clueless sellers: let's hear your success stories. (model a coupe=32 ford, etc)

There is another thread going right now describing a situation where the potential buyer went to look at a 32 ford and found it to actually be a model A, etc. Disappointing to say the least i'm sure.

Let's hear some success stories with this situation. Has anyone ever gone to look at an A to find a 32? A vague ad for an "old car" to find a rare Chrysler letter car, found a Hemi under the hood, etc. Maybe a poorly worded ad lead to a thought to be lost custom, or a "1 of 25 ever made" type thing... You get the picture.

There's gotta be some cool stories like this from some of you guys. I'd be interested in hearing them if you want to share...

 

I went to look at a crappy 62 Dodge 200 truck. Ran great, had a push button auto trans in it. Popped the hood, and it had a 57 392 Hemi in it. Bought it. Cheap.

 

I found my New Yorker advertised on craigslist as a '1957 Chyrsler', which I'm sure helped thwart a few competitors.

 

i called on an ad that said 1969 409 engine for $250. i didn't know what it would turn out to be (they didn't make a 409 in '69) it was a 65 409!

 

anyone else?

 

not sure if this gets you hambers juices going but it did me saw a 63 nova wagon ad for £9000 couple of years later was on ebay for £4500 ended up paying £3000 fro a one owner from new arrow straight car . the old guy had paid around 12000 for a full resto before he sadly passed.
the family had no use or love for this fine car it has sinc had the small block treatment and new wheels deffo my keeper

 

A friend of mine was going to sell his "63 split window Corvette, which he bought brand new, for $2500. I told him, "Are you out of your mind?". I went to look at the car and it was all original with 125K miles on it. Never been wrecked, original paint and interior. He had quit driving it decades earlier due to a growing family. He would run to the store just to keep the battery up. I told him the Vette was worth considerably more but he felt guilty trying to sell it for what it was worth, since he only payed $3500 brand new. He decided to give it to his son, who can't get insurance because he's under 25.

 

I wish I could find a clueless seller, all I seem to find is lieing asshole sellers.

 

Went to look at a Packard 120 once. A 35 coupe. Got there and it was a 1201 Eight. A senior car vs the 120 junior car. Didn't argue with the guy, just bought it. I'm waiting patiently for the same kind of deal to come up on, the guy's description, "A cheapo model Packard coupe" which is a home run for me...an 1101. Got a 68 Z28 engine with a 35 Ford coupe once. Guy said it was a 327 rebuilt stocker. Pulled a head and confirmed the numbers, VO425MOXXXX. Got more for the motor than we paid for the whole deal.

 

The only clueless sellers around here are the ones who think that their mid 60's four doors with rusted out floorboards and an inch of grease on the engine are "classics" and worth as much as a fully restored show car.

 

Not a split window corvette but same type of story. I went to a yard sale in the later '90s that these old people were having just in time to see them roll out a '71 Hemi Challenger with a 4 gear. All original low miles (less that 70,000) a fella asked what they wanted for it just as I was going to speak up they said 500.00. he stuck his hand in his pocket and peeled off 5 crisp 100 hundred dollar bills. The guy asked me for a jump I guess I looked like I had cables. It fired right off and he left.

I asked the old guy why he let it go so cheap he said it wasn't worth anything it was almost 30 years old and he hadn't driven it in a year.

No biggy I guess I didn't have 500 dollars anyway.

Maybe I count as clueless I always think that what ever I own is worth what I paid for it.

 

Got a phone call from a friend saying that her niece had to sell an El Camino. She brought it by, an '85 GMC el diablo one owner with 47,500 miles. Got it, along with the original build sheet for $4000. Sine it had chrome rims and baby moons, they even threw in a set of SS wheels.

