From: timothy.smith1@att.net
Date: Sun Mar 12 2006 - 22:25:59 PST
Ron,
I don't know if I will ever find a used winch bumper (front panel) for the halftrack or will have to acquire an NOS unit (provided I can find one that doesn't cost it's weight in gold).
But on the topic of supplying the hobby with take-off parts, (since the supply of new parts is indeed limited) I would like to offer an illustration of one of the problems we all face....
I have about thirty pictures of derelict tracks here on my computer from a variety of sources. More than half of those have winch bumpers. I figure at least half of THOSE tracks are never going to be restored,... maybe more than half. Some of them will be parted out to supply other restorations or by the sale of their take off parts, make OTHER restorations financially possible for their owners. This is how it should be. But the lion's share will languish, unrestored, until their owners give up completely and the derelicts find their way to the scrapper.
Without some sensible method in place for helping the derelicts that have no real future get to our "market", a LOT of usable take off parts will never see end use because (1) the owner couldn't / wouldn't get the project off the ground, and (2) he / she didn't have the good sense, connections, know-how or wherewithall to get the remnants to the MV market that is seeking take-off parts. EBay and others have done quite a bit in that regard but finding necessary things on eBay always ends up being catch as catch can and unnecessarily pricey.
What we need is a heavy duty US based website that provides a no-hassle conduit for those who desire to part out their US based derelict MV's without the buyer having to bear the additional expense of shipping items from overseas or having to deal with unnecessary additional costs because a middle-man is involved.
And regarding our occasional conversations with folks who can't toe the line, I don't think that it is wise or productive to bullshit a bunch of folks who own lost-causes by giving them a big hearty pep-talk and encouraging them to throw good money after bad. Yes, it's fun and important to promote the hobby and bring in new members, but the hobby is not meant for everyone. Guys come up to me and say that some day THEY will own a (insert any MV here) and I say to them, "Why wait? I can hook you up with a seller of just such a vehicle TODAY!" I don't give bullshitters any slack. We dont' need bullshitters in the hobby. We need realists.
And what of the guys we've all encountered who own good restorable old iron that will not under any circumstances part with it because of some delusion that some day, some way, they're going to restore it....but they never do(?!) Wouldn't it be an intelligent option to have to be able to point them to a strong forum that is dedicated to and promotes the sale of unrestored and parted out MVs and say, "Check this out before you decide what you're going to do."?
Age and experience has taught me that SOME potentially "restorable" MV's should be parted out so that other restorations may be completed without loss of wife, ruined relationships with friends and family, and decimated bank accounts. If time and money were no object, this wouldn't be a problem, but unfortunately that's not the case.
As the years go by, these derelict MVs are going to disappear. When that happens, the prices of the remaining new or repro parts are going to skyrocket and suddenly NO ONE will be able to afford the really old iron and that will be a sad day indeed because that is THE day the hobby will begin to die and die quickly, or it will have to be renamed the M35VPA. I ask you, does the hobby exist to keep a few parts purveyors in business? It just makes me completely nuts to know that this country is still peppered with good take-off parts that won't ever make it back to those of us who need them.
These difficulties we all have to contend with are roadblocks that should be plowed under, if only for the sake of the welfare of the hobby in general. Look at what has happened to general aviation! Not too many years ago, the average Joe could still afford to buy himself a little kite of his own and go flying on the weekend without breaking the bank. I recall summer weekends where the drone of private aircraft on a nice day was almost continuous, all day long. Not any more. Why? Because no one had the intelligence to take the pulse of THAT hobby and smooth out the rough spots. They let a bunch of heavy hitters get involved (not to mention the regulatory stuff) and now it's mostly for guys with big fat bank accounts. That was never what general aviation was MEANT to be!
So, here we are...sitting on our hands as usual waiting for some one or some thing to come along and destroy our hobby. I guess I just have a different view of things.
Regards,
TJ
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