History THE DREADED PREVIOUS OWNER

I'm not a guy who shops at those fancy high-end dealers that Ryan is so fond of. I don't buy perfection, I buy projects. So I'm philosophical about it. If the PO hadn't done his ****py work, the car might have been s****ped or parted. If the PO had done fantastic work, he might have kept it or sold it to somebody else for more.

God bless POs. After all, each of us is destined to be one.

 

You deserve to blow your own horn, everyone should attempt to do what you have done, with your binders and records.
For the new owner to say the binders are in the attic says a lot about that individual, and I'll sum it up, in one word.
PUTZ.

 

These are the engine mounts the P.O. "fabbed" out a pair of old, purchased mounts. Great welding job, eh? Those mounts were the main reason I tore the car apart and have spent 5-years rebuilding it correctly............

 

So you bought it new ?

 

The WORST thing you can do is buy a project being built by somebody that DIED....trust me, I've done it twice (my bad), and there is no way in hell, that you can get that "why did you do it this way, or what is this part from"? question answered...

 

PO's are great for me, I buy based on what's screwed up vs what I need to do to undo the issues. Picked up a neat coupe (off topic 48), because it had "carburetor issues and some electrical problem's) One Sunday afternoon with a meter and a vacuum gage and less then $100 spent, down the road she goes for a profit of $1800. On to the next project.

 

I built it mostly from new aftermarket parts, thinking I would avoid the "dreaded previous owner", which some of that even had to be re-worked. The stuff I couldn't do I farmed out and much of that was a fiasco too. But, Hey! that's "hot rodding". I guess you could say I am the PO.

 

i have always said: "i would rather repair damage from mother nature, than damage from the last mother f'er that worked on it.

 

Actually , I don't think the PO workmanship bothers me as much as the CO's { current owner} belief that he did not mess up buying it even after you point out all the problems. It is only after being half way into the rebuild and having spent three times more than he planned, that he finally decides that not only did the PO screw him, so did I !!! Some people need to put on their big boy & girl pants on and accept responsibility for their own decisions. These are 40 to 90 year old cars mostly built by hobbiest, over and over again! enjoy them for what they are. Larry

 

I have bought cars which were supposedly "dead, not repairable", and because the P.O. didn't know any better, or more likely his "mate who knows all about cars" told him it was a lost cause. So far I had : battery installed backwards,
(Fiat), flat battery (Holden), Bent pushrod (Ford), bad section of engine wiring (Chevy), bad power steer pump (Chevy).... and many more that I cant remember. God Bless P.O.'s!!

 

I'd blow my own horn, but I can't, because it doesn't work...like the PO said it did lol

 

Well I've been one who's always built his own junk, till my roadster pickup came along, which I bought unfinished and then changed to suit me. His work was acceptabl e, but not to my standards, so I ripped it apart and rebuilt the ch***is, left the bodywork alone because he'd done a nice job of creating a track nose and custom hood, so now I have a good mix of the PO and my work, a joint effort. Sometimes that's not a bad thing.

 

Almost every hotrod I ever owned was started by somebody else, including my present 34 ford coupe. I bought it as a Woodie with a Buick cowl, 34 chevy radiator shell and the rest was cobbled together 3/4" square tubing for the wood. I swap meeted everything there except the ch***is which was an almost perfect 33 ford coupe frame and a primo dropped 32ford heavy axle with round spindles.

 

AMEN brother.LOL.Bruce.

 

In the case of my current T roadster, I found the opposite. The further I dug into it, the more amazed I was at the previous owner's workmanship, the incredible amount of time and talent he put into building what looked at first glance like a thrown-together car.

The tail lights are amazing, I wish I had pictures. I knew he made them, as I'm taking them apart to paint them, I find each one has 23 separate pieces of steel in them, all cut and bent to fit together, welded and filed so clean you could chrome them, with a conical section of rolled stainless for a bulb socket to snap into on the inside as a reflector. When I asked him about it, he said he had 80 hours of labor into building the taillight housings.

I got one of the good ones. And while the car doesn't look much like it did when I got it, I am careful not to take credit for all of his hard work. I still refer to it as the Crazy Joe roadster, named after the previous owner.

 

...of course no one on the HAMB is the dreaded previous owner,

 

This is a scab that gets picked so often in my shop I can't describe the volume accurately. It's not just the p.o. as described in the topic, it's also the p.s., 'previous shop'. There's 2 possible seeds to our angst. Either our standards are just too far over normal (hard to believe, right is right, right?), or those ahead of us simply use a lot less "give a ****" than we do. Surely being a shop owner opens a different chapter due to reputation, client relationships, etc. Still, if you think about it (try not to do that too often!) those ahead of you didn't care as much, wasn't nearly as important to them, perhaps they lack the level of technical skill you have, or the cl***ic "...and it was already..." that's the most common fall back excuse if it ever gets discussed. I'll give y'all this one little really dumb *** example, and trust me when I say I couldn't make this up. 33 Ford, full-fendered, new repro fenders, boards, etc. The inner fenders/splash aprons had all their holes filled in and new ones drilled. The boards had their holes elongated, front fenders also filled and drilled. All of that "work" pushed the fenders back about 3/8", which then in turn pushed the front of the rears back, which of course then made the tail end of the rears flare out about 2" from a nice flush side profile. Now there's a gap under the grille of about 1/2" and the fronts can't connect at the center piece without pushing them behind the grille more than 2". Why? "Man, don't you think that looks cool back there? That's kick*** how they flare out at the back!" "What's your plan here?" (pointing at the front fender debacle) "Can't you just bondo that in?" "I think we're done here, not interested in this project." I ended up with the car making all the corrections and mods needed, but this is how far out things can get in the wrong hands. The body was only attached by the front cowl bolts and the last bolts in the trunk area too. Yes, this was a "professional shop" that did all that. No, won't say who, they're gone now anyways. Just gotta **** it up and go for it sometimes, don't know how else to talk about it. My Model A pickup had all new roof wood but there wasn't 10 seconds of alignment done with regard to the windshield hgt, door sag, etc. Skill? Lack of? No "give a ****"? It's as real as the sunrise so prepare for it, ALWAYS.

