Esteemed listers all:
My dog and I left Aberdeen Saturday evening at dark, being one of the last vendors to break down. I had my usual smattering of M37 parts, and my tool trailer was on display. By next year, I hope to have it done with tools complete, and I'm grateful for all the advice and suggestions from all that stopped to comment! I had nice talks with AussieRob, Sheldon the jeep panel maker, Dave Bobick from Trader John's, Rick Lathrop of V-100 fame, Alan Haage from the South Jersey MVPA affiliate, and several others of you who always stop by my stall. I was displaying alone this year, so I didn't have much of a chance to walk around. My apologies to those of you I did not visit. Thanks to one and all for a nice outing. Tom and his committee worked very hard to get the show on this year, and my thanks to all of them too. The display field was well laid out, with very generous spaces, and there were plenty of nice clean porta-johns. The mere $30 registration and space fee was certainly har!
d earned by the men and women wh
o gave up their holiday to make this all happen. I missed seeing Bill from the mess tent team, who had that nifty Bren carrier last year. Anyone know if he made it?
Lots of vendors remarked about the light turnout and lack of buying. I experienced the same. There were also a number of very nice trucks and trailers that were offered at reasonable prices, that did not sell. I recall that a vote was taken to move the rally weekend to avoid a conflict with Memorial Day and actual Armed Forces Day celebrations. Some of the vendors attributed this light turnout to the change. I personally think it had more to do with this weekened being Mother's Day. There were lots of families present, mom and kids in tow behind dad, who's mouth was watering over all the offerings.
Dad's smile was as big as the Cheshire Cat's as he walked from stall to stall, eyes glistening and heart racing as he spied each new find, while mom lagged behind, boonie hat in a slouch, jeep tailpipe wrapped over her shoulder, bag of composite lights in her hand, and the look of GALACTIC BOREDOM on her face. Now, as we all know, dad saves and schemes all year to wind up with a few crisp hundred dollar bills in the back corners of his wallet. He can't very well dig these out in front of mom now, can he? In addition, I lost several sales when ms wife says to mr husband: "You BETTER not buy any more of that S**T until the garage gets cleaned out!" ROFL! Well, so goes life, and we'll get em next year! Several of the larger vendors didn't reserve or show this year, probably due to the Mother's Day holiday. I myself enjoy the outing, even in the face of poor sales. Thanks to those of you who stopped and said hello, and those who bought a thing or two.
On the upside, the field was not as ticky this year, with only an occasional bite here and there. There were few mosquitos, a great breeze at night, and nary a drop of rain for those who recall last year's nor'east deluge. There WAS a drop of water now and then as the Commander's Huey ferried water back and forth to water the golf course, but no rain. We got serenaded at night by a re-enactment group that played awesome bagpipes, the beer and great food flowed freely, and there were plenty of great MV's on display.
This year, for the very first time, I and several other vendors experienced theft of merchandise from displays. The committee members who were taking care of admissions at the entry point seemed to be doing a careful job, but we did notice some groups of seemingly unattended younger teens walking around. I can only hope the two were not connected, and that this was a fluke that will not be repeated.
There was some discussion among vendors about the future of the surplus business. With the Great Duece Sellout nearing an end, and no more mass truck sales expected in the future, it's hard to say what's in store, but it doesn't look that bright. In addition, with so many trucks being parted out or turned into street and off road hot rods, the pool of surviving complete vehicles is getting smaller and smaller.
Regarding Ebay, I just wanted to pass on a story from a month ago, in the light of recent nazi-like tactics against sellers of military items. There was a listing for a "intact, very old container FULL of 2,4,5T herbicide", which was being presented as "an antique tin container" in the same manner as an old coffee or tobacco tin from some general store. Several of us notified BOTH the seller and Ebay, and warned them that this substance is proscribed from interstate commerce, and may not be sold, shipped, or transported, and they responded that "...in light of the absence of credible scientific evidence of hazard....blah blah blah" they permitted this item to go to bid closing. The buyer got himself a nice can of Agent Orange! Hey, gotta supress the nazi marked surplus stuff, but let'em drink Agent Orange! Where did we lose control?
Anyway, thanks to all for a swell weekend at Aberdeen, and let's do it all over again at Ft Lee!
Regards,
Jack
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Jun 05 2001 - 23:18:34 PDT