Ever sold a car only to watch it die?

Last year I traded my 53 buick for a bike, a month later I seen it on craigslist painted flat black with the ROOF CUT OFF!!!!! and the add said if it dosn't sell by friday its getting s****ped!!!!

needless to say I called the guy and asked to buy it back and told him he was an idiot for cutting the roof off (and s****ing the roof btw). He said that it had already sold. POOR CAR!!!

 

I had a beautiful 63 Corvette convertible that I sold and 4am the NEXT morning the cops came to the door asking if I owned it! I told them I had sold it the day before. They told me the new owner was drunk and went through a grove of trees at speed! The car was destroyed and the stupid new owner lived to kill again!! It just about killed me!

 

I bought my 1968 Plymouth Road Runner new when I was still in the army. I sold it to a local kid from the neighborhood because I needed the money when I bought my first home. I saw it off and on over 6 months time and each time it had a new dent or or ding or bent fender which borke my heart. Then I found out he took all the window out and raced it for a season as a bomber at the local short track. Never saw it again but I can guess that there was nothing of it in short order. He must be kicking himself in the *** now that the car is worth a ton and he destroyed it.

 

And I get people *****ing that I should fix up the old cars we sell. I honestly can't think of one I've ever had that problem with, usually they're either run into the ground when I'm done, or they were a project in the first place. I've had a couple get vandalized to uselessness, but I still owned them at the time.

 

sold this car miss it long story never finished paying for it
his uncle promised to take care of it ( good friend ) went out to eat and choked in a stake and died
kid ran off with car re sold it was missing 20 years
found it on E Bay 2 years ago tried to buy it back he found out it was mine and closed auction and traded it in Canada it was in Oregan

 

I had a 77 chevelle redid the thing paint, interior ( swivel buckets, console ) the whole deal... nice ride. had it for a while and decided it was time to share it.I had it in the paper for a few weeks . no sale after many calls. I thought cool I'll just keep her and enjoy her.... a guy called about 2 weeks later ... still got the chevelle ??... yep . the guy drove it maybe around the blocktwice came back did not haggle at all. told me he'd be back with a certified check in an hr. also wanted my old 78 3/4 ton shop truck ??? what ?? give me a price he said ... so I did... he came back in about an hr. we did the ***le work on both vehicle's and exchanged moneys and such ,shook hands and then he gave me his card.... it read "such and such inc." your one stop insurance shop. I asked what he did exactly... he was an accident replicator for insurance company's !!!! I said ... is that chevelle going to be crashed or something.. he says yep.... truck too !! with a stupid smile !! he left and I felt this really bad feeling in my gut for quite a while ... sad deal ... I now ask what people do for a living before sellling something nice to them ... >><<

 

I sold my 1969 AMX to a kid that worked for me, it was a "Big Bad Blue" 390, 4 speed. Hhe rear-end a dump truck with it, totalled it, I took the bucket seats out of it for my 40 Ford tudor. Thanks for reminding me!

 

Had a '56 Dodge pickup, dark green, flat six, three speed manual, wide whites, flipper hubcaps, sweet reliable little truck. Sold to some guy who wanted to put a v8 auto in it. Saw it at a body shop a few months later with the frontsheet metal off and the bed on pallets. Next time I saw it it had been pushed over an embankment behind the body shop.. guess the guy didn't pay his bills...

 

My brother had a nice 56 Buick Special two door hardtop that he used to run around in when we lived in Mackinaw City. We brought it down to the detroit area and he let it sit outside for 4 years. I finally got it towed to my house so I could start working on it for him and fix the 4 years of abuse it got while being parked outside. Got the motor running again and started on the body work. He lost interest and put a for sale sign in it and it sold for 700. I was going to buy it from him but couldn't come up with the cash. About a month later the guy that bought it brought the ***le over because my brother never signed off on it. He then showed me picks and he cut the roof off!!!!, painted it flat black, filled all the chrome and handles and sold it. I was so pissed off.

 

