----- Original Message -----
From: "Brandon Kunicki" <c322348@yahoo.com>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 31, 2000 9:04 AM
Subject: Re: [MV] S-t-r-r-r-r-e-t-c-h-e-d- Humm-Vees
> It is rather interesting to note that many of these
> limousines are turning up in the Atlanta and Los
> Angeles areas.... Where the two HMMWV auctions were.
> Coincidence? I think not!
>
> In fact, one of the limo manufacturers in Corona,
> California bought a number of HMMWV's from the
> Riverside auto auction. Since the interiors are all
> custom anyhow, the HMMWV's lack of interior is not the
> detractor it would be for someone that really wanted a
> Hummer.
A bunch of Warner Bros. network people were doing a
promotional event for this 'Freedom' show, and one of
them came over to the HMMWV I brought along to show
me a picture of some white stretched limo Hummer from
either L.A. or Vegas - I forget which - and said he
bet we "didn't have any like <that>!" He'd win!
> There are still probably about 50 HMMWV's waiting for
> a home at the Riverside Auto Auction. They all
> represent the bottom of the barrel, so they have been
> hard to sell. I understand that the prices have been
> lowered.
Yeah, but lowered to what? When last I heard they
were trying to pair each of their '93 billion-dollar
beauties with one of the holdover P.O.S. vehicles rather
than take the seemingly extraordinary step OF ACTUALLY
LOWERING THE RESERVE PRICE ON A BUNCH OF
OUTRIGHT WRECKS!!
If it sounds as though I'm yelling at the terminal as I
type, it's because I am. I understand the reasoning behind
keeping the prices high (to recoup the cost of the comms
gear traded to USMC), but I also understand the forces of
good ol' fashioned supply-and-demand -- something that's obviously
escaped Riverside, which is why they're still sitting
on 50 of 'em nearly a year after the event. Riverside
thinks the market that's willing to spend $60,000 USD on a new
civilian Hummer is the same vast untapped market just
waiting to shell out $36,000 USD for a '93 M998 and another
$16K for a glorified parts vehicle. They're wrong. I have had
a great many opportunities to compare and contrast the owners
of both civvy Hummers and collectors of military
HMMWV's - frequently side-by-side - and the two entities
are NOT synonymous by a long chalk.
Andy Hill
MVPA 9211
Vancouver, B.C.
Obligatory caveat: I had extra snarlies on my CornFlakes this a.m, and
the views expressed are solely my own.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Nov 01 2000 - 21:37:51 PST