Say goodbye

[Melody Ranch]

As the dollar plunges the lucky folks in Europe are reaping the bennies. An Airstream now costs them about 30% less than for us here in the us ....I am thinking vintage or used.....and you can see the result in most recent sales. Something like the great sucking sound Ross Perot mentioned with the NAFTA sellout.....only this time its the sound of Vintage Airstreams sailing outbound. Great for our friends there....not so for us.
Also......BEWARE!!! a recent trend here in Texas. Thieves are stealing aluminum bodied trucks for the resale value of the salvaged aluminum. I can just imagine the gleam in their eyes at a derilict (valuable to us) Airstream

[Happycampers]

I hope it is not true but I think this could be just the beginning.

[safari57]

A neighbor down the block showed up tonight with a '34 Ford 3 window couple he just purchased in the Seattle area. With the Canadian dollar where it's at it made it much easier for him to pick the car up. We know of others who are repatriating cars that went south when our dollar was at the 62 cent range compared to the US dollar.

It's sad to watch and there's nothing you can do about it. If you have something for sale and some one is quite willing to pay you what you want, it's difficult to say "no".

As for the scrap value of an Airstream - I can't say but one of our car club members had his aluminum car hauler stolen and the remains were found in a scrap dealers lot by chance.

Personally the increase of our dollar has made acquiring neat parts for the Chevelle and Safari (car) much easier to justify to the other love of my life.

Barry

[uwe]

Originally Posted by Melody Ranch

As the dollar plunges the lucky folks in Europe are reaping the bennies. An Airstream now costs them about 30% less than for us here in the us ....I am thinking vintage or used.....and you can see the result in most recent sales. Something like the great sucking sound Ross Perot mentioned with the NAFTA sellout.....only this time its the sound of Vintage Airstreams sailing outbound. Great for our friends there....not so for us.
Also......BEWARE!!! a recent trend here in Texas. Thieves are stealing aluminum bodied trucks for the resale value of the salvaged aluminum. I can just imagine the gleam in their eyes at a derilict (valuable to us) Airstream

Off the subject, but some (.......) recently stole the power supply wires to my shop a few months back. Copper, folks, the new Gold! Imagine coming to work, and turning on the lights...no, wait - no lights, what's up? Took me a few hours on my cell phone to figure out that everyone but me had power. The thieves pulled out 400ft of heavy copper wire from my shop to the meter. Creative...

[bake315]

Originally Posted by Melody Ranch

As the dollar plunges the lucky folks in Europe are reaping the bennies. An Airstream now costs them about 30% less than for us here in the us ....I am thinking vintage or used.....and you can see the result in most recent sales. Something like the great sucking sound Ross Perot mentioned with the NAFTA sellout.....only this time its the sound of Vintage Airstreams sailing outbound. Great for our friends there....not so for us.
Also......BEWARE!!! a recent trend here in Texas. Thieves are stealing aluminum bodied trucks for the resale value of the salvaged aluminum. I can just imagine the gleam in their eyes at a derilict (valuable to us) Airstream

Derelict? Heck it doesn't even have to be derelict. When you have people coming home from work - wondering why their central air conditioning isn't running - only to walk around the side of the house and discover the entire outside unit is gone - they won't have many qualms about hooking up and taking off with a spanking-new CCD.

[njoysrvin]

If you want to help put an end to this ...go to this site ronpaul2008.com ....

[remcolent]

Originally Posted by Melody Ranch

As the dollar plunges the lucky folks in Europe are reaping the bennies. An Airstream now costs them about 30% less than for us here in the us ....I am thinking vintage or used.....and you can see the result in most recent sales.

When I bought my firs airstream a few years ago the rate was 1.28 usd for 1 euro now it is 1.44 usd for 1 euro , that is about a 20% diverance.
I don't think that makes airstream's cheap overhere.

Let's say I buy a 10000 usd airstream
I'm not in the US so need a firm to haul it to port 500 usd
Transport to europe 2200 usd Harbour charge 250 euro = 360 usd.
Ok so far I have spend 13060 usd on a 10 K airstream .
That it starts to realy hurt Import duty and tax 29 % over all the cost including transport.
That makes 16847 usd
So now I need to get the airstream home lets say 250 usd transport cost
17097 usd and still counting .
Now we need to fit euro axles euro coupler and some more usles things to get it ready for our road. 2500 euro 3600 usd 20697 usd in total.
Almost there only need it cecked and licensed 250 euro that was 360 usd.
So I end up spending 21057usd for a airstream That I bought for 10000.

PLEASE don't say airstreams are cheap overhere, We are proud to own a realy great trailer
Remco
The netherlands

[Garfield]

I'm more worried about Airstream staying in business for the long term. If you think the prices of A/S are high now, wait to see what they will be in another 10 years with input costs going through the roof. I fear America has reached the pinnacle in it's standard of living. It will be interesting to see if there are enough RVers in the upper class or retiring baby boomers with the financial wherewithall to support Airstream over the long term.

Thanks for nothing Greenspan and Co.

[ibgl6]

I recently had my garage broken into the thief stole my turkey fryer and frozen turkeys from my deep freeze they found him and I got modt of my stuff back The same guy was charged with burguarly due to the fact he was selling copper pipe he had removed from a closed up spa apperantly he removed all the copper water pipes out of the building darn crooks....

[AlbertF]

A low dollar means that US manufacturers should do really well exporting to other markets, including Canada and Europe. It should increase the cost of Airstreams in the US only to the extent that raw materials are sourced offshore.