In the early eighties, a friend of mine returning from the military in Europe called and asked if I could go to L.A. and help drive a couple of V.W.s he had brought back to Phoenix. I helped out and drove home a super clean '65 squareback imported from Belgium. Super nice, low mileage car, shiny original paint,clean inside, solid as a rock. About eight years later, I needed something for quick transportation because of an accident, and a kid at a local shop kind of sheepishly offered a squareback for cheap. I say sheepishly because he said it didn't run right, didn't handle well ("all over the road"). Long story short, it had every V.W. killing kid kinda thing that was very popular around here at the time done to it at some point or another. Lowered to the point of no suspension, aftermarket shifter that wouldn't shift, custom wheels with four different tires- some bias plys, ten inch steering wheel, and everything loose from bumper to bumper because of a huge stereo system that had shook every thing loose. I made the deal for WAY CHEAP without the stereo, and a friend and I went out to get the car ready to drive home. Pulled the stereo out, tightened a few things and got it home. Spent the weekend with the car in the air adjusting and fixing stuff - raised the ride height to a reasonable level but still lowered, balanced the carbs, put restored stock steering wheel and shifter back in, Drilled the hubs and mounted a set of Porsche alloys, shined up what left of the paint. Some where over the weekend, I realized that this was the super clean car I had drove home years earlier. I drove this car all over the country for the next few years, and other than the remains of the original paint it was super clean and certainly one of the nicer squares around. About ninety four or so I got my '48 Plymouth that I drive daily to this day on the road and no longer needed the square, so I sold it to a younger guy. Made some good money on it too. Within a month I saw it at his part time job a couple miles away - you guessed it - lowered until it s****ed, ten inch steering wheel, custom shifter that doesn't shift, huge stereo, windows broken AND tinted black, Alloys all curbed and miss matched tires all around. The circle of life had been completed. A couple months later I stopped seeing it, and then found it in a local U-PULL it yard with the nose pushed almost to the drivers seat. I pulled the marker lights off the side and couldn't walk to that side of the yard for a few months. Still have those marker lights too...

 

Sold a rust free, dent free, '55 Chevy 210 2 dr sedan. Next time I saw it, it had been made into a pickup. Made me puke.

 

When I was in the Navy sold a '39 Deluxe coupe. Nearly rust-free but it was only 1966. It was cut-up and made into a dirt track car.

 

This is a very sad story. I got a 48 Ford convertable, one owner. Perfect car not even a scratch in the black paint. The father of a guy I hung out with had a Buick engine built by the guy who raced them in a sports cars at Willow Springs. Can't remember his name. He gave it to me when he and the mom split up because he was moving into an apartment. My dad helped me, we put it and a LaSalle transmission in the Ford. Great car, Drove it to Bonniville two years in a row. I sold it to another kid when I went in the Army. His dad owned a salvage yard. When I came home from basic I asked him how the car was. He said it quite running so he and his dad s****ped it out and sold the engine.

 

that's awesome.

 

that ****s! my buddy sold a 70 442 to another friend of our and now the car is sitting in a barn with hay bails on it, the roof has been stomped down by his kids, the rats ate the wiring and upholstery, rust all over and i want to kick his ***!!!!!

 

Sad what happens to people that don't give a **** about what they buy. Me and my bro's first car was a 54 chevy 2dr. sedan, we had the headlights frenched and re-painted it metallic blue. That was the first motor I ever built, 235 6 with a clifford intake and fenton headers. The guy we sold it to was picking it up for his son to work on...........13 years later I had found out the car was sitting in his front yard so I went to take a look....damn I was sicker than helll!!!! All the windows except for the right rear quarter were broke out, the chrome reverse wheels rusted out and the hood was up with the carb missing and full of pine needles. I was so ****in pissed!!!! I tried to buy it back from the guy and offered him more money than he bought it for and the best part of this story was his response............Nah, my son is going to fix it up!!! What a friut!! Later, JOKER JASON.

 

Uhh.............what? Punctuation is your friend.

 

Oh yeah,
sold a '59 ford wagon locally...never again.
Saw it at a cruise a few weeks later ,front fender had been hit,not repaired,no intention of repair.
Saw it acouple months later, it had been centerpunched ,crumpled door tied down from the inside. I could not look again.
Sold a he**** to far away NJ and still heard awful stories!
Cars should go "to good homes only" like puppies!

 

On the upside ,sold a Jeep to a very good home to tow a vintage camping trailer!

 

yep. I had a 65 falcon i bought for nuthin. i rebuilt the 289 and had tons of other work in it. then i sold it to my buddy matt the drunk. and guess what happened. soon after this he left ,the remains of a nice little falcon running at a gas station and it was stolen.

what a d-bag

 

About the time I was graduating from Franklin Ins***ute in the spring of 1968 there was a fellow in my cl*** hounding me to sell him my '58 Corvette.
It was extremely cherry..... silver blue paint with a matching interior, stock 283 with a powerglide and 2 tops. Paint, interior, soft top and tires were all new, had a freshly rebuilt engine and front end.
You could twist the key and go anywhere with it.
After 2 months of him hounding me I finally caved in and sold it to him for a whopping $1550!
I really needed a bigger car to travel off into the business world I foolishly reasoned.
To seal the deal I also threw in set of brand new M/T raider wheels and a set of new gold lines I had setting aside for it.
He had it ONE week and he blew the Powerglide out of it.
Said it was my fault & I screwed him.
Remember he chased me for the car, I didn't want to part with it.
He rebuilt the trans. and continued to blame me.
He drove it into the month of June and rolled it into a potato field in Holton Maine.
The only thing salvageable was the engine and the rear window in the hardtop.
Thru a fellow I met at an auction 3 years ago he told me it was still sitting in the ba*****t of his mother's home in Maine.
The guy said it looked like a crushed egg shell sitting there the past 40 years.
Sad end to a beautiful and pampered '58 Corvette!
To this day I still regret selling the thing.

