I have to Vent...
 

So I as usual I am scouting around looking at more Trans AMs.. I found what looked like a nice '79 T/A 6.6 4spd about 80 miles from me. I called the guy on Friday & Sat and talked to him in depth about it. Fine, I tell the guy I will be there by 8:30-8:45. Everything sounded good so I loaded up my truck & trailer, checkbook and left this morning around 7:30am. I get there at 8:45 and found out they didn't open until 9:30. Anyway, one of workers let me in and I went over to take a look at it. OMG, what a POS. Online it looked pretty good but I cannot believe how someone could not describe a car honestly.. I was not looking for a $100k or even a $50k car, just be honest! What a waste of time! These guys are in the "hot rod & muscle car business" I will never purchase any older car from anyone other than the guys here on the forum!

Such a common tale. I know that what's considered nice will vary among different people, but come on.

I flew to LA to buy a Camaro years ago. I was very clear what I was looking for, and we talked in depth as to the quality of the car. He just said when I saw it I'd go "wow".

Well he was correct, but that was "wow" in a bad way, not a good way. Called a cab to take me back to the airport and flew home totally pissed off.

I went to see a 'mint' car once that had rust on the roof and 2 flat tires. I didn't even get out of my car because I was afraid of what I was going to say to the guy. :mad:

When I was looking for a nice done driver 69 Camaro for my wife a couple years ago i looked at so much junk it was not funny. I thought it would be easy with a 30K budget to find a car. Turns out most 15-30K cars were the same car just the 30K car builders knew how to hide stuff better.

I thought I had finally found the car in Nashville. Had to get a loan for most of it so the bank even sent an inspector out and passed with flying colors. I went through a week of mailing paper work back and worth to the bank and had my check.

Met the guy in Memphis and pulled up and the car looked like everything it was susposed to be. nice gaps , nice paint ect. Started crawling around and under it to find a hacked together mess worse than most of the other cars I looked at. I was so mad I just started walking back to my truck before i got myself in trouble. Guy starts asking me what was up and I just said thanks for wasting my time. All he can say is " I hope you don't think you can get a Barret Jackson car for 30K....."

In the end it cost me my deposit and some time but I am so glad I went to look at it in person.

Better the cost of a plane ticket than the cost of a whole car! Sadly, I have yet to learn that lesson... TOW was the first of 5 cars which I've purchased online in which I actually received what I expected. We found a few small things, but for the most part, the seller was honest with me.

Certainly better than the 7k mile C5 which I received with corded front tires and keyed scratch marks, or the 'rust free' second gen Camaro from Arizona that I'd swear was a demo-derby car at one point (not a straight panel on it), or the red Firebird that was the original car for TOW that had all sorts of rust that wasn't described. Hopefully never again (I say that now as I'm watching an eBay auction on a potential project...).

Along the lines of POS cars people try and sell, how about these shops who do POS work? Like, when we're trying to find a shop and you go and look at some of their work, only to walk thru the doors and run back out. The guys at the shop are talking bout how they are a"full service-one stop shop" and "can do it all." They don't think you, as the customer, can recognize shoddy work and are trying to talk up a good game. Just like they guy who's trying to sell you the car that's rotted out and is trying to sell it to you as he misrepresented the car.

Hey SW --- You only drove a little way!


I hauled an empty trailer from Seattle to Los Angeles to pick up (agreed up front if it was what it was supposed to be)... a "triple black '69 Camaro RS/SS - with A/C - 396 - automatic - Deluxe interior --- RECENTLY RESTORED". The Ad showed the car at the beach with a sunset in the background -- and warm fuzzy wonderful shots - all from a distance. I shoulda known --- but I was drawn to the description/rareness of the car.


A: The car was a Hugger Orange car painted black - that was Earl Scheib at best. It had already peeled off in chunks inside the doors and rockers.


B: The A/C was missing


C: If this was recently -- or even 25 years ago "restored" --- I didn't want what that word described.


D: Everything about the car was a complete do over.

I guess it must happen more than I thought. I can tell you that whomever gets my '71 Camaro is going to be more than pleased!

SW,

Sorry to hear of your bad experience. I wish you better luck in your search :thumbsup:

It would be an honor to have any of your cars,I would not hesitate buying from you without seeing the car first.If there were only more honest people or maybe guys that know what they were doing it would be nice.