crikey, where the hell did that lot come from??
Jon made comments which are not detrimental to any early bays owners, just the way the scene has gone in general, and I was the person who mentioned earlybay (as a very tongue in cheek remark to a few people I know very well with early bays!) in the wheeler dealers thread and they put 1 and 1 together and make four hundred and sixty twelve.
Just to clarify from those on early bay who seem to have taken everything very much out of context, no one on here is against early bays. My quip was merely stating early bays as a tongue in cheek reference to how the VW scene has developed over the past few years.
Back in the late '80's/early '90's it was all about the beetle, that's where the scene was at, shows like Bug Jam and Beetle Bash thrived on the love affair people had with the Beetles and the scene that went with it.
This kind of died in 1996 with the penultimate (but best VW show ever) Beetle Bash '96.
From then on, the scene has changed dramatically, moving slowly over to vans. 7-8 years ago, the big thing to buy was vans. Hell, I bought a stock S042 Westy for under £4k, you just couldn't do that nowadays. With that came the new scene of VW shows, where if you put Bus/Van in the title, you could make a killing.
I went to the first couple of Bus Stop Overs, superb show and at £7.50, provided excellent value for money, but as time progressed, they prices have risen in comparison with many of the larger shows.
Yes, I can comment, as I have been to these shows and have been in the scene a very long time and have watched it change.
It's not just the show promoters, it's the people selling parts. OK, you could say it's supply vs demand, but we all know that there are still a large amount of people out there who are happily coining it in with the cost of spares.
It doesn't seem that long ago when I spent a weekend hunting for buses, got one early bay with MOT for £500 and a late bay with 12 months ticket for £300 on the same day.
You'd be lucky to get a pair of rust free doors and a tailgate for that nowadays.
The prices of early bays shot up horrendously over the past few years, and now it's the turn of the late bay.
Over the past 2-3 months, I've seen half a dozen late bays advertised for prices North of £15,000.
This for me was NEVER what the VW scene was about and for me it turned the VW scene from one where anyone could be part of it for little money to one which is almost as elitist as Porsche ownership.
Yes, I know there are people out there who've had theirs for years and have restored them themselves, all hats off to you for doing so as that for me is more about what the ownership of a VW should be all about.
So there you go, and for the record, Mr Self Destruct is far from a prick.
Having read through all 3 posts (2 on here and 1 one early bay), I really do think some people have taken Jon very much out of context.
