Tippen Delta on American Pickers

[milnes]

I think the confidentiality part works fine on here. Alistair Lauchland made contact with me regarding someone having an interest in a car of mine, it was my decision if i made contact or not, perfect 

[Barry]

Thanks for the video Jim.  Really good to see the Tippen and other treasures.
Daylight robbery springs to mind though.

I don't personally see the entertainment value of people being persuaded to part with good gear to allow someone to make a profit - middle man.
I do like to see what people have collected over the years and for it to find a good home when no longer wanted - no middle man.

I am sure others on the forum would agree perhaps?
Some have a sole interest in value, market trends and how much money can be achieved.  Enthusiasts?

[Big Al]

They want to let these guys try to do deals with some of the forum members. They would get turned into gibbering wrecks on camera. Brilliant! They wanted me to do an early Mike Brewer thing on a guy buying an Isetta I had, yonks ago. I queeried what the idea was.
'Its about the nogotiation process' was the answer.
I said @there isn't one. I suggest a price and then we talk about it, and if I am right then the car sells. Silly offers get treated with the contempt the deserve and I will get on with some real work'.
'But you have to negotiate!'
'Why, if I know what I have is worth to me?'
Needless to say I was not visited by a film crew and when they did the Isetta, like most cars the offer was half the asking price. 'Yeah, right, b@@@@r off you pi*ey wannabe'.

What really gets me is these characters get so affronted that people will not sell to them. They sit in there transport moaning it was a waste of time going there. Well there is a reason why collections of crap gather. You are talking to an acquisitionist or horder. Their nature is to not sell stuff, which is why they have all the crap. Go in with the wrong attitude you will get no where. Its not the collectors roll to feed traders. 

[Jim Janecek]

I don't personally see the entertainment value of people being persuaded to part with good gear to allow someone to make a profit - middle man.

On one hand, I agree with you.  This crew first contacted me before they starting making any episodes.  I did not agree with their description of the show and never returned their messages.
Now I watch the show with my wife for an "armchair tour" of people's collections.  I don't care what they buy or what the values are.  I just like being able to go see what people are hoarding.
As far as selling: many people don't want to sell ANYTHING and they know the market value of what they have.  They just want to be on the show.

[Barry]

Thanks for the explanation Jim.  I agree it's always interesting to see what else is in the garage.
It's my first taster of this program so the format is new. 
I like to horde things and occasionally sell when I want to or need space for the next interesting vehicle.  I would never sell just because someone wants to make a profit.  I would much prefer to sell to someone who wants something for their own enjoyment, even if it's not for top money.

[Bob Purton]

Agreed Barry. But there is a whole batch of nutty programs like this these days. The Antiques business has suffer greatly due to them. Whether the deals are real or staged the public just think they can haggle you down to half the asking price. Most dealers just dont work like that and with those kind of margins.
Then there is another pointless program about people bidding on the invisible contents of a storage container. Just another form of gambling I guess.
One things for sure, they are cheap old programmes to make!
Then there is Gogglebox, people sitting in there front rooms watching other people sitting in there front rooms watching telly!
On a diet of this I weep for the future of the next generation! 

[Barry]

I weep with you Bob.

[milnes]

I think people sell for various reasons, the chap Barrie on the programme didn't seem anyones fool, if he paid 50 pence for the piece he sold for £200 and was happy with the price then good on him.
My Grandfather collected Gold and Silver long before it became trendy and there was a 'We buy your Gold ' shop on every corner. In his later years he asked me to go into the nearest large town and see how much i could get for some old Silver cups he had from the early 1900's. Obviously the antique dealers were a bit wary of a 20 something year old lad coming in with 20 silver cups to sell. One chap who showed and interest and offer a fair price asked if he could meet my Grandfather. My Grandfather agreed to meet and got on very well with the dealer and on each visit my Grandfather would bring some more things out for the dealer to bid on, this went on once a month for over a year. The dealer asked my Grandfather to bring everything out so he could make one offer, which my Grandfather refused to do.
As it transpired my Grandfather liked the guys company and enjoyed talking Gold and sliver with the dealer and knew if he showed him enough and gave him at a decent price the dealer would keep coming back. This gave my Grandfather something to look forward to each month. 
My Grandfather knew the dealer had to make money and as long as the offer was fair for both, he was happy to accept.

Some people want their 15 minutes of fame and the only way they can do this is either X-Factor or selling their family knick knacks on American pickers. I don't think the chap Barrie would be a good singer and some how i don't think he wanted his 15 minutes of fame!
Maybe he just enjoyed the American pickers company, made a good profit and was happy with his lot  .
Im a relative newcomer to the Micro car scene compared to many on here. I'm not in this to make money, i don't need to, i have a job that allows me to buy food etc. So i guess this is a hobby to me. I bought a car early this year, i had a chap come to my workshop some months ago to look at my cars and he took a shine to the car, he asked if i would sell it to him, which i did, at the same price i bought it. Now i could have made a quick £500-£1000 from the chap but what's the point?? I struck the deal on the proviso that if he were to sell the car i get first refusal, which he was more than happy to agree on.
I think we should be happy with our lot, not everyone is fortunate enough to be into Micro cars just as a hobby and need to trade to put food on the table or to buy a slightly better model of car, i have no problem with that, after all it's supply and demand and the price of a car is what ever someone is willing to pay for it surely!

[Chris Thomas]

Dear Scott

Your point is well drafted and the spelling looks good to me. I think you are ready to write your first magazine article.

Chris Thomas
Rumcar News

[Stuart Cyphus]

 Last night on Wheeler Dealers, the cockney bloke, whatever his name is, went up to Leeds to look over a perfectly good Jag XJS on a dealer's forecourt. The asking price was £1,395 & the cheeky *** offered him £800  !!!  I'm pretty easy-going but if somebody had offered me that sort of money on a £1,400-marked car of mine, I'd have told him right where to get off!

[richard]

It's never going to happen Stuart 

[Big Al]

The correct dealer response to such an offer is to continue the sales pitch at £1,495 - unless the thing is a clunker. But if it were, it is worth £150 over the weigh bridge as a XJS. I have raised the price numerous times to silly offers. You know such a buyer will be whinging on the 'phone as soon as he can and be a pain in the Harris. Bye bye.

[Chris Thomas]

Hi All

I would love to see on TV the  seller add £50 to the offer price everytime the TV presenter makes an offer, and see how high he can get the price before the buyer realises the more he haggles the further away they are getting.

You can tell I rarely buy things!!!

Chris Thomas

[Jim Janecek]

I would love to see on TV the  seller add £50 to the offer price everytime the TV presenter makes an offer, and see how high he can get the price before the buyer realises the more he haggles the further away they are getting.

I've done this on the occasion where I have something with a price that is firm.  The buyer always says I am "not playing fair".

I have seen 2 sellers on American Pickers do this to the guys as well for items they don't want to sell or have firm prices on.  They catch on quick.

[DaveMiller]

I once asked my local garage (in Hong Kong) to quote me for a bit of fill and metallic respray where I'd dented a front wheel arch of my Mercedes 450SE (driving over a tree, after a typhoon ... but that's another story).

The guy said "$900" (then about £90), and I said "No ... $1400".

After the entire garage team had stopped work and turned to look at me in shock, I said, "You won't do it properly, for $900".

It worked: thus challenged, they did an absolutely undetectable (and still bargain) job!