Agreed. My contention is that this would have happened anyway. The auction just served as the focus and bought the effect forward a few years.
Certainly, I agree that I left thinking that this was the end of the thing as a hobby too, as it was clear the collectors were to come in and clear out the good stuff. Up to a point that was OK, while there was a supply of iffy cars for the hobbyists to work up and replace those lost to limited activity. It put money into the market, so previously unobtainable spares would be made. Those wise enough could create a sustainable stack of spares from source, and cars, to use for a lifetime. Many have done so. The issue was that the supply of cars would run out and the prices rise out of the range where folk would use their restored cars. The collectors would end up owning the lions share of the cars, and no new blood would/could enter, unless very motivated or moneyed. Dead man's shoes, otherwise. I think that situation was reached some years ago.
Is that is what happened? So replacement machines were introduced broadening what is a 'microcar'. That did not really resolve the situation though, it changed that base activity, away from the true microcars, into something different. With the collectors feeding off it, and many a person buying up cars to sell a few years later at a mark up as well. More cars unused but 'available'.
Thus my activities as a pro trader, post auction, were going to be undermined by higher overheads and that hobbyist based business was dead. I could have become more professional, but I had a good run and did not want that sort of lifestyle. The economy crash looming, totally predictable other than actual timing, suggested the ideal time to get out.
The advantage of the rise in values is that I can now trade in my microcars against cars previously way beyond my budget and transfer to a hobby I would previously be unable to afford. For me it is low level motorsport and a local Classic Car Club that promotes many active events for general Classic Cars local, Nationally and in Europe. A vacuum left over the year with the de-munition of Microcar attendance over the last 7 years, and a failure to advance to better venues commensurate with the uplifted value of the cars in question. I am not the only person to have decided this is so and reacted positively to the options available. It is a moot point if the Microcar scene is suffering a significant loss of knowledge right now, as the time served and skilled move to other things offering greater retain in those owners eyes. Will spares availability retard, or fall to expensive independent specialists? Certainly there is great willingness to not keep cars original. That is a further turn off for some people. The attitude, bluntly, is been there, done that. Perversely some of those entering microcars now can say the exact same thing about low level motorsport as they do the opposite to me.
So the upshot is its a rather different activity and hobby, if that is what collection a 30 or 100 unused cars is. Its more diverse, liberal and moneyed. It is up to those people to now step up and offer something new to interest those now leaving to persuade them to stay, as in my opinion there is going to become a time where information, skills and hands on knowledge is going to be at a premium. Theory and knowing all the specs is one thing but making the car do those things is another. I only need to site Trienkels to support this notion. When I used my Trojan it would cruise at 50 mph, it would accelerate towards 60 mph and it was reliable. I do not see that reflected in today's cars. I was lucky to be taught by Mick Leeson and Basil. They knew how to make these things work. Kill about 5 people and I think that knowledge is dead in the UK!
Can you blame Bruce for that. No. Indeed he had a simple answer. Find a few gurus and encourage them and his collection improved over its bought in condition. Those people are a new centre of excellence, but they are not in the UK. From the outside it would seem Microcars is a more active scene in the USA, despite the issue of the vast distances, than the UK, which used to be pretty much Micro central with Germany. But the Americans do things their way.
