I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die

Looking at alot of heartache here, and I have lived and breathed it. The ride back where you're gritting your teeth so hard chips are flying. The exchange of words in the driveway, having to tell yourself it's not worth the charges. Having the seller get mad at YOU when you don't fork over the dough for his totally misrepresented POS because he had "ten guys who were gonna buy it."

Maybe I can save you guys some tooth enamel and blood pressure medication.

I make my living buying heavy OT cars for a high end OT franchisee group. I buy all over the US and Canada, from dealers, wholesalers, and private individuals. I've got a pretty foolproof system I'll pass along in hopes it saves a brother tin enthusiast some time/money/PITA. 99 percent of what I buy is late model, but have done some oldies and this has worked every time.

If you're dealing on a car a good distance away, let's use a Ford for example, hop on the interweb and figure out the closest Ford store to the seller. Give the service manager a call and ask tell him you'd like to pay for a PPI (pre-purchase inspection). Explain that you're distant and are willing to pay the $200-$300 for a good look-see and some digital pics, before you make your purchase decision. Explain that it's an inpection only, and if it's not good you're not going to go through with it. Most times they are happy for the business and will treat you right. Knowing that they're not going to do the work it needs (if that's the case) generally results in a straight report without any padding.

If you're getting a good vibe, ask the seller (especially if he's a no-camera or I-suck-at-computers-so-no-pics guy or gal)if they'd agree to having an inspection done. If he does it's a good sign, if he doesn't then RUN DO NOT WALK.

You set it up with the seller and the service manager, and a couple of hundred bucks later you should have enough information to make an educated decision. Trust me, especially if the vehicle turns out to be a turd, it'll be the best money you ever spent.

Cheers
James

 

Yeah I know this an old thread, but it's still a valid point. About 11 years ago, I found a car online that I could not find locally for any price. The problem was it was 12 hrs away. I emailed the guy back and forth, he sent me pictures (non-digital and kinda grainy) that showed what he thought I needed to see. We spoke on the phone several times and asked very detailed questions. I rented a car trailer and headed out, all excited to finally find a solid project car. He insisted on cash ($5K) so I brought a gun along just in case he had any goofy thoughts. When he opened the door to the garage, my first thought was I oughta shoot his stupid ass. The car was so bad it's almost hard to believe it was the same car in the photos. Not one part of his description was anywhere near accurate. Finally I said "fuck it", got back in my truck and hauled ass 12 hrs home, rented trailer in tow. The way I saw it, I'd sure as hell rather cut my losses than put myself in the hole buying some shitbox not worth saving. Wanna know the best part? A week later I bought a one-owner, low miles car of the same year and body style about 20 miles from my house.

 

When I worked for the restoration shop we worked on a Rolls-Royce the customer bought in England. Based on what he was told and photos he was sent he bought the car and had it shipped to the U.S. Although it was the same car in the photos, the pics must have been taken 30 years earlier. The car wasn't junk, but it was worn out and tired, needing a full restoration to be anything close to the pictures. At that poingt what do you do? I guess you could fly to England and kick the guys ass(if you can find him), but that's not likely to get you any money back.

 

I spent 4 hrs(round trip) in a car with 2 fighting kids to buy a set of 15" wide whitewalls. The only problem is they were 14". The guy said oh I thought they were 15" I guess I should have checked.

 

In the future, I would recommend that you sponsor a local HAMBer to scope it for you.
I did for a roaster I bought out of So Cal a few years back. Cost me a hundred bucks and
saved me a load of time and stress.

 

This is currently for sale on Ebay.here is the description.
1932 Ford original 5 window coupe. Body only. Never chopped or cut.
Has firewall, dash, doors and deck lid. Some of the wood is still good.
The body has been professionally sandblasted and primered. Needs
floor pans and patch panels.

It actually lists as a 1932 Ford Model A ??????

There is then a series of before and after shots and I have selected a few.I hope no one travels too far to look at this one.

 

It's a '32; it will sell. To be honest I've done the same damn thing and it works - the same people scared to death by a car that's sat until the paint's worn/baked away to surface rust, are fooled by two hours with a wire brush on a grinder, a paintbrush, and a can of Rustoleum. In this case, you can see the body probably was on an old stock car at some point, so there should be no real surprises - expect to find dents, dings, cracks, filler, and rot all over the thing. There certainly are guys trying to build a car out of much worse than that, it's probably a $4000-$6000 piece depending on who wants it how bad when the auction ends.

 

I found this thread to be good therapy. I hate it that so many of us have been burned but to read others accounts somehow make me feel less screwed. But I have learned a lesson. I bought 2 different cars over the internet from photos only and both were disappointments. Never more will I buy a car I can't put my grubby little paws on first.

 

works both ways. advertised my Dodge in the Auto Trader, some dude from Ohio calls and is interested. sent him a shitload of pictures of both good and bad parts. told him everything there was to know about the car.

told him $3500 was my price. he said it looked good, and sent his brother over to look it over and do the deal. they are driving 4 hours to be here at 10:00 A.M. 7 phone calls later they get here at 3:00, look at the car for 45 minutes and offer me $2,000.00.

dude was in a wheelchair. I felt like pushing him out into traffic. instead I told him to get out of my shop and closed the door.


selling cars is a bitch.

