Colin Macgregor Stevens wrote:
>I agree with Joe Young.
And I agree with Joe and Colin :-) I have purchased 7 Weasels in the
last 2 years. 6 out of 7 of them were owned by people that "got it cheap
and meant to fix it up and get it running, but just didn't have the time
or the energy to do so". Average number of years owned in this pitiful
state... about 5 years. Lesson is... if it is in really bad shape, odds
are you will never get it fixed up.
Having just come back (I'm talking 4 hours ago here!) from hauling my
"new" burnt out M43 out of the woods, as well as the 5 beat up Weasels
(another one to pick up this weekend), I can tell you that you do NOT
want this type of vehicle to be your first go around. There are PLENTY
of vehicles out there to purchase that are in much easier to restore
shape, yet won't cost you an arm and a leg to buy.
This M43, for example, is pretty much complete and has some great parts
(unrusted, undented fenders!). But it was too close to a barn fire and
was toasted pretty badly. Sure, it could be restored to pristine
condition with a LOT of work and some parts here and there. But why
bother? I know of another one just down the street that the owner has
been looking to dump for years. From what I remember, it is in
practically drivable shape but is in need of parts which I think this
burnt out one has. One project too many for him, so I think I might take
that one off his hands. I'll use the one out of the woods for parts and
sell/give away the stuff I don't use so someone else can benefit from my
find.
Lesson here is just because you can get something, cheap even (my "new"
M43 was FREE!), doesn't mean it is worth the time and money to restore.
We all have limited time and most of us also have limited money <g>, so
be picky. If you figure out exactly what vehicle/s interest you, and the
kind of condition you want, chances are you can find one for sale at a
reasonable price. Provided it isn't something VERY rare. If the M43 I
got was instead a Panther like Colin mentioned, I would put my heart and
wallet into restoring it. Since there are only SEVEN left in the world,
it would by my duty to restore an eigth, even if the potential sale price
of say... $1,000,000 or more didn't excite me :-)
Steve
1xT24 Weasel (semi-running, bad condition)
1xM29 Weasel (donor)
1xM29c Weasel (running, great condition)
2xM29c Weasels (near running, bad condition)
2xM29c Weasel (donors)
1xM274A4 MULE (nearly complete, running condition)
1xM43 (nearly complete, burnt out)
And to think.... this time last year I had only one MV :-)
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Jul 05 2001 - 00:40:37 PDT