East Coast Rally, Only 2 M37 This Year

[Carter]

I only had a couple of hours to check out this years offerings of venders and dealers, fewer of both and only the 2 pictured of our favorite truck. Saw some parts but more were probably lurking in the far corners of tents, cargo beds and trailers. I was not on the hunt this year as I have loads of M stuff tucked away. Did get a free T shirt from GL and bought a 10 pocket M1 rifle cartridge belt which is what I was looking for. Had a chance to spend some time with my old friend Cabell Garbee and talked of what had been going on since we last seen each other a couple of years ago. This rally was the smallest I have seen at Aberdeen in recent years and not one to write home about. Other forum members who attended will fill you in on their time there.

[Cal_Gary]

Hi Carter,
That's really surprising that a big meet like Aberdeen wasn't so good. Of course, we got yet another 4 inches of snow Wednesday night that has since melted off, but it sure cuts into my M37 time.
Thanks,
Gary

[rickv100]

Carter,

I was there yesterday as well. I thought you were bringing your truck down.

I spoke to Cabell as well.

Why do you think the rally was so light this year? I overheard many people talking about it and there seemed many open spaces.

I looked at those trucks as well. I think the WC series trucks outnumbered M37s this year. There was a third one in the back near where Cabell was sitting.

I missed out on a M37 tire and rim. Went back for it and it had already sold.

Rick

[Carter]

I do not know why the rally was so small this year guys, someone was handing out a venders opinion sheet that the club was not happy with and over the PA system the organizers were telling everyone to throw it away, maybe some venders wanted changes in the way things were run that would increase participation or the missing folks just wanted to take the weekend off to go see their mothers on her special day.

Snow? That would slow things down a bit Gary but here that is not a problem and I would have to look elsewhere for the cause for things being so slow this year thank heaven as we had one of the worst winters in recent history with snow about every other week.

Rick, from what I saw the WCs did out number the M37s but that would not have been the case if my friend Ralph and I would have attended with our trucks but he was out of town and I was just to busy and only had a couple of hours of free time to devote to the show and did not want to take the truck and leave it unattended for the weekend while I was getting the house I plan to sell ready to put on the market, just not enough hours in the day.

For those who have not seen it before here is Ralph's rig;

[rickv100]

Carter,

I would have brought mine as well but ran out of time as well. My son had lacrosse game so he could not make it on Friday. I would like to convoy down with someone next year as I am nervous driving down by myself.

Do you think it had anything to do with the new gun laws in Maryland and people boycotting it?

On the bright side there was an Airsoft dealer and a lego BrickArms dealers something that appeals to the younger members. I hope they return next year.

Rick

[w30bob]

Carter,

I didn't make it on Thursday due to some medical issues, but I got there bright and early on Friday, then stayed at a dive hotel in Aberdeen, and hit it again this morning. Not much going on this year in terms of M37 stuff. I've been to this meet the last three years and it keeps getting smaller and smaller. Not just vendors, but vehicles as well. There were threats of rain, but it held off....so I don't think the weather had that much to do with it. Seems there's an increase in clothes, helmets and military trinkets and less vehicle parts........unless you're into M35s and M151s.

I did get a few things, but I had to dig deeper into boxes this year to find them. My prize finds were an M37 fender mounted heater (that's gonna need some work because the motor's stuck) and proper diverter valve for $40, and a box of 3 NOS wiring harnesses (2 chassis, 1 front) with directional unit for $100. I spent some time talking to one of the few guys with M37 parts who had an NOS heater kit and NOS fording kit......he wanted $700 for both and wasn't budging off that number. There was a very nice tailgate for $400, but the vendor was never around to dicker with, and it was gone this morning.

