“I need all your money I can get, so make me a sensible offer.” We Brits may hate haggling but, come autojumbles, it’s gloves off as sellers and punters face each other across a stack of obscure car parts, most of it unpriced – and much of it worth only what someone else is prepared to pay for it.
The subject of the ‘sensible offer’ is a truck horn, and the chap flogging it, Simon Davey, is a dealer in cars and car bits.
His customer wants proof the horn works, so Davey connects it to his van’s battery and gives it a blast sufficient to make us cover our ears.
“I’ll give you 20 quid,” says the customer. “Thirty,” replies Davey. “Twenty-five and you’ve got a deal,” his adversary shoots back. They shake on it.
Welcome to the Haynes Museum autojumble, taking place in the car park at motoring’s Somerset mecca. It’s 9:30 a.m. on a Saturday in June, blowing a gale and raining, of course, but already 100 stands are open for business and visitor numbers are building.
By the end of the morning, 650 will have come. It’s the Haynes venue’s second autojumble – the first was held last year. Exhibitors have paid £30 for a pitch, and entry is £5 per person.
It’s just one of many autojumbles taking place throughout the country this year, the biggest and best known being the International Autojumble at Beaulieu; its sister sale, the Spring Autojumble, has only just happened.
Retired mechanic Ben Haywood, one of the traders at the Haynes sale today, was there last month: “I always do well at Beaulieu, so thought I’d give Haynes a go.”
Also giving Haynes a go is Graham Bunter. The car hobbyist and club racer is putting his faith in Ford parts, and among his treasures are two Pinto cylinder heads at £40 each and five inlet manifolds at £20 apiece.
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