Still good folks out there? Here's proof!!!!

About three weeks ago I bought a 57 caddy front bumper for my 50 buick off egay from ole fella in Colorado He ask for a money order and I sent one.I really think I recieved my bumper before he got his money. This floored me,so I called him up to thank him and after about an hour and a half of shooting the crap come to find out he was building a 51 Buick woody and by the time our long conversation was over we had agreed to swap out quite a few parts from each others little surplus stash.Again I recieved my parts I am sure befored he did.Has it turned out there was some miscomunication on the two most important parts I need which was the belt line trim off a 53 Buick Super.So I called him up and explained this to him that his pieces were to short and that I would go out to the shop and call him back within the hour to give him the exact measuments that I need,when I did call him back,I got a hold of his wife and it turns out Mr. Harland had already jumped in his truck adn made a two hundred and fifty mile round trip to a old junk yard of his buddy's to get these two pieces for me,once again I was just freaking floored,I could not believe that anybody would honor their word to this point.I offered to pay for his time and fuel,but he refused.You can bet your sweet ass any part I have in my shop is his free of shipping. I GUESS MY POINT IS THERE IS STILL SOME REALLY GREAT FOLKS OUT THERE,thanks for putting up with my long post.

 

The older fellas with values are dying off which is a shame.That leaves us with cesspool of thieves and scammers.When the older guys pass away,all the great stories of the old days die with them.

 

Too bad too, cause this was the way I was raised and more often I am burned by someone when I trust them.

Good to hear you found a man with integrity.

 

ive met some really great car people over the years,,,,and a TON right here on this board,,,,
its nice to know there are still some stand up guys around,,especially with all the thieves and idiots around these days.......

 

I like that story, I met a fella like that. He sent me several parts for my desoto at no cost. I just paid for the shipping. I told him to get it weighted and tell me how much he needed. He sent it out and e-mail me the amount. If I was a thief I would have not pay him the shipping cost and never talk to him again. I am so thankful to him and the fact that he trusted me before he knew anything about me, that I just did the same for someone else...Pay it forward sort of speak....

 

A mate of mine did a deal over the phone for a big assed '70s Fairlane. He knocked the guy down from like $1000 to $800 before even seeing the car. The guy says he'll deliver the car from Frankston to Diamond Creek (Far south of Melbourne to far north - about 1 1/2 or 2 hrs). When he arrives, the car is mint so my mate offers to pay the full price. The guy (a pensioner) says, "No, we made a deal" and will only take the $800. Then he asks my mate to drop him at the train station. Anyone who knows our rail network knows that guy has about 3 or four connections to make to get home and about as many hours.

My mate offers to drive the guy home. Again the guy refuses. Bought his own train ticket too.

Not many of those fellas left.

Pete

 

Love this thread, practice what we preach.

 

There are plenty of good people left out there, but they are lessening as they are getting taken advantage more frequently these days by people looking to make a quick buck.

 

Kind of a shame that honesty and "handshake" deals are rare enough to be talked about in a thread and not SOP.

 

I just had it happen for a purchase off ebay. I won a pair of bumper braces and contacted the guy for payment information. He asked for my name and address so he could get them packaged. I sent out a check (this is to a guy I don't know from Sunday) and the next day the parts come UPS overnight. My check has just left the local Post Office, no way it's even on the truck to Iowa. I send him an Email and tell him the parts have arrived and inquire as to how they could get here so fast. He said he didn't want me to wait if I needed the parts right away and had a "feeling" I was good for the money. Go figure.

Frank

 

I have given guys parts, sold cars to guys on the cheap, hauled stuff for free, chased shit down and found cars for guys cheap, only to have stuff get an extra '0' on the price tag when I needed it. Got bent over this way by a few former friends who are now on the a-hole list.

Maybe I am jaded now when it comes to this type of thing, but the only bargains are for kids who look like they will appreciate it, or to someone I know will benefit from it. The last young fellow I gave an old Holley to for his 68 Chevy truck so he could get it running came back one day with three 5-6-7 driveshafts, two sets of 56 Pontiac bumpers with the rear overrider pieces, and a bunch of miscellaneous 55-6 Pontiac stuff. Not too bad, I figure.

That being said, VAPHEAD, or Eric from Riley Automotive gets my vote as someone you can trust to do business with. I made a good deal with him yet when he was at Streamline, he honored it even though I am sure he lost money on the deal, and the parts showed up as promised. Would I do business with him again. Definitely.

 

Great story,a refreshing change of pace in light of the horror stories lately regarding ebay purchases.

