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

I've always had pretty good luck buying cars sight unseen... very lucky in hindsight...my luck ran out.

Found a 40 ford coupe on Craigslist in NY (just after missing one in Md). My AV8 is done and was anxious to get a 40 coupe. I've wanted one since I built my first AMT 1940 coupe 50 years ago.... don't have a ton of money but I'm pretty confident I could fix a poor one.

This was a poor one... about the same condition as my A when I got it. It would take a lot of time to fix it but still cheaper than a 10k project coupe. Casual phone call with the seller and he sent me some pics, tried matching them to the CL car, kinda, sorta looked the same so I went for it...

Got the car delivered Saturday.....wow.... it's no where near as good as the car in CL appears...

The trunk floors as shown in the CL pic don't exist, there's nothing in the back of the car to even support the body on the frame, it falls to the ground, the rear panel is barely there, the fenders aren't the same ones, but the nose and hood do appear the ones on the car I got Saturday...ain't that special.

Here is the response from the seller after I questioned him about it not being the CL car... pretty vague and obtuse...

my question: "***, The car in the craiglist ad is not the same car body I bought, that car has a trunk floor and some of the the rear pan is still in the craiglist car, and the rear fenders are different.. what happened?"

the response: "The car you bought is definitely the car that I sent you pictures of! I was very clear to the condition of the car and explained everything to you. The picture on Craigslist was an old picture and I had included the better rear fenders and those were the fenders that I had sent you pictures of. I'm sorry that your not satisfied."

what recourse do I have, likely none... other than bitch, lament here, and maybe whine a little .... and feel waaay more than just a little stoooooopid...

..lesson learned, I guess it was my time to learn it. And perhaps it can't be repeated enough, be careful out there.

 

the CL pic...

 

The CL pic try #2

 

unfortunately probably not much recourse at all...a friend had bought a 66 mustang once, looked great in pics, arrived to him after buying on ebay, it was a mudbox, totally hacked together with lipstick on a pig paint job, it became a running joke as the guy left a simple note in the car with the keys... "Best Regards" everytime someone messed up went down at the PD, we would joke later..."Best Regards"

 

well I bought a car several states away sight unseen after having my brother walk around the car and describe it to me and answer some questions. Unfortunately his eyes didnt see the same things I would look for so there is no substitute for kicking the tires yourself.
I might have still bought the car but the price point would have been lower.

 

A number of years ago, I learned this same lesson on an Ebay Car....won the auction,
loaded up the trailer, and all the tools needed, drove like 6 hours one way, only to fine
what sorta looked like the car I bought. When I asked the guy, where is the car that was
in the photos ??? He said "THAT IS the car in the photos", so I asked, how long ago did
you take the pictures, OH, the day I brought it home.....7 YEAR AGO !!!!!, it has sat out
in the snow and rain for seven years....LESSON LEARNED ??? I now ask all sorts of
what seem like stupid questions, the first being...How Long Ago Were These Photos
Taken......Some Lessons Stick With You Forever..... !!!!!!

 

It's always best to see the car in person BEFORE you spend any money on it.

 

he was very careful to not say that it was "THE" car on craigslist....

"The car you bought is definitely the car that I sent you pictures of! "

my response to that, of which I doubt I will get a return response:
"...are you saying the craigslist pictures are pictures of the same car I bought from you?

The tail pan is still there and there is a trunk in the CL photos...

It may be the car in the pictures you sent, but it is not the car pictured in the ad. maybe the nose and frame are, the body isn't.

I asked for pictures of the car in the ad not another car, do you still have the CL car?

You and I both have experience in restoring old cars, ....give it to me straight."

 

X100, especially when CL is involved. If not feasible, at the least get someone trusted to take a look. If not possible, it's a crap-shoot at best, ya feelin' lucky? There're a lot of bonified kooks, creeps & crack heads/pots listing stuff on there regularly.

 

Perfect reason to ask other hamb members to go take a look at said car. Once the money is in his hands the sale is final!

Hopefully you won't do it again. Hard to complain about poor diligence on your part!!

 

All deals can be better put into a context of money as in how much? Recently sold a '40 and plan on selling more so the how much is important to me. Looks pretty grim to me though at this point. Good Luck: Fred A

 

From what I see in the C/L pic,... is that a gas tank, rather than a rear trunk floor? There looks to be a low mounted gas filler on the driver side of the rear rollpan?

I don't see any floors up front, just remains of the "sill" ?

 

here is what the back of the car I got looks like, compare this to the CL pic abov...

 

I have both pics enlarged and I compared...

At first I thought maybe the old extra gas filler was welded up and then rusted to make it seem like it was never cut.. but..

if you look at the CL car, where the lower trunk lid gasket lip is rusted away in sections at the bottom, there is a discrepancy on the driver lower edge; there is a short section missing on the C/L "older pic", but that exact area is not missing on the "now" pic.


So, either another rotted tailpan was put on, or it is a different body shell.

 

Right? Good job on the previous owner to match the "patina" in the patch for the filler neck.

 

Sorry you got screwed. BUT, being here since 2008, you should have asked a HAMBer to check it out. There are hundreds of those threads. Yes, it's a little late for that advise, but maybe someone getting ready to buy a car sight unseen, will read this and get a set of eyes to look at a future project.

Good luck with it and I hope once you get over the shock, you'll get to work bringing her back.

 

the seller is, a HAMBer...

 

You still need an objective set of eyes.

 

Weeeelllllllllllll, this should be an interesting dilemma.

 

Judge Judy is an option.

 

That looks like fraud to me.
r

 

I think your first statement about " luck ran out " pretty much sums it up . It's understandable , you didn't get burnt in the past , so you go for it again . My guess is , you won't make the same mistake again . We've all screwed up , just move on . I think you have zero recourse .

T

 

Definitely not the same car.

 

Cut your losses and sell it. You will be ahead of the game with a better project. Like they said above you need a set of eyeballs before you toss the cabbage. My .02
Good luck in the future.

 

Dig in and fix it.

 

That sucks. This is the bad part of the internet. People misrepresent crap all the time. The new thing I'm finding on CL is a post of a car that needs work but the pictures are of a beautiful car. At the bottom some will say, real car not pictured this is just how the car could look.

 

$2k

 

How bad you got screwed depends on what you paid for it. If you paid say $1000.00 with a clean title you did ok if it was $5000.00 and no paper get out the Vasoline.

 

Yup, I did that about 6 years ago. Bought an ebayer for too much, sent my son 800 miles from home to pick it up with a trailer.... he said "Dad, I knew you could fix anything and I didn't want to make the trip worthless" Wish I'd sent myself! Lesson Learned like everyone seems to be saying, it's best through your own eyes first! Good Luck!! By the way, I've got the bugs out of mine, now it's time to disasemble and paint.

 

If the HAMBer you bought it from is an Alliance member, I think Ryan might be inclined to send the guy a note.