American Pickers’ Royal Pioneer, Negotiating, Weatherby, and more…

We’re hooked on American Pickers.  I’ve mentioned that show a few times before here on the blog.  I like it.  A lot.   It’s great entertainment, the people are fascinating, it’s Americana, and they do a lot with motorcycles.   Mark my words…one of these days we’ll see them buying a Mustang.   Both Frank and Mike are gearheads, and they find interesting things.   Susie and I record every one of those shows on the DVR and we watch them at our leisure.   She loves it as much as I do.

The American Pickers episode we watched last night featured a Royal Pioneer motorcycle.  I thought I knew a lot about motorcycles, but I had never heard of Royal Pioneer.   Small wonder, as only 4 are known to exist and only about 500 were manufactured back in 1910.   The boys bought a basket case for, get this, $55,000!

The Royal Pioneer motorcycle

You know, there’s more to American Pickers than just watching a couple of cool dudes and their delightful inked-up assistant buying cool stuff.  If you think about it, it’s really a subliminal education on how business works.   Buy low, buy quality, rarity counts, treat everybody well, and sell at a profit.   I love it.

The other training topic American Pickers handles well is negotiation.   These guys view negotiation not as an adversarial endeavor, but rather, a situation in which the buyer and seller are working together to find common ground.   Backing off when things aren’t moving forward, bundling things to reach agreement, gentle suggestions…it’s all there.   The show could be titled Negotiation 101 (it wouldn’t be as catchy a title, but it sure would be accurate).  I love negotiating.   It’s a grand game and I love playing it.

Just the other day I took advantage of a negotiating opportunity.  You know I’m a firearms enthusiast.    I enjoy shooting and I enjoy reloading.   I’m always on the lookout, too, for a few guns I still have on my wish list.   One such firearm on the “someday” list has been a 300 Weatherby Magnum.   I’ve been watching the Internet auction boards for 5 or 6 years now looking for one that was priced right, realizing I’d still have to pay the transfer fees, etc., to bring it in from wherever to California.

Why a Weatherby?  Well, I once met Roy Weatherby.  He was a hell of man and a personal hero.   He designed his own rifles and cartridges.   The 300 Weatherby Magnum is his signature cartridge.   It’s why I wanted one.

So one day a couple of weeks ago Susie and I had lunch in Pasadena with a fellow from India.    That meeting may someday lead to another secret mission (this time to the subcontinent, which might be interesting as I’ve never been there).   But all that’s beside the point.    On the way home, the traffic was terrible (it was the Friday before the Labor Day holiday).   We diverted to surface streets on the way back and, what do you know, I spotted a little gun store (“The Gunrunner” in Duarte).    We stopped in and they had a consignment rifle…and it was the one I’d been seeking for several years.  A 300 Weatherby Magnum with a scope, a sling, and a case.  It looked new to me, but it was used.   Used, and in “as new” condition.

“How much?” I asked.

“$500,” the sales guy replied.   Hmmmmm.   That was actually a great price.   It was an especially great price considering I wouldn’t have to bring it in from out of state, there would be no freight or transfer fees, its condition was stellar, and it was what I had wanted for a long time.  I  didn’t answer, but I kept looking at the rifle.   Susie just stared daggers at me.    That’s another negotiating trick.   Bring your significant other with you and have her pretend to be opposed to your purchasing whatever it is you want to purchase.   In this case, though, I’m not so sure she was pretending…

I was just about to say okay when the sales guy spoke up again.

“How about $500 and I’ll pick up the DROS fees,”  he said.    (The “DROS fees” are the fees associated with the background checks, etc., so the State of California can be certain I won’t run out and hold up a gas station with the thing.)

“Make it $475 and we’ve got a deal,” I said.

And that’s how you get ‘r done, folks, as another one of my heroes would say.

My "new to me" 300 Weatherby

The test target provided with every new Weatherby...this one grouped 3 shots into an inch at 100 yards!

That’s it for now, folks…the President is about to give his address to the nation, and I don’t want to miss that!

Ride safe and stay tuned…