From: chance wolf (chance_wolf@shaw.ca)
Date: Thu Dec 02 2004 - 12:30:22 PST
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark B. Anderson" <mark@aasurplus.ca>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2004 12:04 PM
Subject: Re: [MV] Train Pics-war contribution
> Yes CMP's are nice I have 6 sitting about 150' away from my land and the
old
> guy that owns them would rather have them become trees then sell them so
as
> I sit working on my other toys I can see these 6 all lined up and just
> rotting away.. if anyone would like pictures of them to identify them
please
> e-mail me off list. Oh and there is an old jeep also in the line up but I
> don't know anything about jeeps or were to even begin to look to tell you
> what it is.
Ah yes. The Old Farmer. You stare at the vehicles on the road side of the
fence, and an old guy in those jeans with built-in suspenders magically
shows up with an antiquated side-by-side shotgun cradled in his arm. As
you're asking your polite questions he's sizing you up from head to toe with
greater efficiency than an airport x-ray machine, paying particular
attention to your likely yearly income and the size of the bulge in your
wallet-pocket. The vehicles always have all their glass smashed out and
always have trees growing through them and always haven't moved under their
own power since the Diefenbaker government, and equally invariably your
visit ends with the farmer speaking some or all of the following sentences:
1) "What's a thing like this gotta be worth nowadays?"
2) "These are antiques now, ya know."
3) "I'm saving them for my son/grandson."
4) "They've sat here for 40 years and they'll sit here for another 40."
5) "What ya got for trade? I really need a new Case 580 backhoe.."
There is a "6)", but only if the farmer has a computer capable of visting
Ebay....
6) "Why, I just seen one 'xactly like this'n go for $36,000.00 on that there
Ebay..."
Yeah. "Exactly like this'n" after 9,000 hours of restoration, four years of
looking for all the parts either removed as "ain't necessary fer the
plowin'.." or otherwise carelessly lost whilst shovelled from barn to stable
to field -- and divorce-level bank balance depletion.
It's sad, but vehicles belonging to individuals like Farmer Shotgun there
always wind up being a Rodent Ramada to the end of their days at which point
they're scrapped as junk either due to cumulative deterioration or
indifferent relatives in charge of liquidating the estate once the old guy
finally dies of Malignant Cantankerous. There are guys around with
fifty-plus vehicles in their fields fitting the description of Farmer
Shotgun there, unfortunately, and it's a shame to see them sitting there
wasting away simply because the owner rebuffs any and all enquiries with
"they're mine, sonny, and I can do what I goddamnwell like with 'em..." just
because...he can.
(Frequent bad experiences with the breed. Does it show much? ;)
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