The Cookie Jar is Empty...

[PPS]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

Petrol is about to hit $1.50 a litre here ...

Petrol is the equivalent of about A$2.30, and deisel in the region of A$2.45, a litre here in Northern Ireland. That works out at about A$10.40 a gallon for petrol and A$11.10 for diesel (for those of us who still work in gallons)

In some of the smaller country garages (and in some owned by greedy b!"£$%^s) it is more expensive still.

Paul.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by PPS

Petrol is the equivalent of about A$2.30, and deisel in the region of A$2.45, a litre here in Northern Ireland. That works out at about A$10.40 a gallon for petrol and A$11.10 for diesel (for those of us who still work in gallons)

Ah yes, 'bout time for the current petrol prices. Holland's market leader Shell now charges EUR 1,462 per litre, nearly 2.5 AUD or 2.3 USD.

High petrol prices are most certainly not helpful, but I think it is the high prices of military vehicles and their parts which prevents the younger generations to step in. Here they are mostly the sons of the older club members, building on their father's collection.
As pointed out, less and less people are mechanically inclined, the pace of life is much quicker, property prices have soared (storage is a big problem here), etc, etc. - all limiting factors for our hobby.

Interestingly, because of the price settings, many dealers and service suppliers can make a proper living out of it. A dealer in Holland recently bought the remaining Jeep parts stock off the French Army, about 200 tons in total. Not something you do when there's no market to sell it on. . .

H.

[cletrac (RIP)]

And then there's the Canadian prairies. Gas is only $1.25 per litre (I shudder at the thought) and I have two yards of about 10 acres each. I doubt that my collection will ever get big enough to run out of space. Being a farmer I have a 50 ft x 50 ft fully equipped shop and the skills that go with it. The only thing I'll run out of is the ambition required.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by cletrac

Gas is only $1.25 per litre (I shudder at the thought)

Last November when I toured Toronto with Bill Miller, we really had to look for a gas station one night. The station owner told us many are closing down as they only make 1 cent per litre. We tanked fifty litres, the guy made 50 cents. He must make more on the sale of a can of soda. . .

H.

[Bruce MacMillan]

I think this topic applies to most military surplus, not just vehicles. Stens and brens are commanding high prices these days. My own interest is military radio equipment and some of the prices are getting ridiculous. The BC611 handie-talkie fetching $300 each now! SOE suitcase radios that sold for $100 in the 1970s are going for $3000.

Mike has mentioned one main cause of this and that is the re-enactor who just wants to play soldier and buy everything off the shelf. There is no desire to repair, maintain or get one's hands dirty. This increasing hobby and the finite quantity of goods only drives the prices up. Not that there is anything wrong with this as it indicates a widening public acceptance of things military.

Price of gas here in Lotus Land - C$1.20

[Richard Coutts-Smith]

Ians comments got me thinking about this age thing re. the MV Hobby. I'm surprised that Playstation 3 (or whoever) has not put out "Grand Military Restoration..2". Just think of the virtual barn finds, the gigabytes travelled, the selection of arguments available to persuade all concerned that you REALLY need (insert current goal here). There could even be websites to help find the cheatcodes and help out the newbies.......I think I'll stop there, starting to sound to realistic.
Special note to Ian. I'm a "Blitz man in a Jeep world"!. Bloody things are everywhere round here. Some people just have no taste....
Rich.