My wife says I am a Not too nice a guy when dealing with some people. A young car guy (about 40 ) just left my place in a huff. He ask me how to get ahold of a certain lady friend of mine who has an old car. She lost her husband last year and they both were good friends of mine. He says " I'm going to throw her an offer of $6000 and see if she jumps on it." My reply was "do you have $6000" he says"no but I think I can raise it" My next words were" when you get the $ come see me and I'll take you down there,but right now she doesn't need a bunch of *******s with no money to bother her" He didn't like it much but I know that after her husbands heart attack the people came out of the woodwork saying ,this is mine,your husband borrowed it from me ,or he promised to sell me this or that. She even came home and someone was in the garage said he was just looking to see what would be on the auction.She had no intention of having an auction. In my opinion , the reason we get treated bad when we try to purchase stuff,is because someone else has already pestered the heck out of the owner with no real intenetion of buying. Time for my medication,
Way to run interference "friend", sounds as if she has better/bigger things to spend her energy on. s.
If you made him mad, oh well. It sounds like he needs to think thru before he acts. What if she jumped on the offer right then because she needed it and then he couldn't cough it up. Would have made it tougher for some other guy who did have the money because she might think he was b.s.ing her too... Nik
That wasn't even that harsh. I've sat by and watched while an acquaintance would talk and talk to the owner about buying this or that car, sometimes for hours (over days) and the upshot was ALWAYS that he didn't have the money. Hell, if there were still pay toilets, he'd be constipated. It's not that he spent what money he had, he didn't ever have any. So he wasted other's time with his dreaming. I say you did right, and he's upset at himself, but being who he is, he could not possibly blame himself, so he blames you. Get over it, have a beer and laugh. No I'm not buyin' Cosmo
Joecool, Perfect answer! You protected your friend two ways. One, you kept an inconsiderate, greedy person away from her, until that person could afford the car. Two, you were looking out for her future by working to be there to make sure she wasn't screwed out of something of value. More of us should have friends like you. Keep looking out for her. Remind your wife, that she should have a friend like you, when it comes time for her to clean out your garage. Plan ahead, my wife and I are doing that for each other and the kids.
I got lucky and lived after my m***ive heart attack in june! Ive had people tell me they were gonna call my wife and buy my tools my harley and my 32 cheap.. Sue told me if id had died they could go **** them selfs cause ***holes like that couldnt buy any of my ****! She is a keeper and smart too. Ive seen this **** before and you did good **** him....... Dave
Man you shoulda shot that guy! Your wife said your mean? Nope your protecting a friend! Ya already said that someone was in your friends garge w/no ok from the home owner? Thats breaking and entering my friend, she shoulda called the cops. If your wife was in your friends shoes, would your wife be ok with this ****? I Don't agree w/your wife, what was her point in this? My Dads Not Dead Yet, but he could be tommorrow when he has surgery, my mom already put her foot down, said no relatives to come to the house, cause **** like this went down 12 yrs earlier and we had a airtight will that was contested, but we won...we still can't get back priceless airlooms that were soldoff for a buck or 2. Our relatives are still poking there noses in and around and making cell phone pic notes of what they want now that my dad has been sick for 5yrs. DAMN VULTURES are waiting. I still don't know what I'm gonna do with my Dads stuff, its to much, But I hope whatever I do with it is according to his wishes, were selling some things now, buts its sad
You did the right thing. Good for you. And you reminded me why I keep my g*damn mouth shut. I don't have the scratch for a ride right now. I look at cars for sale, here on the hamb, online and in auto trader books. Just watching what's out there and prices, and trying to figure out what I want once i do get the money. But I never bother even asking a question about a car for sale, because I know I can't buy it anyway. What a load of **** that "young" car guy was peddling, it makes me wonder what's wrong with people. Scott
Man if anything should happen to me I hope my wife has the good sense to get on here and ask for help and you will be one of the ones that reply. Gumpa
You did the right thing,but it makes me sad to think it happened in Iowa. I like to think people have a little more consideration or are just nicer in the Midwest. Sad to hear you got vultures like the rest of us.
