how bad have you been burned on a deal?

i was just wondering how bad some of you have been burned, or even severely mislead on a deal?
i traded for a car a while back,it was with a fellow hamber. ( i wont give his name) and was told all kinds of things about the car. crate motor with less than 2k on it, how the guy did all the wiring, new radiator,smitthy's mufflers,and everything but the paint himself. the brakes are a ''little spongy'' but still stop great. rebuilt master cylinder, the list goes on and on.
we decided to meet eachother half way and trade. so i drove a couple states away to get my new car.we make the deal, this cat pulls away , and i get in my new hotrod, only to discover that the brakes are to the floor,and need to be pumped 4 times to get a decent pedal. the steering is worse.
so, i get in and ''use the force'' to pilot this death trap 5 hours back home. it had to be the scarriest ride of my life. trying to tackle freeway traffic with 4 inches of steering play and horrible brakes. and it took twice as long due to the fact that i didn't dare travel at higway speeds.not to mention the overpowering antifreeze smell.
when i got home, i discovered that half of the trim pieces that he said were in the box in the back, werent there. so, i called him to let him know. he told me that he must have forgot them, and will mail them out to me.
everything seemed cool. atleast i had my new project home so i could fix the brakes and steering to make a safe ride for me and my family.
well, it turns out that he cant' find the parts anywhere.so i decide to buy some parts to replace the missing ones. cost me a little more money, but still ok.
so, i decide to go check out this guys old posts on here. i start seeing posts about overheating problems, rear end problems, and the list goes on. one particular post about putting peanuts in the radiator. i go pull the cap on the new aluminum radiator, and , wow, peanuts. hmmmm? now i'm really feeling uneasy.i checked out the new wiring harness, only to pull back the panels and see about 90 feet of speaker wire spliced into it.i look under the car, no smitthys . autozone glass packs.this guy didn't know anything about his own car?
so, i check his friends list, and see my car ? wtf. i check that guys profile , only to find an old post from this guy selling the car before it went to the guy i traded with. they were the same pics the other guy used to sell me on the car.the trim was missing in those pics too. and it didn't mention the '' crate motor'' but it sure was the same engine. it did mention that the master cylinder needed rebuilt, but there was a kit included in the parts. i went to the parts box in the car and found a master cylinder rebuild kit. this guy didn't rebuild it. the kit was still there, and the old one was underneath leaking.
so, he lied to me ,and jeopardised the safety of me and my family. this guy has a family too. all he would have needed to say is that the master needed rebuilt, and i would have brought a trailer out with me.
i'm not trying to bitch and whine. i know it's my fault for taking this guys word ,and thinking he was on the level. i just got burned. i still have that antifreeze smell, and think it's a head gasket on my '' crate motor with 2000 miles'' so, now i've got to pull the top end down to check it out, and fix the big oil leak on my new motor. it could have been alot worse. i learned my lesson. i guess i was just too honest on my end of the deal.but that's just the way i am. this place is, for the most part, a place where fellow hot rodders respect eachother. and i just expected a little more from him. it is , however the only time this has ever happened too me on here. so a big thumbs up to all the honest guys!
so, lets hear your stories. . . . . . . .. .. .d.d.t.

 

Not to pry in your business, but could you say what two kinds of cars were being swapped? BTW; at least your truck (avatar) is cool.

 

thanks on the truck. it wasnt the truck. but i still have the car i traded for. i have to get it ready to pull my 26 foot airstream, so i gotta do something bout that steering box and brakes.

 

Almost every time someone tries to sell me a car, it is the same deal as yours.


"God is great, beer is good, people are crazy"

That is all you have to know.

wil
www.ridefree.com
www.sakowskimotors.com

 

that sucks! I've traded vehicles a few times before with people and never had any problems but then again I dont usually trade more than 2-3 hours away from me and I make sure to get tons of picts, a video of the car running and a list of everything done or that needs to be done

in the long run that guy will get what he deserves though or atleast I believe so...karma

 

Man,next time you get a car don"t take nobodies word on it check it out good and say HELL NO.,theres are just to many traders out there now,80% of all cars at swapmeets now are traders that will tell you just what you want to hear and the only time they ever drove the car was to load and unload from trailer.watch your own ass cause nobody else will.

 

FWIW, why didn't you take it for a test drive before paying the guy, look it over, and see all this shit wrong with it before paying for it?

I don't care if the guy's a relative, a stranger, a HAMB'er, a preist, or even Jesus Christ himself, I'm going to check that stuff out before I buy a car I expect to be able to drive anywhere, unless I'm paying like scrap price for it.