 

times 2

 

This.

I was all set to buy a 56 Lincoln last summer up in Wisconsin.

Skoh73 volunteered to go and look at it for me. Just as the seller described other than the undercarriage was completely rotten.

That guy is my hero, he saved me from making a $12,000 mistake.

 

I think I woulda punched that sumbitch

 

I was teaching high school chemistry in 1997 and one of my students tells me there's a really nice Model T on his grandfather's farm. He and his parents knew I was a car guy and they told me I could have it for $250.

I figure...heck...any Model T is worth $250, so I grab a trailer and head out.....about two hours from my house.

Turned out to be a 29 Model A RPU. It had sat down on the ground for years and was pretty rotten around the bottom, but otherwise ok. (I found out while talking to them that my student's great-grandfather bought it brand new and that he taught my student's mother how to drive in it)

Funny thing was....they seemed to care less about it. They had just inherited the farm and were cleaning it up and hauling old broken-down equipment off.

The RPU was sitting next to what looked like a plain old frame house on the outside turned out to be a genuine log cabin from the Texas Independence days on the inside. It was a cool place and being a lover of anything old and crusty, I just oohed and ahhed over their stuff.

So we head back to the RPU and the mom says, "you know what....just take it...we were gonna scrap it, but I'm sure you find a way to use it somehow"

And....I headed home with a free 29 RPU....rusty but salvageable.

My dad always taught me, when making a car deal, always compliment the sellers other stuff, it softens them up. The difference between him and me though, is that I never have to fake it.

 

Wife didn't like driving my vette so I told her I could solve that. Found an add for a 57 bird that came out of a museum. Called the # & the guy says it's in so cal @ prestige auto. Call them get pictures settle on a price & get a one way plane ticket from CC Ca. to Ontario ca.Gonna buy it & drive it home. Go check it out & carbs(E bird) need work on as does the seat & they agree to take care of the problems Then I open the trunk & solid rust fender to fender on the rear panel. They wouldn't fix it or come down on the price so there I was stuck in Santa Fe Springs Ca & no way home. Only had a tooth brush & change of socks & shorts. Took three days to get a flight back to CC Ca. Plane landed in Eureka & terminated & I had to ride in the back of a van carrying 6 old ladys with really bad/cheap perfume 90 miles back to CC.
Then I found one in Portland & made arrangements to drive up to see it & told the dude I'd be there @ daybreak. Got him out of bed @ 8am to looked this P O S over. I could see daylight between the door & windsheld when the door was closed,the bondo in the hood was cracking & the wire wheels were badly rusted. He said it was in excellant shape when I talked to him over the phone. Another 800 mile trip wasted. I finally found one in Milbrae Ca but ended up rebuilding the engine & tranny & painting it & redoing all the chrome.
Buying a new car isn't much better. I get everything that needs done in writing & a dodge dealer had to replace my bench seat in my 82 ramcharger as I had ordered bucket seats & it came with a bench. Dealer said he would order one in & call when he got it. A year later I'm driving by his dealership & there sets a ramcharger on the floor with bucket seats. The owner who had made the deal was gone that day so I told the service manager to to change them out as the owner said he would. Service manager says no way so I get the paper out where the owner had written down that he would change the seats when he got one. Ha ha the mechanic had to remove the headliner as the seatbelts were differant locations & after spending a whole day I left with my new seats & the old bench seat was setting on the dirty shop foor. For what it's worth get it in writing

 

So what's the name and address of the shop?
Wouldn't want others to get bent over. Or killed

 

I've got a lot of photos, car looks bitchin.

Of course they're not actually of the car I'm trying to sell..hehehe...

 

Sad truth is, all the above sob stories, are avoidable......
We as buyers a lot of time ,share in the blame.
If you do not ask for pictures/documentation of the car to determine condition/model/style/ more closely -this is how it ends, usually........
If what pics sent are not clear enough- ask for more pics.... usually this amount of dragging =YOUR= feet will let you see the sellers true demeanor .Scammers are usually easy to detect,a few=MORE=questions will bring the truth to light if only you ASK them...It is your money dont waste in voluntarily ....thats all.....

 

This threads just reminds me of what a dumb-ass I was to drive countless hours without getting all the right information first. But when a seller lies to you there is really nothing you can do except get someone close to look at it for you. Does it have bondo? No it is pretty clean. Upon arrival I look at the roof and find a nice thick large bondo crack on the roof where the 70s sunroof use to be.

 

yeah the thread would have read...i went to jail in reno !!!

