There's a thread in the trading post right now:
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,27299.0.htmlI nearly went off on quite a tangent and was going to ask this, but I thought I'd get it out here and maybe more people could contribute.
I LOVE the barter system. I'll post my favorites as I remember them...I've made so many trades that I can't remember exactly what's what anymore.
The first one that always comes to mind is my bike. I had a very nice Suzuki TL1000S with gobs and gobs of trick parts and custom things done, but my wife needed some tuition money...so the bike sold. I'm not one to go without a bike, though, and I spied an old school Honda comstar poking out from under a pile of garbage in a neighbor's shop. I dug it out and it was a very, very filthy 1979 Honda CX500D. Needed some carburetor work but was intact. The guy who owned it needed a lawn mower and I had an old riding mower that was very broken...only thing on it worth a damn was the engine. So we swapped.
So I trade an old broken mower and an afternoon of work (on the bike) and got this:
I've since traded that bike for my current 1981 Suzuki GS750E, and traded a few other odds and ends for the motor in it:
Not much to look at, but dyno's in the 117whp area. Plenty fast for me. My favorite part is that it's not only cost me nothing, but after bartering up to what I got and selling off the extras I'm about $1200 the black.
I love the barter system.