$$ 11,700 for a forty year old M817 dump truck?

[Robo McDuff]

Title says it all. The prices for different lots (also 817s) were a lot less. Now I just learned on internet that M817s are for sale for even much higher prices. But those are checked and repaired-restored trucks in good condition, not unknowns from GL. According the Gl description: Batteries Removed, Fluids Drained, Running Condition Unknow.

Any rationale for why this truck went for that price?

 

[patracy]

"No run" on the bumper too LOL...

 

[quickfarms]

Some one really wanted a dump truck

 

[fuzzytoaster]

It's people: unpredictable and they can.

 

[Robo McDuff]

Well, for whatever reason, two people must have wanted that specific truck very much to keep outbidding each other..

Yesterday's GL results

before 1972 Jeep Corporation M817, not started, unknown, $ 2,950, French Camp, CA

1972 AM General M817 non-running for $ 11,700 from San Antonio, Texas

?? AM General M817 non starting for $ 6,350 Hill AFB, Utah

None of the above is in running condition

?? Am General M817 running for $ 3,677 Nellis AFB, NV. RUNS

The VINs of the last three are not so far apart, so probably they are of similar age, but the 1972 has the lowest number of the three so presumably the eldest.

Transport is expensive, but it looks that the one from Nellis is the best deal. For the price difference, you can repair all problems and haul or drive that truck to Texas and still be cheaper and have a better truck than the Texas one unless we are missing something (like a load of gold in the back).

Like you said Fuzzytoaster, no accounting for what people will and can do. (no insult intended)

 

[Dr.Jay]

GL, posts non running, and usually parts missing on majority of their vehicle sales. This is to protect themselves.
Why did the truck sell for $11,700 ?
Simply because that is what someone was willing to pay for it.

I never buy vehicles from the east, or west coast. Transportation is too expensive.

 

[clinto]

I have long said this hobby has lost it's mind. People are paying full retail (actually, more than retail) to GL, which a wholesaler, for items in totally unknown condition.

I lose stuff I want every single week, but it's because I have the common sense to know when to stop. A lot of people don't have that capacity.

 

[USMC4302]

Clinto -- But that's the natural evolution of the hobby, thanks to the greater awareness the Internet has brought to it. Used to be that if you couldn't get to a DRMO lot in person for a live spot bid auction, or know the drill for the sealed bids, you didn't do surplus. Most people only ever heard about the mythical world of "Government Surplus" anecdotally (the $50 WWII Jeeps in crates thing) but never had the ambition to participate. Now that the Internet and the ease of GL have lowered the barriers to enter this activity and hobby ... Well, we've seen it in the other vehicle hobbies, too. The days of crazy cheap surplus are most likely over. Welcome to the future

 

[Flyingvan911]

It was one of those Powerball winners going wild.

 

[Robo McDuff]

It was one of those Powerball winners going wild.

Probably both of them since the price was around $ 10K an hour before closing and they continued raising the price.

The dangerous trap is that a lot of inexperienced people still believe that since it is a GL surplus, even with an auction everything must be cheap no matter what you pay. That might have been true decades ago. Today, use your brains and six-check before you bid. People loose perspective in the heat of bidding and, most important, do not put a threshold price for themselves beforehand: till here and no further, not even one $. Having said that, I hate that I don't live in the USA or come over more often so I can get into the bidding and pick up something nice and drive it to some of the rallies.

 

[originalstarhauler]

Possibility the bidder knew the truck first hand. But Price even at $15,000 is still a great buy when you go out and price a New F350 Ford 4x4.

 

[ichudov]

GL auctions in Great Lakes were so good a decade a go, I could bid on any pallet lot of anything without any understanding, and I easily made money every time. I had no understanding of surplus back then, but it was so easy to make money it was unbelievable. This is how I got hooked on this surplus business. Now I have a 10,000 square foot warehouse and do it full time, mostly NOT military surplus these days.