One of the biggest problems I have at Aberdeen is the darn vendors never stay at their tables. You don't know how many times I had to keep going back and checking specific vendor spaces for the guy to be there so I could discuss things he was selling that I was interested in. Very frustrating. Another pet peeve while I'm on the rant......if they know there will be lots of empty vendor spaces why don't they move the vendors all close together........instead of making us walk past 20 empty spaces to get to the next vendor. That whole show could have been put into 5 rows instead of the 10 they have. I got a good workout, but I wasn't looking for one. Oh well....that's enough bitching. At least the show and parking are still free, Government Surplus is still giving out free T-shirts, and a soda or water is still a buck. Guess you have to take the good with the bad. And yeah, I'll still go again next year.

regards,
bob

[rickv100]

When I asked on Friday it was 800 for the pair

If the tailgate was with a bunch of other yellow colored M37 parts i have his number. I took a picture of it on Friday.

Rick

[w30bob]

Hi Rick,

I didn't see any yellow parts at the vendor I'm talking about....but they could have sold before I got there. He had 3 tailgates....the nice Army green one for $400 that was propped up, and then a blue AF and another green Army tailgate laying down that weren't in that good a shape. I wasn't going to pay $400 for a tailgate. For that kind of money I can make mine just as nice if not better....or kick in another hundred and get a new one from VPW. Not saying it wasn't worth $400, but the top square tube of the tailgate was bent, and those are a bitch to fix. Hmmmmm.....so I guess I am saying it wasn't worth $400 buck. But that's just to me.

Another interesting thing I saw was a regular vendor, who primarily sells paint, who had a set of NOS rear fenders priced at $500. I didn't have the heart to tell him that you can get them for $125 a pair on Ebay and the shipping is cheap. Hey, you never know.....there's one born every minute. One thing to note about all this.......if you're thinking about getting out of the M37 business and you have a stash of parts........now might be the time to start selling them at the meets......seems there's way more demand than supply. I heard more than a few people asking about M37 parts as I was walking around. Just my 2 cents.

regards,
bob

[MSeriesRebuild]

Fellows, I've never been blessed to make it to an East Coast Rally, so of course I'm not a good one to ask anything at all about it. There is one thing that sticks out in my memory very well though. I recall AB Linn talking about how he used to load up a bunch of stuff and travel up the coast to the rally annually. I expect it was at least 20 years ago, I heard him make the comment that it used to be a really nice outing that he looked forward too every spring. Made some good money, met lots of nice folks, and really enjoyed the weekend on the road after staying in all winter. To get to my main point, he said way back then that crowds were smaller every year, and it got to the point he sold such a small amount until it was no longer worth the trouble and expense to load up and make the trip. As I said, that was 20 years ago. Now if any of you know AB, you know that if you find a vehicle part priced any cheaper from another vendor, it is an extremely rare occasion. AB has always under sold all the rest who are in it for a living. I can only assume he saw this coming 20 years prior. AB still has a lot of M37 parts available, although not nearly the stock on hand that he used to have. He has purposely been letting it dwindle down over years because the market simply isn't there like it once was. You know the old song, any business that doesn't show a profit certainly can't last too long; never been more true than today with all the huge regulations and taxes, the nice folks in DC have endowed upon all small business. All this is the reason vendors don't show up like they used too. We have to look realistically at all this, common folk don't have money to spend as they once did either. Some don't go out and spend because of other priorities; others just are not willing to pay a fair price, some think everything is too high priced, regardless of how cheap it is. None of the above is a good combination of factors that make it worthwhile for vendors to come out to the events any longer.

[rickv100]

Charles,

You forgot the impact of Ebay and the internet. I remember when ABLinn used to be there, Fred from Adrondack Dodge and George Maneri.

A gentleman from Michigan commented on the high prices at the show.

I heard one vendor shoot an offer down with I can get this price on the internet and it will not last a week.

