Register now to get rid of these ads!

Dealer stories

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by scotts52, Apr 15, 2010.

  1. bobwop
    Joined: Jan 13, 2008
    Posts: 6,115

    bobwop
    Member
    from Arley, AL

    exciting to see this thread back towards the top
     
  2. Newbedonnie
    Joined: Jan 14, 2014
    Posts: 100

    Newbedonnie
    Member
    from SC

    Wasn't a dealer per se, but probably smarter than a lot of them.
    Had a friend of mine back in college ('76) that used to drive a green Olds Cutlass, 350 with auto. He and his buddies were having a good (too good perhaps) time driving around the back roads of Clemson one night. When they made Lake Hartwell some of the old country roads that led to the towns down in the valleys that were eventually submerged were never adequated blocked off. They went barreling down one of the roads, and before anyone knew what had happened they had hit the shoreline and were slowly drifting out into the lake! The car ended up submerged just at about the speedometer bezel, at an angle that halfway covered the head rests.
    It took several hours before a tow truck could be summoned to pull what was later dubbed "the Green Submarine" out of the drink. It was towed back to campus, when my friend began the ritual of draining, filling, draining and refilling all the liquids in the car. Since it had been in the musty water for a while it took several months before the smell of the lake was eliminated from the interior, but amazingly the car never missed a beat. I thought for sure the electrics, or something, would give...but it ran another 50,000 miles and he finishing college before it started to give any trouble.
    Here's the interesting other side of the story. His father was a mechanical engineer, probably the smartest man I've ever known when it came to automobiles. This guy could fix anything. My buddy would usually drive back home every month or two on a weekend, but he didn't go for about four months after the lake incident, until the smell had completely subsided. The Cutless by then looked great...with one small exception. The inside of the gauge plastic bezels had a very faint brown water marking where the car had come to rest in the water, and he had not wanted to disassemble the entire facing just to clean them off. Besides, the imprint was oh so faint.
    Home he returns for the first time, and as usual his father took the time to go over the car to make sure it was mechanically running correctly. Everything inside had been shampooed, etc., so nothing seemed to be amiss. However, for some reason his dad deemed it necessary to remove the rear seat cushion to check on something, and when he did he noticed two dried up minnows on the rear floor pan.
    Without missing a beat he turned an said "Son, when did you drive this car into Lake Hartwell?" And never said another thing!!!
     
    Last edited: Jan 29, 2014
    kbgreen and Chrisbcritter like this.
  3. tiredford
    Joined: Apr 6, 2009
    Posts: 560

    tiredford
    Member
    from Mo.

    The Highway Patrol brought a new Ford truck into the assembly plant and asked security to go over all the vin numbers because they suspected it was stolen from the plant back lot. They had stopped a guy in it and he had no paperwork for the truck, said he won it in a poker game. Security couldn't find any records for the truck. That vin did not exist, on paper that truck had never been built at any assembly plant. Nobody could prove they owned it. The HP drove away with it, probably went to acution.
     
  4. summersshow
    Joined: Mar 3, 2013
    Posts: 899

    summersshow
    Member
    from NC

    Heres you some good ones... Use to work at a GM dealer... I was a body tech there not a dealer but we could see most of everything on the lot... I am only 25 so this was in about 2006-2007...

    Story 1: Had a regular customer want to test drive a brand new truck. He wasnt going to buy it but his car was in the shop and he was waisting time... Got to the exit of the lot... Drunk driver creams the brand new truck in the driver door... Truck is destroyed, an Impala also get hit... Driver not hurt... Comes back to talk to us the next week and trades his car in for a truck identical to the one he got hit in. LOL

    Story 2: Us bored between the body shop and the techs in service get into an argument one day about which car is better... The GTO vs Corvette z06... We bicker and bicker and decide to settle this in a redneck way... race the cars? NO... Ask people their opinions? HELL NO... I went to the Frame rack and got a set of chains and you guessed it! Strap the cars together and see who can pull who... After alot of horrible tire squeling... The goat pulls the vette... Both Cars had been sold before they got off the truck and were awaiting pickup...

    Last one... I was working one day and had a Corvette owner bring his new vette in... "Whenever I go around a corner i hear a swoooooosh... THUD!"... I had the car for almost a week before I found it... A ball bearing in the front bumper with a note attached "Found me you SOB!!"... GM Immediatly took the car and sent him an exact replacement. We were to put the car in the back and load it on the next truck...

