Don't you just love these people?

[The Main]

Hello everyone,

 

I'm well naused, as Arfur used to say to Terry. As an A60 connoisseur of, well, too long, I spotted a thread on the Cambridge Oxford club last week which mentioned a guy who wanted to get rid of some prime autoshite - an A60 Cambridge saloon and a Morris Oxford estate. Both ticketless and accompanied by those dreaded words '' the Oxford estate (especially) is too good to race but the vendor doesn't mind if they go for banger racing''. Wasn't having any of that, so I contacted the vendor of the Oxford (a bloke called Simon) tout de suite and after a bit of haggling (and a lot of effort 'selling it in' to the missus) I agreed a deal with Simon last Saturday to buy it for £600 on the basis I'd be picking it up tomorrow (Thursday 18th). Once I made the mistake of telling him I wanted to save the car from going round the track, he used the usual 'the local banger boys are beating my door down for this, they want it for Hednesford on 26th September' line so I couldn't knock him down. I was happy with £600 though anyway, even though I was buying the Oxford unseen.

 

He promised me the car was definitely mine as long as I stuck to this and that he wouldn't sell it to anyone else. I rang Simon again on Monday night to keep up the communication and confirmed that we'd be along this Thursday at 2pm with a trailer plus £600 cash. I'm really skint at the moment but was worried the car would end up getting raced if I didn't act so I borrowed the money on 2 credit cards (with the associated transfer fees) and withdrew the cash from the bank today. I gave the guy who was going to transport the Oxford for me £80 for diesel so he could fill up today (he wanted an early start tomorrow) and managed to get all of Thursday off work at short notice so I could go along to help him load it on.

 

Then, this afternoon (Wednesday) I got a call from Simon. He said 'bad news, Gavin, I've had to let the car go to someone else I'm afraid''. When I asked him why, he stuttered a lot and went on to say that, er, ummm, his cousin David had just happened to turn up at his house and got all misty eyed about an Oxford estate he used to own and had thrust a gynormous wad of notes in his hand. And took the car away immediately. Or so he said.

 

I can't tell you how disappointed I am - as far as I'm concerned once you've done a deal it's a deal but obviously some people don't feel the same way. I feel badly let down. I'm out of pocket through the credit card transfer fees, I've got £80 of diesel sitting in someone else's 4x4 which he hardly ever uses. Not to mention the barney I had with the missus on Saturday about buying the car in the first place.

 

What an utter twunt.

 

Anyone else had this sort of thing happen recently?

[r.welfare]

Not with cars I've bought, but certainly other stuff - arrange to go round and then find the house in darkness 'cos they've sold it to someone else.I did have someone do something similar to me as a seller recently, gushing about the car over the phone, then was late at the arranged viewing time - then when I spoke to them, they'd bought something else Hard lines on the Oxford though. I saw those two advertised on Retro-Rides as well.

[Mash]

That's really bad luck. No prizes for guessing where they're going to end up!I often think that the survival rate for Farinas must have been exceptional. You still see loads at shows even considering the large amounts that must have gone round the oval since the early 70s and I suspect that's A LOT!

[Cavcraft]

Go round and piss through his letterbox I say.

[Father Ted]

Go round and piss through his letterbox I say.

I was thinking more curry powder thrown down the air vents of his car myself, but yes, I can live with having a slash through his letter box.Isnt there some sort of legal standing with regards a "gentlemens agreement" for sale? I suppose you could pursue him through the small claims for your loss of time and money, but its likely to be a long hard slog with him saying he "never agreed to nuffink".Oh stuff it, go and put dog crap under his door handles as well.Remember Children - its not big or clever to do these things and Uncle Ted would never ever ever do anything like that, ever......

[500tops]

sorry to hear that. Was it this one?http://retrorides.proboards86.com/index ... read=46808

[mouseflakes]

That's just incredibly rude, thoughtless and selfish. What an arse cake.

[Volksy]

I also had an incident like this, also a chap off RR...Went to look at a car, and told him I would buy it, even offered cash on the spot. Suddenly the tale about who owned he car became more convaluted to say the least, turns out it had been kept in storage for a few years, and the owner hadn't paid, so they were selling the cars to recoop the loss. After a long discussion with the chap, and me voicing concerns about the lack of documentation, He refused to take even a deposit (which I thought was odd), and said he would apply for the V5, on receipt, he would give me a call so i could collect.So anyway, a few weeks went by, then hearing nothing I called him up, 'Oh, yer I have decided to keep it for myself' was the answer 'but I may sell and give you first option in a couple of months. 'So hey ho, i thought, wasn't meant to be, the chap then asked me for help with getting parts for it, and as I'm a nice guy, agreed and gave him details of where to get bits and pieces. Anyway, a month down the line, the proper owner turns up, and pays the outstanding debt for the storage and takes the cars away. Leaving the chap i was dealing with quite seriously out of pocket with all the parts he had bought. To be honest, I think that Karma played a heavy role in this... I'm just glad now I didn't get the oppotunity to take the car away and pay on sight, as i would have essencially bought a stolen car!

