History How to cheat and avoid getting cheated! (Pre1965) The old timer's stories....

Thanks for researching that. I was told that it was challenged in court by a friend of mine. I'll set him straight. Thank you!

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The story is pretty much legend in our family. We grand kids were amazed they even had cars in 1915. In the 1970's, my grandfather devoted a dozen or so pages in his family memoir to that 1915 cross country trip, so the details are quite clear. I even have a reel-to-reel audio recording where he spoke about the adventure a little bit.

 

True stories from my experience, kind of funny now.

My Brother-in-Law bought a '60's big red Cadillac convert.You know the car, red w/white interior. After he changed the oil the first time you could hear every moving part....it had super thick "mud" in it.

An acquaintance had a tri-5 with a warn out SBC. He glued indoor/outdoor carpet inside the valve covers to quiet down the warn out valve train.

 

In the middle 70's, I was working at a Ford dealer as a mechanic. They took in a 68 LTD with a rough running engine. I asked about it, and the salesman said I could have it for $300. I took it home that night to look it over, and found three bent pushrods. Next day I told him I'd take it. They even ran it through the body shop to buff it out. I put new pushrods in it and drove it for a couple years, then sold it to a buddy who had it quite a while.

 

When I was a teenager I bought a well beaten go kart from my buddy, a "blitz kart" I think. Clapped out 2 hp clinton engine came with it but the bad thing about it was the tires, 4" front and 6" rears. At that time unobtainable or un affordable, or both. One front tire was bad, the cords in it were stretched out and had to be run half flat or the tire would become square, had a slow leak any ways so wasn't hard to maintain. I gave him $8 owing him $2 till next allowance. After being reminded for the summer I owed him $2 I put it up for sale for$25.00. A guy comes over and beats me down to $12.00 and notices the soft front tire, I said slow leak. As we loaded it in the trunk of his car the look on his face said he took me to the cleaners but the look on my face said wait till he puts air in that tire! I gave my buddy the $2 and we both had a chuckle.

 

Well, a padded vinyl top put on a car with a lot of waves in the roof? Or two mag wheels on one side, two slightly different ones on the other side, reasoning being that "you can't see both sides at the same time".

 

Early 70's (I know!) a Camaro came into the body shop of a dealership I worked at, hit hard in the rear. One year old car, insurance company had the car "clipped" to save it from being a total. Body man was a hack, instead of doing the floor pan in a vee cut like was done with VW's made into buggies, it was a straight cut. Really bad job, he finally got it together. Slight miscalculation, the A pillars were too long and welded into place, this was found out when the car was painted and the windshield was going in. So recut and "tweak" it. Undercoated real heavy, gotta cover that floor pan work somehow. Car had a stripe on it that really stood out from the front fender tip to up and over the sail panel, it was duplicated on the repair, made the car really unique.

About three months later at the beginning of summer the guy came in to have us put a trailer hitch on it for his boat......I left that dealership shortly after that.

Saw another car, a '74/75 Malibu wagon come in to the body shop, hit down the side. Parts were ordered from information on the repair order back in the handwritten days. Unfortunately the writer tagged the order with the owner's previously owned '73. Parts staged, (high volume shop in a dealership) car came in, body man came for the parts. Replaced the door panels and quarter panel, sent it to paint. Only difference was the rear marker lamp was in the wrong spot. When this was discovered we went to the body shop office to get the order, found out it was "corrected" with the right VIN and year in the information but nobody said anything in the two weeks between the order first coming in for processing and that final point of assembly. So the body man has two choices, either cut the quarter panel and move the marker light, more work for both him and the painter or "massage" the inner body pane to allow the light to fit. You can guess which of the two he did, again "can't see both sides the same time" routine.

 

I bet there were and still are many vehicles running around with repairs like that.

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I could write a book on all the "cheats" people have done to cars to make them appear good.
I investigate vehicle fraud, arson and mechanical failures.

 

Please! Share with us some of your favorites.

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1957 Chevrolet: fire investigation. Had it insured for 35K. The guy crossed the wires to the amp gauge under the dashboard. Mostly interior fire. However since it did not burn all the way the 1/2" thick bondo on the lower panels did not burn, nor did the aluminum pieces under the carpets, with a thick layer of undercoating. There were no center floor supports remaining, as they had rusted away. He had sent the pic in to the insurance company to get insured.
I had two others within a year after this one...same scenario....

