We Used to Call America "The Land of the Big PX'... [PIC]

but the real bonanza for us in Southeast Asia was the Army and Air Force Pacific Post Exchange (PX). Virtually every country on South and Southeast Asia were loaded with various confiscatory taxes and duties on foreign goods to protect their currency. Some like India had ridiculous official exchange rates on their currency to multiple factors of ten making them ripe for a flourishing black market. A single free MAC flight to New Delhi with a military passport (you don't go through customs) carrying a couple of Chinese gold chains (they keep their worth in worked gold) easily translated into a trove of star sapphires and ivory) and a few American dollars paid for everything else. The PX had a big brick and mortar PX as well as an extensive catalog and a Central Purchasing office where everything was duty free (if only I had bought those Rolexes). It was great for buying top of the line Japanese cameras and stereo systems as then there were American duties on those imports. Where I was, the duties were 150% and in India, 200%. Anything you bought you could resell for double in a heartbeat. Duty free American cigarettes and alcohol were worth their weight in gold. The big ticket items were cars. PX Japan would purchase and deliver either to your duty station (drive it while you're there and then double your money) or have it shipped to San Francisco/Oakland so when you landed at Travis Air base to process out, you took a cab to the port and drive away. Guys with families there bought these luxurious Toyota Crowns and because they couldn't imported to the US then, they'd drive them for two years and pocket a huge profit. I worked with a large group of single male doctors and in the '68 -'71 period I was there, the Toyota Fairlady (AKA: the 240Z) and the Toyota 2000GT were the talk of the town. Four of my buddies (at least) scored the LHD model for them to pick up when they mustered out. I don't remember the reason, but they couldn't score the 2000GT either for availability or US sanctions. One had the RHD Fairlady delivered to the Bangkok docks and had a ball driving it around the country. I think the car wasn't in the country more than 5 minutes when there was a bidding war between the Thai jet setters to purchase when the doc's tour was up. I'm sure he made out very well.