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Decembers Editors column - Price of fuel, is it devaluing military vehicles?


Jack

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Ok - back by public demand ( actually it is just because I have had time :whistle:) and the question is Price of fuel, is it devaluing military vehicles? I think it could be but have a read and lets us know what you think.

 

On the front page folks....

 

Next months column will be by a well known personality in the movement....... :sweat:

 

 

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Have you got any facts or figures to back any of these ideas up Jack? I wouldnt have thought the price of fuel would have had much effect, maybe on the more recent vehicles, but fuel is just part and parcel of the interest. Plus if you had the money to own a Sherman, fuel prices wouldnt really bother you would they?

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Yes, that's quite right. The problem is Jack you are trying to combine your hobby with common sense and lets face it the two dont go together.

 

You must seperate the two. If you want to buy a project, you should only consider two things:

 

1). Do you really want it and the problems of time, space, skinned knuckles that it will cause.

 

2). Can you afford to throw money at it without the guarantee of getting all of it (or possibly any of it) back.

 

Some people do make money on selling on their MV's, but they are in a minority. Do it because you want it, or want to save it from the scrap mans torch. If at any stage you have to think whether it is cost effective then you are in the wrong hobby.

 

For example (not us but fairly close to home). Buy an unrestored WW1 truck for £20,000. Spend £30,000 on restoring it. End result, a restored WW1 truck worth about £10,000 if you could find someone to buy it at that price.

 

Tim (too)

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When I started out in MV's in 1989, fuel most definitely was NOT a consideration, even with me always running heavies. Now, the escalating cost has had the effect of maybe discouraging people from attending far away smaller rallies, and sticking nearer to home during the season. Those that do still venture far afield see themselves and their families having to make more sacrifices in order to do so, and bully for them I say.

There is an unfortunate parallel in the world of restoring and flying unique or historic aircraft, which takes a whole lot of serious dough. With a few notable exceptions, those that bankroll the restorations are those that should be banned from ever flying them. But, if Mr Richman goes out and gets a few flying lessons and the requisite basic licence, nobody can stop him from being shown how to fly his toy. Over the years, I have seen the most unsuitable people get to fly someones painstakingly-restored pride and joy, and either ground-loop it and swipe off the undercarriage, or worse still, pile it in. And this includes airline pilots, who because of their thousands of hours in the logbook flying automated aircraft, are deemed to be the "right sort" by the insurance companies to sit in the cockpit. Many have little or no tail-wheel experience, and have never nursed big radial engines to keep them in one piece, and get the best out of them. The restored Bristol Blenheim, in its first reincarnation, is a case in point.

It is abundantly clear from just reading this Forum that a lot of you fine people go to great personal privation to restore and run YOUR pride-and-joys, with often the domestic budget suffering while you have to order that vital part, (or even bolt, OUCH!). And now the cost of fuel makes it even more so. Well, good on you, because Mr Richman may have the money, but he does NOT have the enthusiasm, dedication, and hard-earned know-how to be doing what YOU do.

Long may it continue!

The only way it may devalue the MV's overall worth is if a fair number drop out of ownership by simply not being able to afford to run vehicles, and there become far less buyers to pass vehicles on to, especially the vital younger generations. Somehow I feel that time is a way off yet.

Of the 12 vehicles I have owned since 1989, I made a small profit on one, broke even on another, and lost money on the rest when I passed them on. Par for the course, and part of the hobby, I'm afraid!

(Sorry mods, I detected a bit of a deviation and rant in there somewhere. Rant over!)

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Hobby

:- something for pleasure (Oxford Dictionary) PLEASURE being the operative word, though i have always been in contact with military vehicles other hobbies have taken precedencebut these have like Jack suggested have fallen by the wayside due to escalating costs and the ever increasing influx of reproductions mainly in the German militaria market, you would not believe the amount of money some people part with for worth less rubbish...literally i have seen it, have had to walk away, and when shown the item at a later date i have voiced my doubts accused of sour grapes :banghead: :banghead:

 

Fuel prices must be taken into consideration when deciding what show to attend especially in areas where there are few really local shows and long distance / large vehicles with low MPG have to be taken into account and i confess wit out my trailer i would not take my jeep to Beltring.

 

Anyways off to e-bay to try and find some cheap German Iron Crosses.... :-D :-D

 

Ashley

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Petrol prices give me the right hump - but I'm not going to rant on about politics, etc.

 

The only difference fuel prices make to the private MV movement is the amount of distance people are prepared to travel to shows etc.

 

The Ward La France 8 litre petrol R22 eats petrol quicker than I eat minstrels - and that's fast. :shake:

 

However, the enjoyment for me is driving the beast so I begrudgingly pay the fuel prices. As previous threads have stated, common sense would say, put a diesel in it or get something more economical but common sense really doesn't have a part to play in this hobby of ours.

 

If it did, I wouldn't pay nearly a £1000 to attend the Plains trip in May.

 

It's about enjoying the vehicles, meeting people who make this a great hobby and most of all, having fun.

 

The day I don't find this hobby enjoyable, will be the day you find the Ward on Milweb.

 

Markheliops

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looking in my crystal ball I think:

a) petrol prices will make this an increasingly exclusive hobby but will not kill it off because when you are addicted to your hobby you are blind to price

 

b) what will actually kill it off is not running costs but it will be the "green" lobby and the elimination from the highway of "unclean" petrol engines irrespective of their historic importance - witness the London diesel ban. I am sure in 20 - 30 years time we will not be allowed to drive our pride and joys on the road at all.

 

Therefore from a financial point of view, whilst at the moment you can reasonably expect that a well maintained green machine will recover more of less its original cost price when you sell it, I expect that in the future if you have a lot of money tied up in a vehicle collection, you will never get this back and so you should not think of the value of your vehicles if you are, for example, thinking about how much capital / investment money you have for your retirement/pension.

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