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Author Topic: Has the bottom fell out of Lister CS startomatic ownership..........  (Read 9494 times)

listard-jp2

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I had been watching this item on ebay uk;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/lister-cs-startomatic-/131751357779

In spite of needing some work, the sale price was significantly less than I was expecting.

Could this be indicative of a price correction, compared to what these startomatic sets used to sell for.

38ac

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Re: Has the bottom fell out of Lister CS startomatic ownership..........
« Reply #1 on: March 21, 2016, 11:58:01 AM »
Dont know about your side of the big lake but in the states there has definitely been a downward trend.  We did have that auction here last fall where brand new CS engine brought very good money( as they should have)  but ordinary run of the mill  engines and sets definitely have suffered both in price and demand with the peak being maybe 2-3 years ago,, at least in my little corner of the market

Butch
Collector and horder of about anything diesel

guest23837

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Re: Has the bottom fell out of Lister CS startomatic ownership..........
« Reply #2 on: March 21, 2016, 12:04:50 PM »
The younger generation have little interest in owning, using or restoring old anythings, Life is conducted through a mobile telephone. My son has zero interest in repairing anything and a restoration project would make him retreat to the strange internet world he lives in. There's a guy on gumtree selling several ex MOD Lister generators for £400.00 ridiculously cheap but no-one seems to be buying them,

dieselgman

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Re: Has the bottom fell out of Lister CS startomatic ownership..........
« Reply #3 on: March 21, 2016, 01:29:45 PM »
Sadly, that seems to be the trend everywhere. I have no succession plans in my Lister business (decades of effort and multiple millions of dollars invested) despite trying for years to train up a new set of youngsters to carry it on. My own kids have no patience for things that require delayed gratification nor any kind of future payoff. They barely made it out of High-School despite all efforts made on their behalf to push them further along. I guess they say that some traits skip a generation... maybe some of my grandkids will come around although most of them are female and not mechanically minded at all.

I train the maintenance crews for two Alaskan bush School Districts. That environment at least forces the issue of self-reliance although all finances are injected via welfare-type mechanisms and are very destructive to the human social structures. No pride, no self-respect left unscathed...

dieselgman
« Last Edit: March 21, 2016, 01:48:48 PM by dieselgman »
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broncodriver99

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Re: Has the bottom fell out of Lister CS startomatic ownership..........
« Reply #4 on: March 21, 2016, 01:46:35 PM »
Yikes. That one definitely went cheap. That's about 40 pounds less than I paid for my engine alone.

listard-jp2

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Re: Has the bottom fell out of Lister CS startomatic ownership..........
« Reply #5 on: March 21, 2016, 01:58:50 PM »
There's a guy on gumtree selling several ex MOD Lister generators for £400.00 ridiculously cheap but no-one seems to be buying them,

Talking of Gumtree, here is another bargain:

https://www.gumtree.com/p/plant-tractors/lister-cd-engine-/1160524858

Don't often see rough examples of Lister CD for less than this, looks to require very little attention to get running, plus it comes with some funky looking cast iron wheels

But then again, for the die hard CS16/2 collector, here is an engine priced at the other end of the spectrum:

https://www.gumtree.com/p/other-miscellaneous-goods/lister-petter-cs16-2-rare-stationery-engine-1960s/1157826953

guest23837

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Re: Has the bottom fell out of Lister CS startomatic ownership..........
« Reply #6 on: March 21, 2016, 04:14:22 PM »
The trolley on the CD is worth £150.00 here's the link to the little generators, you couldn't make them for this sort of money.

https://www.gumtree.com/p/generators/lister-generators-/1159477375

dieselgman it has to be frustrating not being able to pass on your skills, knowledge and business. Partly I think it's because people no longer want to get their hands dirty. Last year I suggested our layabout 25 year old should cut the lawn, he informed me he was on the xbox as Tiger Woods, no much in the way of Tigers income coming into this house.

As an aside I was visiting friends in the local town a year or two ago there was a  bit of a storm and the power went as I was leaving. Driving through the town (in darkness) everyone seemed to be outside looking for a phone signal, little screens lit up everywhere. I went home started the generator and had light, heat, internet etc.

LowGear

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Re: Has the bottom fell out of Lister CS startomatic ownership..........
« Reply #7 on: March 21, 2016, 06:42:16 PM »
I thought stuff was getting cheaper.  Oil prices might fudge the numbers a bit but my generator pit remains empty and I turned the generator of my dreams down two months ago.  Things change.

As for motivation of the future ruling class I think hunger may be of some encouragement.  As long as I had three hots and a cot I was going no where.  About two weeks of choosing between a pack of cigarettes or a quart of milk each morning got me into the Army recruiters office. 

Casey
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broncodriver99

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Re: Has the bottom fell out of Lister CS startomatic ownership..........
« Reply #8 on: March 21, 2016, 08:32:06 PM »
Oil prices might fudge the numbers a bit

Scrap prices may have something to do with it as well. I know when scrap was about 10-12 cents/pound for steel/iron everything was pretty inflated as anything with any weight was worth $100 at the scrapyard. People around here wanted $100+ for old cast iron radiators that they used to give away just to get them hauled off for free. Scrap is now 2 cents/lb. and I am starting to see the free ads show up again.

quinnbrian

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Re: Has the bottom fell out of Lister CS startomatic ownership..........
« Reply #9 on: March 27, 2016, 02:11:14 AM »
I would love to have a Lister genset...all original, I have 2 SR2, one with a ST genhead...not a original startomatic! Would be nice.
Cheers
Brian

BruceM

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Re: Has the bottom fell out of Lister CS startomatic ownership..........
« Reply #10 on: March 28, 2016, 05:50:37 PM »
Heresy! Sacrilege!   :police: 
We've all had those thoughts when we get frustrated with Rajkot quality issues.  It's the only semi-affordable low speed engine in production, however, for those of us who really value that for auditory reasons.

The balance issue is easy to solve; if you've got plenty of movement on your mounts you could go straight to Mr X's wheel chaulking method.

If you've experimented some without good results, that's likely because your two flywheels are badly mismatched.  38ac's brilliantly simple method of getting the counterbalances centered relative to the keyway and matching the two flywheels will quickly remove all the confusion, and saves a lot of time.  Then if it still moves up and down, add equally to both counterbalance sides of the flywheel, or opposite if it's moving fore and aft, 2 oz per wheel increments is a good starting point. 



guest23837

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Re: Has the bottom fell out of Lister CS startomatic ownership..........
« Reply #11 on: March 29, 2016, 03:53:45 PM »
I saw an effort a few years ago on a 6-1 with a car flywheel attached, it was unbalanced and nothing could sort it out except removing the car flywheel again. A starting handle wouldn't be too hard to make, they’re readily available in the UK but I imagine postage would be scary

listard-jp2

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Re: Has the bottom fell out of Lister CS startomatic ownership..........
« Reply #12 on: April 04, 2016, 07:36:19 AM »
Here is yet another example that would have made significantly more money than the start price a few years ago.

This time it failed to sell.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LISTER-CS-3HP-LIGHTING-GENERATING-PLANT-STATIONARY-ENGINE-VINTAGE-GENERATOR-/252335870697?