how bad have you been burned on a deal?

I found a '48 Ford truck on the 'Bay just north of Minneapolis. It was listed three times, starting at $1200 and dropping $200 each subsequent time it was listed, no bidders of the three times. The ad stated "Runs Great!" and had some very good pictures including an interior shot showing a factory radio, a pretty rare item, body looked decent. During the third time it was posted I asked if he would take $700 for it. He agreed and I started making arrangements to drive 400 miles to pick it up. To make it worth my time and gas I arranged to pick up a set of fenders in Milwaukee and deliver them just west of Minneapolis. The fender buyer picked up a set of free '48-56 truck rims I go from another guy in Minnesota for free. I also found a '48 Ford truck front clip just east of the fender guy. During arranging all of this I won a pair of truck hoods on the 'Bay from a guy in Minneapolis. So I had all arranged, I'd pick up the fenders in Milwaukee, drive to Minneapolis pick up the hoods, drive west drop off the fenders, pick up the rims, drive further west and pick up the front clip and then from there drive north east and meet the truck guy north of Minneapolis in the afternoon.

Everything went great until I got to the small town I was suppose to meet the guy with the truck. I arrived two hours earlier than planned. He was suppose to meet me at a gas station in town and we were going to follow him to the farm where the truck was. No problem, I call the cell number he gave me, no longer in use. Great, I'm 400 miles from home, wife and kids in the car on a 90°+ day, fun. It was a small town so I look in the phone book and call everyone with the same last name as the seller, no one knew him. Called back home and had my brother go to my house, fire up the computer and make sure I have the correct cell phone number. Yes I did. About two hours later (with wife and kids sitting in car) a truck pulls up next to me and asks my name. I tell him and he said he figured since he hadn't hear from me he would check to see if I came up. I told him I tried calling him for the last two hours and got the "no service" message. He asked what number I called, he then told me that was his old number, he must have made a mistake. His girlfriend sitting next to him just said to him, "Dumb ass". OK, we're ready to go but first he's got to fill a one gallon gas can he had. We leave and I'm following him out of town and then over gravel roads turning left, right, left, right and so on. Finally, we turn into an old farm, something out of the Dukes of Hazard. Old buildings, a dozen inoperable vehicles, pigs in a pen, chickens all over and a horse tied to the house. I get out of my truck and see the truck sitting in the woods surrounded by 8" thick trees. I walk over to the truck and lift the hood and there's no battery. Mean while, a second guy comes out of the old farm house, it turns out he owns the property and the truck, guy #1 just listed the truck on the 'Bay for him. I ask the owner if he has a battery so I could hear the flat 6 run as I'm grabbing the fan and trying to turn the engine by hand, stuck. The owner says, don't have a battery and probably wouldn't start anyways. I reminded him that his ad said, "Runs great!". He replies, "Sure did, when I parked it 8-9 years ago." The body was pretty decent and I wanted the factory radio so I offered him $400 for it because as far as I was concerned the engine was junk. His reply, "Hell, I can get more for that for scrap". I said "Good luck" and walked toward my truck. I just about got to my truck and he yells, "OK, I'll take $400". Guy #1 goes over to his truck, grabs the gas can and pours gas into an old beat up tractor while the seller fires up a chain saw to cut down half a dozen trees so we can get the truck out of the woods. They hook the old tractor to the back of the truck and yank it out of the woods, almost taking a couple of trees with it. We finally get the truck up on my trailer when guy #1 comes out of the house with a case of beer and two shot guns and tells the seller, "I got a piece cleared out behind the barn so we can do some target practice". This made me quite nervous, we were out in the middle of absolutely no where and these guys knew I have money on me so I call my brother and tell him, "Remember those emails I had you look up? Well, if don't hear from me in an hour call the police in this small town and let them know". I quickly chained the truck down on the trailer and drove off. I got a mile down the road checked the chains and called my brother to let him know we were OK and what went on. The real bummer was I was suppose to get a title with the truck but in my haste to get out of there I forgot to get it and when I tried to contact the sellers later they wouldn't reply.

