Ready to jumble

Vince concludes a deal by phone on the Scopes boys’ Ardingly stand

I haven’t had an autojumble stall for a couple of years, but shared with Vince and Lewis Scopes who took one at Julie Diplock’s Ardingly event in October. It was the boys’ first ever stall and, having both recently finished their latest Triumph projects – Vince (left in the pic above) a ’68 T120 and Lew a ’79 Bonnie – they had plenty of bits left over to sell.

As I’ve mentioned before, the Ardingly venue is well suited to even a socially-distanced jumble, with covered-but-open-sided buildings and wide walkways – although, as Julie explained, it was a huge challenge learning how to cope with the changing requirements of government, councils and venue owners, in addition to her own concerns for the safety of stallholders, staff and visitors.

But it got me thinking. When internet auctions really took off, many people predicted the end for autojumbles – who wants to pay at the gate to pick around in filthy boxes in uncertain weather when you can order online? Well, judging by how much everybody seemed to be enjoying it, quite a few of us. Autojumbles have always been a social event to catch up with mates and their rebuilds; although you might not find what you need, there’s an even chance you’ll bump into someone there who can help out.

Vince and Lew certainly enjoyed their first go as stallholders – they were surprised how much they sold and perhaps even more at how many interesting chats they had with people they’d never met before. If that’s how the younger generation sees it, I reckon jumbles will survive a bit longer yet.