    Ill shut up now...
     
  5. A Washington's Birthday ad from around 1965. My dad's used car lot in Waltham Mass.
    Gustin Auto Sales, Inc.
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Feb 8, 2014
  6. Imagine........ A '58 Buick Limited for $450 or a '58 Thunderbird $350. That's traditional!!!
     
  7. frdsuperduty
    Joined: Nov 18, 2006
    Posts: 175

    frdsuperduty
    Member
    from Lewes De

    Shortly after high school i was a gopher in an Oldsmobile dealership.The owner instructed me to take a new olds ninety eight down the street to the car wash as he had a customer coming in to take delivery.I was following a large box truck and about a block from the car wash i was passing a store where my friends hung out.Sure enough a good lookin girl I knew was on the corner.I beeped the horn and waved to get her attention.The box truck swerved around a road construction hole in the street .Yea you guessed it,i didnt.Now you might think that was my last day at that dealership but I ended up working there for 25 years.50 years in the car business.I got lots of stories.
     
  8. scotts52
    Joined: Apr 7, 2008
    Posts: 2,725

    scotts52
    Member

    Sweet! Can't wait to hear them.
     
  9. Boatmark
    Joined: Jan 15, 2012
    Posts: 384

    Boatmark
    Member

    Growing up a good friends Dad owned a large Chevy dealership. As kids, we behaved and drove demo's, but when Bob and his older brother grew up and took over the dealership, much humor ensued.

    Bob and his brother were ten years apart and hated each other. The older bro was the GM, and Bob ran all the back of the house operations. The brother's wife had horses, and all of her demo's were loaded short bed pickup's. When the family sold the dealership they each took a new car. Janey got her usual new truck. Saw her at a party and she commented that the new one drove night and day better than any of the probably twenty she'd had. The reason, she picked this one up from the new owners - all the other ones Bob and I would take new off the truck and make a couple of hours of laps on a local powerline access road. Get it all stretched out of shape, send it through the detail shop, and have it delivered to Janey. I'm certain this new one drove better, we hadn't touched it.
    ---------------------------------------------

    Every time older bro would order a new demo for himself, Bob paid the sales dept a cash bonus to anyone who could sell it before his brother left for the day.
    ---------------------------------------------

    Like I said, they all took new car's when they sold the place. Older Bro gets a new 84' Corvette - the ones that didn't work. He drives it a week and the digital dash dies. Its in waiting parts when Bob stops by for something and spots it. He buys beer every friday night for the entire service dept as long as the brown Vette stays apart . . . . worked for nine weeks. Brother was so pissed he called Detroit about the missing parts, only to be told they were shipped two days after they were ordered.
    -----------------------------------------

    Bob and I were both boat racers - one weekend we decide to go to a race in another catagory as spectators. We take a brand new Berlinetta Camaro off the lot. Loaded includeing then new T-tops. (travel tip - a cooler the size of the entire back seat will fit, but you have to have T-tops to get it in)

    First day we get it stuck in sand by the lake - muscle it out, tranny not so good in first gear afterwards. That night we go to a bar on the corner of the highway and a side road. I'm driving when we leave, and decide to cut behind the building to avoid the traffic light. Turns out the two parking lots were at different levels, and there was a two block high retaining wall separating - I uh, didn't see that part, and launched the Camaro off the edge foot to the floor. Front end and front clip all a little wonky afterwards.

    On the way home we are running a two line central Florida highway at about 110mph trying to catch up with some friends . . . all the sudden the roof starts to whistle. We look at each other, and grab for the T-top latches, sure something is about to leave - when the most hurrendous metal sound goes over the roof and it goes quiet. Turns out we blew windshield moulding off, and because of the T-tops mouldings were in some way attached to the drip moulding / windshield mouldings they all came off and disappeared. Left ugly scratches over the roof, down the trunk, and over the spoiler.

    Got home at 3am, put the Camaro back in line at the dealership. Shipping damage!
    ---------------------------------------

    They had one salesman, who coincidentaly was another of my friends father, who constantly lost his demo. He was a drunk, and he would loan his car to people in the bar, and forget who! His son and I would go searching for it if it didn't show up in a few days. The dealership put up with him because he could sell three times more cars hungover (or even buzzed) than the other guys sold sober. Insurance companies would never put up with that shit today.
    ---------------------------------------

    When we were in high school the Insurance company said Bobby couldn't have a Corvette demo. No problem, they were fine with him driving 454 Chevelles and El Camino's! Wish we had some of those cars now.
     