I think you handled it right....I went thru a stroke and then a divorce in 2001, my family's farm got sold out from under me, ( you might find that the buzzards may have even shared the same place you did for 9 months...) and I lost my $20k polebuilding where my 28 A woodie was stored since 2001...in 2003. I had to move it to a relatives place (outside storage) where it got pretty rough looking...more like a real antique woodie... I lost just about everything that I valued in 2 plus years, but kept on fighting...and I didn't lose my woodie in the divorce, even though my ex claimed that I had turned down $30k for it...Hell, for $30k I'll build the sister ship to it.... One "car guy" hit up my relative about my woodie this past year.."not original, not correct, wrong this, unauthentic that"...but supposedly had cash... I talked to him on the phone when my cousin gave me his number, a "restored to "stock" geezer"...he's filling me up about this and that about my car...like I didn't know Jack about a Model A Ford.... When I asked him what he thought it was worth, he tells me that it's totally worthless, couldn't give me a price, I should be happy for him to take her off my hands......so why does he want it then?...well, I've had every nut, bolt, bearing and who-di-do in my fat little hands since I was 19 years old, at one time or another...everything that was rusted got sandblasted and primed and painted, every part that was broken got replaced, everything that was worn was rebuilt, and it's a damn straight ch***is that I can fix myself. My grandfather bought a new 30 A Tudor and I dug this ch***is up out of the ground behind the barn when I was 16 and used the 'bones of his car as my first Model A. (Before 1999, when I built the woodie body, it held 2 different 30 A coupe bodies on it)...The bodywork I did myself, with my then 8 year old son, and we researched the custom body builders who supplied station wagon bodys for Ford and other builders of cars...in 1928 Ford didn't make a woodie wagon, but the custom boys did. Ford's first wagon was built in 1929...Iron Mountain, MI up in 'da UP. then he tells me that he'll have to tear it down and replace evrything....and ditch the 2.0 liter 100 hp Pinto engine as well...lose those V8 Ford hydraulic brakes, get rid of the perfect 16" 1935 Ford wire wheels...the Halogen headlights as well. Lose the Pinto mill?...Hell, I told him that was the best part, no more raining cats and dogs nights in Tranquility, NJ, in a campground taking shims out of the babbitted rods to take up some slack because the 31 A four banger was making a bit too much racket...pull a shim, put it together and crawl out and turn the crank...and do the same to the next one. I finally got the pan back together at 1 am and got some sleep...underneath the car...with a tarp on top and a blanket below..and got underway at 0800 heading for Newport, RI to report for active duty in the Naval Reserves. The old guy at the gas station that filled the cowl tank that morning with .62 cents a gallon regular shook my hand and saluted me when he found out that I was going to report for active duty and serve my county. He was in the Merchant Marine during the big war he said. And the Pinto was the first engine that I ever built 100% by myself. Sure, I'd redone crankshafts, replaced bearings, and had cylinders bored, did valve jobs, replaced all the other parts on various engines in my day, but this one was the first car that I'd ever done by myself 100%. I even got the carburetor torn down and cleaned up and rebuilt. And did the wiring harness myself, one wire at a time. Even had to do some engineering to get the throttle the way I wanted it. And adapt an air cleaner and do some custom machine work to make a finned aluminum valve cover work with an Edelbrock oil breather. When informed that I built the car from junk collected over a 34 year period of time, he finally told me that it was probably worth $4000 as it was...and said that my fenders were the straightest he'd seen in a while. I told him that when you buy the fenders new, right out of the fibergl*** mold, they usually are pretty straight. The Woodie comes back home this week Wednesday...I hope to go to the Wheatland Music Festival in Remus, MI with her and my 13 year old son Dan, and then the following week I hope to get to the NSRA Nats North in Kalamazoo, MI I did a lot of work to it when I went to college at Western Michigan University in 74, so I like the trips to the Zoo, it brings back a lot of memories. The wood has a lot of work to do on it now, I did some of it, sanded it, bleached it and did a quick revarnishing. The Pinto head has been rebuilt, the valves adjusted, I dropped it on, torqued down the head bolts to 95 foot pounds and after replacing the manifolds and the timing belt, it started with one turn of the starter and ran like it always did. Thank you to Kevin MacDonald of P T Customs in Burnips, MI. If you have a vintage British bike, Kevin is the man. The next thing is to get the brakes braking again. Thanks to fellow HAMBer Levis Cl***ic, I got the three clips and two brake springs I need for the 47 Ford V8 hydraulic brakes I installed on her back in 76. Now to ditch the 64 Falcon Ford fruit jar master from my first car and replace it with a rebuilt one from a drum brake Ford Maverick, 1971. I had a good family friend p*** away in 2000. Tommy Schmidt. he was an Able Bodied Seaman, a career lake sailor and a farmer up in Charlevoix, MI. He had this Model A, a 31 Tudor that he had owned for 53 years. I asked him about if he'd ever consider selling it in 89 and he