The one good thing about a situation like these is it sure makes for a really good story years later. Remember, tragedy+time=humor.

 

I guess I've been pretty lucky having bought many parts from here and ebay but, I did want to pass on one thing I just noticed cuz alot of the stuff I buy gets set aside until I'm ready for them. A while back I bought a couple sets of original early model Corvette VCs. One set was perfect and just needed a little polishing, however, the other set was painted. The other day I was bored and the weather was shitty so I pulled them out and started looking them over and noticed that the VCs had cracks all over them. You could only see them from the bottom side as the paint covered them up on the top side. Moral of the story is: beware of buying any VCs that are painted and ask for pics of the underside before you buy. Now, where did I put that set of M/T VCs that are painted blue?

 

Escaped ?......you mean u dont miss the cold , rainy , muddy Randolph swap meets every year.....pete

 

It's a real shame some people in our sport have little or no ethics...I'm a 59 years old hot rodder and have sold many cars in my life. To this day I can go to any car show and not have to watch my back. I'm really sorry you had a bad experience. I hope your next experience is better...... Ron

 

gotta love randolph swap meets. haha

 

i ansered a add in the newspaper from a storage co that had a( model a sedan no eng/trans has rust wont move ,one years storage owed ) i ansered the add asked the guy how much to pay the bill and what about the legalities of the car , ie bill of sale ,he ansered that he has the cars papers so we made deal on ph i sent a check to the storage co for the bill on the car 12 mounths rent at 60 per mounth
i figgered at that price i wouldent do bad even if it were a basket of crap
this mornin i drove 4 hrs to the storage unit to get the model a ........
i open the door and find a 32 tuder boxed frame drop axel 8 inch rear last on rd in 1974 he was right about the no eng n rust a few littel spots on lower cowl a bit thin a spot behind the rear fend
i could not get the car onto the trailer because of frozen rear brake on one side
i came home without it tonight and will have to take tools to fix on monday
id say im feeling burned from haveing to waite till monday ta pick up this f ing cool
find for once i feel i scoreed ! i have to say it feels better than making a deal on a 6 carb setup then havin the guy say he sold it to someone else insted of me aint that right justin ,,,,i,ll remember sacattack

 

aint that the truth, lol


i few rules i remember when buying
allways bring a trailer....the pos is gonna break in the way home of you try and drive it

consider the running gear junk unless you drive it and check it out yourself

always bring a buddy....they notice stuff you dont see when your busy drooling over your new piece of shit

its a pos until proven otherwise , make offer accordingly

most of my cars are bought as projects, and i assume nothing is gonna work, all the incuded parts are for another car, and its gonna need everything and them some.

i try not to pay too much , i you wait them out, usually they will take your offer



skull

 

Last year I bought a 64 dodge b body sight unseen. It had been on a rotisserie resto and had millions of pics so all seemed safe. I grilled the guy about what it did and didn't have because you know what it's like to buy a car in buckets and pallets. Well he said the car came with rare and expensive maxwedge exhaust manifolds and valve covers. So everthing shows up and the car itself looks great. As I look though all the stuff it's clear there are no max wedge parts.
When I call him to see if he forgot to send them he directs me to some late 60's log manifolds painted chrome. When I tell him they aren't what he said they were he shrugs it off and says 'well that's what this mopar expert told me'.
So that and the valve covers were about $1500 of wha I thought I was getting. Oh well he didn't care.

 

Why protect this person's identity? Especially in light of the fact that he has a history of deceiving people. He is a con artist and does not belong in our community. I have not read all the post so please disregard if you have addressed this question.