  10. BamaMav
    Joined: Jun 19, 2011
    Posts: 6,707

    BamaMav
    Member
    from Berry, AL

    In 1977, I stopped in at the local Chevy dealer to look at a 71-72 Chevelle that was traded in. I knew the former owner somewhat, and knew it was taken care of. After I got a price, I knew it was out of my reach. I was just about to leave, and a guy that I went to school with stopped in to see the same car. He was in about the same boat as me, but he was working full time since he had quit school, and I was working part time in my Senior year of high school. Anyway, we talked a bit, and a salesman came out to talk to him. He was in his work clothes, so the salesman quickly priced the Chevelle $500 higher than they did for me, figuring my friend would leave or take the old bait and switch he wanted to pull on him. Well, my friend was in need of a car pretty bad, his old Pinto was about shot, so he decided to look at the 68 Chevelle the salesman was pushing over the 71-72. It actually had a pretty nice body and paint as I remember it, but the interior was trashy. But, it had a four speed where the 71-72 was a automatic, I can't remember if it was a big block or small block, but it sounded good with dual exhausts. My friend asks could he test drive it, salesman says sure, take your buddy with you, so off we went. Just as soon as we up to speed, the car started bouncing violently, bad tires I thought. We slowed down and turned down a side road, he had the intention of going about a mile to a long straightaway and turning it around and see what it's got. As he turned, he dropped it back to second gear, and grandma shifted it back to third, and then WHAM! The whole rear end of the car lifted for a second, and we saw pieces flying everywhere!:eek: We coasted to a stop on the narrow shoulder and got out to see the driveshaft lying about 1/8 mile back! We hitched a ride back to the dealership, boy the salesman was pissed! He was screaming and yelling at us that we damaged the car and that it was our fault , and we were trying to tell him that it just came out, we hadn't even gotten on it yet. Then the sales manager came out and got in the middle of things, and he jumped on the salesman but good! The car hadn't even been through the shop yet, it was a fresh trade, and wasn't even supposed to be on the lot yet!
    My friend ended up getting the 71-72 for $500 less than they offered it to me for. Of course he ended up destroying it driving drunk a short time later, he had a bad drinking problem at the time, but that's another story.....


    The man that used to own the company I work for had a rather large farm he lived on. He ran the trucking company by day, and did chores on the farm in the afternoons. One day on the farm, something happened to his pickup, so he caught a ride with one of the farm hands to town to buy a new truck. Now picture this, this man comes in in his dirty work clothes, muddy boots and all, and goes to looking at a high end F350 crew cab diesel pickup. The salesman takes a look and decides this country bumpkin couldn't afford a 10 year old used Ranger, much less this top of the line F350. Apparently he decides to just go with the flow as it was slow day and he wanted to kill time until quitting time. He answers all my bosses questions, and my boss gets a price. Salesman asks who does his financing, my boss says he'll just write a check. Salesman says OK, I'll have to clear it with my Finance Manager, boss says fine. Salesman goes into the Finance Manager's office, laughing, tells him some hayseed out there wants to write a check for a F350. Mr. Finance manager looks at the salesman with a shocked look on his face when he sees the signature on the check, and tells him, "If that man want's 10 F350's and wants to write a check, you take it and ask when and where he wants them. Mr. Welborn is a regular customer here, we just sold his wife a new Lincoln last week, and he has enough money to buy every vehicle here on this lot and then some."

    Needless to say, salesman beat it outta the office double time, apologizing for the wait. Mr. Welborn, a simple guy, just told him, "No problem. I wouldn't want to sell a truck that looked like me, either!"

    A few weeks later, Mr. Welborn sold the trucking company for over $6 million. Last time I talked to him, he was into million dollar real estate deals. Oh, and he's still driving that late 90's F350, it must have been a good one. As for the salesman, I don't know what ever happened to him. The friend of mine that was working in the dealership shop at that time, said he didn't see him many times after that!

