Good points, most of my legal "education" in the bankruptcy field was courtesy of my former employer, Hostess, and that bankruptcy was badly botched. I followed the GM and Chrysler bankruptcies and while I don't recall any formal auctions, the courts seemed to make an effort to preserve a lot of the history of those corporations. In the case of GM they also set up the RACER Trust to clean up and market GMs many "brownfield" sites so they weren't a drag on the surrounding communities. So bankruptcy courts can indeed put aside maximizing liquidation value of the assets to serve the public interest. Was reading up on Motorvation a bit and found this wasn't their first bankruptcy, they went through one during the 1980s recession too. Learned that from an interesting first hand history of Motorvation written by employee Larry Alger, you can read it at http://www.3aweb.com/me/cwind2.htm
This. All of it, but particularly the highlighted part. I imagine that at least half the people in this thread could write a check for the value of said scrap, without upsetting their monthly budget. And, if they intended to run a hobby business, would never recover their investment.
To be honest, hardly anybody selling motorcycles or accessories or sidecars is making much if any money today. Was shopping online for a new helmet last night and was amazed how many were "out of stock", while Aerostich is shut down and was discounting gift certificates 25%. That does not bode well for the future of motorcycling, and anybody "investing" in the motorcycle biz now needs to be prepared to lose their entire investment.
The lack of profitability within the niche areas of motorcycling are fairly clear. Those that do succeed tend to have other strings to their bows. Consider Honda, Yamaha, BMW, etc. At the power and of the pyramids companies such as Watsonian in their halcyon days had significant involvement making parts for neighbouring Land Rover. Wasp, noted for their production of chassis for off road sidecar sport, have also been successful in other areas of metal fabrication. In both cases, sidecars were literally speaking "a bit on the side". It's worth noting that Aston Martin, famed for the James Bond connection and Le Mans racing, have been unprofitable for decades. Continued existence dependent upon a constant stream of millionaire investors, or car companies probably seeking ways to adjust their tax liabilities. Sadly, an equally repeated line of other folk losing money owed.
One of the advantages of bigness besides diversification is buying power- For example, Navistar (International Trucks) is now part owned by VW Group and they're saving 20% by pooling their buying with VW Group. And Navistar is a pretty good sized company in their own right- With suppliers consolidated, small makers like Motorvation are having to pay darn near retail for wheels, tires, brakes, shocks, steel, etc.... At the retail level, while the big automakers are able to borrow at near 0%, I'm hearing of auto dealers having to pay userous rates to "floor" vehicles in inventory. It's probably even worse in the motorcycle biz, heard of one of the Japanese makers offering 0% flooring if they'll order more machines, but no help with existing inventory.
I checked the court website yesterday and not much new- It's typical for bankruptcies to take a year or more.
Well, I can report that I did try and order another subframe from DMC and the QC issues have certainly not been resolved.
I was only at Motorvation once but it was nice shop in fairly nice building, I believe they where painting their own tubs and doing there own upholstery, but no Ural clone and GS setups, which seem to be a must offer option, it'll be sad if no one keeps it going. Now here's a change TrippleDaddy is making sense There should actually be a complaint thread where reasonable grievances with all builders could be aired, but it would have to be moderated to keep it grounded ! But now we live in Merica and everyone should always allow how they feel to govern how they behave !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Liberty: One of Imagination's most precious possessions. Ambrose Bierce
Found this today on FB: “Motorvation update: talked with the Sibley Iowa chamber of commerce again yesterday and the Motorvation company has been turned over to the Midwest Auction Company in Mapleton Iowa. They are currently looking for a buyer to take the company over and hopefully keep it going. If this fails it will go to auction. Jack is the man at Midwest Auction Company that is handling the business. 712-882-2406. That is all I know.” So basically... nothing new!!
interesting to me as i purchased a nice preowned spyder complete with mounts in 2016 from an earlier bonnie with the same frame i believe as my 2012 mag wheeler. but never mounted as my non OE exhaust was in the way + mostly due to less than comfortable riding position on the mag wheeler. i recently purchased a 2019 leftover street scrambler + i assume Claude could mount anything properly, as soon as i rebuild my $$$. its unfortunate that sidecars are not somewhat popular + of course unfortunate for motorvations demise! luckily Claude is close + i assume is overseeing things that his younger employing are doing! called them + the woman wanted to set up an appointment ASAP, but as noted want to rebuild $$$ + hopefully get to his shop with my bike + the spyder in my pickup as soon as the weather gets nicer in the spring. thanks to all fot the updates
Motorvation sidecar and trailers business for sale Midwest land and auction 712-882-2406 E mail iowaland@longlines.com
We are here for you when you are ready...... Feel free to call and we can discuss timing etc......Yes we have done quite a few Spyders over the years. Unique sidecars in that they do not have a convetional chassis.