 

Bet me and loose

 

Not enough "give a ****" being used! I love it!!!!!!

You know that "type of guy" at the grocery store that puts the spaghetti sauce jar on top of your loaf of bread?? Yea that guy. Well that same type of guy takes a different life path and they become the plumber that can't fix a leak, the mechanic that can't fix anything, the doctor that can't diagnose. The lawyer that can't prove **** is brown, the car builder that can't. It's all the exact same type or guy.

That fender job you described,,,, that sounds like the natural consequence of treating the symptom instead of actually finding the problem. Once that process starts there's no stopping it unless someone decides to trash the effort and start over. Treating the symptom is way to common.

 

I am about to be a PO. I built a car back in the 80's, little money or resources. It has held up very well over the years, but it's time to let it go, and I have a buyer lined up. However, I am a little embarr***ed on the quality of build I did back then. I have told him about the not so good parts, and he's still in. Not sure what to do. I invest alot of pride in my work, don't claim to be a pro, (cause i never will be) but I hate the thought of the new owner, showing off my poor quality PO work and people thinking I still do it that way. I'd rather be a PO than a POS.

 

My truck was a case of the PO getting in over their head, and somewhat realizing it. Actually he sold it to focus on another build that was just getting underway. I didn't keep contact, but I bet it sold also

 

I hope you saved those special figure eight bolts. Those are pretty hard to find.

Dawg

 

Knowing what someone is getting into is huge. It's the not knowing or unfair descriptions that makes for a bad experience. You have nothing to worry about, the give a **** shows. Go for it.

 

I had a 1949 Chevrolet sedan a few years back. 350, auto and Camaro rear. the PO told me he kept fan belts in the trunk "just in case" ... when just in case meant the alternator brackets were all monkeyed up so the alternator did not line up with the pullys on the motor.
then to fit the Turbo 350 in, he cut out the center K member and replaced the cut out part with a 1x1 piece of angle iron and two bolts so basicly the only thing connecting one frame rail to the other was the front suspension and the rearmost crossmember.
when I bought it he told me there was something wrong with the brakes, and it started right after he put the V8 in, and I need to drive careful. a quick inspection under the car showed me that the under the floor brake pedal hit the rear dump exhaust manifold before the pedal was down far enough to stop the car.
I think my favorite was the trans was 3 degrees down, and the pinion was 4 degrees down... there were U-Joints in the trunk as well.
I won't even mention the 1 3/4" exhaust with gl***packs that made it sound like a six cylinder, the flame throwers, or the wiring job using all red wire with no markings.

Sanderson Headers, 2 1/4" exhaust all the way out the back, correct alternator brackets, a new strong bolt in crossmember and redoing the pads on the rear fixed it right up. added disc brakes while I was at it. I miss that car and wish I had never sold it.

 

Thanks to all previous owners we all are able to buy a car that we like to build up and the less know how the PO has had the cheaper we get the car.
So don't blame the PO - instead say "Thank you"
And to all the EXPERTS - if you didn't see all the mistakes the PO did - what kind of expert are you?
No one was forced to buy the car from the PO!

 

You already know how its going to play out.
The buyer will be "understanding" as you honestly explain your shortcomings, from your work, back then.
He'll buy the car, take the car home ..... then get onto a forum, where he'll tell the world about the **** work that was done to "his car", by the P.O.
It's the way of the world, today.

 

I have bought several times from a guy that built a car, well he said he did but I think he actually paid other people to build them. Every one of them needed redone. I didn't like the way he did some parts of the cars. I never complained, just redid them the way I wanted them . The previous owner,builders name was Henry Ford.

 

A few things I learned purchasing cars/rods, is one man's definition of cherry, pro-built, show paint, everything new or rebuilt, beautiful interior, look at the pictures, perfect chrome/ss, everything works, etc. Certainly is different from my definition of any of these terms,, especially with pictures, traveled more than once to look at a car (looked good in pic's)and when getting there, you'd swear it was a different car. Been lucky or observant (probably lucky) and never got burned big, but as with anything purchased used, some time, $$$ will be spent, I understand this and don't ***** about it and would still speak and shake hands with all of previous owners I bought from, with one exception, and with him, not sure if he lied or was just that stupid/incompetent. Because I never took the time and now too old and don't want to make the effort, I put up with the dreaded previous owner.

 

"A few things I learned purchasing cars/rods, is one man's definition of cherry, pro-built, show paint, everything new or rebuilt, beautiful interior, look at the pictures, perfect chrome/ss, everything works, etc"
Let's add the misused and over used word "rare" to your list.