>WARNING! A Rant follows....
>
>The latest $50k Amphi is on eBay. The 1st thing I noticed
Welcome to the world when your unique and off the grid hobby car goes
mainstream cool. I used to buy old rusted Rovers for a couple hundred
bucks and fix them up. Then as they got older they became trendy for
summer homes and such and prices went nuts. Lots of shops do crap
work on them and sell them to unsuspecting buyers on line who just
look at the outside and don't find out they got burned until they get
the thing home. As popularity increases so do the hack-job
"restorations", the customer burns and the belief that everyones car,
no matter the condition, is now worth Barret-Jackson money. In any
popular car group there are always 2 camps. One being the loyal
followers that are there through thick and thin and the folks that
will help anyone and the other being those who are in it for the
money and a quick turn around. I'd like to report that over the last
15 years that I saw a rise and fall of this with Land Rovers and they
they came back to reality, but in fact it just continues onwards. The
hobbyists are still there, but their life is a lot harder now that
rusted junk sells for 3-5K, and to make things worse, daily I get
calls from folks who just bought rusted junk on ebay and need it
fixed correctly.
As much as I like helping customers I do feel a little put off by the
fact that people don't do any research before they purchase things
(Rovers or Amphicars), it baffles me (I guess they have way more
money to risk than I do). I'm new to the Amphicar scene, but still,
in about a week of research before I bought my car I already had
names of all the players and who to stay away from and who to go see.
So as much as I totally agree with your rant, it does have a good
side. Some poor instant gratification guy will buy a hack
restoration. Then he'll find out the real deal on it and either turn
it over to some other poor shlub, or he'll send it to a restoration
shop with a proper reputation to get it fixed. So in the end guys
like Dave and John will benefit as they have to fix these hack jobs
up. I've seen it dozens of times. A Rover will come here, we go over
it. The guy freaks takes it to another shop (cheaper shop). Then 6
months later you see that truck again on ebay. Then it comes back to
us and either the cycle happens all over again or the new owner has
us go ahead and fix it correctly. The good side is that once in this
cycle these cars/trucks tend to get fixed, rather than sitting dead
in field somewhere.
ECR
21 Tolman Road, Warren, ME 04864
ph: 207-594-8086 fax: 207-594-8120
http://www.eastcoastrover.com
ECR emails are for information exchange only, they are not quotes or
estimates. All work at ECR is done on a time and materials basis.
Install costs and overall project costs can not be given as used and
vintage vehicles vary greatly in condition.
http://www.eastcoastrover.com/FAQ.html
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