Collecting or Hoarding?

[RHClarke]

I fancy myself as a HUP collector, but I could also be seen as a HUP hoarder. My observations:

Both categories obtain vehicles.
Both categories "save" some of said vehicles from oblivion.
Both categories involve considerable effort and cost.

I tend towards the collector category as this is my only real hobby, but my wife thinks otherwise.

By definition hoarding as a human behavior falls in to two main categories.
One type of hoarding is triggered as a response to perceived or predicted shortages of specific goods.
Compulsive hoarding, on the other hand, is a mental disorder marked by an obsessive need to acquire and keep things, even if the items are worthless, hazardous, or unsanitary.

OK, so my dear wife may have a point. So? What's the difference? Is there a set number of vehicles that make you a "collector"? How do you earn the "hoarder" sorbriquet?

[Ed Storey]

Good question and one that I have wondered about myself.

[Ryan]

I think your safe and would be considered a collector.
Unless you are keeping one or two HUPs in your living room between piles of magazines then you are a hoarder.

[Scott Bentley]

After watching all of these new "Reality" Hoarding Shows on TV lately, IMO if you don't need to negotiate your way through parts to cook a meal or use the toilet, your golden in my books

[Lynn Eades]

In the english language, they refer to "first person "second person" and "third person" or "me" "you" and "them".
Its a bit like that. If I am talking about you, "I" am a collector and "you" are a hoarder.
If I am talking to you, "we" are collectors, and "they" are bloody hoarders!

[Phil Waterman]

I've always said thought the Hamilton Barn would make a good Reality Show.

What could we title it?

I survive the Hamilton Barn

MVMVC the untold survivor of a victim of " Military Vehicle Mycosis Very Contagious", which is a sub group of "Multiple Vehicle Mycosis Very Contagious"

(MVMVC is an inside joke that Bob may get.)

But would it have a big enough following?

Cheers Phil

[oztankboy]

Well be you a horder or a collector at least you are saveing them from heading to China as scrap metal so thats all that matters...

Phil...

[Bob Carriere]

...and where is the Hamilton barn.....???

Paint fumes again Phil...? turn on the fan !!!!!

Speaking of whore-ding..... defined as a lady of the night with a major dent..... we do have eyes out for one rolling frame, possible UC parts, two long wheel base birds in the bush and a pick up in New Brunswick lined up.... and Summer is not even here yet.


Boob

[Lynn Eades]

You bloody whore-der you!.... Can I say that?

[cliff]

A collecter is one who will help others with spare parts while a hoarder is one who states "it is not for sale as I will do her up one day"

[Keith Webb]

Originally Posted by cliff

A collecter is one who will help others with spare parts while a hoarder is one who states "it is not for sale as I will do her up one day"

Beautifully put Cliff.

[gary_bath_jr]

Based on Cliff's definition I am a hoarder. I have several rusted wrecks and am looking for more... lol. I have been told by my wife that I can not get any more until I have at least one running. I hope to have 2 going for next years convoy so that I can let one of the overseas visitors drive the route.

Gary

[servicepub (RIP)]

I am a collector and the first two posters on this thread are hoarders. But, if they were to give me all of their stuff then I would still be a collector but they would be cured.

[Bob Carriere]

....I like your daffynition and would hope that the "Barners" are perceived as collectors or possible suppliers of parts or information .......

Bob

[rob love]

I think I might be a hoarder. I have bought military vehicles which I never thought I would ever buy only to find out that I had more spare parts squirreled away for them than I would ever expect to need along with manuals.

Of course, the fact that I have the spare parts I need for a vehicle I thought I would never own, merely re-enforces the need to hold onto more parts for the next time I buy a vehicle I thought I would never own.

I showed a guy some of my collection last summer, and he told his wife (who works with mine) that I am a military hoarder. I don't see a problem with it myself.

[Doug Lavoie]

I would like to give the hoarder thing a try, but am having trouble getting the volume of things to qualify. I think?
Doug

[cliff]

Originally Posted by Bob Carriere

....I like your daffynition and would hope that the "Barners" are perceived as collectors or possible suppliers of parts or information .......

Bob

Bob if you guys were hoarders you would not have a thread here on MLU that you impart such a wonderful wealth of information and laughter at times. Yes you have a large collection and keep adding to it but I am sure as a lot of others are that if someone needed parts and you had them that you would pass them on to help out.

[RHClarke]

Originally Posted by cliff

A collecter is one who will help others with spare parts while a hoarder is one who states "it is not for sale as I will do her up one day"

Cliff,

What about museums? They are usually in the habit of taking things in and tend not to give or sell things (although there are execptions).

