I am not sure Bob holds a non conformist view. He voices a common concern over the tendency of the pool of microcars to diminish here, to sales elsewhere. He just voiced this, pressed the button a bit quick, for which he apologised to the party crossed, and has to be quiet, as if he is not politically correct like a Muslim hater or something. Debate is healthy.
There is a serious situation behind this. As the car numbers fall in the UK, so does the activity in them and that effects social activity, buying power for part manufacture in our bit of the world, etc etc. I am a free market supporter, so my take on it is that if the Brits do not pay 'the going rate' they loose the cars. However that does resolve the issue in our favour. The economy currently looks like helping some economies pick up the cars for less of their currency, than for a while.
I think the defence here, and while I know the owner of the cars well, is that the auctioneer selection, regional, and timing, are we all going bto Kings Lynn if it snows, suggest a disappointing menu of top bids. We have watched the vagueness of auctions over the years. In America a Goggo Coupe has just fetch a ridiculous sum of money. This summer a load of 'desirable' Schmitt projects went through for no great values. Most to trade to be turned around for a mark up.
There is the rub. The trade will take microcars now. They underwrite the prices. You want a car you either have to find an off market car ,or pay at least trade price for it. Oddly as a trader, retired, I would not be investing at the prices most cars seem to have reached. There is fresher meat to cook with out there. But many of the trade follow patterns rather than look for new ones.
Its a catch 22. Less cars here, less interest and activity, but the cars are rarer, so the price goes up. That excludes another layer of buyer. And so it goes on. However a good proportion of the cars are moving from single/low ownership owners to multiple owners. So the frequency of sell offs, clearing unwanted collections, in an ageing population, means we will endlessly have these buying contests. There is not the satisfaction of following a tip into the countryside and digging out an unknown car. That's what I get off on. Not the Miss World parade of cars wearing make up. The challenge there is just to beat the other guy. Yet it is only the folk who make new cars available, and the increasing interest world wide that drives this market, which could very well end up like a pyramid selling enterprise where the last guy out with the money in the bank is the winner. Look what has happened to other collectables.
Here is no effective way of keeping the cars in Britain in a world market, that I can think of, but for paying the price it takes to stop the cars going abroad. Unlike some countries I cannot see them being classed as heritage and banned from export. Poor publicity helps to keep them here, of course. Same as it ensures less people at events. I've finally got it! Less people at events, less people wanting a car as they've not been inspired, less local competition to buy up those cars into a collection. How cunning campervan man is.
