Worst MV purchase

[chris vickery]

I believe that all too often guys buy something with big dreams or aspirations instead of evaluating the vehicle and making an honest assessment.
I have bought scrap jeeps, trucks and carriers- not to restore but to strip for the last useable parts. By not looking at it as a whole, restoration piece but as a source of valuable nick nacs, you save a lot of heartache and wasted time and money. I tend not to keep scrap vehicles laying around for long- they come home and get parted.

[Rob Fast]

about loving every wreck he's ever bought. Having said that, when I got into this crazy hobby, I decided that my main focus was going to be Canadian WW2 CMP's and anything they stowed and towed. I can honestly say that I have stayed the course and focused on that era. The CMP wrecks on the yard have been great parts vehicles, but still enough there for further restorations. So I haven't really brought home anything that I have regretted. My only deviation has been the gas station stuff...B/A British American Oil company in particular. Cheers Rob

[motto (RIP)]

Barry's mention of the damage done by the 'yard ape' reminded me of an episode back in the 70s when the WW2 Studebaker 6x6s were being sold off. Most of them were nice trucks and many of them went to logging camps and saw mills where the first thing that was done was to discard the cargo bed.
I had arranged to buy one of these beds that was laying on a vacant block in a country town. I asked the owner not to move it as I had my own lifting gear consisting of two 'A' frames and two chain blocks for a double lift.
To my dismay before I got there he had slung it from his crane truck. The sickening part was that he had used a cable wrapped around the middle which had tightened when he lifted the bed pulling the sides in badly kinking them.

This wasn't quite as bad as another fellow who half dragged a similar cargo bed across a paddock whilst it was partly loaded with truck differential/axle assemblies. That time the sides were completely destroyed and the front panel bent out at right angles below the floor level.

I don't mean to change the direction of the thread but no doubt similar stories abound and are every bit as upsetting as bad buys and lost chances.

David

[Terry Witiuk]

I think this happens with anyone who collects and has a passion for any type of militaria whether it be vehicles or something else. I've experienced feelings of regret for things that I've bought, feelings of regret of not buying and many feelings of no regret for things that I have or now enjoy. With regards to feelings of regret for not buying, back in the 80's, I was a Marine Engineer Tech (Stoker) in the RCN. Just after finishing some courses at the Fleet School in Halifax and as requested, I was posted to HMCS Mackenzie on the West Coast. Before leaving Halifax, I saw an ad in the Auto Trader Magazine...ex naval boat for sale...formerly HMCS Blue Heron. After a quick tour of the boat/ship, I was determined to buy and restore it. A big project but doable. I tried to have my posting changed but no luck and Blue Heron did not happen for me. In hindsight, I probably did not try hard enough to get my posting changed and often wonder how things would have turned out if it did happen. Feelings of regret for not buying seem to stay with you longer than feelings of regret for buying. No regrets about the Ferret that I now own. I paid more than what I had expected and more repairs than expected but, no regrets...tons of fun and full of history.

[Marc Montgomery]

Two stories..1- yard ape- . a nice looking XKE hidden in the back a ways... drivers door was badly damaged.engine gone...but unibody seemed straight..(likely the operative word "seemed"? anyway I wanted the front clip and frame from firewall forward. Knowing yard apes,- i specifically said.at least 2-3 times. DONT MOVE IT- came back the next saturday with tools...and they had moved it to "make it easier for me"..with a forklift..and of course badly bent the very parts i was after....
That yard and most of the others of my youth..now looooong gone..sadly

2) in my earliest days of MV, looking for a jeep.. I traced a rumour...with great difficulty... to a barn near Oshawa..I cant even remember now...sadly... and low and behold there were at least 10 maybe 12 jeeps in various states of repair, but my guess from looking ALL restorable. The deal was take them all and give back one restored one to the owner...
Of course at the time, I knew no-one in the hobby (I thought I was the only nutbar who wanted old green stuff), and also no resources to move them out of the barn...and no place to put them or work on them.. It was an all or nothing deal and no way he would part with just one...I really do wonder whatever happened to them...I dont recall anyone in the hobby thereafter mentioning the barn full of jeeps..so I hope they weren't scrapped..

[Marc Montgomery]

We built so many Fairmiles and Motor Torpedo Boats, what bappened to Blue Heron..and are there any Fairmiles left? dont think any of our MTBs survived.

[Jes Andersen]

There were a few ex RCMP Fairmiles out here on the west coast and probably more if you knew what to look for. Most were modified to the point of being unrecognizable. One was shortened and used locally for a dive boat but it disappeared a few years ago. Wooden boats... If you think that some rusty old trucks are a money pit, then just wait until you get a boat. Wooden, even worse. The bigger, the cheaper to buy and more likely to never get done. Around the west coast, Bay Class minesweepers are (were) cheap, the YFP series built on Gabriola Island are around and would be more manageable, but I recall that with original power, they burned 16 gal per hour at 10kt cruise or close to that. My pension would be spent just on moorage...
Just the same as Rob Love, I like pretty much every military vehicle I see and have a few I should have left where they were. Anyone need a couple of lovely M37s....

[Marc Montgomery]

Yeah, I saw a couple of YFPs for sale on crown assets just last year..tempting, but as I haven't won the lottery...tempting is all they were...
Anyone see the Top Gear show where they were touring an ex soviet satellite Romania (?) and accidently came across an abandoned air base with jets just sitting there. abandoned..