Ten years ago, the Canadian dollar was very low, but the Big Three were building all the cars and trucks they could in Canada and shipping them south. There was also a steady flow of used cars, including collectibles, to the US. Now the Canadian dollar is at a record high relative to the US dollar (although I don't really know where it stands globally), and while shopping south of the border has gotten very attractive, I am concerned about the prospects for Canadian manufacturing. Toyota and Honda may be less likely to invest in another Canadian assembly plant. There's always a happy medium, and having a dollar that will buy $1.10 US is not it.

[oldbaggy]

No one is worried about sending them to Dutch-the laws there are keeping it difficult to buy. UK is the major importer of used Airstreams- I saw 18 in the port in Jax last week, all going to Southampton. UK needs no title, no changes, and people always lie about the true price of a 30 year old trailer- so the tax is not paid accurately- in ANY country. Be realistic, its a bargain and they're heading across the pond. USD to GBP is less than half the value.

Originally Posted by remcolent

When I bought my firs airstream a few years ago the rate was 1.28 usd for 1 euro now it is 1.44 usd for 1 euro , that is about a 20% diverance.
I don't think that makes airstream's cheap overhere.

Let's say I buy a 10000 usd airstream
I'm not in the US so need a firm to haul it to port 500 usd
Transport to europe 2200 usd Harbour charge 250 euro = 360 usd.
Ok so far I have spend 13060 usd on a 10 K airstream .
That it starts to realy hurt Import duty and tax 29 % over all the cost including transport.
That makes 16847 usd
So now I need to get the airstream home lets say 250 usd transport cost
17097 usd and still counting .
Now we need to fit euro axles euro coupler and some more usles things to get it ready for our road. 2500 euro 3600 usd 20697 usd in total.
Almost there only need it cecked and licensed 250 euro that was 360 usd.
So I end up spending 21057usd for a airstream That I bought for 10000.

PLEASE don't say airstreams are cheap overhere, We are proud to own a realy great trailer
Remco
The netherlands

[markdoane]

I don't understand your statement that an Airstream now costs 30% less in europe. If you took your American Dollars to europe, it would cost more.

Hows that for economic gymnastics?

On the other hand, the exchange rates make it more likely that Americans (the ones that use dollars, not loonies) will stay home and use their Airstreams, rather than travel to Rome or Paris or Hong Kong for vacations. It also makes it more likely that Brits and Brazilians and Aussies will come to the US for their vacations. I can see this just by observing the increased number of foreigners at the Mall of America.

I think thats a win for the USA. It means more jobs and opportunities (but not cheaper chinese tires) for the US.

[uwe]

Originally Posted by markdoane

I don't understand your statement that an Airstream now costs 30% less in europe. If you took your American Dollars to europe, it would cost more.

Hows that for economic gymnastics?

On the other hand, the exchange rates make it more likely that Americans (the ones that use dollars, not loonies) will stay home and use their Airstreams, rather than travel to Rome or Paris or Hong Kong for vacations. It also makes it more likely that Brits and Brazilians and Aussies will come to the US for their vacations. I can see this just by observing the increased number of foreigners at the Mall of America.

I think thats a win for the USA. It means more jobs and opportunities (but not cheaper chinese tires) for the US.

We are an importing country, not an exporting country. Most everything we import costs substantially more than before the US currency took a nose dive.
Foreigners only win by being able to buy cheap dollars, which they can then spend on Chinese products in our malls.
Cruise ships are still full of Americans, so are International flights. As usual, affluent Americans aren't hit by this very hard, and continue on alsomst likebefore. It's the small business that hurts from it most.

[NevadaGeo]

With a cheap dollar, we should be selling and exporting everything that isn't nailed down. Should be a good thing, not a bad thing as reported in the news. Great for tourist business, bring em over, spends their money seeing the sights, send em home. In Nevada we say, thank you very much for paying our state income tax for us!

[RivetED]

That's the free-market at work, for better or worse.

[Melody Ranch]

http://www.airforums.com/classifieds...uct=4674&cat=6

[toastie]

Originally Posted by Melody Ranch

As the dollar plunges the lucky folks in Europe are reaping the bennies. An Airstream now costs them about 30% less than for us here in the us ....I am thinking vintage or used.....and you can see the result in most recent sales. Something like the great sucking sound Ross Perot mentioned with the NAFTA sellout.....only this time its the sound of Vintage Airstreams sailing outbound. Great for our friends there....not so for us.
Airstream

Very true, check this out:

http://www.airforums.com/classifieds...uct=4674&cat=6

1946 Spartan Manor 25
1947 Curtis Wright 19
1948 Trail Wind 18
1949 Wee Wind 16 Concession
1952 Flying Cloud 21
1953 Silver Streak Clipper 22
1954 Flying Cloud 22
1956 Bubble California 16
1956 Overlander California 26
1956 Overlander 26
1958 Pacer 17
1959 Pacer 17
1963 Overlander 26
1966 Caravel 16
1968 Caravel 16
1970 Caravanner 25

[oldbaggy]

Mustangs, Hemi Cuda's, wooden Chris Crafts, anything classic and American- they'll buy as much as they can. The ports are backed up- we ship tractors and equipment, and some of the bigger stuff is on a 3 month back log. One guy has 60 Volvo trucks to send, and he can't book his shipping to export them. The boats are so full of these things its crazy. stop by Jacksonville, Baltimore, or Charleston, and ask for the roll on ship area. You'll be amazed. Boats are taking up lots of space. A guy building the cradles told me he's never seen it like this, he's busy til after the first of the year and no sign of it letting up.

Our nation is in trouble, we depend on foreign raw materials, and with our pitifully manipulated Federal Reserve Note system, we have no way to compete with even China soon. They, along with India, will absorb our needed raw materials by outbidding us, and we'll be starved for it so bad we'll need federal subsidies to buy steel for cars to be built here.

Once it goes there, its never coming back. Shipping works cheaper outbound from the US, because inbound is loaded with cheap Chinese copies of everything and anything.