 

Not a car, but I got a really nice set of '54 Olds caps off eBay for $30 to my door because the seller had spelled Oldsmobile wrong (and so did I when I did the search haha)

 

I talked with an older guy and he said his aunt kept asking him to come down to NC and get the "A model coupe out of the barn" He was into the V8s and a Model A coupe was not interesting enough for the trip. Finally after a few pleas over a few years, she told him that her father parked it in the barn during the war. She said the V8 just drank too much gas which was rationed.

Yeah he went and looked and found a very nice Deuce 3W coupe. He restored it and still has it.

Imagine someone pleading for you to come get a free Deuce 3W.

 

A friend of mine got a call from a local guy that everybody is a little wary of about 10 years ago , " I just picked up an a A roadster body , pretty rough but it's cheap if you want it " Brings it by , and it's a rough 32 roadster body , "Yeah , I'll take it I guess " it was really rough though .
He said it made up for all the other b.s. deals he came out short on with that guy over the years !

I'm just happy after driving 2 hours to see an old truck or something that's said to have rustfree , mint sheetmetal and finding a nice floor . Usually they have a sheet of metal screwed down over the rust . I don't know how many times I've driven to look at big window , shortbed Chevy trucks that were actually longbed , small window or both .

 

I had the opposite happen to me. A friend told me of a 37 Ford coupe. Turned out to be a convertable offered the two old sisters $450 for it. This was in '69 my friend told me later they thought I was crazy and sold uit to a neighbor kid for $75.

 

i bought a 1960 Chrysler 300 for $1000 back in '89.

kid's grandfather owned it.he was going to put a 4 speed in it,but couldnt figure out how to get the buttons on the dash to change the gears.

 

I saw an ad a few years back for a GMC biscayne. No pictures or anything. Asking price was $500. For some reason I thought it was a scam, and didn't reply. A friend of mine did, and it turned out to be a '59 Biscayne 2 door post with a 348 and 4 speed in it. He bought it. $500. FML!

 

I had my OT 69' Dart outside of the garage where I used to work and a gentleman came in to ask if I was interested in buying an old dart like the one outside. He said it had a small V8 in it, but was kind of rusty, but the interior and vinyl roof were nice.

I went to see it and it was a 68' Dart GTS Convertable - 340, 4 spd with 40K original miles. It had been sitting in this garage for so long it had sunk into the dirt floor. The interior and original top were mint, but it did have some rust issues. I did buy it, for $1500 - in the late 90's. I ended up trading it and some cash for a 66' GTO Vert' with a tripower in much better condition.

 

I was working a gas station in 78' .I had a wrecker that I worked on the side with. A customer said: 'I have a couple old junks of some kind in the back yard. Come get em,there yours.
A 59 Morris Minor conv. and a 52 H.Top w/ 2 carbs. ...Charge the batts. ,check the oil ,put fuel in them and fired them up. Traded one for the 40' cpe. I still have and the other for a T bucket kit. that I put together and sold for 3k.
I was flat broke at the time !!

 

dang, where's all these great deals when i need them?? ha. good stories, keep em coming.

 

A couple of months ago I saw an ad for a complete 1936 Ford coupe for $1000 on kijiji (kinda the Canadian version of CL... well, we also have CL but I think it only gets used by hookers and Nigerian scam artists). The ad was posted in the evening but I didn't see it until about 11pm so of course I wasn't going to call so late and risk pissing off the seller. Called the next morning and the old woman said the car had been sitting out back for years but was in good shape... BUT someone had called within half an hour of them posting the ad and said he would be there with cash and a trailer the next day. I told her that if that guy didn't show by the time he said he would, I would come with cash and a trailer... unfortunately the guy showed up.

I've been wondering ever since who got that car... A '36 Ford coupe is my dream car.

 

Got a cal.l have two of them ford flatheads from a truck that
i had come and get them if you want them or i trow them away
Ithought there will be two cracked worn out truck engines
He had two y-blocks one 312 and one 292 i got them for free

 

I was at a scrapyard cashing in some old radiators in the early 90's, and over heard a drunk telling the guy running the scale that he had a 1974 Imperial he wanted to get rid of. I asked the guy how much, he says $50.00, I said I'll take it. I get to his place and it turns out to be very nice, I wanted it for the engine and trans, but it's too nice to part out. I filled the trans with fluid and drove it home. Replaced 2 plug wires and plugs, washed and vacuumed it and sold it to the first caller for $450.00.

