On Apr 11, 2010, at 3:35 PM, Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM> wrote:

>  Bah!  So I have to go to Home Depot and buy a Chinese-made POS that
> will break in a few years, rather than one that has been in use
> (until it became a collectors item) through a couple of craftsman's
> life-times..

My position on these sort of remarks has been made clear here several
times. If you have anything negative to say about a product and feel
you have to invoke the 'C' word or any other ethinic label(s), please
me kind enough to specify and example. For instance, not all Craftsman
tools are made by KCD, LLC (the guys who own Craftsman collectively).
Not all Craftsman tools are made in the good ole USA.  Please do some
research before spouting off. Thanks.

>   I don't think I'll ever probably 'collect' a Doka VW and restore
> it to showroom specs.

To each his own. I still remember when some fellow attendee to the
first event called Syncro De Mayo came up to me and ask, "Are you
really going to take that thing through the trails?" He was refering
to my then new to me, very rare Syncro 16" Doka. If he only knew what
a bad off-road driver I was. I banged it up a little. Got stuck
because I did not realize locking all four wheels alone would not get
you out but rather make four nice holes in the dirt. It's still a
collector's vehicle to my knowledge. I've never had it repainted. One
fellow even recently remarked, "When will you ever restore that poor
POS?."

You can collect and use. Use does not necessarily lower the value
unless you utterly destroy the item in the process. In fact, in some
circles, gaining 'patina' is a good thing. What more patina could you
ask for in a Syncro than a front bashplate smashed into an obstacle on
the trail?

Just imagine someone saying a hundred years from now, "Hey, the dent
on that cargo bed was made when that fellow Dan Honsan fell over and
hit his head when he found out his Craftsman tools were made in that
renegade province called Republik of Kalipornya. You'll never find
another T3 singlecab which such patina."

BenT