[RHClarke]

Originally Posted by servicepub

I am a collector and the first two posters on this thread are hoarders. But, if they were to give me all of their stuff then I would still be a collector but they would be cured.

Clive, By the definitions I posted above, you are correct - I am a hoarder, However, I am not above selling parts/trucks to fellow restorers. Using Cliff's defininition, that makes me a collector.

Therefore, I must suffer from iron oxide induced schizophrenia.

[Mark W. Tonner]

. . . does a house that is suppose to be a home, but whose interior resembles a library, brand me as a hoarder? . . .

[RHClarke]

Originally Posted by Mark W. Tonner

. . . does a house that is suppose to be a home, but whose interior resembles a library, brand me as a hoarder?

Not until you make it on network TV (http://www.aetv.com/hoarders/)

[cliff]

Originally Posted by RHClarke

Cliff,

What about museums? They are usually in the habit of taking things in and tend not to give or sell things (although there are execptions).

Ah...institutions are different but I guess a lot of Hoarders and/or collectors belong in a different sort of institution

Museums have collections and are often able to provide research facilities and information to restorers and historians so I'd put them (or most of them) into the collectors corner

[Phil Waterman]

Originally Posted by Mark W. Tonner

. . . does a house that is suppose to be a home, but whose interior resembles a library, brand me as a hoarder? . . .

Hi Mark

The key to private library vs a book hoarder is what is your largest single book acquisition? If it is a few boxes you are a private library, if you measure your acquisition in TONS then you might be a hoarder. Years ago I brought home a truck load 1 ton of books in a single trip, now I have a bigger truck.

But either way lining the exterior walls of your home with book cases is good insulation.

My wife is a librarian so if you guess we are closer to being ?????

Cheers Phil

[Grant Bowker]

Originally Posted by cliff

Ah...institutions are different ......
Museums have collections and are often able to provide research facilities and information to restorers and historians so I'd put them (or most of them) into the collectors corner

Unfortunately, not all museums see the need to make "their" information available to the public (anyone other than their staff). Thankfully, even those who state that loans are not available can sometimes be persuaded to be more co-operative than their formal policy indicates. Ask politely and comply with the terms if you hope for future access..... sometimes the surprise is better than expected.

[cletrac (RIP)]

I've probably got enough stuff here to qualify as either a hoarder or collector but I tend to think of myself as the latter. I think a hoarder is one who gathers stuff up and never does anything more with it.
Regarding museums, several vehicles in my collection were in the Nanton Museum at one time then made it to a museum in Manitoba where the guy I got them from picked them up. That's a lot of miles in a big circle! When I decide to get rid of some, who knows where they'll end up at?
Then there was the old woman who had lots of money and somebody asked her if she hoarded it all by herself. She replied, "Hell no, my sister whorded half of it!"

[jeff davis]

had a guy I know buy a Manual that I needed for a restoration only to hold on to it as future trade with Me. I was lucky enough to find the Manual online for free so i could complete the Truck.
I think he is a Horder
JD

[Wpns 421]

For all collecters and Hoarders, here is a point to ponder. What would happen if we all lived really close to each another????!!! Could we form a Commenwealth, a small country, or a new Canadian province and become the greenest place in Canada. What would we call it?? Of course we would have ethnic issues, HUP Collectors, jeep collectors, postwar vehicles, track guys etc...
During this election we should have started our own "Green Party"(MV). All party rallies to be held at Gracies and free beer once a month.
Don't mind me too much paint fumes this week, but points to ponder. Gilles

[maple_leaf_eh]

One of those hoarder shows had a doctor-type commenting on some poor bugger's case, saying that many of them have seemingly normal fronts to their houses. But as you get closer, you see parts, boxes and containers in the parked cars and deeper in from the street, you'll see sheds and accumulations covered with tarps. Who among us doesn't fit that definition?

I draw the line at unused materials etc in commodity quantities. And, vehicles that can't roll on their wheels.

[RHClarke]

Originally Posted by Stuart Fedak

My favorite is seeing trees growing through HUP bodies. It is rumoured that every few years the HUP trees at the Hammond Barn are harvested, and a couple cords of wood are fed to Lucifer (The God of heat)...

Stuart, Where is this mystical place?

[Bob Carriere]

.... but I do spray various concoctions of chemicals around the trucks to keep the vegetation down..... all the opissign aorund the barn over the Winter makes the weeds grow like thunder.

In the back field further away from the pets. did have a few cats that died suddenly, I use to have a small drum of brush killer surplus from the railroad killed everything for a few years..... mixed with diesel it lasted longer..... but very bad on pets. Well I ran out now resort to massive doses of Round up I squirrel away from fellow farmers...... not as good and only for a few months.

Around the barn old paint thinner and dirty gasoline does wonders on weeds.

Bob