Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/07/11
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Leica reminds me in many respects of BMW, and Leica owners remind me of BMW enthusiasts. I don't have one now, but I owned BMW's of one kind or another from 1971 to 2001. In 1971, no one knew what a BMW was. You rarely saw them on the road, and those that owned them were dedicated die hard enthusiasts. EVERYONE did their own work (repair and maintenance), and if you passed another BMW you flashed your lights and waved. The car of choice was the BMW 2002 or 2002tii...great cars and easy to tweak, upgrade, and make faster for all the car nuts that owned them. They were also cheap... a new one was a bit more than a volkswagen Beetle. My first one cost under $3000 in 1971. Over the years, BMW's got "discovered". People started buying them for status, rather than enthusiastic use. Prices went up (a lot). People bought them and didn't change their own oil or do their own maintenance. BMW actually made air conditioning that worked instead of just overheating the car! Good God what was the world coming to....The enthusiasts even today believe that REAL BMW's have round taillights (meaning a pre 1973 2002's)....Most would prefer that BMW just keep making new 1972 BMW 2002's (sound like some Leica M3 owners out there?). Surely the world would be a better place if all these people that didn't plan on racing their cars just went away...They didn't plan to use the cars the way all of us die hards did, and surely they didn't deserve them if they were't scrapping their knuckles and getting greasy fixing stuff. Well "selling out" did a couple of things for BMW...One is they managed to survive as one of the very few independent car companies. Two is they kept their technology moving forward, and Three is they managed to keep making cars that even the old die hards have usually relented and bought because they stayed closer to the original philosophy of the company than GM, Ford or others would ever be. I hope that Leica sells lots of cameras to collectors, and people that want them for status or whatever their reasons are, because that will keep the company afloat. They don't need to advertise to the people on this list...we'd seek them out and buy them if they tried to hide from us. If they make a good profit that allows them fund more development, and make more stuff that many of us that are Leica enthusiasts will want to buy. And Leica did one thing that BMW didn't do...BMW discontinued the 2002 in the 1970's, Leica still makes the M. Some may argue that the M3 is better than the M7, but Leica would certainly NOT be in business today if they simply continued stamping out M3's for 50 years. The fact that they've continued the M at all is a good thing for all of us. They don't make everything I'd like them to, but I'm not unhappy with what they have done...so if they are listening, keep it up, and don't forget the enthusiasts that buy the cameras because (as Tina points out), you can drop them in the river and keep on shooting....DJ - --- Ted Grant <tedgrant@shaw.ca> wrote: > > David Young wrote: > > >>> It may be that Hermes had an influence in these > ads, or it may be that > > Solms has a greater understanding of their overall > market than we do. If > > the latter we, who actually use the products, are > in trouble!<<< > > Hi David, > I'm the one in trouble, me and my big mouth for > making cutting comment on > their advertising. So as long as I have working > Leica cameras I've commited > myself to keep my yap shut about the management of > Leica and partners. > > Even if Leica sell their soul to the ad agencies of > hermes or the devil! > ted > > > > -- > To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Sign up for SBC Yahoo! Dial - First Month Free http://sbc.yahoo.com - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html