 

A body man I used to work with got a job with State Farm as an adjuster. He came to the shop one day, and told us he had just came from a claim where the vehicle (a pickup) owner had reported it burned on the farm, a total loss. Mike asked the owner where it was at, since he didn't see it, and the owner told him it was out past the barn, out of sight in a pasture. Mike walked out to the truck, in April in the Mid Ohio Valley, very muddy. When he got to the truck, there it sat, with a burned up rag sticking out of the filler neck. Apparently, the owner decided to burn his truck after he got it stuck, and tore up the motor.
Another quick fraudulent claim story; this one concerned a year old T/A, that the owner threw a one gallon can of gas in, lit it up and shut the doors with the windows up. The fire went out, leaving fingerprints behind that solved the crime.

 

Wow! So use shoddy work. Get car insured for max. Burn car down. Profit.

Sounds like an often repeated scheme.

Please share more. This is very interesting and may help others as well.

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I had a relative who sold Insurance, some of the stories were great. "Great news sir! We found your (stolen) car, it's in your brother in laws garage". A surprising number of people seem to think an insurance check for a totaled car is meant for them, and the car loan payments goes bye bye. A recent political figure once tried to turn in a stolen car claim on a liability only policy. Doh!

 

Very interesting stories. I have seen both sides doing sneaky things. As a kid, a good friend's dad had a used car lot, in his home garage I have seen a home made Speedometer Adjusting machine at work a few times. Gear lube in a 50 Nash that a buyer had traded in. Years later I was a mechanic at a government motor pool. Working the auction sales lot, buyers would do the plug wire swap, cut coil wires, adjust the timing.

 

I went to look at a O/T GTO advertised for sale in the early 80's. Pulled into the yard, car nose to the road. I walk around the side, three "gills" in the quarter panel, oops, it's a LeMans. Tail panel and lights, LeMans. Guy comes out starts talking up his "GTO". I respond "This is a LeMans with a GTO front end". He then "corrects" me and explains that he worked at a salvage yard and got the GTO from there, it was hit hard in the back. There also was a LeMans there so he combined the two to make one. But not to worry, he put the VIN plate from the GTO on it so it was all good!

I thought not.

 

Oh Lord! I'm sure that would be concourse approved.

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I remember an old friend looking at the oil filler cap to check for the color, I can't remember what he was looking for or what it meant. I've been trying to remember for years but I haven't spoken with him for longer than that!

 

Probably looking for sludge or coolant contamination maybe....

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I bought a ‘68 GMC truck, with chrome spoke wagon wheels on it. Staggered front to rear...and the left side didn’t match the right side. Close, but not quite matching. I didn’t notice it for months, I don’t think anyone else ever noticed.

 

karma is a bitch!

 

i had a buddy who bought a slant-six valiant for a great price; it ran on 5 cylinders. drove it to my house, pulled each plug wire, then replaced the bad one!

 

trans or rearend. that was common!

 

Stuffing banana's into small holes isn't something you want on your resume.

 

I worked at a body shop in the mid 90's. State Farm was fixing everything at the time, 1 year old loaded Tahoe, bad wreck, bought another wrecked Tahoe and stitched them together. The difference between the body shop bill and replacement value payout was something like $600.
The work was done well, factory seams etc, very good shop - bodymen were still pissed to be doing it.

 

I have used the heavy oil on a trade in. Bought a car at auction, changed the oil and it immediately developed a rod knock. Put 50 weight and gear lube in it and took it to a new car dealer for trade.
I had to pick from what was on the lot and way overpaid for the car I bought. I was living out of town at the time with no way to swap an engine.

It was a pretty much a break even on both ends.

 

You have to have someplace to wipe the dipstick when checking the oil.

 

Had a friend that rented one of the high pro mustangs for the weekend and took it to the road racing track for track day. I also heard stories of people renting these cars and changing the engines.

 

Hopefully you got some kind of revenge.

 

I started working in a dealership in 1968 and saw a lot of cars traded in that were covered up by the owner . Now I'm seeing 60's and 70's cars full of Bondo that people are paying way to much for