The Mother Lode!

Oh boy, you guys are going to LOVE this one!

On one of the last days of 2014 – December 29th to be exact, I was up here at my desk trying to get “caught up” as I say…, and also wrapping up some of the financial paperwork, etc. from the past year.  One thing that was extremely obvious when looking over the numbers was that I spent ALOT of money in 2014 on E-Type parts and projects!  And so I’m sitting here thinking, “OK, you’re out of money AND space, and you’ve got WAY too much E-Type stuff, so let’s try to tone it down next year…”

And then LITERALLY as I’m sitting here planning that adjustment for 2015, an email comes across with the subject line, “Massive Jaguar XKE Collection/Parts” – and here is exactly what it said:

Hi Chuck. Great website by the way. I was browsing the old interweb and seeing if there was interest in this collection, or maybe an idea of what it is worth. My friend would like to sell this as an entire, everything literally must go as one lump sell. Any ideas? Your expertise would help. Thanks

Along with that was a listing of what was there in general, and a link to an online collection of about 40 photos of the stuff.  Of course, right away, I was excited, and spent about the next hour carefully scrutinizing the photos of the parts to determine what was there and what I thought it was worth.

I wrote back and started asking about the price and the location, and the stuff was FAR away, and the price – while quite fair, was no small sum…  Normally, I JUMP on opportunities like this, but on this one, I hesitated – you know, I think I was just WORN OUT from a busy year, and trying to set some new goals and “rules” I guess for the next year.  So I told them that while I was interested in the stuff, and the price seems fair, I’m just going to have to think about it because going to get the stuff is a MAJOR logistical issue – that is going to consume MORE time that I just don’t have.

Well, as you can imagine, I just couldn’t get the images of those photos out of my mind!  Make no mistake, I WANTED the stuff!  And then I finally came to the conclusion that I have on instances like this in the past – I HAVE to buy this stuff – it is – quite literally – MY JOB!!!

I came to that conclusion one night at about 3 AM, and then immediately went into a panic over the fact that it had been about 3 weeks now since the parts had been offered to me!  Luckily, as I had suspected, there was no big rush to move these parts, and they were still mine if I wanted them – which I now sure did!

So about 3 weeks ago, I headed off into the heart of the country – AGAIN – to bring home more orphaned E-Type cars and parts.  The trip was LONG – and EXHAUSTING – and I loved very minute of it!  And I would say that the quality and quantity of the collection was WELL beyond my expectations, making the whole thing that much more fun!  The gentleman I purchased the parts from was a great guy, and a kindred spirit in the E-Type world – but from a whole different time – 30 years ago!  It was great to swap stories and discuss the cars all day as we loaded the parts – making new friends and contacts is half the fun!

And so, after more money, more miles, and more stolen time, I came home with MORE E-Type parts – and MORE of a space problem!  Everything I purchased is still in the trailer because I have nowhere else to put it!  Thankfully, just yesterday, I was able to convince the owners of the warehouse where I rent space to clear off an entire mezzanine for me, which will be a BIG help!  Brent and I were just over there yesterday afternoon, and looking at our new space – which is BIG!  By the way – this is our THIRD expansion over there in three years – I think what I really need is their whole building!

Chuck:  “Dude – this is TONS of space!”

Brent:  “You’ll fill it…”

So enjoy the photos of the adventure – and of course, of the parts!