<VV> Traitor in our midst - Board action requested

[Alan and Clare Wesson]

> The problem that I hope would be brought to light is
> that people who buy from the Corvair world and sell to
> the Corvette world are making a bunch of bucks off the
> Corvair people.

That's right - but what's to stop Corvair people doing it as well? Lancia
Appia tail lights also happen to fit 1950s Ferraris and Lancia Aurelia
Spiders, and as Appias go for $5-10000 and the latter two for $2-300000,
Appia tail lites are invariably $4-500 a pair if you can find them.

And what do Appia people do if they find a pair? Sell them for $500!! It
don't matter who it's to - it's market forces! I have so far only been on
the wrong side of this equation (i.e. I had to buy a pair!) and I was lucky
enough to find a pair of NOS ones for $300. But if I found a cache of them I
sure as heck wouldn't offer them to the other Appia owners for $20! They
would go straight on eBay for $500 a pair, no questions asked about what the
buyer owns.

Likewise, I got a milk float speedometer at Beaulieu this year for $20. This
is a tough deal for milk float restorers, as the speedometers also happen to
have been used on Lotus 7s, and sell for $200 to 7 owners. But did I tell
the milk float guy this? Nope! Do I feel bad about it? Nope! If I knew this
and owned a milk float, would I sell my surplus speedometers to milk float
owners for $20? Also nope! In fact I would make a point of concealing from
milk float owners the fact that I had a stock of their speedometers, because
I would be anxious to maximise my profits and sell them for $200 to Lotus 7
owners.

By the same token, now that I know what I know about Vair tele columns, if I
found a cache of NOS ones for $10 each (yeah, right!) I would put them
straight on eBay with 'Corvette' as the keyword!

As I said at the beginning - if a Vair person has a column and wants to sell
it for big bucks, then good for them. And if they sell one to a Corvette
person for $20 without realising its true worth, isn't it just a case of
'caveat vendor', as ever? I have certainly been on both sides of mistakes
like that in the past as well, but some you win and some you lose (and you
certainly don't do it twice, once you have found out your mistake!).

Cheers

Alan