The MV Hobby, De-Mob

[Ryan]

Wow, just voted and I can see I'm the youngest so far. And I'm 40!

[jdmcm]

My two cents is that I see some hope out there...in a few weeks Fury will hit theaters and like Brad Pitt or not he is going to do a lot to raise the profile of our hobby...a major Hollywood film with real tanks, including an actual Tiger running amok? Fantastic I say! This will spark the imagination of a lot of kids who only have a passing interest in WW2 or military vehicles. As well the online computer game World of a Tanks has over 70 million registered players....that is a lot of interest in tanks...from a crowd I'm guessing is a touch younger than all of us! (45 here)

I think we as a group need to capitalize on these kind of events and do our part to help get the younger people interested...I'm going to tell you having crotchety old guys tell me my jeep was wrong because of a non-period shovel or that an in progress restoration should not be shown in public with primer spots, didn't really do much for my enthusiasm for the hobby when I was younger..sometimes we are our own worst enemies...I know out where I live there is no shortage of infighting amongst collectors clubs and groups that only serves to turn off newcomers, really of all ages.

And I'm really not sure we should look at the eventual drop in value of the vehicles as a negative either, I mean the prices as they are today are almost ridiculous, a drop in prices will allow those non-billionaire types to get into the market and help perpetuate the hobby...I see that as a positive outcome of the eventual price decline predicted.

One final aspect is that governments, certainly in North America, are no longer selling off the vehicles to the public like in years past...there will be no M1 Abrams to replace the Sherman's and Stuarts in collectors hearts as there is in other hobbies...our own government won't even allow worn out tank tracks to be sold to the public, they are all controlled goods that must be destroyed...if the current service vehicles are reset or shredded...what will spark the interest of a new generation?

[jack neville]

What is available today is an endless stream of cheap re-enacting supplies of any era, type, nation coming out of China. Every good war movie promotes and enables young people to get involved in the MV/ re-enacting hobby very cheaply. They can all then get a ride on something. Doubt there are too many of us older collectors with vehicles who would knock back a passenger or two dressed the part if space is available. (It is the uniformed participants who made the XXX Corp event look great.)

As for parts of the future? 3D printers!

And look at the difference to war movies that computers have made.

I think the hobby has a few more good years left in it.

[The Bedford Boys]

Here in NZ, I think the hobby is in pretty good hands (if I do say so myself). We have a strong group of "Young Guns" which are working their way into positions within the works of the New Zealand Miltary Vehicle Collectors Club (NZMVCC). The club editor (me) and membership officer are both in their early 20's.

The trouble with MV's as a hobby is getting one of your own at a reasonable price. Everyone thinks what they have is gold. It's the problem with a lot of hobbies, when I was putting my Mini together, everyone thought that what they had was worth a million dollars.

Also, there is a bit of a problem, at least in my experience, with older members not wanting to use their vehicles. All they want to do is parades or displays. Which bores the living s**t out of us younger blokes. We like to get out in the mud and dirt and USE the MV's for what they do best, driving off-road.

I guess we all need to be concious of the prices we ask when selling our vehicles. Sure, everyone wants as much as possible, but I think you've got to be reasonable. A year or two ago, I sold an ex-army Land Rover to a bloke for a lot less than what I could have got for it if I had put it on TradeMe or the likes. Why? Because he was looking to get into the hobby and really wanted a Land Rover. He is still enjoying it and is now one of the area reps for the NZMVCC.

Every one of us needs to do our bit to ensure the longevity of our clubs and our hobbies.

I organise the "Warhorses" section of the bi-annual Wings Over Wairarapa Airshow. This event brings together several MV/militaria groups from around the country. It's a great way of getting to meet people and offers a superb chance to advertise the positives of our hobby. I guess the point I'm trying to make here, is that if you don't get out and fly the flag for the hobby, then how else will people get interested?

(oh, and the Warhorses event isn't just a parade and display, we run rides and this year we're aiming to break the Carrier world record. So it's not boring like other parades )

Alex

[rob love]

There is the aspect about "entry level" prices to get into the hobby. Most guys in their 20s are worried about housing, their car, and their beer. We see carriers running from $30K to ?? these days, and even junkster hulls have asking prices of around $7K. Then you want a manual? $200-400. Need to get the flathead rebuilt? There goes another $3K. And the list is endless.