 

just read your post...hahaha life sucks sometimes... but in the end your doing great... your car made it home.... all you gotta do is take it "completely" apart and fix all the trash.....if it makes you feel better, anyone who is "really" into machines and cars is going to get burned, and anyone who says its never happened to them is just lying...ask jesse james he posts on here .. im postive he"s been burned more than he cares to remember.... no one can know everything... its part of getting into something new... as if you just decided to play baseball you wouldnt be perfect nor would you have all the tools to play baseball well.. you might even have the wrong glove or bat.. my buddy crazy Will would say "just charge it to the game"

here is one for ya....i own a import auto repair shop here in chattanooga tn... i am very very familiar with motorcycles, cars, trucks, engines, mills, lathes, basically anthing that could hurt you... about a month ago i decided to go get a shitty $2000 1992 Ford F250 7.3 IDI diesel, from what i thought to be honest farmer in adolphus ky....talked to the old guy probably in his late 60s and his son in his 30s..explained that i wasnt looking for a pretty truck, just a truck in good mechaincal shape....i was assured in 4 phone calls and 5 emails that it was ready to drive back home no problem... i get there and the diesels cold to the touch and with a hit of ether fires up.."old diesels never like to run cold especially with bad glow plugs and controllers" anyway it runs great no misses or anything.. all the fluids are full but nasty "to be expected...farmers are tough on shit".. runs for 15mins while i haggle about the body etc...i check the tranny..pinon..u joints... struts..blow by..oils...coolant... i make the deal for $1400 and roll out...i make it 4 miles and the truck dies on ky hwy100 in a blind hill with tons of traffic...truck was running on just the diesel in the filter not off the tank.. the fuel pump was cashed and the tanks where gelled with stuff i cant identify...i go to guys house and tried to be diplomatic to no avail...he told me sorry but you bought a shitty truck and he never wanted to see me again "its my problem"...of course many words of kindness where exchanged and off i go, luckily without a murder charge...We contemplate lighting it on fire just to watch, but opt to just leave the truck where it died for the hwy patrol or constable to deal with... i drove 3 hrs home and slept on it... the next day i got my other diesel and trailer, chains, and more tools..called all the cops in that area, found the truck and decided to head up there. after locating the truck i had to pay a 200 ransom for its release..and finally headed home...the next day back at the shop i got the truck running off a jug of diesel and of course it also had a blown headgasket on the back cylinders....i yanked the motor out and tore it down and i should have it back from my machinist tue and itll be completely new... so take it from me.. we all get burned its part of the game....ps..tools and cars are all just on loan anyway.... it was someone else's before it was yours kinda like chics..

Experience is the toughest teacher -- she gives the test first, then the lesson

good luck beau

 

You bet !....been goin since the late 70's.....pete

 

I bought a 64 chevy convertable from a guy from pictures only. It was a little rough around the edges but I was planning on a frame off so I wasnt too worried. I arranged to meet him the following week, so taking a trailer away I went. after about 4 hrs into my trip I get a phone call from him saying something came up and he couldnt meet me but would have the car at a filling station and would leave the paperwork at the station. Dumb me had allready sent the money order to him. When I got there the car, or what was left of it was setting sadly on the lot. Hd had failed to tell me the pictures had been taken 12 years before and the building it was setting in had fallen in on it. I drug it home and put it in a shed thinking I could salvage some parts from it. About 3 years later I get a call from a guy asking if I had a 64 chevky convertable and I think [ here we go its probably stolen. It turns out this guy was a stock broker and had tracked the first car he had ever owned down. I did a frame off for him and did very well thank you very much. Havent bought anything from then on without seeing it up close and personall

 

Its sucks to learn stuff the hard way! first time learn from your mistake. second time your a fool

 

That's a fact , Plain & simple.......

 

"There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."


​

 

fool me once, shame on you. fool me twice, shame on me.

