My sorry brush with the past

[Ghoste]

I recently made an effort to try and get a car back that I owned a long time ago.  What resulted was a sad failure.  As I mentioned in a thread a while back, the current owner had contacted me about buying a 69 Charger that I had sold nearly 20 years ago.  Now every car guy seems to end up with a car they regret selling and this was mine.  I knew the guy was calling me in the hopes of gouging my sentimentality for the car but I was willing to take a little gouging to get it back.
Anyway, after several phone conversations and him sending me some photos, we agreed on a price.  It was high, but based on what I was told and had seen, I thought it wasn't too excessive.  WRONG!!!!
He "forgot" to take interior pics, so I had asked him some very specific questions about the interior.  He lied.  The car ended up being little more than a parts car with new paint.  It was obvious he has kept it outside for a long time. Starting with the exterior, the grille was sitting in there loosely, the front frame rails were patched, the rears were patched.  Where the rear wasn't patched, it was all punky.  You could squeeze the frames together by hand.  The trunk floor had been extremely poorly patched at one point and the patch was rusting out badly.  The original jack was gone.  He had bald tires on crusty unilug rims and one of the  rears had come off on him and there was a small dent in the drivers 1/4 and a bigger one in the valence.  Speaking of sheet metal, when I sold the car, a bunch of NOS sheet metal went with it.  This included a 70 1/4 panel and a 69 1/4 panel as well as the rear valence.  The 70 1/4 went on as is and for the 69, rather than put in a patch on the 70 side for the marker light, they decided it was easier to cut a hole in the 69 panel and put a 70 marker light on both sides.  Every suspension bushing from front to back was gone except for upper control arms.  He had replaced at least the drivers side upper control arm bushings but not realigned the front end.  The drivers uppers had the retaining cup for the cam bolt rewelded on there.  The inner fenders weren't rusted out so why did they weld in a new cup?  Because the upper control arms were siezed from sitting outside.  Wouldn't you have enough sense to redo the entire front end and get an alignment?
Front brakes were siezed on one side and one at the back was leaking.  The steering box was shot.  The engine was the same 440 I rebuiilt 20 years ago and drag raced each weekend for a year.  I'm sure it has had a few poundings since then as well.  He did replace the cam but the rest is the same and has to be ready to go.  Underhood, they pulled the engine to repaint and masked the master cylinder and steering box but all hoses and wiring are now bright yellow.
The interior was absolutely disgusting.  Everything but the dash pad needed replacement.  Guages didn't work, a hole where the radio was.  Glovebox door didn't work but the liner was missing anyway.  Every ashtray was full of roaches (not the six legged kind) and the floor was covered in dirt and gravel.  In the back seat, someone had been ripping chunks of foam out from the holes in the seat covers.   I could go on and on but I think you get the idea now.
I drove 8 hours in each direction to get the car and wasted a day of my vacation.  It was up in Pembroke north of Ottawa so it wasn't a case of I should have gotten someone to go look at the car.  I should have, but it just wasn't practical.  I expected some warts (I expected a lot of warts) but I didn't expect what I found.
He seems to think he is going to put it on e bay and get 30 or 40 grand.  Good luck.
I am more angry at what he did to the car than I am for him not being truthful with me.  It was sad and disgusting.  I couldn't even bring myself to take pictures of the mess.  It would have been like taking a camera to a funeral to get some shots of a corpse.
For the money I was ready to pay, I will likely end up with a nice Charger addition soon.

[bull]

Sorry man. I know more than one of these guys who think they are sitting on gold when it's actually a light shade of rust. There's a guy here in Portland who had a '68 Charger "R/T" advertised in the local paper for $20k. I called him up and asked about the car one day and he said all it needs is an interior, some rust repair and paint (is that all ). But the 340 has been rebuilt and runs great. Um, 340? I asked. So what does the VIN start with, XS or XP? XP he says so I wish him luck and hang up. Couple weeks later it's still in the paper and the price is at $16k. A week after that it's still in the paper but the price is $14k, then back up to $16k a week later. Then it dissappears so he either sold it to some sucker or gave up. Reality is a difficult place for some people to operate within.

[TruckDriver]

The car ended up being little more than a parts car with new paint.  It was obvious he has kept it outside for a long time.

Sorry to hear that.


Is the car registered with Chris? That way HALPG doesn't buy it and sell it as a "nice project" car.

[Ghoste]

It's a loooooong way from HellPigs base of operations so I can't see it ending up there realistically but I am going to register it with Chris anyway (I don't know why I have never done that before?).
What I see happening is one of two scenario's, someone up in the northern wilds of Ontario who knows nothing about cars pays too much because of the shiny new paint, OR, no one bites at the price he wants and the car keeps coming down in price until it gets sold for what it is actually worth (about 10 to 20 percent of what he and I had agreed upon).
The car could be saved but there are no more patch jobs left in it.  It needs a rotisserie at this point and I was probably the only one who would spend rotisserie money on the car to bring it back properly.  In 5 years it will be crushed.  I can almost guarantee that happening.

[firefighter3931]

Sorry to hear the car is so rough. I just don't understand these sellers....why not be honest about the condition ? As if the potential buyer won't see all that's wrong with the car....just a waste of time for everyone involved. 

That idiot should have at least covered your fuel costs....it's the LEAST he should have done for his lack of honesty. 


Ron

[Charger_Fan]

That's gotta be a pretty bad feeling seeing what happened to your car. Sometimes it's better to not chase down cars from your past, because the end result just might tarnish all he good memories you have of it.

That's probably the main reason why I haven't sold my favorite vehicles...I'm just too chicken to see how bad someone else might treat them.
I've seen three of my previously owned trucks, two of them looked like they had been on the losing end of some serious crash testing.   One still looked exactly the same, except the swapped an auto in place of the 4-speed.

