Thread: Winds of change?

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It just isn't the car hobby that is in a downturn, I feel that every market is slow right now. New car dealers can't give them away almost, home sales are down significantly to the point where some people are offering a new car free if you buy a home, construction is down, boat sales are horrible, etc, etc.

I know someone is going to come on and say the economy is in great shape, and maybe it is where they live, but not in SW Florida. The complex where my shop is located normally is bustling during the week. Now when I pull in on any weekday it looks like a Sunday. Half of the shops have closed up, even the Deli next door to me. He relied on the construction guys and other business people coming in for lunch, but he said that has dried up. He is now just doing catering to make it through. I stopped at the auto repair shop down the way last week, and they were playing cards........no work, and they are normally booked solid.

I wanted to go back into the marina business part time now that I have retired, but my friend who had been offering me a job now says he has so little business he can't afford me right now. Good thing I am not solely depending on that job for survival.

I just dumped a bunch of stuff on Ebay to clean out some of my unneeded parts and help cover the cost of getting my T painted, and the bids were much lower than I would have gotten and have gotten in the past.

What is the old saying? " A recession is when YOU are out of work, and a depression is when I am out of work."


Don

Fellas,come to Austin.The morning paper read, Austin Work Force in trouble.Not enough people to fill the job requirements.

Heck I may have to go back to work just to help out(joke).

Real Estate is full speed ahead.
Excellent streetrod environment.Etc

Hard to believe but true. Check with KITZ he'll back it up.

Things here in SW Mo. seem to be fairly steady. Gas prices fluctuating, but that's pretty normal these days it seems and I think it has more to do with the speculators than anything else.
The new car business appears to be fairly robust as we have a number of Calif. retirees moving in the area as well as a lot of other professional types.
The housing market I don't believe is in too much of a decline although the developers in this area seem hell bent on making Springfield the Mo. capital of 3 and 4 story apartment buildings.
All in all I can't really complain.

You are surely right. Bob; there is a change in the wind. It seems to me, that in terms of the car culture, those who have the interest to take on a project, don't have as much disposable income, any longer, and those who do have enough disposable income are disposing of it on completed cars, rather than taking on the work themselves.

For my own point of view, I sure don't have any disposable income, any longer, what with increases in utilities (absolutely absurd), insurance, gasoline (over the past few years), and just the general increases in the costs of day-to-day getting along; and the investment picture, where my only income comes from, is not all that good, either - just barely maintaining par. I have two vehicles sitting in my yard that both need some sort of work - one, much more than the other, but there is no extra gold to dispose of. Hopefully, this trucking thing will help, a bit; I'm a partner in it, and should get some income out of it.

Originally Posted by Don Dalton

Fellas,come to Austin.The morning paper read, Austin Work Force in trouble.Not enough people to fill the job requirements.

Heck I may have to go back to work just to help out(joke).

Real Estate is full speed ahead.
Excellent streetrod environment.Etc

Hard to believe but true. Check with KITZ he'll back it up.

I am roughly an hour north of you Don, and it's the same here. Things are fine, no signs of slowing down around here either.

Well, this started out as a question and I still don't see a clear picture. Anecdotal comments about the economy are pretty typical, most likely shaded by political views or local conditions.

In the month since the original post my personal view is reinforced by some reasonably positive outcomes. I ran some ebay auctions for a variety of parts and in general got bidding at or above what I expected. Out of 30 items run, 21 sold. Those that didn't were a couple of items that are very common so even with relative giveaway opening bid levels didn't surprise me to get no action. The others were volume groupings of Automobile Quarterly books that only move if you hit the right shopper window. So all in all, that went well.

Managed to sell (craigslist local ads) a couple flatheads and transmissions for decent money without having to deal with a bunch of low ball jerks. And the only thing that has languished is a '40 Ford project loaded with NOS and new aftermarket parts. Projects often seem to move slowly unless they're an absolute giveaway, so not much surprise there. The right guy has to sync up with the project to make that work. I'll give it another shot after I get back in December, though may wait til February after the holiday busyness gets out of the way. A friend suggested I'd get better action if I RAISED the price because it would attract the higher quality interest crowd who are suspicious if something is priced too low. Interesting thought, and he's got a history of scoring well, so is worth listening to.

The real kicker though was an ebay auction I was watching this week. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...167785392&rd=1 This was by a seller getting rid of a used pair of "replica" bomber seats. The interesting thing is, if you go to the site of the guy who makes them; http://www.centerstaterodzandrides.c...inumseats.html (last item on the page) the winning bidder paid just over double (shipping included) what he could have bought them new! AND he backed up his winning bid so was will ing to pay EVEN MORE!!

So, maybe there isn't so much doom and gloom out there.