When they think you are a liar - IYKWIM

[grizz]

Not really sure if this has any legs as a thread.

But let me set the scene.

You know when you see something advertised and you make the effort to go look or even buy it sight unseen?

Or you sell something and the day it gets collected it refuses to work, start, perform.

Now I have been on both sides of the story.

Firstly…… when I thought “BURGER !” After driving 90 minutes with a trailer, ostensibly to go buy for cash a deal confirmed on the phone at the time.

I was in the market for a BMW F650 GS Dakar (the rare, original Black and white model) and the advert was on one of those low key .org type forum/groups.

When I got there at 08.00 as agreed, the seller was still in bed….. errrmmmmm.

Then when we went out into a back lane to his garage to see and load the bike, guess what ??

YUP….. Bike would not start. He says due to lack of use. Yeahhh riiiight.

At this point I am getting twitchy, and he is looking decidedly sheepish.

So he says the local-ish bike shop opens at 09.00 and he will go get a fresh battery.

Would I like his brother, whom he shares a house with, they were both in their 60’s, to make me a coffee and a bacon and egg butty while he gets the bike going.

Now I feel a tad sheepish, but a sandwich sounds perfect.

An hour or so later we loaded the resuscitated bike and I had a full belly and empty wallet.

Headed home with one of my dream bikes. (Never should have sold it, they are rare)







Next up………


Yup, you guessed it.


When I sold the “Not a Project” Chevy Blazer sight unseen, except for the build thread and some Messenger messages and videos, the buyer came to collect at 10.00am


At 9.30 of course I was pulling it through to the front of the property onto my drive for him to collect, drive, inspect etc. when the throttle cable mechanism breaks where it passes through the firewall.

And literally in the side alley next to the house.

BURGER !!!!!!

Of course his understanding is a working, driving car.

So in 25 minutes I made a new part, fitted it, and butt in the air, I heard a “Good Morning” followed by “Is this my Chevy”

So I sheepishly came up from under the dash and said yes, started it and sold it.

Next day I flew out to America for the 2019 road trip.





First gas stop and certainly not be the last time.



As sold……the Money Shot.





So what have you experienced, either “receiving or giving the bad news”



Tell and show us.

[BritBrick]

I once went to look at a "concours" BSA bantam. This was a local paper ad, the days before the interweb and easy digital pictures.

It probably was a concours bike...before a decade parked out on the open with no cover. Why the foxtrot lie? The moment anyone claps eyes on it its going to be pretty obvious he was a bullsheeter. I was furious, threatened to stick the bike up his jacksy and parade him up the road like a giant lollipop for wasting my time.


Then it was my turn...


1971 P6 V8. Not mint, but solid, all welding done and underseal, rust free and presentable, a good 10 foot car. Some paint correction (I had resprayed and had done a tidy but not immaculate job), re-plating here and there, etc, and it would have been a 9.5/10 car, but I was getting divorced and needed the cash on a hurry.

Guy buys it on the strength of emailed photos, and flies down from Scotland to Luton to collect it. I meet him at the airport with my brother, who was driving me back.

Buyer very happy, car exactly as described. Cash changes hands and he drives off and gets about 30 feet before it dies in the middle of the road and I then nearly die of embarrassment.

The three of us, me highly red faced, have a poke and a prod and quickly diagnose that the points had broken. He called the AA but I had to leave as I was working that afternoon. I left him 20 quid to buy himself breakfast while he was waiting. He later rang me to say the AA had spent a few hours trying to track down some new points but had done so and he had driven back to Scotland without a hitch and he was very happy.

[grizz]

PS: Another one I forgot about.

Sally found this…… Big sign on it: FREE TO GOOD HOME


Remember it?

So I fetched it, cleaned it and advertised it.

Agreed £400.00 with buyer, and threatened him, if he is not here by 11.00 it sells to the next punter, who had offered £500.00 but my word was good.


Saturday morning he gets here, and I had taken it up the road 10 minutes before to make sure it was running well.

On my drive as I get back it dies.

Buyer tried to start it, thankfully the 6th kick it started.

Happy punter.

[stealthstylz]

Literally just had this, this evening. Saw a advert for a engine I need on Facebook marketplace last week. I work in Doncaster, engine is in Newport (180ish miles). Sent him a deposit and told him I'd collect this evening. Text him when I was a hour out and he'd forgotten I was coming. Luckily he wasn't far away so I got sorted, then now I'm back in the end of nowhere near Stoke so I can pick another engine up in the morning.

[devilishdesigner]

Near immaculate series 2 xj6. Bought in an online auction with an impulse bid, assuming it would go for much more. 1000 or so km away from home. Got there to collect late evening, with a 200km drive to begin the trip home. This car had covers on its covers, custom little protectors made for everything, big logbook of receipts for the last 20 years including tracking of fuel economy on short and long trips. The driver's seat belt stopped retracting 10 minutes into the first day's drive. Half way home on the second day (in the middle of nowhere) it stopped dead, blocked fuel filter, the previous owner always kept a spare in the car so easy fix. Spend a good wad of $$ on mechanical tidy up once home but it was a very impressive condition car.

