I just spoke with him a couple days ago to order parts. I didn't ask
about the business situation, but we chatted a bit about ETs in general,
and he certainly seemed as enthusiastic as ever about them.
I will be spending a fair bit of cash with him this time. It's all stuff
I need. Maybe I could have bought some of it used, or scrounged it from
a junk tractor, but I wanted to support Bill.
I know you don't want to hear this, but I say quit buying junk machines
for your parts and buy them from Bill. Instead of parting out the old
tractors, restore them (when possible) and find good homes for them. The
more people have ETs, the more business Bill will get, and the longer
he'll support them. If the remaining ETs are concentrated in the hands
of a few dozen people, Bill won't be getting many orders.
Besides, not all of us have the time or space to keep a garage full of
parts tractors. Although it's probably not the case with many people on
this list, I suspect there are many folks out there, using ETs daily or
weekly, who would junk them if they couldn't get parts with a phone call.
I suspect that once this parts source dries up, ETs will go out of
service at an accelerating rate. That'd be a shame.
David Roden - Akron, Ohio, USA