    Just shows you can't judge a book by it's cover, or a man by his clothes!:D
     
  11. Lady had her car repaired at the Ford dealership where I worked. She told the service writer that she wouldn't pay for the repairs until the service mgr. went for a test ride with her. Reluctantly he did and she drove. After going a couple miles up a busy street she pulled over and told the serv mgr to get out or she was going to start screaming and pull her blouse open as if he were accosting her. He said hell no , now take me back to the dealership to which she started screaming honking the horn and tore her blouse opened. He got out and started to find a phone to get some one to come get him(before cellphones). They never collected the bill? Same dealership, a lady was in the waiting room all morning when one of the office staff asked if she was being helped, to which she replied"I'm waiting for my husbands car to be repaired". During the rest of the day she was asked several times by staff if she was being helped she answered the same. Closing time and the cashier, office mgr. and one other lady were closing out the register and counting the cash and checks when the lady rushed cashiers booth, maced all three people, grabbed the money bag with all the cash and checks and disappeared out the door and down the street!
     
    Last edited: Feb 9, 2014
  12. maniac
    Joined: Jul 11, 2005
    Posts: 539

    maniac
    Member

    Not a dealer story, but........

    [​IMG]
     
  13. While I was at a Ford Dealership in Colorado my boss ordered a new 1982 Mustang GT. Problem was they were not approved for High Altitude at the time. Somehow he got it passed the Factory guys and we received one that was set up for low altitude. It was the first 82 Mustang GT delivered in Colorado. During the pre-delivery inspection it was discovered that the car had come in with the speedometer unhooked so the true mileage was unknown. We figured that someone at the factory had taken it for a joy ride. We had to sell it as TMU - a brand new car. I ended up selling the car to a local kid whose Dad was a good customer of the Dealership. In order to make the deal we had put a Ford Extended Warranty on the car.
    A Dealer North of us had a retired military person come in late Saturday afternoon to buy a truck that would pull a trailer. Said since he was in the Military and had no credit which was true. The guy wrote out a check for around $15,000 or so. They could not verify funds because it was Saturday. They delivered the truck and away he went down the street to buy a trailer. Same story and they delivered the trailer to him. As you might have guessed the guy was completely bogus and not in the Military. I believe they found the truck and trailer in Arizona.
    I had a guy come to buy a truck and he gave me all his credit info during the sale. Same no credit story but we delivered the truck. We could not get him financed so he needed to bring the truck back. There was no sign of him. During his credit check we discovered that his reference person on his credit application also turned up on his credit report with a different social security number - same guy. They sent me to get the truck but it turned out the address he gave was for a vacant house that was for sale. He did give us a good phone number and when he heard the message about grand theft auto his wife returned the truck that same day.
    I sold a new car to a young lady who did not know how to drive a stick but insisted on buying a standard transmission car. In this case a 4-speed. After completing the deal we went out back of the Dealership and I showed her how to shift and work the clutch. She got the hang of it quickly and off she went. First stop light she came to out in the front of the Dealership somebody rear ended her.
    We had a new truck come in with F150 on one fender and F250 on the other. It was an F150.
    Back in the 80's you could order about any factory color exterior and interior in combintation. By an error of the Boss we received a green truck with a red interior.
     
    Last edited: May 1, 2014
  14. Tons of great stories. Thank you and keep posting.
     
  15. 57Custom300
    Joined: Aug 21, 2009
    Posts: 1,424

    57Custom300
    Member
    from Arizona

    I only heard about this one. Years ago in the late 70's/early 80's Ford put on a banquet dinner for the mechanics & parts people in the Detroit district for a few years. Called them MVP rally's or something like that. Wasn't a bad deal, free food, prizes & FREE BEER. They always seemed to end in drunken brawls. One time a guy drove a customers car to one of them and had waaay too many adult beverages. They towed the totaled car in the next day with a 4x4 mailbox post thru the windshield right where the driver was sitting. Don't know how he lived through it. Ford stopped putting them on soon after that.
     
  16. I worked in one place that had a shock absorber promotion going on. If we sold and installed X-number of shocks, the local rep would come down and throw a party for the people who sold and installed them. We were getting free vests and some other promotional crap.

    Well... it winds up being pizza in the back room of a local restaurant. We had some relatively new hires that we didn't really know. I thought the pizza and beer was fine. I stepped outside with a friend for a smoke... we go back in and everybody else is coming out the back door. With running water following....

