On Wed, 9 Apr 2003, Tarnow, Joshua wrote:
> I agree 100%...so what is the alternative?
Hmmmm. This is interesting indeed. It begs for an opinion.
EBay is pretty amazing. In fact eBay is really amazing. It provides an
almost perfect platform to get buyers and sellers together in a convenient
fashion. It does not, however, offer the only venue to get buyers and
sellers together.
We need to keep sight of this fact.
Prior to eBay, Triumph owners were able to find each other to sell/swap
parts etc. THIS IS STILL THE CASE. In fact, I find it more likely that I
can find a specific item locally (and over the 'phone") than I can via
e-Bay. The bottom line is that eBay is just one of several tools a Triumph
owner can leverage to keep thier car on the road.
There seems to be this odd mentality that everyone that has a Triumph is
on the internet. THIS IS SO FAR FROM THE TRUTH THAT IT'S ALMOST FUNNY. A
similar notion is that every Triumph owner belongs to a club. This is
another bad assumption. Yes, there are a lot of people on the net, but do
they all subscribe to 6pack? triumphs? NO they do not. Do they all belong
to 6-Pack? NO. Do they all belong to TRA? NO...
So, the alternative is - Hemmings. Vintage Triumph Register. Six Pack, TRA
etc. There are also the vendors, TRF, Moss, Vicky Brit, TS Imported, BPNW
and _scads_ of local resellers and "breakers". And don't forget local-ish
resources like your local Triumph club (which might have a classifieds
section). To effectively keep old cars on the road, you have to use all
the tools available to you.
If it just so happens that you get outbid on a left-handed gudgeon pin for
your TR6 that you just have to have... so be it! Rest assured that just
about anything you need for a TR6 can be gotten somehow in a fairly
reasonable period of time. Finding this stuff is part of the allure to
these cars.
Oh well, that's enough ranting for now.
Have fun on eBay!
rml
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