Then again you're talking towing a 26 foot trailer with an underfloor master that, if it needs to be rebuilt, is probably not a dual chamber, so...

 

when we met, he came flying into the parking lot like a bat outa hell. and stopped good. he must have had the brakes pumped up acouple times before pulled in. the car still runs like hell, but there's that damn antifreeze smell,and that isn't normal and he drove it just as far as i did to get there. i was banking on him getting there problem free to be my proof that it was all good.

 

Geez Wil, that is profound. I'm goin' use that....

 

I got burned on a Kustom chassis for my 31 Model A. Ordered a special one off chassis from a fellow named Bill Metz who ran an outfit Bill's Hot Rods out of Springfield Ohio. What was supposed to be a 90 deal turned into 2 years and $13,000.00 bucks. The wife and I even drove from California to Ohio to see what the deal was when he wouldn't answer his phone anymore. After 1 year of "your frame is just about ready to ship" we showed up on his door to find 2 bare frame rails and a tacked on crossmember sitting in a gig. What a joke. I'd never do an out of state deal again.

 

i think i am going to search posts about peanuts in the radiator to see who you are talking about
i had a deal where i had things go wrong after i sold the car, but it was a car that i only had a few hundred miles on it. it needed to be shook out a little and what i thought was a starter issue and could be solved with some shims turned out to be a crank issue. and the new rear wheel cylinder started leaking as i was loading it on his trailer. i felt like shit. i didnt actually misrepresent it ...i didn't know...sounds like your guy knew about it.
glad you made it safley home
tk

 

I bought my '60 Pontiac, drove about an hour to meet the guy, he met me about half an hour, I still drove it myself before I made a deal on it.

 

yeah,ive been burned before too,one thing i learned is NEVER go check out a car you want to buy at night....

 

Yep, and "Beer is proof that God loves us"
(Ben Franklin)

 

i was told today about a guy that bought a 33,000 dollar baracuda off a guy. he went to check it out and the guy just got done washing it, so there was water all beaded up on it. when he got home and unloaded it out of his trailer, the car was dry. he noticed the car had little bubbles all over the paint that he couldnt see due to the water drops. he had to have the whole paint job stripped down and redone. big surprise !!!!! the metal was all rusty.

 

Hell Idrove from FLORIDA to Birmingham,ALABAMA last week to pick up a 55 CHEVY ,had pictures,talked several ytimes to guy,was told it was,original interior in great shape,ran good was 6 but had 350 in it now.spent $150 on gas,pulled in dudes yard ,walked over to car all chrome way beyond repair,opened drivers door and was met buy a oldmobile steering column,1 inch of mold on complete interior,dash just about rusted away,had to have 2 keys,one to unlock steering column and one in dash to start car,popped hood ,dude took a hammer to firewall for H.E.I. dist.at least motor cranked,opened trunk and here sets a gas tank with rubber line going through hole in trunk floor made with a hatchet.ASKED where the title was and then he came up with some piece of paper about the tag on car which was for a horseless carriage tag.He wanted $4000 for this piece of shit,Ifelt like kicking his stupid ass,but you can"t do that any more,Ijust offered him $400 dollars for the tires and wheels and told him he should just throw the rest in .Got in my truck and went home.Oh yeah forgot to mention steering column was welded to steering box,This guy was a shadetree mechanic without the tree.

 

yep, you are not the first. my current project was supposed to have a low miles motor. when I got it and drained the oil it was black sludge. like someone ran a internal engine cleaner and never drained it out. rockers were real clean when valve covers were removed. now I know why. bought a low miles automatic trans for project and took it to the #1 trans shop in town. told 'em to just remove pan and look for crap in pan. if OK, not perfect, put in new filter and I will run it till I could afford a new rebuild. shop took trans completely apart. found no real problems. expected me to OK a big bucks rebuild. I took trans home in buckets, and used as core at another shop. hear much worse from others.

 

I recently bought a car off the HAMB classifieds. Had lots of communication with the seller who was in Florida. So I get the car and half the things he told me were completed were just thown on with little or no fasteners. He said he had the brakes hooked up but forgot to tell me the master cylinder was not hooked to any pedal and just suspended in the middle of the engine compartment by the brake lines. Body panels were held on with sheetrock screws. Mufflers and tail pipes suspended with wire. What can you do. I have started by removing much of the stuff and starting over.

