TRIUMPH & MG SPARES DAY - 11th FEB 2018 - DISCOUNT CODE

[Guest]

Folks.

Just received this which provides an opportunity to obtain a 20% discount on the February event.

The discount code is ITSCHRISTMAS and is only valid on the 24th / 25th / 26th December.

Hopefully it will be of benefit.

http://mgandtriumphsparesday.co.uk/day-tickets/4579844997

Regards.

Richard.

[AndyTV8]

Good spot.... I have booked mine

[Colin Lindsay]

Went last year, spent over £400 to get there including ferries and two nights accommodation, and spent £42 in total when I got there - even then it was stuff I could have got anywhere. The autojumble needs to improve and the prices need to come down before I'll go back. I left quite early too, so it was a bit of a wasted expedition.

[AidanT]

I went last year and it was extremely busy. I think covering so many marks in one show just gets the interest of too many people, the majority of whom it seemed to me were there for an outing rather than in need of something 

Aidan 

[Clive]

I agree that many punters attend and treat it as a normal static show rather than an autoimmune. It has been a gradual process.

As to too busy, that is very preferable to the alternative. It came close to finishing altogether, so I am happy that the mg and triumph shows combined.

As to prices, a few of us share a stall each year, and last time I sold loads of stuff that had sat in the loft since the previous year. I didn't change prices, and it was only when I heard a few people mention prices seemed cheap that I looked around and was horrified at what some people were asking for stuff. Maybe a follow on from the hefty increase in car prices, or the increased cost if a stall? Luckily as we share the increase is not huge, but we are considering whether to carry on with a stall after this year... 

[Guest]

Colin, I regret to say that your two wishes are sadly more aspirational than likely - it's a vicious circle in so much that event organisers at such shows charge traders more each year and the traders pass that down to the show attendees; it's the same at 99% of all such shows throughout the land.

One noticeable point is that actual "true" Autojumble is becoming rarer and so is the presence of those who sell it. Why pay unreasonable event fees when you can sell stuff on the Net with a keyboard in one hand a G&T in the other ?? Beaulieu, NEC and shows of that ilk are starting to see the lack of interest by traders wishing to attend such shows due to the financial leverage placed upon such.

The ultimate group of people who lose out in the long run are the genuine classic vehicle enthusiasts who go to these shows to find that elusive part and / or catch up with like minded chums - I know I do, but that said I am becoming more selective on events attended. This is purely down to costs involved and the presence of decent Autojumble being overshadowed by the number sellers selling new tools; not all of which are that decent a quality and of which "we" probably have in our collection already.

Aidan raises the point about people just having a day out, this may well have been their raison d'être but I wonder if they attended with a view to buy parts / spares but were somewhat taken aback by the price of items for sale; which of course takes this reply nicely back to the points that Colin has rightly raised.

Personally, I cannot see the situation improving and in due course the appeal of such shows will wither on the vine, purely as a result of financial limitations on both true Autojumblers and their respective customers alike.

The only solace which can be drawn is that so long as club based events remain such as SEM, TriumFest etc, then classic vehicle owners will stand a decent chance of attending such shows which are correctly priced and attended by Autojumblers who wish to see the marques benefit through the sale of proper spares priced accordingly.

Regards.

Richard.

[Gully]

I went along 3 or 4 years ago and haven't bothered since. Trouble is, so many of the parts for our cars are available new / re-manufactured that spending out for a ticket in the vain hope of discovering unobtanium seems foolish - the seller is most likely to have put anything properly rare on eBay and waited for the market to dictate a price. I was most disappointed by the auto jumble, which seemed to be mainly comprised of parts removed from another vehicle as knackered and now being sold on as rare! At best, it was a day out and I bought a few bits to justify the entry price.

As for Richard's comment about better sellers being found at the marque gatherings, I must admit to having been disappointed by the auto jumble at my only visit to a TriumFest at Santa Pod where it was 'thin'. Maybe I should have been there on the first day, or it is simply a dying trade, in the way of record fairs of 20 years ago?

Gully

[Guest]

Hello Gully.

I did not attend TF, but I did go to the 2017 SEM which had a decent amount of proper Autojumble pro-rata to the number of people attending. I was hoping in my previous comment that the TF had followed suit; but from your report that seems not to be the case which perhaps appears more worrying than at face value.

Hopefully the apathy and decline of on-site trading is not permeating in to club events, if it is then that will be very sad to see.

Regards.

Richard.