Hot Rods No more "bro deals"?

I am also with you. It seems that there are an awful lot of the 'one ways' out there. There were always one way people out there; it seems that there are more of them today.

So, if you are a decent person, you get screwed because there is always a one way around looking to take advantage.

 

That is how people are now days. you help them out with the hard to find stuff so they can have their dream car. then they sell the car, ya that was some dream car they built, rotten bastards. i could never sell my 40 coupe. i would live in it before i sold it.

 

Never have that problem myself. I always seem to be able to buy high and sell low.

 

You need better friends ...

I am over 60 years old and only have 3 or 4 TRUE friends.
I am friendly with and associate with lots of folks but only a very few are TRUE FRIENDS. I worked part-time in a very good junk yard for years. LOTS of folks wanted to be buddies/friends ... so they could use my connections and shop. Found out the hard way ... they were NOT true friends.

ON the OTHER HAND ...

I gave a nice 9 inch 3.00 gear to a TRUE friend the other day and delivered it over a hundred miles to him. I am sure he would do the same for me.

 

I have some friends I would do anything for to help them out, never expecting anything in return. Then there's the few weasels I would not give the time of day to, let alone any deals.

Life is too short to worry about all the little crap




I buy high & sell low but make it up in volume

 

I would never sell to a "BRO".

 

I think that we have different definitions of what constitutes brotherhood. I'm not trying to be a jerk. I understand what you mean by "bro' deal" and all, but I would rather go hungry than take advantage of someone that I call my brother.

Maybe the problem is your definition of bro ( as in brother) ?

 

Don't let yourself get sucked in .Ask for what you want and that's it.

 

I'm with Speedy, too many guys think their parts are gold.

It also bugs me that some guys buy stuff reasonably, & sell at inflated prices.
Not only is the net result is not good, there's a lack of honor in it.

I've been selling a bunch of stuff this year to finance my project, all at lower than fair prices, when I sold some to a guy I knew would resell them, I felt like crap about it & won't do it anymore.

Like's been said, don't let it sour you.

There's nothing wrong with selling to a bro, 'specially at a cut rate. If you could afford to give it all away you'd find the right guy, & do just that.
It's not takin' advantage.

 

I struggle with this issue a lot myself. I run a powdercoating shop. I really like to help out my friends that are building keepers. But, too many time I have done work for folks who later sold the parts. Sure hurts giving away free labor to a buddy to see it gone later. Lately, I've gotten pretty callous to all of it and only cut tight deals with a very select few. Everyone else pays full street price.

 

It's not a struggle. If you want to give a friend stuff, or sell them stuff cut rate, go for it. But to imagine you have any call on what happens after that, is selfish. Kind of like buying a friend a gift but putting a note in there that he has to keep it forever...................

 

I have 3 guys that are true friends that I give shit to them if they need it and they do the same for me.... other than that I sell it and don't worry about it afterwards NO bro deals........

 

I'm doing a "BRO" deal for some new tattoos, hopefully before the new year. Doing some repair work on a couple trucks. A new rear axle and brakes in an older ford half ton and an ignition module on a TBI chevy, two repairs for two new pieces is the deal so I'm figuring one decent sized piece and some new color in an older one then throw some cash her way for some others I want.

As for making these deals, you just have to be very careful who you do it for. I have been on the good end and on the bad end of these deals.

 

I've had the same deal with my ex brother in law of all people. Had originally offered him a bike I was going to sell at a really good price since he was family. At the time he wasn't interested so i put the bike up for sale at the regular going price. Well who comes out of the woodwork after finding out of the going price, that fuckin clown. I honoured my original price so he buys it and turns around and flips the bike at a profit. Now he's not my ex brother in law cuze I killed him, It's because my sister ditched the looser.

 

It's come to the point where I have to wear DEPENDS now, because I've taken in the ass too many times by so called friends.

I've still got some good stuff left, but I've left instructions to just have it hauled to the ditch and covered up. Hey, don't go a whinning and crying to me, if you could have it. It'll just make what's left out there more expensive for those that do have something and want to get rid of it.

You bet, as a person gets older, they get more cynical, because they've had more time to get screwed over, than the younger pups.

Helping out a fellow hot rodder that need parts to build their ride is one thing, but when they turn right around and sell the stuff, and especially right in front of you. No more!!!!!!

That's not putting conditions on what you give them, or they sell for more than than what they paid you. That's just plain screwing you over for their own selfishness.


I don't have friends any more, but I've got a lot of aquaintences......


HellRaiser

 

I hate to hear that this has happened to a fellow hamber

also I am looking for a 39 trans if anyone has one laying around

 

I believe in karma. Keep doing what you think is right to help someone who needs it, if they decide to take your gift of generosity and do something less than stand-up with it, it's eventually gonna come back around to them somewhere down the line. People like that think that these kind of actions will get them ahead- and I have rarely seen it work for them, and for those who got ahead, they will fall eventually. We may not be there to witness it, but it'll happen.

