"John Harvey" <harvey5691@xxxxxxx>:
>
>I live where I can easily look at country classic cars in person. If you are
>considering one of their cars, have someone who is knowledgable look in
>person, because there is a lot of junk there, a lot of stuff that is
>cosmetically freshened, and not much that is worth half what they are asking
Thanks for the good advice, I had looked longingly at one, probably
wouldn't have done anything but I feel better "knowing" it wasn't worth
it <g> I have a few tales of bad dealers.
Here in Tampa, when I started getting into collecting a classic dealert
"Dave" had some nice stuff including a pristine E-Type OTS V12. I drove
it and came back later to compression test it. Don't know why I tried
all 12 cylinders, the variances were all over the place. At its price
then of $15K I should have bought it and sold it on the upmarket but
c'est la vie. Dave later claimed he took it to the Jag place and there
was nothing wrong with it. Right! I went back to him anyway because he
advertised a nice a no-rust '72 240Z. Turned out to be a rusty '73 (big
difference on both counts). Later I found a mechanic who got a bouncer
from Dave. Steve had a friend at the bank and asked her to check every
so often and if Dave had enough in the account to call him. A month
later she did and Steve ran over and cashed the check. One more story
about Dave: a friend consigned his Vette with a stated minimum. Dave
calls, "Good news! I sold your car!" For a couple grand under the
minimum. While the friend is going 'round with Dave he spots the car in
Clearwater and, still having the keys, drove off with it. Called the
police and Dave the next day and let them thrash it out with the bereft
new-owner.
Now, to me. I was one of 15 owners who was a consignment victim of
Suncoast Classic in Clearwater, dealer gone bad who sold our cars and
skipped town without paying us. Mine were a '46 Continental and a '31
Auburn 898A phaeton and I was out more than $60K (and that was lucky
because I happened in a few days before he left town and he gave me $15K
swearing the rest would come on Monday. Heh). Norm
--
A toast to the weapons of war, may they rust in peace. -Robert Orben
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