Stupid Tech...How NOT to buy a car!!!

Here's my CHICAGO story from this weekend that I posted on another thread.

Finally sold the Chevy pickup on Ebay !

Long story but entertaining none the less................


Had a call Friday night. A guy from Chicago wanted to make arrangements to view the truck on Sat. to buy it straight out.
He said he would call Saturday morning before he left and meet me at 1-2 o'clock on Sat.
Sat morning no call from him. So, I went over to the garage anyway to wait for his call. Waited around till 2:30 and a no show.

Went home, and here he calls saying he's in Akron 45 minutes away. In the meantime, knowing I couldn't end the auction at the last 12 hours. I figured this guy could always just hit the buy it now button and stop the auction. I could then sell it to him at our agreed price.

He arrives with another guy dragging a car trailer the whole way from Chicago. He takes the truck for a drive and falls in love with it and says he would like to buy it. I then tell him about the problem with the ebay listing and he gets upset telling me he wouldn't have came if he would have known he couldn't buy it outright.

I explained to him if he would have called in the morning I would have let him know about it. Besides He can just hit buy it now and it will stop the listing.
He tells me the buy it now has disappeared since when The first bid was in place. I said, I can't believe that and went to look on the computer and found out he was right.
He says, I have 18000.00 in cash, I am ready to buy it right now. I tell him I can't just sell it because I am legally bound to continue and honor the ebay listing. He gets upset.

I again explain about the fact I was going to tell if he called but he failed to.
I told him I can cancel any bids on my listing I want and said I will try to cancel this bid with hopes that the buy it now button will return and he can then sign into ebay and hit it. I go up and cancel the bid... the buy it now comes up.... Yea!!!

I ask him to come in to sign in to hit the button and he says...... If I wanted to go through Ebay, I would have stayed home and bid on it, I will not hit the buy it now. This time I get upset and tell him if he's interested in buying it, that's the only answer to stop the listing. He gets mad, jumps into the truck and heads back to Chicago...

My son and I just stand there staring at one another dumbfounded that this guy wouldn't sign in and hit the button........
We kept saying he really had something to hide.....
In the meantime 10 minutes after he leaves, My wife calls and says. Why don't you have someone else hit the buy it now for you and just to stop the listing and then you will be able to sell the truck to him. It's not right that I can't stop this listing even though I have listed it from the start as having the right to end it at any time.
We said DUHH !@!!!
why didn't we think of that.
Its just that we were so surprised that he wouldn't hit the button that we never even thought of another solution.
So I call this Chicago guy's cell phone, No answer... Leave two voice messages, He still didn't return my call.
I was so frustrated Saturday..... I will never sell another car on ebay again. I'm glad I didn't sell it to that cash carrying drug selling dork who was hell bent in hiding his identity.
Story ends well though, The truck sells later that night and I am happy

 

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(I talked an old buddy into it finally...promising him "free food, adventure and fun!" )


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Shawn is that you? No... Oh.. sorry, my friend has pulled this on me more times than once



I drove from Iowa to Cincinatti ghetto (well it wasn't DANGEROUS, but it was the first time I've been a minority in my life) to buy a '82 Volvo 245 Turbo.. The car has not been started in 2 years, all tires are flat. It is Memorial Day weekend, and we need to have the car running, and me back home for work on Tuesday.

We dig into it and find the battery and brake proportioning valve missing. Then find out the exhaust manifold has FOUR snapped bolts.

After a lot of wheeling and dealing with the locals (the dude we got the car from was a skinhead, and lived in an all black neighborhood.. This was ONE week after the Cincinatti downtown was destroyed during race riots) , we got a proportioning valve, bled the brakes, got tires aired up (bicycle pump) jump started it and took off, 600+ miles home.

5 miles outside of the Cinci city limits, it dies. Spark plug wires melted on the exhaust, due to a missing heat shield. So my friend's eating some pizza with aluminum foil wrapping, and we form a heat shield out of that piece of foil and wrap NEWSPAPER around the plug wires.

She ran RICH, but we got home that way. Every time he'd accellerate onto an interstate ramp, I'd get a windshield full of gas mist. I was in his supercoupe, so I had the cruise set at 110, wanting to put the weekend out of my mind. He kept right up in that damn volvo, which had 275k miles on it.

He only got 14 mpg the whole way home, but we made it back by morning.

Some things amaze me. MOstly how people don't realize how shitty of a car you can be in and still get across the USA It made a believer out of me... He had less than 1000 bucks in that car after head work and intercooler and ran 14.5 second quarter miles with the fucking thing (imagine a rusted out volvo wagon actually beating some people at the track) totally stock except for the boost cranked up way past a sane level.


So I know what it's like to leave the comfort of home to revive a ghetto cruiser. Fortunately in my case we ended up home safe...

 

Dude...you make some messed up decisions...

tok

 

Cleaning my keyboard and monitor.. .thanks..