    While I was outside, the restaurant staff notified everyone that they reached the limit of beer that went with the pizza deal. The few new guys tore the place up, went into the bathroom and tore sinks out of the wall and generally trashed the place.

    I think that was the end of alcohol being served at company functions from then on. The new guys were fired and our company had to pay the damages. The shock rep was less than pleased.

    Bob
     
  17. I've been lucky to have been in the dealership game since the early 60's. Seen, driven and bought & sold muscle cars, sports cars, family sedans, hot rods, Asian and European super cars.
    The dealership I currently work for, now in a semi retired status, is owned by a car guy.
    He has a fabulous collection of all the good stuff. He has generously included me in many of his car ventures. We've attended hundred of collector car auctions, played with all the neat cars and even turned a profit a few times.
    To do it over......I probably wouldn't change a thing.
    So many stories still to tell.
     
    bobwop likes this.
  18. One day at the shop, there's a car coming in for an inspection one bay over from me. Someone is guiding this lady in and she's having basic problems driving this VW squareback. I look, she's simply huge and does not fit behind the wheel of that car. She gets motioned to straighten out the wheel and one of her boobs gets caught in the spoke of the steering wheel. We all heard the yelp she let out.
     
  19. As a little kid I loved the promo models in all their living color they had packed on the shelves, the new car catalogs, the color chip books, the new model postcards you could take.
    I became a showroom junkie about the same time I learned to read.
    Next I discovered the service department.
    I'd ride to work with my dad on Saturdays and Sundays and go treasure hunting for the day.
    He'd let me prowl through the the trash barrels and parts returned bins.
    Some of the stuff he'd let me keep for my future use.
    I built some fine soapbox racers from that stuff.
     
  20. I've worked at a couple of Ford dealerships and a chevy dealership as a mechanic. My dad once worked at a lincoln/mercury dealership as a mechanic. Here is some stories from my dad. Years ago he worked as a mangaer off a service station. New kid is working there on a lube job/oil change, suddenly dad hears a loud bang. apparently the new kid pumped the gas shocks full of grease.
    He worked on a new econoline van and tilted the steering wheel up to work under the dash easier. The woman that owned it was furious demanding to see the service manager because someone broke her steering column. My dad came out and showed her that it wasn't broken, but was in fact made to do that. .My dad currently has his own shop and used to do work for a used car lot. One time the car lot owner brought in a car he said wouldn't start, can he check it out. So dad goes out to look at it and what he found was the car had no engine. So he told the lot owner it needed an engine. Lot owner said can it be rebuilt instead of replaced? Dad replied if it had an engine in it to begin with. another dad story. Same car lot. Dodge caravan leaking oil horribly pours out as fast as put it in. Can you find the leak? Dad replies "Well other than the missing oil pan and rod hanging out of the block I'm not sure what else could be the cause. My stories. right out of high school I'm working at a chevy dealer. We service all the county patrol cars. I get to work on them and drive them. I'm out test driving one for a driveability issue, when a woman suddenly runs out in in the middle of the street screaming I can't believe you made it hear this fast. I just got done calling you. I had to explain to her that I in fact was not a police officer and was not trying to impersonate one either. As an aside I met some really cool police officers. One had me "misplace" the low lock out bracket on his caprice during a tranny service and also had me install Cherry bombs on it. while working at the chevy dealer I had the honor of being the vette guys apprentice. Got to drive some really cool cars. We worked on a legit 435hp 427 once, alsng with the parts managers original 427 4spd impala convertible. When I was working at one of the ford dealerships we had a new guy back in truck shop. We were pulling out a n automatic from a f 350 dually 4x4 with a power stroke diesel. We told him we were going to lunch and then we would finish pulling it out. We returned about 45 min later to find the trans out already. Upon further investigation wee found out how. He used to work at a local junk yard previously and just cut out the crossmember, exhaust wiring, shifter cable etc. Needless to say it was first and last day, and we had to repair a lot. Best part truck was a waiter.
    Matt
     
  21. s55mercury66
    Joined: Jul 6, 2009
    Posts: 4,335

    s55mercury66
    Member
    from SW Wyoming

    In late 1985, the body shop I was working at got a Lincoln Mark VII in. I got to jack up the front of it while changing the bumper and fixing some minor damage underneath. They are equipped with air-operated level ride, and if you don't disable it, it will raise one end of the car while you jack up the other, and the wheels retract in the end you jack up. It didn't take too long to figure out if you disabled it while it was all out of kilter, that the car had a rake like a Pro Stocker. On the way home that evening, I stopped at the local Ford-Lincoln-Mercury Dealer, where my cousin worked in their body shop. A couple beers later, we had a floor jack out on the lot, so I could show him my discovery of the day. Twenty minutes or so later, we had the dealer's stock of 6 new '86 models all raked out on the front row of the lot, and laughing our asses off, left them that way. Driving past them on my way to work the next morning, the owner was out with a couple hands just getting started setting them back down.
     
