A long day at Knight
Jun 7, 2009 17:55:15 GMT -5
Post by spitpatch on Jun 7, 2009 17:55:15 GMT -5
What a long day!!!
My Brother in law Rod, and I left for Centerville, at 7:00 a.m.
We choked down a gut bomb and some donuts in Sigourney, and were in Centerville by 9:30
Due to the early arrival, and being the second person to register, I was given the number 102.
I was immediately greeted by Gordy Anderson, from the service department in Alabama. Gordy used to work at Centerville location, but had to relocate to Alabama. He really misses Iowa.
I think I spoke with evryone that day regarding Knights history, including their problem child, the Revolution and the Revolution ll.
The Revolution was originally outsourced to an engineering firm in Des Moines, Iowa, and after much trouble with the design was brought back for Knight engineers to finish. Then it was sent out for stock design, and consequently hit the market late. Thompson saw the Revolution in trouble and poured on the negative ads to the tune of $5,000,000. Almost five times their usual advertising budget.
The rest is history. While Knight tried to reinvent itself, the Vision, the KP1, the KRB, the Shadow, all seemed like frantic multiple attempts to regain market share, while Thompson ran away with it's 50% based on two basic designs.
Customer Service will continue at the Centerville location for the foreseeable future.
This, according to everyone I talked with, including Al Paxton, former Director of Operations, and now Knight Consultant for Ebsco.
Typically a 5 year event, this auction looked like every other "inventory reduction" sale.
However, Tony Knight, who's health has not been good as of late, was at the auction site the day before, and whose mood has been described to have been, quiet and very somber. I can only imagine why...
His brother John was in attendance for the sale. Nice guy, and former principal of schools.
It was a privilege to be able to take a grand tour the facility with Gordy and then with Al as well. They don't come much nicer than these two guys. Very professional and customer oriented. What a pleasure!
Here are several pictures of Al.
You may not believe this, but I actually got to mess around with the new Ultimate Slam!!!
Before production had stopped, the had made exactly 50.
Toby Bridges has one...
Two are at the Centerville location, one ss on synthetic, and one ss in a camo thumb hole, and the other 47 are in Alabama.
The bolt looks like a one piece version of the 209 adapter.
Gordy claims 5/8" groups in the tunnel, all day long...with BH209.
He says he would like to have one. Al would like to have one as well.
my name went into the mix as well.
For some of you who have sent your barrels in for accuracy testing...have you ever wondered what the shooting tunnel looks like?
Pay no attention to that idiot standing there!!
I LOVE attention!
Not surprisingly, Jim Shockeys name came up during the course of one conversation.
When spoken, his name sets off an explosion of emotion. Enough said....
The auction itself was slow, long and arduous.
After the auction we stood in line for 1 1/2 hours to do paperwork and then 1 hour in line to pay!!!!!!!!!!!
I then had to wait on Gordy and additional hour for everyone else to be loaded, before he could find me some posters and a banner for Night.
(It's OK Night, you seem like a nice guy and I didn't really mind.)
That said we were the last to leave at 7:30 p.m.
Here are some pics of the auction along with the faces many of you talk to on the phone:
Bro in law ....Rod
Sam.....
Mike
Here I am talking to UC.
KP1 ML and two and three barrel combos went for $250-$490 with several in the $600+ range.
Vision all camo...$210
Big Horns ....$140-$175
52 cal. Extremes (who wants one anyway) $160-$180
50 cal. SS Extremes $250
LRH.....$375(LH)-$530
KRB....$190-$195
TK2000 .....$140......approx. 60 one guy bought 32!
The two pop ups went for $185 ea.
I purchased several KP1 combos (blued) to resell to try and recoup some expenses.
They are:
50 cal. 45-70 govt. (two barrels)
50 cal. 45-70 govt. 243 (three barrels)
50 cal. SS on Synthetic Disc Extreme
All in unopened boxes.
Pm me if interested. Not tryin to make a killin...just a little
Hope you all enjoyed the pics. It was a trip I will remember for a long time.
BTW...I LOVED the Knight shirt Al Paxton was wearing. I badgered him periodically all day to sell it to me. I was willing to swap and pay cash in addition. He very graciously said he couldn't. Before we left that day he was asking for my mailing address....