Rick

[w30bob]

Charles,

I can certainly understand the vendor's point of view with everything you said........but what's bugging me isn't so much the vendors, it's the guys who used to bring all their unused parts from their recent M37 resto and the guys cleaning out their garages/sheds of military parts. I can't talk too far back as I'm a relative newbie....but just 3 years ago it seemed most people had SOME M37 parts in what they were selling. I used to get asked by everyone "what are you working on" and I'd say "M37" and they'd have SOMETHING.........today I wore a T-Shirt with big letters that said "M-37" on the front and no one mentioned that they had any M37 parts. The fender mounted heater I bought was from a guy who thought it was from an M38. Said he didn't have any M37 parts. The one guy who usually brings used M37 parts was wiped out by the time I got to him this morning, but I overheard him talking to another guy and they were trying to figure out why M37 parts were becoming so rare and valuable when just a few years ago they were ridiculously cheap. They were summizing that the next hottest trend in MVs will be M151s. Not sure where I'm going with all this.....just figure I'd chime in.

regards,
bob

[MSeriesRebuild]

Charles,

You forgot the impact of Ebay and the internet. I remember when ABLinn used to be there, Fred from Adrondack Dodge and George Maneri.

A gentleman from Michigan commented on the high prices at the show.

I heard one vendor shoot an offer down with I can get this price on the internet and it will not last a week.

Rick

This is all true, however you would have to know AB personally to get the full impact of my comments. He sells a lot on ebay, and quite frankly probably would not still be in business if it were not for that outlet. In his heart, AB would still like to be traveling to the big rallies of 20 years ago. He would love to be making it that way still, but he simply can't make that happen anymore. He used to do it traveling and keeping a running business card ad in MV magazine. He quit the magazine ad years ago cause it didn't pay off any longer; he and I talked about that. I know the feeling, I can pay my internet website fees for a year and reach the whole world for less than it cost me to keep a quarter page display ad in MV for 1 year, that is only 6 issues. Obviously magazine circulation has gone way down, everyone gets info via the net these days. I doubt if we got enough business from our MV ad all last year to pay for what the ad cost.

[MSeriesRebuild]

Charles,

I can certainly understand the vendor's point of view with everything you said........but what's bugging me isn't so much the vendors, it's the guys who used to bring all their unused parts from their recent M37 resto and the guys cleaning out their garages/sheds of military parts. I can't talk too far back as I'm a relative newbie....but just 3 years ago it seemed most people had SOME M37 parts in what they were selling. I used to get asked by everyone "what are you working on" and I'd say "M37" and they'd have SOMETHING.........today I wore a T-Shirt with big letters that said "M-37" on the front and no one mentioned that they had any M37 parts. The fender mounted heater I bought was from a guy who thought it was from an M38. Said he didn't have any M37 parts. The one guy who usually brings used M37 parts was wiped out by the time I got to him this morning, but I overheard him talking to another guy and they were trying to figure out why M37 parts were becoming so rare and valuable when just a few years ago they were ridiculously cheap. They were summizing that the next hottest trend in MVs will be M151s. Not sure where I'm going with all this.....just figure I'd chime in.

regards,
bob

The reason parts are rare is very simple; the supply is just drying up. Much of the NOS stuff has rotted in the box due to age. The decent stuff that is left is certainly worth more, short supply, higher cost. This is very common business sense.

Another issue is that literally tons of good stuff has been sold as scrap over recent years. Scrap prices got high, many viewed it as their last best chance to clean out lots of stuff for immediate cash. Many of those were the younger generation who viewed it as junk, they didn't have a clue. Many still don't, and never will know what they had.

[majorhitt]

I've been going to the East Coast rally since the early 80's at Middletown. It grew and moved to the Proving Grounds. Lately It appears that there's a lot of internal fighting going on related to where and when the rally should be. Some people complain that there are no electrical hook ups , or showers like other locations. It doesn't seam to be run as well as it was in the past. Something has to be done to draw people, vendors, buyers, spectators, vehicles for judging, and so on. Yes, this rally was the poorest showing I've been to.

Hello Bob I missed you somehow? With an M37 shirt on?

[rickv100]

Given the usual rain at Aberdeen a covered location would be nice
Rick