There were pictures sent (photographed quite well) and description was
glowing. I honestly believe that there was no attempt to deceive in this
case and would not be surprised at all if the fellow calls and accepts the
offer of $12,000. He had spent BIG money on this car and frankly was taken.
The work was just shoty. The only thing that really bugged me was the claim
of excellent oil pressure. I look at alot of cars and have purchased over 25
cars in the past several years. I prefer the "project" buys over the
"restored". There are alot more cars done poorly than correctly out there
and in most cases it's not due to penny pinching or bargan hunting
customers. There are just alot of people doing restoration work that have no
business doing so.
As far as my buying experiences go .......there was just one time when I got
REALLY angry due to total misrepresentation of the car. It was a 76 Fiat 124
that was on E-bay. I was not the winning bid, in fact, the bidding had gone
to $2,500.00, which was $1,500 over my last bid. I got an e-mail about two
weeks later asking if I was still interested. Long story short.........what
was told to be "an excellent daily driver needing little to be a show
stopper" was a basket case. The leaf springs were thru the floor boards. I
had arrived w/ cash and a flatbed and was sicken by what I found. I blasted
the seller and told him I'd drop it at the nearest wrecking yard but it
would cost him $50 for me to do so. If the pictures he had posted were of
that car they were very old pictures.
Anyway, thanks for responding, sometimes I think that I'm typing to myself,
nice to know that some people are really reading this stuff.
BTW: I just bought a 79 Fiat Spider 2000 last week for $1,500. It's a nice
daily driver needing not all that much to be a show stopper. I plan on using
it in it's daily driver state.
> David
>
> I am responding merely to thank you for this particular report
> (reproduced below). Documentation of experiences like this is intensely
> interesting to me.
>
> If you would allow a question, please tell us whether you were provided
> good documentation, and especially extensive photos, before making such
> a long trip with negative outcome.
>
> Thank you once again for taking the time to share this experience with
> us. Sorry things did not go better.
>
> Bruce Burrows
>
> '59 MGA basket case
> '60 Daimler SP 250
> '61 Daimler SP 250
> '73 MGB driver
>
> Reply-To: "David Deutsch" <drded@ix.netcom.com>
>
> Well I'm back from a very disappointing 775+ mile round trip L.I., NY to
> Richmond, VA and back. The Healey BJ8 that I when to buy was only worth
half
> it's "firm" selling price of $20,000. "Pristine" was far from what this
was.
> I felt bad for it's owner/seller cause I really believe that he had no
idea
> what was wrong with the car. The body shop that had it for four months
> ($7500+ bill) had MAYBE 1 man week into the car. Maaco put a better paint
> job, on a GT I used to own, at a total cost of $750-. Oil pressure was 40
at
> start up but after 10 minutes of running dropped to below 20. Steering box
> needed rebuild, overdrive not working......etc. I called the fellow I was
> buying it for and gave him the less than glowing report, made a more than
> generous offer of $12,000-, which was refused and headed home.
>
> Got a visit in and dinner with Ian Pender on the way home. Got a look at
the
> RV8 suspension that is being installed in his MGB V8 tomorrow. It's a
thing
> of beauty w/ coil over tube shock suspension and quad piston brake
calipers.
>
> It's been a 20 hour day for me so I'm off to dream of nicer cars.
>
> Safety Fast,
> David Deutsch
>
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