I agree with most of what you say.
There is also another factor and this is something that
all the "old car clubs" (which is really the category that we
fall in, even armor owners such as myself) acknowledge is
a real concern. That is the aging of the owners NOT the
vehicles. The average age of your restorer/collector is
something around 56 years old irrespective of country.
If you look at the way the old car clubs are going, they
are all facing extinction not because of a lack of
vehicles or spares, but because of a lack of owners.
A good example is the Chev clubs in Oz. In the main it
is their own fault, they have been such an elitist bunch
over the years that they have chased away the few younger
blokes that showed any interest. Now they are all falling
off the planet due to age - have a quick look at any of
the Veteran or Vintage car clubs and most members are in
their 70s! Because of all this, their vehicles sell for
no more than what they did 20 or 30 years ago. What was
once a good investment is now a liability.
Yes the supply of unrestored vehicles has all but dried
up, but as that occured, the supply of new members also
dried up - so that sort of solved that problem.
Back to MVs and the real point of this email
- don't lose sight of the need to apply your ideas to
vehicles of all era's not just WW2 stuff.
There is one rule that always holds true, that is:
People tend to restore/collect the things from their
youth.
For those now starting to become collectors (the 30 to
40 year olds) that means M38 Jeeps, M35 Trucks etc,
unfortunately due to modern laws this will not include
armor.
We have discussed this before on this list and there are
members who have stated what they do to encourage the
younger blokes. I think what you are saying goes hand in
glove with their aims - get people interested and make
it practical and affordable for them to participate.
I suppose the ultimate example is a WW2 Jeep, if you
can't find one to restore, you can always build the
thing totally from repro parts. That may upset the
purists, but just about everything upsets them, just
like the Oz Chev clubs.............
Regards
Doug