Andy, I agree with some of what you say, but I would tend to disagree
with the example of the Barrett-Jackson auction. B-J has developed a
great reputation and seems to be growing by leaps and bounds. If cars
that had been auctioned off were found out to be "Bondo specials" or
similar, that would reflect badly on B-J, and their business would
suffer greatly. So in this regard, I would disagree.
BUT, I would agree that there is a large number of dealers and owners
out there who are not so nice. It appears, and I certainly don't know
for sure, but in the more exclusive class of cars, that the owners and
future owners are well aware of the cars that are available and this
type of thing would tend to happen less. I don't know if that's simply
due to better documentation or a close-knit group of owners, which is
more easily possible when they might have only made 200 or so of
whatever car it is.
I think the caveat of buyer beware is certainly a good one to live by,
but it's sad that we always have to be on the lookout for a swindler.
Luckily, the list members on this list, seem to be of a higher caliber.
R. Ashford Little II
www.geocities.com/ralittle2
-----Original Message-----
From: ZoboHerald@aol.com [mailto:ZoboHerald@aol.com]
Sent: Sunday, January 19, 2003 10:47 PM
To: pethier@isd.net; ralittle2@mindspring.com; jrhill@chorus.net;
6pack@autox.team.net; Triumphs@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Barrett Jackson
In a message dated 1/19/2003 10:29:11 PM Eastern Standard Time,
pethier@isd.net writes:
>as we all know,
>many times it's cheaper to buy a car that's already been restored than
>to buy a car that needs a full restoration.
Many times? I'd like to hear of an example of an exception.
I don't have a specific example to cite, but how about the "restored"
car that turns out to be...how do you say...a "Bondo" special? or the
car in which the drivetrain appears quiet and smooth until the sawdust
and banana mixture works its way out through the leaky seals? or the 1/4
x 28 machine screw that serves as a "temporary" fuse, ultimately
allowing the all-speaker-wire electrical system to melt down and...?
In an ideal world, there's a pretty fair chance that money spent to
acquire a well-restored car is less money than that required to bring
*some* unrestored examples up to a similar level of "restoration"! And I
will go so far as to say that this seems more the rule than the
exception within the clubs and within the *hobby* overall. It's just
that I've seen an awful lot of "restorations" over the years that
weren't worthy of the back row at "Crazy Charlie's Chariots".... :-)
--Andy Mace
"The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that,
you've got it made." -- Groucho Marx
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