 

yup, had that happen several times when i was doing repair/minor fab. i was working at a local gas station and it didn't the the "cool hot rod" name, i would either figure out the problem, then they would take it to the hot rod shop or i would modify/repair the car and they would claim the the hot rod shop did it. i heard it with my own ears at the local cruises, i didn't want to be like the hot rod shop....i was just a guy trying to make a living at what i enjoyed. that was years ago and i just work on my own projects now.

i'm still guilty of giving parts away.......it's hard not to, i just want to see more old cars on the road.

 

You almost have to have a split personality, one side is strictly business. The other is for 'bro-deals', and you have to be able to know who belongs to each catagory.
If you are in business, it's not personal. It's business. If I was looking for this part, what would I have to pay for it? That's what you charge! No freebies/special deals for off the street customers. If you do, don't get pissed-off when they sell those same parts at a profit.
On the other hand, if it's really a 'bro' and you want to help them out with a part or two from your stash, or do a barter deal, 'swim at your own risk'. Even 'bro's' have financial reverses that can cause them to make drastic decisions. Shrug it off, or it'll eat you alive.
Anytime I loan a bro money, or give away parts/labor to help them out, I don't EXPECT anything back in return. If it happens, great! If not, I did alright by them, got no need to flinch when I look in the mirror in the morning.

Dan Stevens
dba, Steelsmith

 

Sorry to hear about that Speedy. No good deed goes unpunished.

 

I have a good one. not really what is being described, but pretty relative. i had some early v8 stuff on c-list. fellow calls me up and says he wants the items but cant come get them till sat. this was on a wed. or so. i told him no problem. to my surprise he shows up like he said. we all know how c list deals go down. pays for the parts and leaves. an hour or so go by and i for some reason looked at the parts for sale on the HAMB. i see and ad for early v8 items so i open it. what do you know, its the items i just sold. with my pictures off the c list add. then i looked at the date when posted and it was about 20 min after he called me on wed asking about the parts. pretty smooth move. piece of shit if you ask me.. hope you are reading this cause you know who you are you dumptruck...

 

I once gave over $100 of new traditional front end parts to a friend who was putting together a 5 window. It wasn't 2 weeks later I seen that the 5 window and every associated part for it was for sale at inflated prices???
It's not the price of the parts but the principal of it all.

 

i have definitely contacted someone i got a bro deal from prior to reselling a part i didn't end up using. i think it all ends up working out in the end if you hang out with the right people. if i cut someone a good deal on something, i expect a good deal in return if they have something i need.

 

Dont mean to sound like an a-hole, but wake up and smell the pizza!!
Thats the way this country works....the world works!
Our free enterprise encourages it!
Your correct about only dealing with friends ..but that can do you too!!
Its the nature of the beast.........just roll the dice and walk away....
merry..merry...UD

 

As most of you know, I buy and sell a lot of parts. However, I don't lie to anyone that I'm trying to buy something from; it's a simple matter of, "How much do you need to get for that?". If someone does the same with me, and sells it tomorrow for five times that, I don't care. If he whined to me that it was the last piece he needed for his car, and that it would make his life complete, and I see it for sale a week later, that's a different story. There are a grand total of TWO people that I regularly give the "family discount" to, and they've both proven that they are willing to reciprocate when I'm the one that wants something they've got. Anyone else can pay the price I want, or look elsewhere. I've come out on the shit end of the stick on the "buddy system" too many times to do it any other way. Looking at it from the opposite side of the coin, one of my "friends" once got pissed off at me and wouldn't speak to me for two years because, when I was unemployed, I traded a pair of flathead Edelbrock heads that I bought from him toward my mortgage payment (another motorhead held the mortgage to my house then). I'd like to think that unloading parts in order to keep a roof over your head would be acceptable behavior.

 

If the guy is a HAMBer i can just wonder(not!!)how he would feel if he picks up on this thread.

I have bros stop by the shop quite often looking for parts.I know who to cut a deal and to who not.Knowing who will cut you a deal back comes with time

 

I was thinking the above all the time I was reading thru the thread. Don't let a few bad apples stop you from the bro deals. . Over the 50+ yrs i've been doing this I was GIVEN lots of stuff I could have never afforded to buy. Some I used, some I saved, some I sold to get something else I needed. I've always tried to even it off by doing the same for others. What bothers me more in this hobby are the guys who just keep getting stuff, never use it, turn it ,or give it away. In the end it's sold in mixxed up boxes at their estate sales.... Merry Christmas to every one out there.

 

i agree with you

 

Lot of people hurtin these days figure eating's better than not pissing off friends.

I generally ask top dollar for stuff but if someone else can take it and make money with it, more power to them. I only swap around stuff with friends I know collect the stuff so it's not liable to go anywhere.

 

Im not rich but im laughing my azz off .l