I am on digest, so I get stuff a day or two after it has posted. Keep that
in mind in case I seem a bit out of date on this post.
The photos of the show that have been posted look fantastic! I am envious
that you guys get to have events with that much attendance. Heck, I think
it sucks that I missed Road Atlanta this year and there were maybe 10% as
many Roadsters as at Solvang. From all that I have heard from attendees,
the event was fantastic. Lou and the crowd that put the event on deserve a
HUGE thanks from the Roadster community.
Now that the enjoyable part of my post has been taken care of, here is the
less savory part. What is with the bashing of Dean at Fairlady Products?
This happened last year if memory serves me correctly, and the basic
concensus at that time was that such crap should be kept off list. The
creating of pseudonyms to post such bile is stupid as well. Could Dean have
disclosed a bit more about how the whole transaction went down? Sure, and I
am sure that in hind sight, Dean probably sees that. Does that give
clearance to publicly eviscerate him for doing something that helped the
community? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!
Lou et. al. wanted better stuff than taillight gaskets and aircleaner
stickers for the raffle and did what a lot of clubs do - negotiated heavily
discounted merchandise from the vendors. Did he approach all of the
vendors? Who knows and who cares? If he didn't, there is no requirement
that he do so. From all that I have heard, the raffle was fantastic! It
would not have been if Lou hadn't put forth the effort, nor would it have
been if Dean had not sold stuff under cost. So, did Dean actually donate
$1500 odd dollars of stuff? Not fully since he got partial money. Does
that minimize that he stepped up to the plate more than the other vendors?
Looks like it from the peanut gallery.
Sure, not all vendors can/will make that effort. Did Dean get some
advertising out of it? Sure, but so did the guys that donated a lot less.
I bet that some folks that didn't know about Fairlady Products heard about
it at this venue. That is good for Dean AND good for the Roadster
community. Dean has worked hard to be competitive in the marketplace. He
has some great prices and a lot of neat stuff. He has had stuff tooled up
and made to support the Roadster community. Someone (Primadonna - is that
Stan?) lambasted Dean for going to manufacturers that are making products
that other vendors originally had produced. Gee, is that a bad thing? Does
that mean that NO ONE should buy Nissan parts to resell them other than Dann
at Rallye? Surely he had that relationship first, so all of the other
Roadster vendors should be out in the cold by that logic.
If Dean was able to negotiate better pricing for a product, well hot damn!
That is not a good thing, it is a GREAT thing! That spurrs competition
which improves things for all of us on two fronts. First, it lowers the
price of parts which means that more roadsters will be fixed up. Second, it
lets the manufacturer know that this niche market is a viable source of
revenue which may mean more parts being produced. Heck, I hope that the
other vendors do this same thing!
Now, before anyone starts calling me Sid the Shill, I want to be clear. I
have had issues with Dean in the past, but I hold no hard feelings and WILL
purchase stuff from him again. That goes true for all of the vendors
(unless I am "blacklisted" by a vendor as it has been suggested that I have
been) if they have what I need at a price that I see is fair. Heck, I have
had issues with most of the vendors out there. I hold no grudges though.
Lets face it - if you dig Datsuns, you HAVE to be quirky. Why else would
you want the exercise in masochism to get one of these things? I am glad no
only that there are vendors that support the cars, but that some of the
vendors like Dean care enough to cut into their bottom line to support
events. Dean could have told OROC and SEROC and any other club that asked
for donations to go pound sand. He didn't, and he deserves a huge THANK YOU
from all of us. Like him or not, he IS doing something to support the
Roadster community at large.
Now, I am not trying to slight the other vendors in this post - please don't
take it that way. The attacks have been against Dean for his support. I
don't know who else made any donation of time, money or whatever to make
this or any other event a success. Since I don't have knowledge of what
they did or didn't do, I am not commenting on them.
As a side note, Welcome Back Roman!! Good to hear that you are back on the
list!! Did you do like Greg B suggested when you had the fun police
escorted ride to the coffee shop and get a haircut? ;-)
Sidney Raper
1964 1500 (still a project.... sigh....)
1967 SRL311 00076 (alive again!)
Jacksonville Florida
http://www.geocities.com/roadsternut/index.html
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