Had a rough night of coughing last nigh, made it in late.. why is it you seem to get the best sleep just before the time you’re supposed to get up!  What a cruel joke.. so I countered that with 1 more hour of blissful sleep.  Lurked around on the internet this morning looking for some “comfort verbage” about GMC motorhome… that always makes me feel better and there wasn;t much out there.  Guess it’s up to me today to dole out our drug of choice.  An awesome responsibility but I’ll try..

Question came in about our driver slider project, actually a couple of questions.    First was how open is open?  A fair one, the forward glass will slide back 9″.  Now if you are a fat head, you won’t be blowing wind in your ear but to be honest, it was sort of an unnatural act to stick your complete noggin out of that Argosy window.  The steering wheel is in the way to stand up to do the head bob, it bout the same way here.  You will be able to look out the open window and hand out tolls without talking through glass.. I think that’s really the big news.. talking directly through the window not through the top fixed glass.

The second question was why I was running these windows only through Jim K. at Applied.  Look it’s like this, I’m not saying others won;t have this… heck Jeff is my bud and will certainly be able to install one of these for you but what I’m doing is turning over distribution to one source.  From there I want Jim K. to control that.  Which brought up another question… “Why don;t I do that and distribute it myself?”  A good one and if we were in a larger industry where the goal is to be always one up on your “competition” I would be a fool.  We should not look at the different GMC specialty parts and services dealers as “competition”.  There isn;t enough room in a market like this for dealers to not help eachother.  It may not be on the capitalists rule book but there simply isn;t enough money for dealers to duplicate distribution and use those differences to raise your sales… you will drop sales to your fellow dealers.  So work hard to do that seeing the me/my singular business model where every other dealer is your enemy.  I didn’t fall off the cabbage truck in fact in the consmer electronics industry I have held tobs as:  Manufacturers, distributer and independent rep., I’ve worked for manufacturers, large retailers, have had my own small business autosound independent dealer right down to a 1 man auto tint, detail and sound shop.  I find that capitalistic world very cut throat and that’s the main reason I went to the GMC motorhome restoration business.

In 1991, there was no actual competition in this industry.  All the coaches were burn orange, beautiful pea green with 8 track decks and maybe a Radar Range.  I saw these machines as the perfect platforn to build dreams and ideas.  It wasn;t about would this be the most effective way for me to make money and get rich.  Nope, it was about the environement.. the working, the enthusiast and the parts environment.  That’s the reason I came here, maybe out of desperation… I just had my fill of competeing to put my fellow dealers out of business so I could survive.

You’re probably mumbling under your breath “he’s full of crap” and this altruistic guy is standing in front of a wave that will bowl him over.  And to be honest, you will find if you haven’t already those that do not subscribe to this idea and would love to put my business out of business.  When you see one of those folks, have pitty because they simply do not understand they do not need to be that way.  I want our community to rise above all of that and all work together to support our awesome motorhome.

OK you say how can you think this will work?  OK, I sell parts, folks who buy parts from me know this and know I not only stand behind the parts I offer I also install them and can help you with that too.  But think about this, as our community grows, it would be a positive thing if we didn;t go the multiple disctribution way and all helped to buy all together to make our voices better heard.  Limited quantity purches by dealers means they have to pass on the higher manufacture cost.  Cost and this sell price is effected most when dealers can buy in quantity… that’s just how it is.

The thought here is getting too long… bottom line is we need a dealer who can focus on parts, one who has their main work maintenance and then one who still can do whatever you need as everyone can but we are here to focus on the restoration aspect of vintage RV’s for our community… we would like to fill that niche so yes, I brought the driver slider… BTW next will be a pass. slider… I’m wanting Jim K. to focus on promoting the window as I would like others to take this lead and look to Applied for more unique product distribution.  This would be much healthier for our community and the dealer structure that gets involved.  Others will find they will be out the outside looking in.  Don’t be that person, owners look to folks who can supply the parts, can do the repair and maintenance and to dealers who focus on restorations.  This is a good plan and one I hope we can support.

Gotta go, the day is on.  Have a good one yourself… it’s a wonderful day at the neightborhood here….

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