Regarding cobmeister's response to Daniel Thompson's questions on July
20 Toad wrote:
< A very nice dissertation however I do not agree with several of your
generalizations. Your comment on price is not fair. >
Hey Toad,
Sorry you took umbrage at my "generalizations." I truly thought there
was nothing controversial in my post responding to Daniel's Trike
questions and I carefully labeled my opinions as just that: opinions.
I did attempt to give him as much hard info about the advantages of
various years of Trikes as I could recall.
I readily admit that parts of what I wrote were intended to be at
least mildly humorous... For instance, it does not actually take
"three innocent bystanders" to reverse a two-speeder, it can be done
by two and--in a real pinch--by one really motivated individual. One
really need not be either young nor rich to undertake--and possibly
complete--a Trike reassembly and resto but it sure doesn't hurt.
I am afraid that I must stand by my comments on the "value" of Trikes
in general. It makes no difference whatsoever what anybody is asking
for their Trike, it only matters how many bucks change hands when the
Trike changes homes. I confess that since I sold my Trike last
November I have not tracked Trike sales the way I had previously but I
cannot imagine a huge jump in prices in the past few months.
I also acknowledge that I don't have a ton of info on Canadian Trikes.
Of the 243 Trikesters listed in my data base only 16 are Canadians.
Only one of those folks subscribed to North American Trike so I really
don't know a lot about the Ottowa Northwoods. (Which, given my
aversion to snow and ice, is probably as it should be.)
I must strongly disagree with your comment that < Bert Vardy did a
restoration using (I feel) resources that were expensive. > True,
Bert tried to do everything first class--and the result shows it--but
he also did an amazing amount of work himself. If you'd like to read
the saga of Bert's resto of his true basket case Trike, go to >>>>>
http://members.aol.com/MorgnF2Guy/NATrike.html
and delve into the archives. It is very well documented.
I don't know how expensive Bert's restoration was but I am sure it was
not more than he and Julie could afford. I doubt that he sent work to
Canada merely to avail himself of the advantageous exchange rate but
if he did, so what? It pays to shop around...
I find your statement < Everything is available in UK > to be
disingenuous to the max. The MTWC is a fine group of group of fine
folks and are largely responsible for keeping a bunch of Trikes on the
road but that does not mean that it is easy or fast or cheap. Some
folks find dealing with them to be... well, frustrating, to say the
least.
< I got Angus last August and by next spring he and I will be chewing
up roads. > I hope and trust that your assessment is correct.
However, I respectfully remind you that there are many slips twixt
garage and "road chewing." Nobody ever plans to spend 15 or 20 years
on a resto, it just happens. Incidentally, your two year
effort--whatever it turns out to be--is not going to be a record on
quick Trike restos. So far as I know, that honor goes to Walt Kirby
up in Bonners Ferry, ID who did an amazing job of getting his '32 put
together. Walt, incidentally, is a machinist faced with long, cold
winters.
< three wheelers are just like ladies they are all beautiful > Well,
not too bad of an analogy... Trikes, like ladies, are fun to be
around but some ladies ain't really ladies at all and, given the
opportunity, will bite you in the butt.
In the final analysis, any car (or pile o' parts) is "worth" whatever
somebody is willing to pay for it. The amount of time it takes to
turn a pile o' parts into a car is determined by the individual and
the individual's resources, both intellectual and financial.
All the above, IMHO, of course.
Peace! Cheers! Happy Morganing!
--Colin Cobb, Las Cruces, NM, USA
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