 

True story, a guy tries to buy a 32 from another fellow for almost 25 years. The fellow calls one day and says I'm finally ready to get rid of my 32 stuff. How much? the guy asked. The fellow responded " I have 2 others and a small building full of parts and you're gonna have to buy it ALL if you want any of it. He did, and after 30 days of moving the stuff 1/2 way across the country and selling off what he didn't want there he sat with the object of his affection plus a profit. The parts and the other 2 cars put the guy in the black AFTER keeping the 32 he had wanted for 25 years plus. Dont ever give up!

 

^
i think i read about that somewhere. maybe it was a different one, but i read about a guy who bought a whole lot from a gentleman that had been collecting for years. i remember seeing pictures of his big enclosed trailer full, and reading that it didn't even make a dent in what was there.

 

My story is a 1968 442 W-30. I was living in the L.A. area in the 1980s and had a 1969 Hurst/Olds. There was an ad in the Recycler for a 1969 442 parts car with a "Hurst front end" (his words). I went to look at the car, pulled into the seller's driveway, and immediately saw that the car was a 68, not a 69. I'm ready to turn and leave, but just for the heck of it I get out and look at the 68. The seller has already pulled the engine and trans to use in his '56 F-100 project. I lift the hood on the 68 and immediately see red inner fenders, air duct tubes, and under-bumper scoops. The car is a numbers-matching 68 W-30. I spent the next hour talking him into selling me the car WITH the motor and trans, which he finally did for $800. The car was not only complete (except that the original TH400 had been replaced with a four speed early in it's life) but it was fully loaded - PW, PSeat, 4.33 posi, UHV electronic ignition, Ralley Pack, etc. The car had 27,000 original miles, all applied 1/4 mile at a time. Unfortunately it had subsequently sat in a field for about five years and people had been shooting at it and beating on it. He had no idea what it was.

 

Good stories, wish I had one to add.
I usually get pretty good deals on the stuff I buy, but I usually deal with people that know what they have.
Friend of mine got one of those window mount swamp coolers for his 54 of ebay for 50 bucks, NOS too. Guy found it in his grandpa's attic, had no idea what is was and dude managed to stumble across is on ebay somehow.

 

My one story morphs into two, I run into a guy from hs at the local paint store, he asks me if I would be interested in his grandfathers 46 ford sedan. I had one already and said I wasnt really interested but would look at it and try to help him sell it. I look at the car a couple days later and find it has a built 50 merc flathead, all the brakes are redone along with alot of new parts gramps was going to use but didnt before he passed. Bought it for 800. A couple years earlier I run into a guy at a local threesherie (old steam tractors etc) in the car show area. He has this totally clapped out 37 for sale. I talk to him a little bit and find out he is from the same town as a friend of mine that used to race top fuel cars and helped him pit the car in the 60s. We talk for over an hour and as Im about to leave I ask him if he has anything else for sale. Yes, I have a 32 roadster to sell. He proceeds to tell me about this car that is so nice that I think this has got to be bs. I arrange to see the car a couple weeks later and it is everything he said it was. Complete roadster less engine with a 36 tranny. He wants 16k for the car he says but I couldnt get him to sell it to me. Fast forward almost 3 years of keeping in contact with him and he finally calls me one day and has decided to sell me the roadster but now he wants 20k. Not a problem, when can I pick it up? Got it a week later. So I strip the engine and alot of other parts I can use on the roadster from the 46 ford, along with parts for the 46 I need and then sold the remains of the 46 for 1200. I am truly blessed. All this took place about 8 years ago after looking for that car for almost 30 years.

 

You got that right. I see you got some mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmms.