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Date:         Fri, 28 Mar 1997 16:12:14 +0000
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         vwbus@netbiz.net
Subject:      Re: The Bus Depot (long ramblings)

I'm going to take a few seconds here as some people on this list occasionally listen to me and as in the past a lot of people have gotten the idea that I ruthlessly hate the person of Ron Salmon, now proprietor of the Bus Depot.

For the record, I have only met Ron once in person and he does not know he met me. Last year spring Manassas checked out his wares, was highly unimpressed, a bunch of stuff a lot of beat up Westy stuff at the time, asking prices were easily twice what I would have paid even if I desperately needed stuff, but those were ASKING prices and anyone is free to take advantage of the unwary as much as they can, it is the American way, I have no idea what he actually sold stuff for.

A friend Steve Dolan purchased numerous things here and there from Ron and was always satisfied, Steve is no idiot and would not pay more than a fair market price, hence he would always be satisfied, he also sold Ron parts so the exchange was beneficial.

My true bone with Ron at the time, and still to a very minor extent, was the fact that he was frequently buying and parting buses and vanagons from the mid atlantic posted on the list as good deals that others could have bought and rebuilt as drivers. A little history is needed, back when V@L was a very small under 150 people total thing, it was a really friendly little sort of place, everyone was a pal and deals were presented to help the less fortunate. However I am sort of two faced in this matter as all three of my current vans have been $500 buys off this very list, but I was not making a business of parting them while occasionally swearing that I was not. And Ron made a good profit doing this BTW, he tried to turn at least a $3000 profit in asking price of parts in one instance I personally know, where I had nearly bought the van he parted (no animosity there the guy was going to give me a better price as he ended up having gone to school with me, at the time I had no place for it and passed.)

Skip ahead, there was a little flap about pop-top weather stripping in which I drove an already fair price (compared to going prices) that Ron posted in good faith into a truly incredible deal for the list, which BTW I did with totally factual information as I still will buy my seals from McMaster-Carr as the price is slightly better and I feel that the front piece on the luggage rack should be a seal as VW had it not merely trim. In the end the list did quite well as a result of the whole little flap, Ron may not have done so well profit wise, he will get over it.

So then Ron finally admits that he better go fully commercial and starts a genuine business catering very much to these lists, something I still have a problem with as I feel there is no need for "add" type commercial presence on the lists, furthermore I note that Ron's best chance of making this thing fly is these lists, were they not here, he would not have the proverbial ice cube in hell chance of starting another T2 parts business particularly on the east coast. Although he is saving us money, he is the only one making a profit, remember that people. I begrudge Ron no more or less than Kyle, Jim, all the others in this matter, funny we tolerate them but ran that poor guy from Parts Place (who I will always buy from) right the hell off cause a couple of stupid people who did not know how to effectively buy and deal with mail order companies whined mercilessly. (Go ahead flame me, I care.) I've bought from Parts Place for 10+ years tolerating their errors but saving a lot of money in the early days when they were very much the only budget game in town, and I still always look at their catalog first then try to beat it which I usually do now days, often locally. Hell maybe my real problem with the businesses I mention is the fact that I'd love to be and am quite capable of doing such a venture myself, but I don't have the guts to kiss a 40k paycheck goodbye and launch off on some hair brained chance at true happiness in my work, and now the area is saturated anyway, my loss.

So then we come to the end, fact is I've already ordered quite a few things from Ron, where his prices have been good, he got me a gorgeous German '79 heater box at an exceptional price, I will order CV's and a clutch from him now at his special price, I wanted to get in on the WCM deal but couldn't find my catalog, so alas I will wait till the next one, where BTW I doubt he will do all that much better than any of the common WCM retailers who typically do 15% off list. Anyway I am no fool, I will take good deals presented to me, to those who worry, I would not fear dealing with Ron on his word by personal check or any other means (course if he goes belly up that might be a mistake). I commend Ron for already having a good WWW page catalog, something Jim could take note of (of course we know Bus Boys and catalogs do not mix, maybe the '98 WWW catalog is already printed :-) and on line, just only acessible to the few who are actually on the paper calalog mailing list.) I would like to see less advertisement on the list in general, but I am not gullible enough to think that will happen, and as Ron probably is not going to have so much time for tracking down parts cars any more, I feel the metro Philly, Baltimore, DC area will be a little better hunting ground again for good deals, hmmn maybe I'll start a used parts only business in the area :-)

Anyway I fealt I needed to say these things. I have no real animosity towards Ron or his business but I simply reccomend as always buyer beware and shop around on anything, makes good sense. I hope he makes a good go of the thing and continues to provide a more local source for reasonably priced parts on this coast. Personally I feel it takes guts, seems to me the T2 parts business market doesn't have much more than a 10-15 year future at the moment as there weren't that many Vanagons sold comparatively and I don't think they will ever reach the "collector" status that even the bay will eventually achieve, but by that time splits will be unheard of and a dead market and bays will be going the same way as rust and time take their inevitable toll.

My opinions as always.

John Anderson vwbus@netbiz.net '85, '81, '78, '77 (eventually) vans


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