Saving a '40 Coupe, and moving beyond a bad start

Give the man a "hellyeah".

 

drip rails gone frame sucks....

 

time to move on... a little pissed.. more than a little dissapointed... maybe a little wiser...

my last response to the seller ( who now claims that was the only 40 coupe he ever owned)...


Jim, Those are two different cars, I and others have blown the pictures up of both cars, there are parts on the trunk area of the car I bought from you that are not on the craigslist car... check out the lip on the trunks... I doubt you would have welded on more rusty metal... "my" car has parts on it the CL car doesn't. there is no gas filler hole on the body of "my" car as seen on the CL car.. these are different cars Jim.

You told both Mike and I that you had another coupe you were working on.

Yah got me Jim, ...dude I trusted you.

And I guess nothing else needs to be said.

 

I agree dig in and fix it.

I also agree it is fraud. Post the guy's info so no one else gets screwed by him.

 

I hate it for you but that there is the reason i wont and dont buy a car without my eyes lookin dead at it! If i get burned its because i wasnt payin attention.....nothing to do but either sell it and move on or dig in and get to work.i think id move on....

 

I'm not being a wise guy, but a 2k price on any 40 Ford coupe for sale in any open market like CL.ebay or even hamb, means that it will be very rough.

Sometimes we might BS ourselves, thinking maybe it can't be as bad as it looks in pics....but we should know better.

 

Granted F&J...

but...

...the original ad is still on CL. Makes me wonder if he's trying to sell the "other" car.

http://binghamton.craigslist.org/cto/3852863108.html

 

Take a ride up there and see the "other" car.



I had a 6 hr round trip to go look at a hemi engine.
Advertised as '56 354, pictured as 354, verbal description of 354, number verification of 354.
I get there and it's a '54 industrial 331- completely different engine.
Got some BS story about posting the wrong pics into the ad. Easy enough I guess, explainable until the phone discussion of what was being sold.

 

Pat,
Sorry to hear this. That is definitely not the same car from looking at the 2 pictures. There is a dent under the left rear taillight that is not in the CL pict. Also, the bottom half of the tail panel is gone on the car you got and mostly there on the CL ad. You have proof that you got screwed.
Paul

 

Name and shame the motherfucker who screwed you!

Aside from that, jesus. Be thankful you guys even get '40 coupes at all! All we get is ugly fucking four door sedans that are all but gone, and 50 billion ton trucks with a '40 cab on top of them, that NO ONE can even transport because they are so big.

I'd be pissed, but hey.. you've already got no trunk floor, find a frame, put a big fat notch in it and build a floor on top and drop that coupe down to the ground like a nice 40's style taildragger!

 

Heres some inspiration for ya mate.





This one is my favourite.. so cool!

 

Definitely not the same car does the car you got have a standard or deluxe front on it. Is he claiming he took the standard rear fenders off and put deluxe fenders back on it? Does it look like the fenders have been recently removed?

 

Definitely not the same car.. I'd go beat him up...

 

Maybe someone else should ask if the coupe is still for sale!

 

If it is Not the same car, and that is verifiable, then it is fraud and you have legal recourse. Especially if he has made fraudulent statements about it and says it is the same car.
If it is just not as nice as you thought it should be, then it is buyer beware.

 

Doesnt look like the same car to me either...the car in the ad looks pretty decent...rough..but fixable. Look on the left rear fenders..those weird rust orange spots and the orange looking paint on the right rear fender. Also looks like the rear fenders on the car you got looked like theyve been off recently..while the ad car looks buttoned up in the back....plus the trunk floor being gone...

 

It looks better then the one we started with.

 

Pat,
Did you take this any further or just gonna build it?
Paul

 

I'm going to build it Paul, Gathering parts: got a better door, trunk, hood, dash, frame, new front floor, garnish moldings & some odds and ends. I'm past it... mostly.

Just a Heads up: the OTHER car is for sale on the Hamb now, oddly enough; the nose and frame look identical to the one I have sitting in my yard, the same rally wheels are on the back of my car. Now I'm not saying it's the same guy but it is the OTHER body.... check it against my earlier CL pic. ...prospective buyers should be more "aware" than I was.

(http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=745257&highlight=1940+opera)

 

That link is 2 years old - for sale on the Hamb now?

 

whoops never mind!

 

Calling Bob Drake; calling Bob Drake..... Come in please!

 

That doesnt mean squat. Anybody can be a "Hamber". Being on this sight doesn't mean you will be honest or, trustworthy.

 

You know what? Getting the rip is bad enough, but from a fellow member of a community? We here trust each others opinions, ask for reliable advice and buy off the board from fellow members in good faith. If someone here is dishonest, they should be banned. Period. I understand that the money spent doesn't buy much of a 40, but no matter, our boy should have gotten the car he bought, not a facsimilie of same.

 

Making progress: between two cars... the coupe, a rusty pink 4dr, and a third frame from R.I. it starting to look like a coupe again.

Things I have waiting for the body to be done:
'51 merc flathead
t5 matched to the torque tube ala daddy-o
'46 brakes
'40 wheels
standard nose
15 lbs of .23 mig welding wire
lots of patch panels
THEN ADD: many late nights
and toss in a wicked good sense of humor speckled with determination...

 

Looking good Pat! No doubt it will be really nice when done. I've seen what you can do with a car!

 

Glad you are making good progress on it. Hopefully some of the bad taste in your mouth from the deal has been washed out by a few cold beers by now.

 

Hi Pat , you should show em the pictures you posted on my thread yesterday! I will try to get you the measurements you requested later today.

 

Had to take the roof (first picture, the roof is upside down)off to fix the drip rails...

thanks to 39guy, got the measurements I needed to get the body closer the stock measurements, got the body braced, and the drip rails straightened out. Used reproduction rear drip rails , then some from the sedan to fill the gap to the rails still on the sedan's cowl.

Now to find a way to put the roof back on, the flange on the roof is totally gone except for a few inches of it...
...the best way to approach it (I think...) is to make a sheet metal angle that follows the roof line, tack it to the drip rails and then tack the roof to the sheet metal angle. (carpenter is all out of roof skins! ...gee I wonder if they have a damaged one laying around...!?)

 

wow, a true lemons to lemonade story! Sorry you got screwed by someone, especially someone on the HAMB, but it is a cautionary tale for anyone. My buddy took a trailer all the way to Alabama for a '50 F-1 he saw in cars for sale magazine. He talked to the guy, and was convinced it was a good solid builder. He gets a used car lot, his description of the fat bastard and his used car lot was much like Junior Samples on HeeHaw, and finds the whole rear frame held together with bubblegum welded bed iron and bondo! I know the guy who rode with him and he was amazed Dick didn't take an axe handle to the seller. He was saved from buying a lemon but still out gas to AL and back from NH. So good for you, you'll have a nice coupe when you are done. The satisfaction of overcoming adversity in the end should leave a sweet taste.