done. I could probably have recovered my money by parting them out but I wanted to see them completed as whole cars. So while I lost money on the sale of some rare but rough cars, I get the satisfaction of knowing that I played a key role in helping them become what they are today.

[Paul Dobbin]

Kinds of Flea Market Vendors:

A.   A.   Professionals who sell new stuff at Flea Markets and in their stores, to make a living.

B.   B.   Part time second job vendors who buy to resell.

C.   C.   Hobbyists who buy & sell for fun and maybe a profit.

D.    D.  Displayers who come for the social contact and to be part of the carnival like life.

E.     E. Garage sale junkies trying to sell the junk they bought thinking old car people will buy.

F.     F.  People who aim to liquidate and go home with an empty truck.

I shop at all types of vendors by looking for what I think I need and buying what I like.  In my rare appearances as a vendor I’m a type F.  If I take it to the swap meet, I don’t want to take it home again.  Unfortunately, I’ve never gone home with an empty truck, replacement junk always manages to find me.

Edited October 30, 2016 by Paul Dobbin (see edit history)

[Larry Schramm]

I am also a "F" vendor as defined by Paul just above.  When I am pricing much of the stuff just above scrap value and I can not sell it, I am willing to let it go by either route.

Edited October 31, 2016 by Larry Schramm (see edit history)