 

I sold a Corvette that a friend and I had restored to some game playing POS who I never should have sold it to.I made the SOB pay big for it,but apparently that wasn't enough to keep it from being beat to death.His kid lost more trim pieces,chunked up more fibergl***,and hammered every mechanical aspect of that car.The last I heard,a local Corvette salvage yard didn't want it and it end up at a U-pick-it.

Since my early days as a collector,if I don't like you,you're not getting the car.My cars are like my kids.I don't need anybodys money,so I'll just keep my stuff until the right person comes along.

 

One of my first ever american cars was a 1954 plymouth - nothing smart or unique about the ol girl - just a really good example of that era. I did all the body work, bumpers rechromed and had it in under coat. Guy at work kept hounding me for it saying he needed a good cruiser and that car would be perfect. I had bought another car - 63 Dodge - so one had to go. So I put the bumpers on - agreed on a price with the guy art work and off we go. He paints it black and White and then takes it some 300 miles north to transport all the family around. Car started to decline but at least it was being used. Then one day about a year later I asked him how the ol girl was going and he starts swearing at me. WTF??/
Appears he was on the piss and took off home - came around a corner out in the country side and there was a cow in the middle of the road. Result = 1 dead cow and 1 dead 54 Plymouth. The cow was big and heavy and the drunk driver didn't do the car any favours as he couldn't handle the car in his drunken state so she died!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Big Bummer - made me try to keep all my good work to myself after that - hence why I still have the 63 Dodge some 30 years later

 

I had a 67 Belair wagon that was a really nice driver a few years ago. I sold it on Ebay and it went back to IL. Anyway, about 6 months after I sold it my buddy was at a swap meet in Wisconsin and saw it for sale. Well, it ended up at Country Cl***ic Cars in Staunton IL. I actually have a pic of it there in my albums here on the HAMB. I just checked to see if they still have it and they do, after 3+ years of sitting on their lot in the elements it has gone to hell. Here is a pic of it sitting there now. I'll post a pic of it when I had it tonight from home. It was not perfect when I had it but it was a NICE driver. Now look at it. They still want $4950 for it. I bought it for $1700 and it had brand new chrome rims & tires on it.....I wish I could get it back.

 

My high school ride was a 77 Chev pick-up. It was lowered and had a tri-coat black with blue pearl paint job. It was my baby. I traded it in on a new integra (I regret that too). The night it was traded in, someone stole the shaved tailgate. I saw it around a few times, always with more dents and never clean.

Last I heard, a local rod builder bought the truck for the 383 to put into a 28 chev and s****ped the rest.

 

How bout the opposite,I traded in a tired rusty 77 Fury Sport on a new car in 1988, got 800 in trade. Saw the car about a year later with new paint, wheels & tires, seats fixed etc. It looked pretty good, even for a 77 Fury!

 

My '56 Eldorado, all original a/c car complete with dual quad 365 and original batwing air cleaner, etc. Traded with another club member who proceded to beat the living **** out of it, ran it low on water and blew a head gasket. A while later the gasket lead to a hydrolocked cylinder, which promptly shoved a rod through the block.

I've got the car back now but it's minus all the 'good' parts, intake, batwing, etc.

I've also sold a few cars to a local guy, and while he doesn't 'destroy' them per se, he sure likes to tart them up - everything gets flat black paint, the widest wide whites, bubble fender skirts, and a huge sunvisor of some type.

 

I sold a 56 Canadian Meteor in 1994..Owned the car for 17 years.It has 13,500 miles on when I bought it.
Had a lot of memories attached to the car..Weddings, graduations, just a whole lot of family stuff.
When my wife got sick in 93,we used the car to drive her back & forth to the Cancer clinic..It was easy to get in & out of,so that made the jou

rney somewhat beareable.
After she p***ed,I put the car up for sale..Like a lot of you guys,I wanted the car gone as far as possible.
Ended up selling it to a guy on the east coast.(NH,I think)

The same car turned up at the Crown Victoria convention a few years back.My buddy got the name & number of the new owner,(changed hands again)..and I gave him a call.
Just to be sure it was my car,I had written my name on the bottom side of the radio..It was still there..
The car went to a good home..
Do I want it back?..Not really..Still have all those memories from when i owned it.
But I just didn't want it driving around in my area..

Rick

 

sounds like the ones that improve after sale are in the minority..

most of my old cars I've never seen again,

but I did sell a nice '50 Champion to a freind that right away had it painted a horrible puke green,
and within a month of getting it back from the painter,
got drunk and rolled it down a ravine.
he was ok, but the car was completely destroyed

 

It appears the moral to this thread is to remember that no good deed goes unpunished.


Never take less than the car is worth. Don't give in to some teenage kid that doesn't have the dough. Don't give in to some guy's sob story about why he only has $2000 less than what you're asking. Don't barter it away because the guy doesn't have the cash. If you do, you're the ****er.