Auctions

The new trailer I bought late last summer cost 3 times more than the truck I'am pulling it with ..
That's just not right ..lol

 

Its a bit like gambling , people usually only talk about their winnings.
The good buys I have made at auctions were usually the under 100K miles on the clock.
Picked up a few for under half the new price,
Bought a 11 thousand mile 5 year old truck from a bank on auction for 30c on the dollar.
Bought a 3 year old straight truck with a crane with 3500 miles for 40c on the dollar also from a bank.
Bought 2 straight trucks off the production line with zero miles for 70c on the dollar because it was end of run.
Bought a 600mile class 8 tractor in 2018 that was 2 years old for 80c on the dollar and collected from the dealer where it had been sitting for 2 years as the buyer who paid cash didn't want it anymore.

Those are my success stories.
We don't talk about the others if we can help it.

 

[QUOTE="leviant0107, post: 11913683,

And duly noted about truck paper, I look on there often and recently AuctionTime. It seems like where I need to go to find what I’m looking for (late 80s early 90s Mack or Ford)[/QUOTE]
I sold all my LTL’s when I ran out of room to solder anymore jumpers onto the circuit boards in the dash. Wouldn’t know where to look for one now.

 

Not to say, a rare deal doesn't come along every other blue moon. A friend went to a farm auction many years ago, to his surprise in amongst the farm equipment was a '67 GTO, added late. Since it wasn't advertised, just the wrong crowd, and nobody was bidding on it, and my friend picked it up cheap and drove it home, so it does happen.

 

Do they tend to come with a lot of electrical issues?[/QUOTE]
Just the dash panels. Instead of wiring instruments and things direct they were socketed into circuit boards in the dash. Lighting was surface bayonet 118 bulb holders that contacted power strips on the boards. Vibrations and road shocks would crack the boards and you’d lose dash lights or instruments until you soldered a jumper around the break. I had an ‘81 and a pair of ‘82 LTL’s and honestly they were among the most reliable trucks I ever had. Just like everything else they had their little issues though.

 

A Dealer once explained it like this. We go and buy 5 or 10 Trucks at a Time. We fix everything and cost average it out. Sell for a profit. Some need very little. At least one usually needs a major repair. You can save money, going to the Auction yourself, unless you get the bad one. That was after I told him I knew he paid 59k a week earlier at Taylor Martin, for the Truck I bought for $67k. Fair enough. Like gambling, all depends on how much you can afford to lose. Twice I’ve been to Taylor Martin Auctions. Everything sold High. Everyone is there to buy. The few really nice Trucks and Trailers went for top dollar. When I decided to sell a Trailer, took it to the same Auction in Peoria Il. It sold high.

 

Actually my fleet is sends most of theyre dispersal trucks to Taylor Martin trading in very few .
They are also very careful not to send junk in either direction because they don't want to get a reputation for it .

 

Just the dash panels. Instead of wiring instruments and things direct they were socketed into circuit boards in the dash. Lighting was surface bayonet 118 bulb holders that contacted power strips on the boards. Vibrations and road shocks would crack the boards and you’d lose dash lights or instruments until you soldered a jumper around the break. I had an ‘81 and a pair of ‘82 LTL’s and honestly they were among the most reliable trucks I ever had. Just like everything else they had their little issues though.[/QUOTE]
When did they start using the Circuit boards ?

I owned a couple of 85’or 86 LTLs and I don’t remember any circuit boards .
But maybe because I didn’t have any problems with them .