 

Alright Hack, I know I shouldn't really ask, but just how much did this little adventure set ya back?!?

 

"Pretty" is a relative term. He's appearantly been in Michigan a long time.

 

hey as long as the title is not in your name....

I sold my merkur to a guy from lancing back in august. told him the fan was not installed and it would be fine it he stayed on the highway. well he calls me that night saying it overheated in downtown chicago (dumbass) I get all freaked out since I am moving the next day and the car is still in my name. luckily they top it back off and it makes it to MI.

 

Actually the title thing is a good point. If it's in your name report it stolen, then you'll at least find out where it is...

 

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Alright Hack, I know I shouldn't really ask, but just how much did this little adventure set ya back?!?

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Hey Hack..., if you wanted a cheap car and felt as though you need to drive a long distance I would have sold you my 94 Grand Am...!!!

And You could of by-passed Chicago entirely by taking the Car Ferry from Michigan to Milwaukee!!!

What did you pay for that experience... ???

 

Chicago huh? It probably looks like this by now!

 

Hack...skip the american junk...buy japanese junk...plenty of it around the murder city. My 350 dollar toyota is celebrating its second year with me as a daily driver....the only repair so far was a u joint between the steering column and rack.....still drove, just a little loose....junk is junk....some is just better junk. ...or in my case "Toyota Family Heirloom"

 

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something to my buddy about the chunks of mud bouncing out of the trailer on that one. He yelled "That's a CATTLE HAULER, you dope...and that ain't no MUD bouncing off our hood!!!"

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LMFAO!!!!

 

My dad and uncle lived in south side for a while in the 60's. My uncle was body shop mamnager at south chi caddy dealer. My pops just hung out. They loved it there. But times have changed since the mob moved out I imagine.

I need to tell you the story of the BSA I was going to buy off a guy outside of Springfield, MASS. Just to say there are somethings worse than the ghetto. Still you got my symp.

 

Ummm, maybe next time you might wanna give a heads-up and one of us can check it out for ya, or at least tell you that it is a BAD idea for a white guy to wander those South Side streets alone, ESPECIALLY if you look like you don't have a clue as to why you are down there!!!
I'm not prejudiced, and I've worked those kinds of neighbourhoods before, BUT, I know when to leave, and how to carry myself.

And I wouldn't go to 79th Street for a FREE Citation.

Next time, ask, and I'll go check it out, if I can.
Cosmo

 

Hey that's a bad ass ferry from Ludington to Milwaukee, especially when your a kid. I've got some memories running around on that thing back in the '70's.[ QUOTE ]
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Alright Hack, I know I shouldn't really ask, but just how much did this little adventure set ya back?!?

[/ QUOTE ]

Hey Hack..., if you wanted a cheap car and felt as though you need to drive a long distance I would have sold you my 94 Grand Am...!!!

And You could of by-passed Chicago entirely by taking the Car Ferry from Michigan to Milwaukee!!!

What did you pay for that experience... ???

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Hey Hack you should've insured heavily before you left that fine classic in Chicago!

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Hey that's a bad ass ferry from Ludington to Milwaukee, especially when your a kid. I've got some memories running around on that thing back in the '70's

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And You could of by-passed Chicago entirely by taking the Car Ferry from Michigan to Milwaukee!!!



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The New Express Ferry is a high speed catamaran and runs from Milwaukee WI to Muskegon MI in 2 1/2 hours...!

I just heard they just stopped for the winter and the last 2 weeks they were plagued with High winds and waves greater than ten feet..., it sent the passengers into a 2 1/2 hour "Hurl Fest"...!

The old Ferry was much bigger and has weathered higher sea's of 10-25 foot swells...!

Check this out for some action shots...,

http://www.carferries.com/

 

Ya shoulda just jumped a bus and come after the ford.
Hell Ida helped you get past all the really bad shit down here.
But I guess youda missed the sweety with the shopping cart and the dirty rag.

 

Cheap, reliable transportation.

He never made a road trip to buy one, but my brother liked cheap cars. Didn't matter if they were ugly, and he never, ever sold any of them. He never transfered a title into his name either. One of my favorites, and I swear I don't even remember what it was except it wasn't a Citation, was a total loss that he bought from someone who bought it back from their insurance company. It was smashed on the passenger side and the frame was bent. Only the driver's side doors opened but it looked pretty good from that side. You just had to sit in the back seat if you went somewhere is his car. He used to drive a cab in DC and said it didn't bother him to have everybody in the back. Anyway, he drove it for a year or two and never spent a dime on it. When it was obvious that it was fixin' to die he'd borrow a screwdriver, pull off to the the side of the interstate, get out, take the tag off, throw his junk in a trash bag and walk up the exit ramp to call someone for a ride.

Did it with 2-3 cars and never heard from any of them again.

 

Is that all??? Had alot worse happen to me bro...Its Life dont let it get ya down...Fuck it!!