 

Before Al Gore invented the interwebs, I went to look at a 73 Javelin. Guy said it was in good shape for the age (this was in 87) and had an extra fiberglas hood and the rare alloy wheels and clean interior. Said it ran and drove. I drove from Milwaukee to Rockford Illinois to see it. I get there and it's sitting in the drive way on four flat tires on steel rally wheels that were common on AMC cars. Had white shoe polish painted "Go Wildcats" on it. Oh well, let's air up these tires and see if the engine cranks. Motor turns but no start. Even dribbling a little gas wouldn't cause it to fire. Meanwhile, the tires are flat again. Interior was clean if by clean you mean half the upholstery was missing. Radio was gone and some young thing's panties were stuffed into the radio hole. The other supposedly fiberglass hood turned out to be a steel hood exactly identical to the one on the car. Guy goes on about having to sell because his wife has cancer and all that. In the garage are two really nice Nomads and I just tell him that the Jav was not as described and that I would take one of the Nomads for the price asked for the Javelin. ($1000) Dude pretty much chased me off his property. Don't go trying to sell me a $150 car for $1000 dollars and give me a sob story about medical bills, especially when you have high end collectible cars sitting in the garage that would surely help pay your bills better than your kids high school cruiser that he or she screwed up.

 

Pretty simple, no pics, no trip for me.

 

Lots of good stories here, you guys think you experienced false advertising, just go look at some pictures at online dating websites.

I was single for about 5 years a while back and the online dating sites were a source of entertainment and frustration too.

You talk about false advertising Some women think nothing of posting pictures taken 15 years ago And then what is even more entertaining is how they describe themselves.

I eventually found a good one But sure had to do a lot of tire kicking and looking under the paint for obvious flaws first.

And you talk about body filler Sometimes it was downright scary

 

1100 mile round trip for an F100? you live in southern california, those things are all over the place.... keep saving until something local comes up for sale, its cheaper in the long run.

 

Great ol' stories!
Been there, done that.
I will mention that unless time is a big factor, this is how you deal with it, especially in this info age.
After checking the heap out and walking away, travel back roads toward home. You have cash and a trailer. Deals to be made!

 

About 15 years ago before all this craigslist garbage I found a 53 Ford customline 2 door sedan in the bargainnews. It was on long island and i was in contact a few times with the guy and made plans for the weekend to head down. I know the rust issues with these cars and asked alot of questions he had no pictures... It was a flathead V8 with overdrive very little rust and runs and drives... So I get a car trailer and wire up my truck with a brake controller and all the items needed for the trip the night before. The morning im ready to leave i call him and he tells me someone is gonna be over to see the car in 20 minutes and for me to call him back.. So i anxiously wait and call back he says oh the guy didnt want it cause it wouldnt start cause of a dead battery.. I say ok im leaving now and bringing a good battery see you in a couple hours he says ok.... So i drive down truck and trailer get to the shop where the car is and its a towing company with cars packed in everywhere.... I find the guy and he says oh yea the 53 its in the back of the building. So my buddies and i proceed to walk to the back of the building to see the car and there were literally about 30 cars blocking it in!!!!! Also the cars were not running cars but more like junk yard cars so to move them you needed a loader! we get to the 53 and there is rust half way up the doors the quarters and fenders were rotted even the hood was rotted through! pop the hood and it had a flathead alright but probably hasnt run in 30 years... Need less to say we exchanged some choice words and then left back for CT....

 

Bought a 31 coupe body off of the bay. Ad said it was a solid body with no rust and no bondo. I couldn't believe it, this was the body I had been looking for. It was going for super cheap and no reserve because he started it on a Monday and the auction ended on a Thursday with no weekend bay watchers. I stayed up till one in the morning to screw the guy trying to outbid me with one second left. After winning the body I call the guy the next day to set up payment and shipping (from penn. to Texas). He said he would help load with no problem. After payment it took over a month of shippers going out there for him to get it on the truck! After that whole ordeal I get the body in and see that the whole body is out of wack with at least a quarter inch of bondo all over. Needless to say, now I am replacing all the sheet metal on the whole car. It was a steel for a great body but now Im stuck with this hunk of junk that I have to replace every panel on. Could have bought a local body and done the work for cheaper and a lot faster....Here is a pic of the body before I replace the metal. looks decent right? stupid online sellers.

 

That mostly because a lot of the buyers are bitches. I'm dealing with one right now that wants to do whatever he feels like, I can tell him the same thing three times and it still doesn't register. Over the summer I had a guy who expected me to haul a car 150 miles to him and get paid when I got there. I scrapped that one. My patience is getting shorter and shorter the older I get.

 

The HERMITES the RECLUSE if they got the goods pay or get the f%%k out before you get shot...These guys are so cool... I admire them...Innerbread or not they are somthing else...

 

i drove my ass 6 hours south in a ridiculous rain storm to check out a mint 61 vw bug. he sent pictures, car looked great. got there, it was on jacks with no wheels, tires, headlights, or interior. roof rotted to piss and the pan was just laying in place loose. exhaust wreaked of oil, and the body was rusted and paint almost non existant. after an hour we stopped at a wendys to eat and just bursted out laughing at the b.s this guy threw our way. its a memory me and my dad will never forget

 

These stories are the reason you never buy a car without actually looking at it or have someone you trust look at it.



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