 

and there are sometimes, you get lucky. I was looking for a '37 car for a while, when I found an ad in Hemmings and called the guy in NY. after many phone calls, pictures of the car,etc..I bit the bullet and bought the car sight unseen and had it shipped to TN. the car was pretty much what I had expected. The only things i was a little disapointed with was the shape of the paint and the glass..but the car ran fine without any trouble...I feel very fortunate that the guy was as honest as he was. probably wouldnt buy anything sight unseen again though..

 

Sit back and grab a few beers..THIS is going to be a LONG read.I started out heading out looking for parts for my first build.1928 Tudor Sedan.MAN I got BIG plans..can see it in my head what it will look like.!!Buddy says.." I know a guy who sells nothing but rear ends and always has a few laying around."! Cool,now its late in the day when I meet this guy at his house and we head to the garage.Shows me a 10 bolt chevy rear end.Looks great and I check it out,pull the cover and take a peek.Still filled with fluid so I spin it.Hmm...doesn't spin too good.Guy says it needs new drums and such so the brakes are hanging up inside.COOL...how much.? 200.00,ok I pay him and off I go.Man I am DREAMING of my car,the first parts are always cool.In the moring I drop the rear end off at a buddys shop and tell him."Give the once over and call me.."Well he calls me alright and ask if I like boat anchors..HUH.?." THIS thing is nothing but a pile shit..WHAT I SCREAM.."Come take a look" I head down and man it really is a pile of shit,missing teeth on the ring,busted pinion bolt,seals gone..all trash.Call the guy up and he says.."Well ya know,buyer beware." NOT the thing to tell me..!! Ok..stay calm the GF says.Ok,I find another rear end and go take a look.Guy says .."Oh I only live like 1/2 hour away..COOL,Im off.!!!Driving..driving..hmm..gone more then 60 miles,call the guy up.."Oh ya gotta farther..sorry,I looked at the map wrong"...OK,off we go.Now its in the middle of DEAD winter and I know its freezing so we better make this deal quick.I pull up and its out of a Dodge Dakota,ok cool...I am sure I can make it work.We talk,I pull the cover and CHECK everything..looks ok.How much,oh 250.00.."uh you told me 150.00 over the phone.."!!Oh,thats the other rear end.."SEEYA" I yell,oh wait..ok,you can have it for that.Load it up and take it the shop by me.Buddy says it wont work...WHAT.??!?! It has 6 lugs and you need 5 lugs..ok,no problem,have it re-drilled...No can do,the flange wont take it,too small..GD IT all to hell!!Ok,after few weeks I calm down and think.." I need a trans.." I search the papers and find a few..Hmm..My GF says.."You sure you want to do this.?Just buy one rebuilt..".Honey,the funds is low but I am sure it will be ok.Call the guy...( 700r trans by the way..) and go take a look.We talk and he has to be one of the nicest guys around..!! We shoot the shit and he says.."Pretty sure it has low miles,I sold the one with the high miles and kept this one.."Cool,I buy it..200.00 and we load it and off I go.Head off to the trans shop and tell the guy.."Just check it out and let me know if everything is ok."Will do..calls me about an 2 hours later..."Well,ya sitting down..?"I sit and sigh.."Well the front pump is toasted along with half of the rest the trans,oh the convertor he gave you.? Wrong one.. Going to cost ya to re-build it."..FORGET IT I YELL..Ok..time to switch gears,I find another rear end and head out with the DREAD of buying.We talk and AGAIN I check it out BUT with the issue "If I take it and its junk,I get my money back.? Sure....anyone guess whats inside of it..?? See the ad in the parts section for FREE 8 INCH rear end..??Guy is GONE.Ok..I see something one night on here that changes what I want to build..I want a Model A coupe.I have seen quite a few on here and really wanted to build one.Pauls..( dreaddybear,and nick28 and few others stick in my mind.I cruise the wanted ads for almost 3 months trying to find a body to start with.I cant find ANYTHING but one night I see a 1930 coupe body come up on the H.A.M.B.Hmm.. I call the guy and we talk and talk and talk.I tell him I need more and better pics of the car I tell him.He will try and send better ones but he has several buyers already interested in it.Ok,cool,do what you can do.I wait and wait but the pics dont really show enough of the car...kind of shady pics,shadows here and there.So I agree and my GF gives me that LOOK...."You know that cars is in Az and its going to cost you a bunch to have it hauled here.." NO PROBLEMO...I have BEN D..!!!! I make the deal..2200.00 dollars sent through Paypal and call Ben.I tell him where the car is and he says.."Hell that isn't too far from me and I will even go pick it up for you." Well,needless to say the location was false and over 150 miles farther then we though.Ok,I tell Ben,I will pay the extra money for the haul.I wait for the day and I am almost ready to hurl when Ben shows up.What was in the back of that pick-up did make me hurl...What a POS...!!! Stress cracks everywhere,pieces missing,shit drilled out with like 100 holes,broken doors...man,the list goes on....and on...I freak out.GF just walks away and leaves for the night.Oh,it gets better..see those doors I had for sale in the parts section..? Those were sold as 1930/31 doors..TOO FUCKING BAD they were 1928/29 DOORS and I had no use for them..rotted to hell..!!Parts for a 1930 Coupe are far and few between..Shall I keep going..? Wanna hear about how many times I got burned on parts I bought through the parts section of the H.A.M.B..??..The guy who sold me a set of PERFECT spindles but when the arrived somehow the gnomes who travel in part boxes welded the bearing races on because of the HEAT they made when they went BAD..."They were fine when I sent you them.."Damn gnomes...!!!!Ok..I am going to go chill....I kinda get carried away...sorry I ate so much of your time guys reading this...I am getting off my soap box now....

