The trade and the prices. Those are weird things. A friend of mine has a BMW R68. He was approached by someone who felt like it. But that man wanted to trade in. He had a BMW HP2 and an Early GS on real NL registration. There was talk about that.
The next day the man suddenly stood at my friend's door
Without an appointment, but by coffee time. The R68 was viewed and found to be in order. The two men went to the visitor's Vito. And there were two extremely incorrect BMW GSs. The visitor explained that he would sell the HP2 in Belgium and that there was a candidate for the GS. That way he could do more for it. So he wanted to trade in the two BMWs he had brought with him. My friend didn't feel like it at all.
The visit was 'not amused'. Had he driven 350 kilometers before that? In fact: "When you get home later, you will have driven 700 kilometers for nothing." Because what he had brought had nothing to do with what he would take. He thought my friend was a fraud. Would tell that to all his friends too. My friend is a mild person. He replied, “I don't think you have many friends. So I'm not going to worry about that. ”
My grandmother, blessedly, said it already: "our Lord has weird boarders"
I myself have experienced that a fervent Harley Rider - he claimed he had four - thought he should have a classic Guzzi. He bought the bike on Saturday and brought it back on Sunday. He didn't like Guzzis. He wanted to pay € 200 'rent' for the weekend ride. There were 63 kilometers more on the clock than with the purchase. The tank was almost full. I have never earned € 200 so easily.
And then there was the man who had offered his classic on Marktplaats with the photos of a much nicer copy. “Yes, nobody responded to the advertisement with the real photos. Then I took some pictures from the computer. I received many responses. But you are lucky: you are the first viewer. And now that you are here, you can take it for € 2.250. "
"They are cloud walkers and arch supports," one of my friends concluded
But there are fortunately also people who trade and are friendly and realistic. There was the man who stayed in Groningen for an afternoon and evening in pleasant conversation with the seller of the motorcycle of his dreams. At half past eight in the evening the selling party said: “That motorcycle just has to go to you. What do you give for it? ”
And then there are phenomena such as Alex Janssen and Kiat Que who both think that a classic with a mille or two, two and a half is a pretty expensive thing. They don't sell BMW R90S and classic Harleys for that money, but still… A bit higher up in the tree is friend Oebele Herder, an Italo fan and specialist who keeps sparing Laverdas, Ducati's and Guzzi's from obscure salvages.
In trade there is almost always room for price negotiation
But the gap between asking and bid price must remain clear. Bidding eight hundred euros at an asking price of three thousand euros is not realistic. On the other hand, during my military service, there was someone in my platoon who immediately spoke to each girl while out and about with: "Shall we fuck?" He defended his approach with: "Well, if one person ever says 'yes' just once, then I'm the man." There is of course also the chance that with his approach he is a virgin of 60+. But you have to keep hoping.
Funny is that most people in my area find their classics in the old-fashioned way
Not even in the once famous small advertisements in the Saturday Telegraaf, but from the (distant) circle of acquaintances and via information via tamtam and smoke signals. This way you can get to people who have not even thought of selling their classic car. In the most unfavorable case, such a purchasing process runs for a few years. But that also keeps you pleasantly busy.
For example, I know how to stand a Honda CB450 Black Bomber with someone who, after the birth of his first child, was no longer allowed to ride on it by his wife. That Honda has been under a flannel blanket for fifty years next to the boiler in the boiler room of a nursery. And then there is also a BMW R60 / 5, whose owner first became visually impaired and later blinded. That man still caresses his boxer regularly. But he is starting to distance himself. And I've known him for twenty years.