Kai:
That reminds me of the 1975 BMW 2002 from California I saw sitting at an
Ohio garage for several long winter months. The owner wanted double what
it was worth (as a rust-free body shell) because the engine had just been
rebuilt...of course, it had 160K total with only the head valve stems/seals
redone at 125K (a common 2002 weakspot). Oh, and these people were fresh
in from LA (sorry, Dick) and had 100% water in the cooling system..the
first 10 degree Ohio winter cold snap...bang...that's why it was sitting
outside this garage all winter. Conversation time: 5 minutes.
Or, the 44K mile all-original 1960 MGA in Portland, Maine...with fiberglass
matting visible in the sills, paint on the body/fender seam thingy and
three different types of screws- some wood screws, some drywall
screws- holding the commission plate onto the car. Conversation Time:
Less than one minute.
Or, the 1967 Sunbeam Alpine here in Cleveland in "great shape" that had
been started prior to my arrival (and against my request), with huge
amounts of bondo in the valance, front panels and sills (after a "minor"
parking lot ding). And no oil pressure to speak of and 100% water in the
system with related aluminium head/iron block interactions/overheating
issues. Conversation Time: 30 minutes (only one here that I actually drove
first, then looked at it).
Or, the 1968-registered TR6 in South Carolina that was a later rusted-out
bitsa-car on TR250 title. Conversation Time: Less than 5 minutes.
Or, the rust-free 1968 GT6 with bondo in the upper parts of the B
pillar...3 minutes.
Or, the 1969 TR6 at a new car dealer (bought as his summer toy) that had
fiberglass panels and rust holes on the patches welded into the trailing
arm mounting area of the frame...so unsafe I refused to even drive it
across the parking lot (and a car which later was "stolen"). Priced at
$5500 in 1991 when I was looking for my car. 10 minutes (I was new to TR6s
then)
Or, the rusty TR6 bought by a summarily-dismissed used car manager at a
Cleveland new car dealer...bought for $13,500 at auction and sold off the
dealership floor for $15,500. (I only heard about this one from a
trusted-BMW tech).
Or, the guy I overhead on the morning commuting train into NYC who was
buying an accident-destroyed Volvo 240, having another guy doing minor
cosmetic repairs and converting the title through another state to get it
off the salvage title..and he was bragging to his friend how much money
he'd make! To this day, I shutter when I think that someone bought that
car, got into an accident and the unrepaired car wouldn't protect
them. That's the even darker side to mis-representing cars.
And I've got more. Bites, doesn't it? I feel your pain in a way only
possible with personal experience. I've had my share of good seller
experiences, but that total is unfortunately much less than the bad seller
experiences. Sorry if this is a little preachy and ranty, but this stuff
ticks me off big time.
--------------------------------cut---------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2002 10:54:06 -0400
From: "Kai M. Radicke" <kai@radiohead.net>
Subject: The TR6 I *didn't* buy...
All right, I've got quite a bit of time to type out the specifics of that
infuriating trip to Canada, so here it is.
****Big Snip******
What is more mind
numbing is to know that someone can this blatantly misrepresent a vehicle.
Kai
William Whitmoyer
69 TR6
72 Fiat Spider
90 BMW iX
91 CRX Si
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