told me $3500. It had good possibilities, but I felt it was a little over priced for my budget with a wedding planned for spring of 90, and I knew then that he really didn't want to sell it, and I couldn't raise that kind of money. At his funeral one of his sons told me that they had sold it quickly for $1000 to a local restorer as they didn't have any interest in all the work necessary to restore it. This son was a body man for the local Ford dealership, he didn't want to do all of that work. I wasn't asking, but they knew that I was another Model A guy who was sitting on a pretty good pile of stuff as it was. You can't save everything I know. Old cars still get s****ped on a daily basis withthe high price of s**** metal. I've got enough stuff for myself and for both of my sons. They both have an interest in Model A's, and each of them have projects of their own now at age 13 and 15. One has his T Bucket project, and the youngest has my first A coupe. I've got all of the stuff I have the hard way, from rough junked cars that no one else wanted and many trips to the swap meets looking for that single missing part. I ended up learning a lot in the pages of Rod and Custom and Street Rodder. One man that I'd like to shake his hand before I die has to be Jim Jacobs. When I bought my last Model A coupe from Mecutem in 97 at the NSRA Kazoo Nats North, the one thing I first thought about was the dwindling supply of quarter window garnish moldings and the fact that I now had a hunting license to get another set. the last right hand quarter garnish took me 22 years to find.... Mecutem had a friend who had one for $20...I got the other one at the Kazoo Antique Auto Restorers Swap Meet the following Feb for $10. Old cars are great, I have all the scars, burn marks and s***ches from drawing blood on them. It taught me a lot about self-reliance, engineering, history, and other people. The sad thing is that most non-car people just see the top .020" of the car. The finish paint. I even do that, but I'm not a painter. The next Model A's will have flat black paint. The woodie with probably get a new paint job in enamel next eyar. I'm sure that folks will be over at my place digging thru my junk when I p*** away.
since when do you listen to your wife.... Besides people know you know where all kinds of stuff is stashed down there. I think you were right however. If there is no money do not bother the people just to annoy them for the rest of us.
Good for you!! A friend of mine for nearly 30 years died this summer. He had '39 and '41 HD 45's. I'd wanted 'em for 3 decades, and he finally told me they were mine this spring. He got bad off, and we didn't finish the deal, although his wife knew of it. A local *** that preys on widows for a living was there before he was cold in the ground, and got "rights" to sell the stuff. He called me up, I told him my bid would depend on condition and amount of stuff pulled out of the garage, since they were apart and ****tered. I told him bare minimum of $3,000, 'cuz the garage was leaky, and the rolling '39 ch***is was sitting outside for years. But it could be a lot more, I said. Anyway, he went to some bike shop, got an offer of less than $500 more, and sold it to them. I know he kept a good deal of the money, because he told my neighbor I was trying to rip her off, and offered only $1,000. I got info. from several places, and I figure he kept at least a grand for his self serving efforts. Why no one in the family contacted me is a mystery, I have made a point not to screw folks just because that's the way I was raised. From what I heard of the stash pulled out, I would have gone to $4.5 to $5K. All to her. So....you did the right thing keeping a vulture with no $ held back. On the other hand, a friend owned my '32 woodie. I asked if he'd give me some time, I don't have ready cash, but if not, no big deal. He came back with 6 months time for me! Dang! I was floored. In 30 days I had the cash, and picked it up. But this wasn't a case of anyone trying to waste a widow's time.
Your wife is wrong. You did the right thing, no question. Maybe that SOB oughta consider renting hislef out to people with filty fishtanks. That's the only thing bottomfeeders are good for.
I can see this one from both sides. In the case of my untimely demise, I've left the names and numbers of a couple of friends with my girlfriend that she should talk to concerning the disposal of my garage full of automotive treasures. I've also got an "automotive will", stating who gets what. Although I agree that the guy in question had no business making an offer if he couldn't back it up, I stopped at a house to inquire about an old Pontiac wasting away in their yard, and was greeted by a weepy girl that said it was her father's car, and that he had died that morning. I apologized for bothering her, gave her one of my cards,and asked if when things were back to normal,she'd call me about it at a time that was more convenient for her (she said she would). A few weeks went by, and I happened to be in the area, so I stopped again. The same girl told me that "we sold that thing two or three weeks ago"! I guess that they were quick healers; maybe she made the deal at the cemetary.
So maybe you were "mean" Tuff ****! If the guy has the balls to try to implicate other people into his no $$ yet palns, he ought to have enough to not be offended. Oh, yeah, he had no balls in the first place. He was just triin' to get an oppertunity to take advantage of someone. People are too worried about offending the offensive.
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