 

I bought my 55 Ford and even heard it run and drove it around the block . Went to pic it up to drive home . Guy showed me everything that was done and said it will take me home with no problem .
Well made it 2 miles down the road and the radiator bottom let loose . Had to have it towed home . Well this guy lied like hell ! Replaced the radiator the had to replace 3 rusted freeze plugs and the trans leaks so damn bad I carry trans fluid with me . The engine runs great but had to adjust the valves . The exhaust had 2 different mufflers on it also . I had to hook up some gauges and looked under the dash and couldn't believe what I saw . Wires chopped off and scotch tape wrapped around wires twisted together ! Needles to say I have drove it around for 3 years with no trouble . I am rebuilding a 302 right now to replace the Y block . I will also be replacing all the wiring with a new harness also along with new exhaust . All in all I really love the car but should have been a $1000 less ! Sometimes you just hope for the best and many times you will find all the hidden troubles down the road .

Just remember , What goes around comes around and they will pay much more that what your losses were . karma will get you in the ass every time !

RetroJim

 

Soory to hear the guy lied. I'll have to check out your shop next time I visit home, born in ravenna but I escaped.

 

yep. my personal favorite is when people say that '' it's got a corvette motor'' i didn't know gm made that many corvettes.and what motors do all the corvettes have in em? obviously they don't have their original engines. i bought a 52 chevy back in 02, and was told that the 235 was a corvette blue flame 235. i didn't care if it came out of a ferrari, i was gonna run it. the price was right. no side draft carbs, but it did have a pretty krylon blue valve cover.

 

haha tell me where you hid the key to the gate. i've been trying to get out for 32 years.

 

Half the things you say you did after the deal, I would have done BEFORE! Especially on a trade! Before you guys made "the deal" in the parking lot, you never thought of test driving this car? Maybe its just me, but it seems like you "let" this guy burn you. IMO, it is 100% your fault this happened to you...NEVER take a guys word for something...always look out for #1!

 

Bought a 67 Chevy PU once that came with a freshly built 327 not installed yet. The 327 was supposed to have new pistons, rods,crank,cam etc. I put the motor in a couple of weeks after I bought the truck and when I got it started it knocked. LOUDLY! Standard pistons in .030 bores and standard bearings on a .010 crank. Old cam, timing chain, oil pump, etc. Essentially the guy had the machine work done and then put the thing back together with all the old parts. I went back to the guys house and he was long gone. His neighbor told me the guy had skipped out on his landlord and 3 months rent. Real class act.

 

Never been burned on a deal...been fucked a few times though. However, since I am of legal age, and there wasn't a gun involved in the transaction, I just accepted it as part of doing business. Whether it's new, used, dealer, private, friend or relative(the worst) I go in knowing I'm gonna get fucked. When the deal doesn't turn to shit, that's when I'm surprised.

 

oh, dont get me wrong, i still made out very well on the deal. considering what i had in my car. and the car years and styles were like apples and oranges. and the fact that he drove just as far as i did to get there was proof enough to me that the car was a driver. but you are right, i guess i should have checked inside the hot radiator for peanuts, and pulled the guts out of the master cylinder to check for the new parts. maybe pulled the interior panels out to inspect the wiring.
i guess i just took it for granted that the car was gonna stop, after he pulled in the parking lot and stopped the car.
i am glad to hear your opinion, but your "always look out for #1" theory , in MY OPINION , is just a pile of #2. people on here should be alot better than that. especially on here.

 

what where the cars?

 

"Always look out for #1!" I don't like to screw people, when I deal with them, and I expect the same in return. BUT, I make sure that the other party is not screwing me, hence the "looking out for myself" part. I believe that if I don't, I leave an open door for people to walk all over me...remember, in this day in age, "nice guys finish last". It is sad, but true. Also, the H.A.M.B. is full of many great minds and people and talent, but don't forget, that SOME people seem to join this board only to buy and sell. Always do your research, never sell yourself short, this is all I was getting at. Cheers.

 

Just this year I went down to look at a car from hamber, a supposedly nice model A roadster, rust free, rebuilt motor, everything is there. Drove a little more than ten hours with a trailer. When I got there he wanted me to load the car up right away and do the deal. Needless to say I looked the car over for almost an hour, and then shot him a price I thought it was worth after I found through rust on the quarters, one of the doors was so caved in, it probably wouldn't have been useable, way more pieces were missing then he claimed. After I showed him all that, he said he wasn't aware of any of it and still wouldn't budge more than $200 on price, which isn't much when it's more than 8 grand. I ended up going home empty handed with $500 in gas wasted because earlier when i asked for pictures of the closeups on the car, he couldn't get to it, which would have saved lots of time and money going all the way down there and coming back with nothing.

 

i have not had any probs with a trade but i just did my first one traded my 60ty f100 off for my 56 olds now .. sorry to hear about the burn.