The beauty of the humble autojumble

While the internet may have revolutionised day-to-day buying and selling with monoliths like eBay and Amazon, you still can’t beat a good autojumble mooch to satisfy the need to buy motorcycle bits you never knew you needed.

For years I’ve been attending autojumbles as both a buyer and a seller. I have to admit I wasn’t impressed with my first trip to Kempton Park in 1988, as it was full of old blokes selling rusty wares. But within a few years I was a regular on pitch 171 to help my brothers to sell their old tat. The three of us would squeeze into our old P100, complete with greedy boards (The trade term for sheets of ply to stack stuff higher on the pick-ups back). The most memorable journey was driving along the embankment a few weeks after an IRA bomb had exploded in London – we were sure we’d get a tug from the boys in blue. Somehow we didn’t – which was a good thing as that old P100 had more warning lights lit up on the dashboard than Apollo 13.

Over the years I’ve made lots of friends from the jumbles (If you’re one of them, say hello in the comments). Before the likes of eBay arrived this is how I cleared slower-moving stock which wasn’t worth mentioning in an MCN advert. At almost £100 for a 50×1 space in the 1990s, I can’t help smiling now Lord Emap doesn’t control the industry, although it was probably still cheaper than eBay’s crafty charges and PayPal fees?

It was 1997 when I discovered Newark autojumble. It was a fair trek from Romsford, and as I didn’t drive at the time my Saturday helper also became my chauffeur. We’d hire a Luton van and fill it to the roof with less desirable stock, swing arms, rear wheels, scuffed panels, CDI’s that might not have worked – the rule was we wouldn’t take anything we wanted to bring back! After hearing about traders being turned away because the jumble was full, I ever started pre-booking our pitch. Every time we went we sold everything, with a philosophy to stack it high and sell it cheap.

I still get along to Newark now and then, as the pictures show. But it’s changed over time and now the motorcycle stuff is less evident and it has become more of a car boot sale. Last time I went pot plants, gnomes and washing powder were on all offer. But even if the motorcycle side has declined a little at Newark, there’s still one jumble which is 100% pure. Bike stuff still goes to Kempton Park more than Shergar did – clothing, bits, bikes and tools.

As times have changed, I mainly go along now for the social side. You always seem to bump into someone you haven’t seen for ages, and with the chance to buy bike stuff you never knew you needed, there’s a lot to like. I’m still ready to jumble, are you?