Jeep prices for the most part seem to be getting out of hand, unless it's a basket case. CMPs are usually a little better, although I have seen some ludicrous prices on direlect cab and chassis. The sellers see the pristine stuff on a site like this, look at the asking prices of the few they can find record of selling, and they price their butchered relic as though it is one of the finished ones.

Small wonder the young guys aren't lined up to get in to the hobby.

Oh yeah, there is one more thing that guys in their 20s think about....young ladies. And the average young lady does not normally get attracted to guys driving CMPs, in fact quite the opposite.

[Frank v R]

Guys, I read all this with great interest, having been in the hobby for about 35 years now I have seen our members getting older , but on the happy side I do see new young blood coming into the hobby , even through my parts business I have late 20's early 30's members restoring CCKW's and heavier vehicles, the big US regional shows are a good place to see the new blood coming into the hobby , I think that a MVPA convention is a poor place to see how the hobby is doing due the expense of attending these, another part of this is that the hobbies we grew up with are vanishing due to the fact kids only seem to be able to use their thumbs, when was the last time you saw a bunch of kids playing street hockey , most of these kids will grow up with no real skills, and no knowledge of history, still one more big factor in Canada is that we will no longer see tactical soft skin vehicles coming out surplus so that will leave only vehicles that require for the most part a ground up restoration that brings us to one last very important point , disposable cash, these days that is less than it was in the past for most people, no more buy your surplus military vehicle and go for a drive,

[David Dunlop]

Just another thought with the younger crowd and our hobby. Could they be intimidated by the fact vintage MV's have standard transmissions, many of which come with no syncro? Standard transmissions are getting rare in modern vehicles today. I work a couple of days a week in a wash bay at a local dealership. Every once in a while the youngest guy in the bay ( mid 20's) has to bring in a Jeep Wrangler that has a standard transmission and he cannot do it. One of us 50+ Geezers has to drive it in and out for him.

David

[chris vickery]

I am happy fellows are reading and contributing to my post, it is certainly a topic for discussion.
At this time the Poll suggests an approx 65% of MLU contributors are in the 51+ group, just as I suspected...
Pertaining to the attraction of young guys to the hobby; help us to help ourselves in preserving the hobby by giving a deal to a newcomer.
As pointed out by previous comments, far too many think they have gold and ask ridiculous prices. I overpaid on my first CMP truck, mainly because I was not "connected". The same went for many parts which I had made when I could have found originals cheaper if I knew where to look.
I must commend a few guys that DID help me out when I first started by giving me a break or a deal on items to help me along as well as offer good advice. (you guys know who you are and many of you are here listening )
Most recently I got a young guy started who was hot to have my M715. Yes, I took a loss on it overall but the smile on his face was worth a few bucks.

[Scott Bentley]

I wrote a huge response to a similar post here a couple of years back. I ended up deleting it as it was rather harsh towards the OMVA, but my sentiment hasn't really changed so i'll toss up the short version of it.

In 2008, I had just bought my first MV (M151A2) since owning an M38A1 as a teenager in the early 90s. The MLU membership was (and still is) instrumental in getting it on the road.

I decided to drive it from Trenton to the OMVA Summer Show in Oshawa; this would have been in June 2009. My goal was to get an OMVA membership and meet fellow MV'ers. The Coles Notes version is that I had developed a carb problem over the 75 mile drive from Trenton to Oshawa. I ended up pulling the carb and cleaned/adjusted while at least half a dozen other older Jeep owners watched from 100' away. Why 100' away from the other Jeeps? Because (i'm guessing because I was new) that was where I was instructed to park; 100' away on my own. This was after I was initially told to park in the parking lot with all of the other spectators. The only one at that show who actually came over and offered help with my carb was Mr Anderson (RIP) from Barrys Bay. I fixed my carb and went on my way. Although I doubt it was the club's intent, my spouse and I could not have possibly been made to feel anymore ostracized.

That one incident right there soured me from any further involvement in clubs. Almost all of the other MV guys I personally know in my age demographic feel exactly the same way.

If it is up to the new guy to cross no mans land and extend his hand to a group of old guys with their arms crossed, them membership is going to tumble, especially where there are excellent knowledge bases like MLU.