 

I got taken for $500 by a sleeze bag named Larry Brown, aka Collector Cars and Parts Exchange. The " licensed dealer" for starts isnt licensed. He finsa car ( that may or may not be for sale) takes a shit load of pictures of it and tries selling it form his site or facebook page.
It want until I got a Illinois Detective involved in investigating him that Larry got cold feet and returned my money. The investigation continues.

If you care to rad it, check this closed thread out to learn more about an active scammer looking to rip off anyone.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=786874

 

25 years ago I had an employee that was never late, never sick, and one of the nicest kids you would want to meet. Volunteered all the time, and could be trusted with spendy company equipment and cash. He worked for me for 10 years.
He was going to get married and his car was a piece of crap so i loaned him an extra car I had (1964 Plymouth Fury convert) to go on their honeymoon.
They were married and left on the trip to Idaho from Oregon. After 3 weeks they weren't back so I went to their house to see what was up and it was empty, they were gone(this was 1980). 2 years later I get a notice from a tow company in New York that there was a 4000.00 tow and storage fee owed on the car----I signed the title and sent it to them. Loss------4000.00

 

I've been cheated hundreds of times but 2 stick out in memory.

Bought a Vincent Black Shadow in 1975. Basket case, came with a spare motor. Seller made some excuse when I picked the bike up, I had to come back later for the spare motor, then he made some other excuse and I never got it. Turned out the original motor was junk, not rebuildable. It took 2 or 3 years but I eventually found a replacement motor.

The other was just 2 years ago, I got cheated out of $400 on a car deal. He tried to cheat me out of $800 but I got half back in small claims court. Normally I'm not that easy to cheat anymore, but in this case we had been friends for over 30 years. Turned out all that time, I was his friend but he wasn't my friend.

We've all trusted people, and we've all paid. If you are smart you learn to put a limit on how far you trust people, knowing that once in a while you will get stuck for the limit.

I can't believe how green some of you guys are. I have run into most of the scams you mention but could never figure out why the scammers bothered, since no one would be fool enough to fall for them. Now I know.