  22. Had a Trans Am GTA my boss and I bought at the G.M. Auction in Connecticut back in the early 90's.
    It was Arrest Me Red, automatic, the TPI 350 engine and a 4 speed automatic. It was stuffed, a real ticket magnet.
    We parked it dead center in the front row it's first weekend we had it.
    Saturday and Sunday all was fine. Monday morning I'm in early for the sales department meeting. Climbing the stairs to the showroom I glance across the lot and see the GTA sitting real low.
    I walk over to it and discover it's sitting on it's belly and the 4 spiffy gold honey comb wheels and Radial T/A's are gone....a vapor trail so to speak.
    Were screwed and we have $1500 deductible to further kill us.
    Trans Am gets moved out back, police reports are filed and now the hunt is on for new rims.
    My parts manager locates replacement gold "snowflake" wheels in Texas and a week later all is good again.
    Smarter now, the boss and I have the GTA moved onto an elevated ramp, 7 feet tall, so we can keep a close eye on the thing.
    One week goes by and all is fine.
    Come in early the next Monday and spot the Trans Am up on it's perch and circumcised again of all it's new wheels and tires and resting on railroad ties.
    Lynn, Massachusetts..............It's a tough town.
     
  23. woodbutcher
    Joined: Apr 25, 2012
    Posts: 3,310

    woodbutcher
    Member

    :D Loving this thread.Keep`em coming.
    Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
    Leo
     
  24. Hnstray
    Joined: Aug 23, 2009
    Posts: 12,355

    Hnstray
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Quincy, IL

    Just finished watching "Sunset", An older movie with James Garner and Bruce Willis. They play Tom Mix and Wyatt Earp in a fictional story of derring do. The tag line uttered several times is ......"is that true?"..... The reply "sure......give or take a lie or two". Nuff said. :D

    Ray
     
    Last edited: Mar 29, 2015
    Bad Eye Bill likes this.
  25. Bad Eye Bill
    Joined: Sep 1, 2010
    Posts: 841

    Bad Eye Bill
    Member
    from NB Canada

    Great thread. Wish I could add to it.
     
  26. flatheadtommy
    Joined: Oct 21, 2013
    Posts: 1,012

    flatheadtommy
    Member

    in 1962 i was going to trade school and worked in a vw garage after school, one afternoon my boss says take the tow truck into the city and at a certain parking lot there will be a blue beetle parked there, tow that car back here for repairs, ok off i go find the lot and then find the car , tow it back to the shop and the boss comes out and looks at the car and tells me thats the wrong one ! so i say now what? he says tow it back and see if theres another blue one there, drop this one off and bring that one back, which i did , but the parking spot where the first one was already taken so i had to put it way down the other end. i always wondered what the owner thought what happened.
     
