Another rant about buying used

[Lastkidpicked]

Knowing the kind hearted folks on here, I'm not the only one who has gone the other way.

We had a really cool Trans Am. It was fun, T-tops and everything. Spend all day Saturday getting it running so we can drive it to a Barbecue on Sunday.

A young guy came to look at it and while talking, I discovered this would be his only car and his daily driver.

I BEGGED the kid not to buy it. Explained, "It's one thing to vapor lock on a nice Sunday drive. Quite another to vapor lock when you are late for work." I told him I'd hold it for a day so he could sleep on it.

Next day, he comes back and had his dad with him. I was relieved he would get a second opinion, and they did buy the Trans Am.

Best part of the story? I still have their phone number and when I clean out the garage and find a random part for the car, I call them and they come for the part, always driving that Trans Am.

Good times. . .

 

[sixdogs]

One common denominator of the good deals I have found on used stuff, is that I know the history of the item. The last one is a good example. There was a 1950’s Farmall Cub parked in the back of the factory where I have worked the last 20 years. It had a snowplow on it. I saw it used one time, my first year, and not once since then.

The factory maintenance guy told me that his father (who had the same job before him), had bought it with a sickle bar, to mow along the perimeter fence line. That attachment had been scrapped years before. The snowplow didn’t work so well around the factory, as everyone preferred moving snow around with a bobcat type loader machine instead.

New management came in and decided to “clean out the junk”. I was high bidder on the Cub at the silent auction last fall. I bid, to the penny, what I thought it was worth ($783.17). The tractor looked to me like it had less than 400 hours on it, based on observable wear.

I winched it onto a trailer I borrowed from my favorite Farmall mechanic, and dropped it off at his shop on my way home. He took his time over the winter, changing all the fluids, tuned it up, and replaced thee We’d radiator hoses and carburetor (charged me $445).

This thing runs and works like a new tractor now:
View attachment 817342
View attachment 817343

My favorite thing about it is that I can haul it around in my old pickup truck.

That old pickup was another sweet deal. It was owned by an uncle who kept it in Florida in the winter and it don’t have a spot of rust on it (cost me $5k with 60k miles on it).

Great buy and even better it fits in the back of your pickup. Any pic of the ramps you use?

 

[JESSE1]

I've been wanting to buy a new generation John Deere to take to shows and use around the farm. Found a one owner '72 gas 1020 on FB Marketplace only a few hours away. Excellent shape, only needed to buff the hood, probably won't paint it.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Reading this thread reminds me why I have a building full of unsold stuff, I hate dealing with people .
I use this one once a year.

 

[Deleted member 371759]

Reading this thread reminds me why I have a building full of unsold stuff, I hate dealing with people .
I use this one once a year.

I was going to say the same thing. Once it comes here its here forever. The wife is worse than I am. Her famous saying is "I didn't buy it to sell it"

 

[gstrom99]

Buying stuff is ALWAYS easier than selling.

 

[tacticalturnip]

Decided to get rid of an older air compressor; I don't know if it works, I don't care. I've set it by the road, it's not worth being asked questions I don't have answers to.

 

[Deleted member 371759]

Decided to get rid of an older air compressor; I don't know if it works, I don't care. I've set it by the road, it's not worth being asked questions I don't have answers to.

My new compressor should be here the 25th. Already came once but it was covered in oil an had a huge dent in it. It had obviously tipped over. When I saw the driver open the truck and saw it was not tied down.. Here we go again

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Knowing the kind hearted folks on here, I'm not the only one who has gone the other way.

We had a really cool Trans Am. It was fun, T-tops and everything. Spend all day Saturday getting it running so we can drive it to a Barbecue on Sunday.

A young guy came to look at it and while talking, I discovered this would be his only car and his daily driver.

I BEGGED the kid not to buy it. Explained, "It's one thing to vapor lock on a nice Sunday drive. Quite another to vapor lock when you are late for work." I told him I'd hold it for a day so he could sleep on it.

Next day, he comes back and had his dad with him. I was relieved he would get a second opinion, and they did buy the Trans Am.

Best part of the story? I still have their phone number and when I clean out the garage and find a random part for the car, I call them and they come for the part, always driving that Trans Am.

Good times. . .

More than 30 years ago, I put up my '66 Barracuda for sale in the car trader. Had a couple young guys show up to look at it one night. Older (20's) and younger (teens) brother. Older brother told me it would be the younger one's first car. He just got his license. I told them right then on the spot that this was NOT the car for them...

This car would top end at 165 mph (yes, I'd done it), but it had 8" manual drum brakes. 273 "commando" motor, highway gears in rear end, would rev to 7 grand no problemo'.

They still wanted it. I started talking to the "older" brother, they were both Mopar fans (as I was), and he started going on about how responsible his younger brother was. Uh-huh. I told them I wouldn't let either of them test drive it, but that I would take them for a ride. I took them up Carefree Highway to the town of Carefree, and turned around and made a "pass" on the way back. One section of the road had really nice pavement and I turned to the older brother in the front seat and said, THIS is why it's a bad first car... And proceeded to bury the gas pedal. Wound it up to 165, and above the roar of the engine I shouted, "Stopping, NOW!" And just lifted my foot off of the gas... Once the car decelerated to about 85, I used the brake pedal and pulled over and stopped on the side of the road. "Let's get out and talk". I showed them that took almost 5 miles to stop the car. If you pressed the brake pedal at anything over 100, not only would the car not stop (at all), but you would overheat the brakes and they would be worthless. I told them I wouldn't sell the car to them until after they went home and talked about it for a week. I also told them the price was non-negotiable. Next week came and they were at my door to buy the car.

I didn't see hide nor hair of the car for over a year, which I thought was odd. I was still going to shows and cruise runs during that time, as I still had my '67 Coronet with the big block in it.

One night at work, a buddy of mine said he thought he saw my car sitting in a driveway with the whole front clip off. I went by after work, and yeah, that was my little 'cuda, sitting there with a pile of wadded up sheet metal laying next to it. Looked like everything north of the firewall was trash. I never saw it again.

Another one bit the dust. RIP little 'cuda.

 

[big bubba]

OP: given the nature of market (& society in general today), you trust others too much for remote purchases, best regards