 

Many posts on rodders being screwed on cars they have seen. Imagine how bad it gets on cars bought sight unseen? I almost bought one sight unseen but fortunately wised up and drove four hours to see it. What a POS it turned out to be. If it was parked outside I'd have kept on going.

 

I don't like posting in ancient threads, but the words above are worth repeating. Go in looking for a reason to buy it, and your rose colored glasses will cover up a ton of problems. DAMHIK.

 

I recently bought a '59 DeSoto...advertised on here actually. I was told the car was ready to cruise. Of course It was in the midwest so I didn't have a chance to look at it in person...but I really like '59 DeSotos. The photos showed a pretty decent looking car....so it seemed!

- The brakes? "Probably needs shoes" was the only issue I was told.

- How does the car drive? "Cruises nicely down the freeway at 70mph!"

- Any rust? "Only a small amount in the trunk."

Everything seemed fine. There were some missing tailights and I was told they would be replaced before I got the car.


Fast forward...the car arrived and I noticed one of the tailights was still missing. She did start and run...So I went ahead and got the car tagged and insured.

On the first test drive...engine smoked badly...the brakes were total garbage...brakes hardly did anything and the car jerked very hard to the right...after one pump the vacuum booster did nothing...there was NO way this car was ever going 70mph. The transmission was slipping...just a bunch of stuff...

The "little rust" in the trunk turned out to be much worse...of course the pictures I received didnt show all that too well. There was bubbles along quarters and previous patches were evident.

I decided to inspect the brakes...by "only needing shoes" he really meant...every single wheel cylinder was blown and the shoe linings were coming off...the rear end was leaking grease into the rear drums...vacuum booster hose was collapsed...I spent a week cleaning up and replacing all the brake components.

I also replaced the head gaskets, valve cover gaskets, cut out the heat riser in the manifold as it was stuck shut...drained and replaced trans fluid...since everything was leaking...

I now got a decently running car...the smoke is non existent from the engine now...and she actually can drive 70mph on the interstate! Trans works as it should...brakes actually stop the car.

Probably the first and last time I buy anything without inspecting it in person first. I didn't really get burned very badly..the lies is what got me a bit agitated...

 

That stinks. I sold a '82 Honda to a friend of mine and I felt terrible doing it. Not because I kept anything from him, I just didn't want him to find something wrong and think that I didn't tell him anything. He was good about it though and even after I told him what I bought the bike for and what I was selling it to him for he still agreed to the price even after I told him I'd sell it for what I had in to it because I hated feeling like I was taking advantage of him.

 

I bought an exercise bike once and the pedal fell off and couldn't be fixed.

 

I bought my avatar unseen after no one would meet the reserve on ebay.
He said no brakes and I knew the floor and trunk would be rusty so there were no surprises. I am very happy, just dont buy the disc brake kit from scarebird. Thats where the unpleasantness is

 

I've done that more than once.. walked up to the car before I knocked on the door, took one look and just flat out left. If this guy lacked the integrity to honestly describe the car, I could give a rat's ass about the etiquette on my end.

On the times that the seller was already out to greet me, I'd just say it wasn't what I was looking for and leave it at that.

Bob

 

Story of my life is fixing or completely reengineering other people's f*ck ups. How about a 'custom built frame' where the car would not drive in a straight line. reason - the front clip was welded on without being jigged so as the heat built up it started to move and kept on going. The fuckwit who welded it obviously had no clue. The wheelbase on the left side was 1-1/8" longer than on the right. So the car got torn completely apart and a new frame had to be built for it....

 

I inspect vehicles for insurance companies and pre-purchase buyers.
NEVER NEVER NEVER trust what a seller tells you about a car, never trust pics of the car. Go and look at it yourself, under, over and around it.....make sure everything that was said regarding the car on previous conversations and e-mails is EXACTLY what you see, if not, RUN away.......You will feel alot better later......or don't bitch later.........

mmm....this is an accumulation of the last 88 posts and from 20 years of experience