Mike:
I want to be sensitive to your history with KF, and I know you mean ME when you point out people with negative attitudes about pricing. You want me to go away. Obviously, my perspective can not compete with a #4818 member. I will go away.
But, not without a salient observation. I stated "NO KFOCI member will pay that." I did not say anyone won't pay that, and I know that some KF products are collected by a greater community, such as Darrins, convertibles, Virginians and so on.
It's a culture thing with KFOCI members, early members like yourself. Back when you guys started the clubs, and as evidenced by that 1950 Frazer hardtop, KF flagships cars could be purchased as cheaply as $25. Stashes became common. The core of the club, many of which have passed away, could have a 20 car collection for $500.
And parts were cheap to keep them running. There is not a lot of found money in the club. I would even hazard to guess that the Beckers purchased their 2 flagship cars for pennies on the dollar, for what they are now worth.
Therefore my comment is a reflection on the cheapness of the club to purchase projects and even nice cars, to continue the club's obvious stewardship responsibility. You can disagree with that, or be puzzled by it, but part of the reason any old car club is created is to maintain the cars of interest, and their identification to a greater community.
Many many KF's are out there languishing as viable projects or even nice cars that can be purchased, but in my opinion, as evidenced by the lack of purchase of virtually all of these cars - the old guard of the club is super cheap. They can not conceive of paying the amounts of money some of these folks are asking, or worse yet, some of these $15,000 to $20,000 cars being offered are owned by the "old guard of the KFOCI" and cars they purchased and restored for $25, and restored for $1500 25 years ago or more - they now want $15,000 to $20,000.
I can add on, I know you find it distasteful, but if an early member number member offered one of these $25 cars, since restored, to another early number member for $15,000 to $20,000, the other early number member would be incredulous!
Part of the reason that our excellent parts providers still have large stashes of parts is because KFOCI members are not willing to pay a reasonable price for those parts. When I parted out a Polar Grey 1949 Virginian, I tried to save the unique parts. I had some Virginian guys, who are strictly lurkers on this forum and not active, say they would buy my parts for pennies. They did not want to "overpay" for parts. I sold some parts for $5 and ended up losing hundreds of dollars by not valuing postage/shipping costs correctly. I was offering the parts strictly in a stewardship sense, because I knew how valuable the Virginian parts were, and did not want to see them crushed and of no use.
There are 3 Virginians in a Colorado yard, one of which is likely quite restorable, but there is NO INTEREST in them, not enough to pay to purchase and transport. The rare 666 53 Dragon show car went unpurchased for years in southern Illinois, because it was priced "too high" for the members that were used to paying $25 for a Dragon. A beautiful Carribbean Coral 1951 went unpurchased for over a year on this forum, price dropping continuously, that car had low original mileage, and no member was interested. There are dozens of examples of KFOCI "cheapness", so I am not sure why you are so offended by my statement, and want me to "go away."
Cheap, the early number members are cheap. That's why I stated "no KFOCI member will buy that car." As a Cadillac LaSalle Club member, and a Buick Club member, I get the monthly periodicals where the average price of a FOR SALE Cadillac is probably $24,000, with few offered below $10,000 and many offered in the $45,000 to $85,000 range and they change hands. Few cars go unsold. Member to member, they are willing to pay for an excellent car.
Member to member in the KFOCI, without anyone providing real time proof, I am saying no way. Even Darrins, many of which were snatched up when they were not as hot as they are now, represent costs which many KFOCI members would not pay to own another one.
Newer members like myself, could purchase a $1000 car, restore it because we like restoring, and offer it at a huge loss to members with early membership numbers, and get no interest. Too expensive. KFOCI members are caught in a time warp. It is dangerous to paint with a broad brush, but I am as offended by your statement, as you are of mine. A forum is a place to comment. If you would prefer, ask Chris to "rule up" the forum to only allow censored or "friendly" comments that are not offensive to anyone.
