What ever happened to the good old Autojumble? eBay I guess. But maybe there is more to it than that. I wonder. Theres three things going on, one is quality, one is quantity, and the other is price.
Back in the day (I guess late 90s through about 2004) I used to go Newark, Huddersfield autojumbles and Woolaton Autokarna and you’d have like £50 in your pocket, buy a ton of car tat and some of it was for ones own projects and tat collection, and you’d sell the rest for £300-£400 on eBay LOL. So people get wise to eBay and before you know it prices are going up and when you moan that last month you could buy these for £3 each the guy says “I can get £25 for them on eBay” and you know he can because you could…
Prices I don’t have an issue with I guess.
But now we come to the quality and quantity. Back in the day there used to be hairy man at Newark. I’d leave his stall till last because it was full of 50p tat. I’d just spend up what I’d not spent elsewhere buying his tat before I left. His tat was tat but usually there was stuff you could clean up, stuff which would fix or make one good one out of two or three broken ones. I once bought Europe’s surplus of “Super Beetle” taillights from him at 50p each and by listing them in the US eBay under “EURO LOOK HOT!” they flew out the door.
Hairy man doesn’t go any more. Maybe its because he knows about “EURO LOOK HOT!” and is making a bomb selling his tat direct and so doesn’t need to stand about in the cold dealing with idiots asking if he’ll take 80p the pair and such.
And he’s not the only one. Last couple of Newark Autojumbles I’ve gone to theres not only been a lack of quality junk (presumably its on eBay) but theres been a distinct lack of stalls. Even allowing for the fact that half of Newardk last time was taken up by people who’d mistaken it for a car boot sale or something and were selling household junk , broken furniture, and bulk discount household consumables like toilet paper and the like. Like my chum Martin says “whats the point of that. Who’s in Tesco and thinks, no, I won’t buy any Andrex here I’ll wait until next Newark Autojumble and buy 48 rolls of unbranded bog roll off a wagon for a tenner”?
Huddersfield ones not worth doing any more I am told, there were hardly any car stalls last time, not even the brochure dealers who seemed to be a good 20% of the stalls at Huddersfield. Shame as I really used to enjoy Hudds Jumble as I used to go to the indoor market there as a kid with my grandparents so it’s a nice nostalgia trip.
I can understand that its not going to be like it was years ago because the number of those older cars is dropping off so umber of parts will drop off too.
But what I don’t get is wheres the replacement stuff? The younger retro tin? OK so the panel stalls won’t be stacked up with unused NOS wings for Cortinas, Minxes, Consuls, Hunters, etc. for ever. But surely they should have Maestro, Metro, Renner 9 panels instead? Not just disappear?
Or is this stuff all on eBay so nobody bothers Jumbling now?
OK eBay is fine, you can hunt out what you want and pay top price for it, but I miss the simple pleasures of rummaging around in the cold, wet, wiping snow off stuff on skanky stalls in the winter, getting sun burn in the summer, hauling tat back to my car on the “show field”. That’s the proper way to do it. I used to see people I knew, met new people, had a laugh. I don’t see hardly anyone I know up there now.
Or am I just a grumpy old curmudgeon with my rose tinted specs on? I think not though…
Back in the day (I guess late 90s through about 2004) I used to go Newark, Huddersfield autojumbles and Woolaton Autokarna and you’d have like £50 in your pocket, buy a ton of car tat and some of it was for ones own projects and tat collection, and you’d sell the rest for £300-£400 on eBay LOL. So people get wise to eBay and before you know it prices are going up and when you moan that last month you could buy these for £3 each the guy says “I can get £25 for them on eBay” and you know he can because you could…
Prices I don’t have an issue with I guess.
But now we come to the quality and quantity. Back in the day there used to be hairy man at Newark. I’d leave his stall till last because it was full of 50p tat. I’d just spend up what I’d not spent elsewhere buying his tat before I left. His tat was tat but usually there was stuff you could clean up, stuff which would fix or make one good one out of two or three broken ones. I once bought Europe’s surplus of “Super Beetle” taillights from him at 50p each and by listing them in the US eBay under “EURO LOOK HOT!” they flew out the door.
Hairy man doesn’t go any more. Maybe its because he knows about “EURO LOOK HOT!” and is making a bomb selling his tat direct and so doesn’t need to stand about in the cold dealing with idiots asking if he’ll take 80p the pair and such.
And he’s not the only one. Last couple of Newark Autojumbles I’ve gone to theres not only been a lack of quality junk (presumably its on eBay) but theres been a distinct lack of stalls. Even allowing for the fact that half of Newardk last time was taken up by people who’d mistaken it for a car boot sale or something and were selling household junk , broken furniture, and bulk discount household consumables like toilet paper and the like. Like my chum Martin says “whats the point of that. Who’s in Tesco and thinks, no, I won’t buy any Andrex here I’ll wait until next Newark Autojumble and buy 48 rolls of unbranded bog roll off a wagon for a tenner”?
Huddersfield ones not worth doing any more I am told, there were hardly any car stalls last time, not even the brochure dealers who seemed to be a good 20% of the stalls at Huddersfield. Shame as I really used to enjoy Hudds Jumble as I used to go to the indoor market there as a kid with my grandparents so it’s a nice nostalgia trip.
I can understand that its not going to be like it was years ago because the number of those older cars is dropping off so umber of parts will drop off too.
But what I don’t get is wheres the replacement stuff? The younger retro tin? OK so the panel stalls won’t be stacked up with unused NOS wings for Cortinas, Minxes, Consuls, Hunters, etc. for ever. But surely they should have Maestro, Metro, Renner 9 panels instead? Not just disappear?
Or is this stuff all on eBay so nobody bothers Jumbling now?
OK eBay is fine, you can hunt out what you want and pay top price for it, but I miss the simple pleasures of rummaging around in the cold, wet, wiping snow off stuff on skanky stalls in the winter, getting sun burn in the summer, hauling tat back to my car on the “show field”. That’s the proper way to do it. I used to see people I knew, met new people, had a laugh. I don’t see hardly anyone I know up there now.
Or am I just a grumpy old curmudgeon with my rose tinted specs on? I think not though…