Sold it when I had no undercover parking for it, to someone from around 1000km away. The morning they turned up the oil turned to milkshake. Thankfully they loved everything else about it, so they changed the oil on the driveway, added some head-gasket-in-a-bottle and proceeded to drive it home happy.

One car, both sides of the experience

[60six]

That glorious Chevy Truck was outside that house for so long I would use it as a Landmark when visiting my cousin around the corner - Now it's gone I get lost every single time! Great transformation - It really looked too far gone, but now it looks awesome, especially with those stripes.

[scrunge]

Sold my Volvo XC70 to a chap who'd come from North West Wales to South Oxfordshire to look at it. (Dunno).
I was selling it as a 200+ thousand mile car with 'dicky rear propshaft' but 'excellent engine', which was the truth.
He arrived, late, after having a van in the services reverse into, and quite badly damage, the car he'd borrowed to come view my Volvo.
It had gone dark and started raining.

Then the Volvo refused to start. It'd never even struggled before.
Jump pack got it going but still, a really poor showing.

I think it was because I'd been shunting it around the communal car park for a week depending on who it was annoying at the time, but not actually driving it.

Gave him the cost of a new battery off.

Paid, documents transferred and key transferred to be collected the next day.
it started fine... But went into limp mode somewhere around Leigh Delamare, which just a service warning. Awful way to let you know a service is overdue, Volvo...
Just a really stressful experience for both of us over a £1000 Volvo.


The other side of it was my E36 318is purchase.
Arrived on the south coast from Oxfordshire, late January, freezing chuffin cold.
Bloke had tried to wash it ready for me and it'd frozen solid a quarter inch thick.
Finally got it thawed out enough to test drive, from which I learned nothing about the car because I drove it 15mph on slush and ice.
Then me and my transport waited over an hour for him to find the paperwork....

I should have walked away because even though it is, genuinely, a mint E36 coupe shell with extensive records, original build sheet detailing its really weird spec (4 cylinder, manual, coupe, factory fitted ///M-Sport suspension, bumpers, skirts and spoiler, sunroof, parking sensors, auto dimming mirror which would have been hideously expensive in 1998, but manual, non-heated seats, no cruise control and only the basic trip computer)....

Every single part of the cooling system had a small leak, it struggled with cold starting, the passenger door needs attention to keep the door card on and get it open, and it's just defecated bits of differential all over the place so is currently in the naughty corner. Oh, and the fog lights don't work.
And all the spare BMW diffs in my area are for compacts, auto's, Z3s, big engine cars or have been welded...

[Rich]

Jul 25, 2023 8:57:02 GMT 60six said:

That glorious Chevy Truck was outside that house for so long I would use it as a Landmark when visiting my cousin around the corner - Now it's gone I get lost every single time! Great transformation - It really looked too far gone, but now it looks awesome, especially with those stripes.

It was last seen painted up as the police Blazer from Stranger Things iirc.

[grizz]

Jul 25, 2023 16:40:04 GMT Rich said:

Jul 25, 2023 8:57:02 GMT 60six said:

That glorious Chevy Truck was outside that house for so long I would use it as a Landmark when visiting my cousin around the corner - Now it's gone I get lost every single time! Great transformation - It really looked too far gone, but now it looks awesome, especially with those stripes.

It was last seen painted up as the police Blazer from Stranger Things iirc.

NEW PAINT REVEALED MARCH 2020




Found in Walmart, Hannibal, Missouri.




Last seen on BBC or is is Netflix, programme “Sandman” with Stephen Fry.

Seems true…….

Another role in film.



Certainly beats getting broken for parts.

Glad I managed to help rescue it.

[joda]

Great idea for a thread, like everyon else, ive been on both sides of the fence - the latest i can remember tho was when i sold a retro caravan.


Around two year ago, i rescused a Freedom Microlight - those small, Polish made, Fibreglass caravans that had been used as a bothy on an alotment site. On the way home a tyre had given in leaving me stranded and forced to purchase a overpriced tyre to get home- anyway thats not the story

I had stripped it out and began a mild restoration, but other projects took over so i advertised it - a lad came from around an hour away to see and collect it. He seemed very happy, Hitched it up and headed away, he was only 1/2 mile from the house when i got a call to say, the wheels locked up, it is of course a wet feburary evening, and I'm sat in the gutter stripping off the wheel, to discover that the brake shoe had lost its lining. Removed the brakes and gave him £50 to cover a new set and he was on his way!