 

I've had Ebay purchases hand delivered to the house the same day as the purchase, and like was stated earlier, I, too, have had Ebay items arrive long before my money order could have gotten to the seller.
In 2001, I had $21,000 worth of new roofs put on. The roofer shook my hand when we first met to go over the job. I asked if he needed a down payment, he said "naw, I'll collect it when I'm done".
Three weeks later he came by the house and I gave him a check for $21,000.
The city inspector said he had never seen such a nice roofing job before.

I was raised in the 50's and a handshake was worth everything. A handshake on a deal was like putting your honor and reputation as a man on the line.

 

The only real worth a person has is his word !!

 

Great stories and true comments about this type of activity passing away. Its sad, my grandfather operated his whole life on the theory of trusting the other guy until he gave you reason not to... even then sometimes.

 

BBob,

What a great read in more ways then one. Keep this guy as a friend it would be worth a lot to both of you. I've made some friends here on the HAMB through selling items and on ebay.

CRUISER

 

Haven't seen Marco on here for quite a while. He sent me an oil pump for my nailhead (to Australia) no charge...not even shipping!!

I sent him some Aussie mags to say thanks. That was one of my earliest HAMB experiences. We need to keep that spirit alive.

Pete

 

im not the most trusting fuck on the planet and i tend to be a little untrustworthy of my fellow man , but every once in a while something happenes to restore ones faith in humanity , looks like this is one of them..

 

There are people like this and many not like this. You can usually ferret them out pretty quickly in conversation.

 

Like i said in the post he has what ever i have,Speaking of such,does anybody have any pic's of a 51-52 Buick woody .I need to see what one looks like so i can go thru my parts and see if i got any parts he can use

 

A true gentleman is true to his word. A handshake is as good as any contract.
I tried to raise my kids this way. I sure hope they follow this ideal.
I would love to meet this man.

 

I'm an optimist and believe that there are more honest people than out and out crooks. You can't let your bull shit detector get rusty but there are a lot of good people in this world. They don't make the nightly news though.

I sent 19 Gs to a guy in California and prayed for 2 weeks waiting for my prize to show up. Now that's faith! I was right and he is good people. One of many...I believe.

 

I had a similar experience a few years ago when looking for a replacement for the 63 1/2 Galaxie that my son had wrecked. Somebody put me on to a guy in Knoxville that had a thing for early Galaxies and he had a slew of em. After about 2 hours of talking about old Fords and his former employer, Holman & Moody (yeeha), I more or less bought one of them over the phone.
He had described each one in great detail and I told him I'd stop by on my way to Florida in a few weeks and pick one out. When I did finally get down there I realized he hadn't missed one single detail in his discription and was dead on. When I did decide which one I wanted, he wouldn't even take a deposit, yet offered to deliver it to me (for nuthin) in Indiana on his next pass through! (he also hauled antique / classic cars) He said a handshake was good enough for him and that was that. Sure enough, a few weeks later he pulled the transporter into the drive and we backed my new Galaxie down the ramps and into my garage. We've stayed in touch ever since and I stop in to see him when I'm in the area and bought some nice Galaxie parts. I really gained a valuable friend, and I wasn't even looking.
Phil

 

Cool post......Just lets you know that there are good people like you said. THAT is how the old car hobby should be all the time. Everyone happy to help each other out. That is how you make friends, find stuff you are looking for, and it probably leads you to stuff you never would have found otherwise.

 

When I needed wheel bearings for my 55 Pontiac I called George Bachleda at Olcar Bearing Co. Southern Pines, NC. He sent the bearings and told me to send him a check ($175) after I get them! I had to ask him to repeat the instructions cause I didn't believe it!

 

Bought a model T coupe dash from a guy and sent him a money order a couple days after making the deal. The same day I sent the money order I get home from work and theres a T coupe dash shaped package on my porch. My money order could not have even gotten out of town that fast. E-mailed the guy and thanked him for sending it so quick but, questioned why he'd do that before gettin the cash. Said he had no doubt I'd come through. He'd been dealing like that for 20 years in the car hobby and only been burned once for $37. He thought if thats the worst thing that ever happened to him he'd be doing alright. There are still a few around.

 

its KARMA man, it always comes around. Treat people right and you'll be treatedm right. Thanks for the great stories

 

Yeah,I've been parting out my former daily driver ( not HAMB worthy) and a guy e-mailed me desperatly needing a seat belt part.So I told him to make an offer,he offered 15 bucks so I beat him down to 10 and shipped it out before he could write the check.Not a lot of money but I bet it made his day! Or at least gave him a chuckle!

 

Sad, but true.
Thank you for sharing a truly great story!!!!!

 

Had a similar deal once on a dash pad for the Galaxie. Guy wanted $200 for it and I told him I wanted it. A couple of days later....there it is at my door. I hadn't even gotten a money order yet!

Yeah, they're still out there.

Later, Phil

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