I have no shame.
:oops: 8)
To all...
Spit
My Brother in law Rod, and I left for Centerville, at 7:00 a.m.
We choked down a gut bomb and some donuts in Sigourney, and were in Centerville by 9:30
Due to the early arrival, and being the second person to register, I was given the number 102.
I was immediately greeted by Gordy Anderson, from the service department in Alabama. Gordy used to work at Centerville location, but had to relocate to Alabama. He really misses Iowa.
I think I spoke with evryone that day regarding Knights history, including their problem child, the Revolution and the Revolution ll.
The Revolution was originally outsourced to an engineering firm in Des Moines, Iowa, and after much trouble with the design was brought back for Knight engineers to finish. Then it was sent out for stock design, and consequently hit the market late. Thompson saw the Revolution in trouble and poured on the negative ads to the tune of $5,000,000. Almost five times their usual advertising budget.
The rest is history. While Knight tried to reinvent itself, the Vision, the KP1, the KRB, the Shadow, all seemed like frantic multiple attempts to regain market share, while Thompson ran away with it's 50% based on two basic designs.
Customer Service will continue at the Centerville location for the foreseeable future.
This, according to everyone I talked with, including Al Paxton, former Director of Operations, and now Knight Consultant for Ebsco.
Typically a 5 year event, this auction looked like every other "inventory reduction" sale.
However, Tony Knight, who's health has not been good as of late, was at the auction site the day before, and whose mood has been described to have been, quiet and very somber. I can only imagine why...
His brother John was in attendance for the sale. Nice guy, and former principal of schools.
It was a privilege to be able to take a grand tour the facility with Gordy and then with Al as well. They don't come much nicer than these two guys. Very professional and customer oriented. What a pleasure!
Here are several pictures of Al.
You may not believe this, but I actually got to mess around with the new Ultimate Slam!!!
Before production had stopped, the had made exactly 50.
Toby Bridges has one...
Two are at the Centerville location, one ss on synthetic, and one ss in a camo thumb hole, and the other 47 are in Alabama.
The bolt looks like a one piece version of the 209 adapter.
Gordy claims 5/8" groups in the tunnel, all day long...with BH209.
He says he would like to have one. Al would like to have one as well.
my name went into the mix as well.
For some of you who have sent your barrels in for accuracy testing...have you ever wondered what the shooting tunnel looks like?
Pay no attention to that idiot standing there!!
I LOVE attention!
Not surprisingly, Jim Shockeys name came up during the course of one conversation.
When spoken, his name sets off an explosion of emotion. Enough said....
The auction itself was slow, long and arduous.
After the auction we stood in line for 1 1/2 hours to do paperwork and then 1 hour in line to pay!!!!!!!!!!!
I then had to wait on Gordy and additional hour for everyone else to be loaded, before he could find me some posters and a banner for Night.
(It's OK Night, you seem like a nice guy and I didn't really mind.)
That said we were the last to leave at 7:30 p.m.
Here are some pics of the auction along with the faces many of you talk to on the phone:
Bro in law ....Rod
Sam.....
Mike
Here I am talking to UC.
KP1 ML and two and three barrel combos went for $250-$490 with several in the $600+ range.
Vision all camo...$210
Big Horns ....$140-$175
52 cal. Extremes (who wants one anyway) $160-$180
50 cal. SS Extremes $250
LRH.....$375(LH)-$530
KRB....$190-$195
TK2000 .....$140......approx. 60 one guy bought 32!
The two pop ups went for $185 ea.
I purchased several KP1 combos (blued) to resell to try and recoup some expenses.
They are:
50 cal. 45-70 govt. (two barrels)
50 cal. 45-70 govt. 243 (three barrels)
50 cal. SS on Synthetic Disc Extreme
All in unopened boxes.
Pm me if interested. Not tryin to make a killin...just a little
Hope you all enjoyed the pics. It was a trip I will remember for a long time.
BTW...I LOVED the Knight shirt Al Paxton was wearing. I badgered him periodically all day to sell it to me. I was willing to swap and pay cash in addition. He very graciously said he couldn't. Before we left that day he was asking for my mailing address....
I have no shame.
:oops: 8)
To all...
Spit