    charleyw likes this.
  27. The Odometer Recalibration Department Story.
    Odometer recalibrating probably had it's start shortly after the first few used cars were traded in at the beginning of the used automobile business blossoming time. Turn of the 20th century maybe?
    It lasted until the advent of stiff federal laws and penalties and the arrival of speedy computers and Carfax type tracking companies.
    I'm sure it is still practiced over-seas in other countries where many cars from the states are exported to and the mileage history gets erased.
    I was first educated to this black art while visiting a large metropolitan wholesaler's building one day in the late 60's
    I was young and dumb so didn't really know all the dealer tricks at that time, although knew some funny stuff occurred to vehicles when no longer loved by their owners and were rapidly wearing out or just rusting away.
    It seemed to me that I rarely saw a used vehicle displayed for sale reading over 50,000 or 60,000 miles.
    50 grand was full life expectancy I figured in my dumb little mind.
    Anyhow.........hanging around the huge garage where all the wholesalers gathered I witness this fairly new yellow Corvette coupe wheel into the building one summer afternoon. Out steps a young man, maybe late 20's early 30's, perfectly manicured long wavy blond hair, pressed light tan slacks, a perfect unwrinkled white button-down collard shirt and he's carrying a doctor's medical bag.
    My first thought is some old dealer had a heart attack inside here or the guy is cruising and offering flue shots for a price. He looks very professional, like a doctor or lawyer maybe.
    He stands out from the rest of us. We're dressed in shorts, or jeans or anything we pulled out off the floor in the morning.
    I ask some old time wholesaler, Louie B., standing next to me and ask him "Who's the guy in the Corvette?"
    Old Louie responds "That's the doctor."
    Me..."The doctor? Who's sick?"
    Louie.... "Watch for a while kid, the doctor can make old cars new again."
    I watch the "Doctor" go down one row of about 40 cars then up a second row of about 30 cars, a pick and screwdriver in his hands, and now wearing fucking hospital scrubs over his nice clothing.
    A couple of hours later, he puts away these surgical instrument, pulls off the scrubs, takes a big pile of money from the manager and heads off into the evening sunset in the little yellow Corvette.
    When he's down the road I proceed to walk the 2 line of patients he worked over and study their odometers.
    Nothing now reads under 25,000 miles and nothing reads over 27,000 mile.
    Amazing, I'm thinking. He breathed new life into every single one of these poor old castoffs. These shit boxes can roll on for anther 5 years of life!

    By the early 80's many of the dealers involved in this masquerade and the doctor were sitting behind bars in Federal Country Clubs paying the price.
    2 of my close friends served 8 -10 for their punishment in this illicit practice.
    I recall one of these friends involved telling my " Jimmy, always remember the computer is faster than the pick and screwdriver."
    He was soooo right. Those stored records will come back to bite you in the ass if you play that game.
     
  28. How about fake yearly inspections? One place I worked had no license, but one guy who worked there knew a shop that did. So anyone who worked there was in, select customers as well. At the time when the NY inspections were $3, all you did was give this guy $6 and your registration. The next day he gave you the registration back and a new sticker. All was well until someone got caught (not from our shop) with about 7 years worth of stickers on his windshield.

    Another place was running a deal as well. This was in 1980 or so but more expensive as it involved the emissions test. The shop used one car all day every day. One day there was someone in the waiting area, obviously a customer waiting for his car. Guess again! It was late in the afternoon and he was a NY State inspector and asked to see the inspection log for that day. Gulp.... 15 cars inspected and only 1 car in the bay, busted. Think the fine was $500 and a 6-month loss of the inspection license.
     
  29. It's catching up with many of the "trickster" now.

    The ones committing serious violations are many of these exporters.
    As our country's used cars are loaded on the ships for export to other countries they have an arsenal of fresh odometers right there at the port to accompany these vehicles to their new homes.
    Usually the ship has "technicians" boarding at the same time to either swap the instrument or to electronically tickle the mechanisms.

    The sad thing about all this is
    Number 1, The USA does not tax these vehicles leaving the country and
    Number 2, some poor unsuspecting person in a foreign land is getting screwed up his tail for paying too much for say a 3 year old Silverado for example reading 39,000 miles upon landing when it has actually 290,000 miles
    I see it happening every week at the dealer only auctions I attend when the exporters swoop up late model mileage cars.
    Our government is loosing export tax dollars and the end retail overseas customer is getting screwed to boot.
     
  30. I worked for a MOPAR dealer when I was in high school ( until someone figured out I wasn't old enough) that had a high performance machine shop/dealer ship aside from the normal dealership stuff.

    They had a '68 dart 4 door with a hemi shoe horned in, pretty neat car actually. A guy wanted to test drive it and they had one of the mechanics take him for a spin. he literally crapped himself. They had me try to deodorize the interior after the swamper cleaned it out.

    They actually let me take it for a spin while I was there and offered to get it financed for me. In one of my more lucid moments I decided against it, it would have been like giving a loaded pistol to a manic depressive. :eek:
     

Share This Page

Register now to get rid of these ads!

Archive

Copyright © 1995-2021 The Jalopy Journal: Steal our stuff, we'll kick your teeth in. Terms of Service. Privacy Policy.

Atomic Industry
Forum software by XenForo™ ©2010-2014 XenForo Ltd.