[rt green]

man, thats like finding out one of your relitives is a hooker, or something. its just horrible. well, only one thing to do, build one like it. only without all the bad news

[tan top]

sorry to hear that (Ghoste) , what a dissapointment , after a chance to buy your old charger back , it makes you wonder what the other
owner / s  do to the car , to get them in that state. is it a definite no, even if the guy drops the asking price, i say this because  if it were me because of the sentimental value i would still want to by it ,  may be wait till the guy sells it , then approach the new owner to see if he wants to sell at a more realistic price ,

[Ghoste]

I had kept tabs on the car somewhat over the years.  The three owners between myself and this guy had both taken care of it.  Naturally each time they sold it, I found out too late.
My next 69 is out there waiting for me.

[THE COLONEL]

Wow.   I just don't know how I'd feel seeing a car I loved so much, being treated so badly, and then finding the end product.  I think I woud have shed a tear.  Sorry to hear that.

[dodge freak]

This why I never understand how people can buy a car that cost $10,000+ on E-bay without seeing it in person! Maybe a newer car from a dealer, Maybe, but I could not, and a 30-40 year old car-no way, there is too much that could be bad or wrong. Anybody can take a picture thats 5 years old and say its 1 week old. Nope , some of the cars Look nice but again how old is the picture and when you look at the bottom how do you know its the same car? Sometimes the best cars are the ones that the owner says its in so so or ok shape. Then again sometimes its total junk. Well at least you still have your money-on good old E-bay you be fighting to get it back now.

[BigBlockSam]

sorry Ghoste. got your hopes up for nothing. 

[Back N Black]

Hi Ghoste, I'm new to the site and live in the Pembroke area. It would'ent happen to be a yellow R/T clone by chance?

[Ghoste]

Yes.  Do you know the guy who owns it at all?

[Back N Black]

I have never met the guy, saw the car a couple of times last summer. I have a bunch of charger parts for sale in the local i sell, he called me up looking for interior parts. He started to tell me about his charger and that it was for sale,he said fresh paint,motor runs strong just needed a little detailing under the hood and a few small pieces to complete the interior. I told him I had a friend looking for a complete ready to go charger and when can we come to take it for a test drive. He said we can have a look at it on the weekend but no test drive because he was having problems with the rear differential. He also said we better move fast because he had a guy from the Toronto area look at it last week and is expecting him to show up any day with a trailer to take it alway. He seemed to go on and on and contradict himself as the story of the charger was revealed.

[Ghoste]

If I'm the guy, the trailer is officially parked.  What was he asking btw?
Oh, and the rearend is brand new.  It's the front end that is shaking apart.

[Shakey]

Be patient Ghoste - the proper one will come around.  It may not be the one you used to own, but it will be the proper one!   

[Steve P.]

That's heart breaking.. I had trouble just getting through your description.

Sorry man.

[Ghoste]

Well, it gives me some closure on the whole wish I still had it issue.  Part of what he is basing his 35,000 figure on is a ten year old appraisal by a not very good appraiser.  The current owner feels that "these cars only go up in value, they never ever go down".  Which is true if they are cared for.
The appraisal call for the car as a real RT with it's original 440 and 4 speed and correct "Dayna" rearend.  Which would be great except for the fact that it was originally a 318 car with a 3 speed manual trans and it still has the original 8.75 rearend. The appraisal was worthless when it was written and it would apply today if it were correct.

[Shakey]

Well, it gives me some closure on the whole wish I still had it issue.  Part of what he is basing his 35,000 figure on is a ten year old appraisal by a not very good appraiser.  The current owner feels that "these cars only go up in value, they never ever go down".  Which is true if they are cared for.
The appraisal call for the car as a real RT with it's original 440 and 4 speed and correct "Dayna" rearend.  Which would be great except for the fact that it was originally a 318 car with a 3 speed manual trans and it still has the original 8.75 rearend. The appraisal was worthless when it was written and it would apply today if it were correct.

You know what Ghoste - back in the early '90's I was interested in a '69 Charger that was for sale in the Chatham, ON area.  It was a dark green 318 car with a 440.  I recall speaking with the owner and he had sent me some photos by mail.  It was around $14,000.00 CDN.  I never did buy it - do you think this could be the same one?  I might be able to find the photos somewhere.

[Back N Black]

Well he told me $25,000. I asked him why he was selling it? He said now that the car was restored he would like to take on another project and do it all over again.
I don't know why he would try and BS me as I only live less than 10 miles from him. Now I'm curious, just might have to go and have a look at it.

[Ghoste]

No, I sold it in the late 80's and it was silver.  It went to Windsor where it became a dark red and from Windsor it went to Brockville.  From Brockville it went to Pembroke where it was painted bright yellow and that, apparently, constitutes a restoration.
Back N Black he mentioned something to me several times as well about getting another one (not because he wanted to "restore" it) and I figure it's because there is some big problem with my old car that he doesn't want to take on.

[89MOPAR]

Sorry to hear he wasted your time and anxiety. Kinda like pining after an old girlfriend then seeing her with half her teeth, 4 dirty obnoxious kids clinging to her, and she's paying for food with food stamps. Not that this happened to me, of course 

I hope you gave the dude a good verbal thrashing for ruining your vacation.  Plus it will be closure.

[471_Magnum]

At least you got some closure.

Ultimately, I think you''ll be happier starting on a new (to you) car, rather than undoing someone else's bastardization. Kind of like going back to an old girlfriend...

[Ghoste]

Oh, and Shakey, that car you were talking about, I believe is still in that family.  IIRC, one of the guy's kids took on the car and moved out of town (Windsor??) with it.