[MV] Today's Hummer Auction
Julian Burke (julianb@esper.com)
Wed, 11 Aug 1999 19:02:08 -0400
Well, I went today to try and get a Hummer. There were about 450 M998
Hummers. About half ran and those went through the auction first. (One
lane only in the car auction.) The lowest priced one went for $17,500. A
few went for about $20,500. Average was about $18,300. There were a very
few that brought $17,000 and the auctioneer (Dean Echols) passed on those.
(NO SALE) The other half which didn't run or couldn't be moved safely
stayed outside and the enthusiasm dropped very quickly! The auctioneer was
encouraging "bulk sales" and 2 lots of those sold for about $17,600 site
unseen in chronological order. I think there was 20 in one lot and 7 in the
other. The lowest priced one was $16,800 and I think the highest was
$21,200 in the entire sale. When the action dropped to $16,000, Mr. Echols
stopped the auction and no more sold. There were many more, (looked like
more than what was sold) and many were very rough to nasty to fair and a few
nicer ones. He was wanting $17,000 for about any of 'em! At the beginning
of the auction, he stated about 200 more are coming from the west also to be
sold. (Should be about 500 in the next sale) Although they stated that
they were being sold for "off road use only", they said you could do
whatever you wanted to with it in your jusisdiction. The '97's issued were
the usual ones with NO adverse stampings on them. The local Hummer dealer
had a new $85,000 unit in front of the sale for "looks". I'm sure they
pulled out all of the stops to market these units. The first three units
were a nice camo with a soft top and the other two were fresh enamel
repaints of bright yellow and red. (UGGGGLY!) They all brought about $21K
apeice. There were plenty of people left wanting one for around
$7,000-$15,000. They went home empty handed. In my opinion, this was a
"fixed auction" and was NOT a real auction at all. However; I do want to
make one statement: Will the person who profoundly stated in a previous
Supply Line (who had the $60,000 military Hummer) "THERE WILL NEVER BE ANY
MORE RELEASED" please take your crystal ball back to the flea market where
you purchased it for a refund! Also, while on the subject, people who have
$30,000 hummers for sale "need not apply" any more as they will be coming
out more and more from the military system. At these prices, the Gov't
surely will be releasing a lot more. There has NEVER been any kind of a
official demil on any Hummer except for ignorance on the part of the DRMO's.
Today certainly proves that point. Sincerely, Julian Burke
===
To unsubscribe from the mil-veh mailing list, send the single word
UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of a message to <mil-veh-request@skylee.com>.