No doubt everyone has been keenly awaiting the reply from my angle on this topic. Well, you're still waiting. My reply may come later, if at all, but for now we have the viewpoints of Alan himself, who indeed hits several of my nails squarely on the head....
Once again, and not unexpectedly, I have a client who has asked me to view postings on the forum in relation to cars that I have been asked to market. It now becomes clear why a simple lack of information on behalf of the honourable Mr Jim over a Peel received the apparently un-needed addition of my thoughts on forums. These were inserted for just such a situation as we expected with respect to helping Stuart realise some income from his hard work and not an attempt to make Jim uncomfortable over a misunderstanding. Well done, guys, for proving exactly that which I suggested were the habitual result of these sites. Stuart is now wiser as to where he stands in the world and to who are his real friends and respecters off and on site and who only wanted to pick his brain for gain. The chums have rallied to his defence after several really quite blatantly mischievous postings. Perry has it ‘you couldn’t make it up’; well somebody did actually didn’t they?
Now children at the back. You put a half nelson onto Stuart sometime ago with unspecific but clear intent by making him the object of discussions on register management. He was annoyed and asked advice of his friends, I do not know how widely as I am part of his local group of chums where we value him for who he is, which is what friends do, not on what he can do for us, make for us, here hold this smoking gun while we leg it - just in case there is confusion in the ranks. I think the drift of advice was to go for the deal anyway and face the consequences and he chose to market the cars through me. The benefit of this, of course, is that Stuart gained the addition of my ability to move several vehicles at once. It is an arrangement of convenience and trust between two friends and not the business of anyone else but suffice it to say I am hoping to generate some income for Stuart who has no regular income, pension or investments unlike his detractors and little prospect of buying the mainstream Microcar he would like. It is not an alliance with the devil and those who suggest so really reflect more of their own suspect morals by pre judging a situation in reflection of what they would do on the minimal information available. I think we are probably looking at jealousy for being good at what I did and Stuart finding a bit of a stash than any real case history. I will be clear here. I am no longer dealing, unlike some who never registered as such in the first place, I do not need or wish too do it anymore. However I still have regular ex-customers I advise despite retiring from the trade, my word continues to be my bond. If folk want to challenge my honesty they are welcome but should be aware I will immediately call theirs to account.
The deal is really very simple. The scrappy was sweet talked into making time to sell a job lot of machines; I believe he wanted them saved. I doubt he needs the money and it would be a waste of time attempting taking one or two, as he would not have been interested. So initially the plan was to take the lot, preferable bought outright by Stuart keeping things simple. OK so now he has 8 cars 200 miles away with no transport or storage to put them in. What would you do? Stuart talked to me about it and I agreed to take the cars in and perform the logistics for which I gain a Type 70 free and a few favours with my out of pocket expenses back when we sell. Stuart makes the deal and I know what he paid but it does not alter our arrangement as he has to learn business and I am not going to let him down but gain the best for his interests. So far he has done well.
Originally the situation was to market the cars so Stuart got a free Type 70 too. On gaining the first batch of cars it was clear each is a curates egg but half are in easy reach of being A1 examples of their class rather than some blue wreckage. It follows, therefore, that rather than distribute all the vehicles as found an enhanced strategy might prove better. That was to sort out at least two of the Type 70’s into road going condition and hopefully netting Stuart additional income for what is a one off deal. I see absolutely nothing wrong with that as a policy on this purchase since the deal was you buy the lot at x price or none at y. There was no time for dicking about. We hit this collection of cars at just the right time in fact, earlier, no deal. Six months later, they will have been scrapped. The situation with respect to the Register and car availability (another legitimate but unending topic as there is not a right answer save the vehicles do not suffer) is therefore irrelevant but to be fair the cars have been made available to all after their collection since I am neutral in who should purchase them as long as they have some money for Stuart.
As it happens it is possible that several cars are already placed and I think we are looking at two possible spare Type 70s only. This is covered by my advert, which is not specific as to which of the cars is for sale for the simple reason we have yet to decide. Quite how anyone can tell which car is advertised/pictured/under legal obligations is therefore totally beyond me. The advert will develop organically as the situation develops and is effectively an entreaty to state interest at the moment since I am not going to release anything. I can only therefore assume that this negative undue interest is based on mischief making with the aim of queering the pitch. Real trade do not do this sort of thing or they lose their ability to trade without money, which is one of my huge advantages over the rest of the pack. But then it is not just Stuart who should be considering with whom they create a working association is it?
Now onto registration supply. It is a topic of legitimate debate but I would point out these cars are a special case. Remember that these are scrapped cars belonging to the Government. They therefore have no old numberplates nor chassis plates nor title papers which were removed during the scrappage process. They survived because the scrappy thought they were the last and too interesting to crush. In the meantime the ICR has cleared the way to surviving carriages being allowed to be privately owned and registered as tricycles. However how do you register a car that is clearly adapted as an invalid conveyance so technically not a car, without a chassis number or date of manufacture? We think we have a way and not ending up on a Q plate either. It will be proven before a car is supplied. The payment includes all the fees, transportation to inspections and verification processes to be paid for as well as the time taken in doing the task. If you can do it yourself you can save £250 and it saves me a lot of work. Incidentally the registration price is not negotiable nor repeatable since I will not be available to do the running about after supply. Registration is thus advertised separately from the price, as is the MOT, which clearly is only needed if the vehicle is to be used on the road in Britain.
So the situation is clearer and the pointed D hats have been issued with reports to the head master on bullying. Time will tell if the market agrees with my judgement of the value of these vehicles, which is as it should be. As to getting many Reliant for the price asked I would suggest a well-presented original Reliant is going to be at least £1500 these days. Junk sells for junk prices and I leave it to the dodgy dealers (Inland Revenue allows 4 cars to be traded a year before you are required to place the information on your tax return) to go in their garages and polish it up for a stitch up on eBay. The fact is below a certain price I will buy these excess cars myself, as I believe they represent fine original unmolested examples of a fun interesting anachronism of machinery from a cul de sac in automotive history. All the hallmarks of being a collectable vehicle in fact.
Big Al