[captainmatt]

Yesterday I sold my slice of retro 90's JDM quirkyness (so now I have no RR, technically not allowed here now shhhhhh) and despite it never failing to work (any of it) mysteriously the supply to the cabin fans (and subsequently the rear heater) was non-existant. I think it was a relay as all fuses were fine. Just bloody typical though "But no it did work honest!"
Battery was being poor as well but that would be lack of use, it did keep charge in after a run thankfully but even when the buyer set off home I had to give it a poke with the jumper. Luckily each time I'd done this the engine jumped immediately to life with no stuttering or funny noises.

[Paul]

I'm still embarrassed by this one:
forum.retro-rides.org/thread/213463/1999-v8-xj8-jaaaaag-sold

I sold it in good faith as a clunky, ratty Jaaaaaag - but within a few days the new owner messaged me - 'say, are you aware of any rattling at middle/high revs?'

Knowing these had a propensity for chewing their cam chain guides I was confident mine was good AND AS GOD AS MY WITNESS it was absolutely fine when I drove it. Yet within a couple of weeks the engine had eaten itself. I did give a partial refund (enough that the new owner could break/scrap and make even) because the thing was now living 100s of miles away, but I'm still genuinely embarrassed today.

Worst thing was a few months later the same flatbed driver who had collected said Jaaaaaag came to pick something else up.
Cue much epic bombastic side-eye from said driver - "You're the one that sold THAT Jag last year ain't ya?"

Yes, it was me...

[awoo]

Aug 2, 2023 20:38:48 GMT Paul said:

I'm still embarrassed by this one:
forum.retro-rides.org/thread/213463/1999-v8-xj8-jaaaaag-sold

I sold it in good faith as a clunky, ratty Jaaaaaag - but within a few days the new owner messaged me - 'say, are you aware of any rattling at middle/high revs?'

Knowing these had a propensity for chewing their cam chain guides I was confident mine was good AND AS GOD AS MY WITNESS it was absolutely fine when I drove it. Yet within a couple of weeks the engine had eaten itself. I did give a partial refund (enough that the new owner could break/scrap and make even) because the thing was now living 100s of miles away, but I'm still genuinely embarrassed today.

Worst thing was a few months later the same flatbed driver who had collected said Jaaaaaag came to pick something else up.
Cue much epic bombastic side-eye from said driver - "You're the one that sold THAT Jag last year ain't ya?"

Yes, it was me...

Don’t feel too bad. Those chain tensioners are made of plastic and you have no way of knowing they’re about to go. Only way to save it from catastrophic failure is to replace with the metal version as a preventative measure.

It’s just bad luck unfortunately

[vitesseefi]

Warranty to the gate….. but yes, I feel your pain.

[Jonny69]

Longer-term members might remember I used to have a black Ford Pop with a suped-up sidevalve around 2006-2008. I sold it to James P on here. The engines I built for it got madder and madder which meant I blew them up sooner and sooner, until the final build which was my flowed block with a good bottom end, stock cam and high compression head. That one was super smooth and reliable. Until James P came to pick it up.

I hadn't run it for a while and deliberately didn't fire it up or anything because I wanted to show James and his dad how easy it was to start even when it had been sitting around doing nothing. It did fire straight up on the button starter pull, as expected, but after a couple of minutes idling it started knocking like it had destroyed a big end. Like, really badly knocking. Errrrr. I raised the revs a bit and the knocking stopped, then didn't make another peep. All I could say was if it did it again I'd take the car back. I'd literally put the bottom end together myself a couple of months previously from a good set of rods and scraped the caps to get it perfect and everything. As far as I know it never did it again and to this day I have no idea what caused it.

Edit: found a pic Seth took:

[adam73bgt]

At one time I had two BMW E34's



The green one being my main car, and the silver one being a 525TDS which I bought purely for the fact that it had a black interior. It was also to date, the only diesel car I've ever owned.

The TDS was a bit tatty but pretty solid, nearly broke down getting home in it as it had a common issue that E34 diesels suffer from where an O ring in the lift pump fails and if you run the tank below a certain level it starts sucking air. I had thought this would be as the needle was getting near empty, but happened as I got to 1/4 of a tank, luckily it happened as I was about 200m from a petrol station so coasted in and filled up, got it home OK.

The interior swap went largely without a hitch then I had to sell it on. I wasn't asking much for it but it was taking a while and not getting much interest. It was SORN and inevitably the battery was going flat, I did charge it now and then.

Eventually a guy was interested, said as long as it ran when he turned up, he'd take it. I thought about taking the battery out the night before to give it a charge overnight, but I think it was winter, and it's a faff getting the battery out of an E34 as it's under the rear seat, in a tight space and weighs a ton. Plus it hadn't been that long since I'd last run it, so surely it would be fine...

Guy turns up the next day and sure enough, won't start. I offer to jump it but he walked, which is fair enough as I'd said it was running. Was rather annoyed with myself at that one for losing the sale over a bit of laziness

Eventually did sell it to a couple of young guys, showed my inexperience with starting old diesels on that occasion as I nearly flooded it on a cold start.. but thankfully it did get going and off it went, looks like it's not been back on the road since.

I've stuck to petrol since then