1957FORD.COM...GONE

[Jeff Norwell]

Is Mr Gambill's site dead and gone.... seems to be out of commission.

[RICH MUISE]

Hopefully just temporary, but I fear I'm being overoptimistic. I'm sure James will have some info on that before long.

[Jeff Norwell]

I knew he wanted to sell it Rich. but had no takers(that I knew of).. really to bad if it is gone...a VAST wealth of info... specially on vin codes.

[JPotter57]

He had it for sale, I just cant afford it.  I do this because I love it, its a hobby.  I cant afford to try to make a business of it, and if I were to buy his site, I would have to make it a commercial site to pay for it.  Im not a wealthy guy, just an average joe that loves 57 Fords.  I will see what I can do with John.

[JPotter57]

I just sent an email to John, inviting him to host everything here.  When I hear back from him, I will make an announcement.

[djfordmanjack]

it would be sad to loose all the wealth of info on John's site. been following it for 15 years.

[racton]

 :unitedstates:Well men lets all contribute and buy it.Oh someone will have to run it.We are a club we cant just let all that work be lost.Lets put our heads together.............. :racton

[hiball3985]

He had the site listed for sale in our for sale section, $5700, I had no idea a web site cost that much to buy as compared to running it?

A few years a go I helped a friend keep his site going when he fell on hard times and it was only $25 a month, so I guess I don't understand how all this works.

[JPotter57]

there is a lot of stuff that goes into it.  If you dont know how to do it yourself, you have to pay someone to do it, and that is what got John.  He was paying a company to keep his site up, and then the site broke, so he couldnt update it anymore for whatever reason.  If I were to be able to get it, it would look different than it does now, because the mechanics of the site is what was broken, the software that makes it work.  It would take a lot of work, because there is literally thousands, tens of thousands of individual images that would have to be added to the site, and would take several days, if not weeks.  This compounded by the fact that I work a regular job that has lots of travel, and that I have a family, and that I am still trying to get my own 57 up and running...its a big task.  I could do it, I just cant afford what he is asking for the site and its materials.

[JPotter57]

also, the webspace is cheap to a point.  When a site gets really big, and starts having a lot of traffic, then it requires dedicated servers, and that's when it gets expensive and requires paid memberships, and/or advertising.  Look at the Fordbarn, and the HAMB.  They both have gotten so big and so much traffic, that it costs scads of dollars to keep running.

[Jeff Norwell]

Yes Agreed...Basic websites are cheap...Message boards like this or FordBarn,Hamb....are very expensive.. requiring big servers and a lot of maintenance every day...Always must update and Hackers whether be a human or Robot.are always on the radar...... Long time ago i looked into a message board. the cost was not profitable.
Say what you want about the Hamb.. but it is Huge... Over a Million hits a week...A mega information joint that has so many headaches its not for a guy like me.There has been People attempting suicide,Hackers,Verbal threats against members and then the police have to be involved....The FBI has been involved as well .....you can use your imagination.So when someone gets all bent about an issue.... it's far easier just to say goodbye that to hold hands.But that place is the extreme.... so huge with so much traffic.

Johns site was(is) a great source of info... not a message board.But.. if you do not keep updating your software...Monthly,yearly... your site becomes toast.... slow and like an anchor.
Yes..James is correct.. the costs become massive.
I am always totally amazed how this place keeps going... let's face it.. it's only for 57 Fords....
Even if James were to buy all the info off of John.... the time and effort would be a huge effort.... and information is $$$$$$.... so John's asking price is not out of place.
And then there is the point of..selling a membership or trinkets and trash...(shirts,stickers,etc,etc....)That in itself is a huge thankless job with little on NO profit .....the cost of shipping alone kills any profit.Specially if you have to ship internationally.

BUT
That is why I am so thankful for this place..... small... not a big traffic roll and under the radar.....The members are very willing to help out each other.

[Jeff Norwell]

And another quick note(and I will shut up)... guys like Rich and others who have added thing like the links pages and scans of the tech sheets.... are INVALUABLE.
That's a part how this place works great(amongst others!)

[RICH MUISE]

"And another quick note(and I will shut up)... guys like Rich and others who have added things......"
Don't shut up, just keep ramblin' on, lol

[jegsr]

WWW.1957FORD.COM is broken. I told James a couple of days before my birthday the 24th, that the site would have big news the 24th. For sure not the news on the 26th of Oct we wanted..... I paid out a bunch of money to have the main problem program rewritten again, but the site is huge eight thousand plus pictures plus ten's of thousands worth of text. server updated ready to go live, power up. Then a lite click, nothing them BANG-SMOKE-FIRE- then Halon. TOAST.....THAT ABOUT SUMS IT UP. BUT IT GOT WORSE BACK-UP FAILED, TOOK A HIT. All backup came back all read only text.  Thousands of lines of text, no pages and only some photos. YES SERVERS ARE EXPENSIVE. Been running the site for over 16 years...... out of pocket around sixty thousand, YES........  Never let any pop-ups or ads. Did not sell space, traded some for parts. Run out of money and health.

Please let me add some history. James and I have been an are the best of friends. We started these sites over 16 years ago. A great idea has come out of all the work. www.1957ford.com stayed out of the Forums Section. James and all the rest of you wonderful guys have something to be very proud of. It's GREAT. I am grateful to know you all and glad to have been able to share all my information on the site for free. I'll be talking with James to see if we can work something out to merge the pieces together.

I'm out about $3800 that I don't have to pay out now. I would sell it all, six domain names, bunches of hard copy pictures, books and papers, misc stuff. $3800 make payments.

Thanks Guys,

John E Gambill Sr

[RICH MUISE]

Been trying to figure out how to reply to that. can't except for a huge thanks for all the years of hard work to keep it going as long as you did. wow....I had no idea of the actual expenses involved, always figured it was tons of work though. Many here are like me....just no extra monies available, and not enough computer savy to keep from being dependent on the "experts".