[MrRegieRitmo]

That wasn't the very vague person selling all sorts of things he didn't know much about but would find out what people wanted to know in due course & supply pictures etc & said that they had been left by someone / people who hadn't paid their storage bills? One of them was a Saab 99 Turbo which I very much liked the sound of but it all seemed very dodgy to me!

[Cavcraft]

I remember that one and recall the 'vendor' was pretty new to RR. Had all kinds of fascinating stuff for sale, for which he had shed loads of replies to. I wonder what happened to that thread and whether it can be dug up again?

[pogweasel]

This one?http://retrorides.proboards86.com/index ... =tvrtasmin

[reallyloud]

Goes with the territory unfortunately. Selling cars will always attract brain donors who cannot commit to a gentlemans agreement. I wonder why this Simon character wasted so much of your time. Deeply untrustworthy and I can only hope he gets what is coming to him - your only consolation is that it will one way or another. I find that buying and selling cars within a trusted circle is the only way to combat all this pi55ing around (and thats not always guaranteed) I've wasted a lot of my time and money over the years, so again I guess the only consolidation is that you're not alone.

[MrRegieRitmo]

This one?http://retrorides.proboards86.com/index ... =tvrtasmin

Yes cheers Pog, here we go....http://retrorides.proboards86.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=FSW&thread=40631&page=1http://retrorides.proboards86.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=FSW&thread=40632&page=1http://retrorides.proboards86.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=FSW&thread=40633&page=1http://retrorides.proboards86.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=FSW&thread=40634&page=1http://retrorides.proboards86.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=FSW&thread=40635&page=1

[Hertz]

I always leave a deposit and get a receipt then you have something on paper. If it's bought unseen then I have sent a cheque in the past then got them to send a receipt back to me.But you should not need to go these lengths and an agreement is an agreement, bad luck fella

[The Main]

Cheers guys, your comments are much appreciated. An arse cake indeed. Hilariously, it turns out the Simon guy is on the Cambridge-Oxford forum (Farina forum, actually). He's read my comments about him (similar to the ones I put on here) and has replied in order to try to save face. He's accused me of pushing back the date for picking up the car 3 times (which is 100% untrue, if it was true I wouldn't have minded). But then he's made himself look worse by admitting 'spinning me a line' about selling the car to his cousin when in fact he flogged it to his mate instead. As if that somehow makes it alright! Here is what he wrote on the 'Farina Forum' tonight:''I read your comments with interest, Gavin. When you originally contacted me about buying the car, I told you quite clearly that the first person here with the cash would get it. You postponed the collection day on three occasions and as I had never heard of, or met you before, I had no way of judging whether or not you would actually turn up. I spun you a line about my cousin buying the car, to try to let you down gently, maybe I shouldnt have.For the record, I have been good friends with the person who actually bought the car for at least ten years and I know it has gone to a good home!Despite your negative comments about me, I do wish you luck with finding a decent Farina which you can enjoy.RegardsSimonHow magnanimous of him to wish me luck in finding another one! At least it seems the Oxford I missed won't be raced (or so he says!) which is something but I deeply resent his assertion that he told me it was first-come-first-served. We had a deal - it was never ambiguous and I was honest and fair with him all along. At least he's been caught out and made to look a slimeball in front of his mates. Anyway, time to move on now methinks.

[500tops]

was it this one?http://retrorides.proboards86.com/index ... read=46808

[outlaw118]

Whilst it would go against your principles, it'll be worth getting on and racing it, then send him the photos....or am I evil?

[The Main]

That's the one, 500tops!Now I've seen those pictures I'm even more gutted. That's a great motor and no mistake. Nice idea Outlaw118, but I'd be cutting off my nose to spite my face there. I feel psychologically damaged every time I hear of a saveable old classic ending up on the track. Time to move on now, I feel...

[mk2_craig]

Have a couple of local ones to cheer yourself up. Oddly enough I haven't yet managed to photograph a saloon example over here...

[bigstraight6]

What a tale of woe still, here's a nice diesel engined example a good friend of mine spotted in Malta 2 weeks ago....

[vicsmith]

To be honest this sounds like it could have been a misuderstanding of some sort, not to mention the fact that the car might have been a right load of stress and grief.I understand that you have been greatly put out, and it must be very disappointing to lose out on the car, but you can see how the guy might think "sod it, he might not even turn up, and if he does, he might be the pickiest bastard in the world" surely?There isn`t really much substance to gentleman`s agreements in today`s world of unreliable buyers and desperate sellers, all you can do is make an arrangement, don`t get your hopes up and just see if everything gels on the day, a car isn`t bought until you have the keys and it isnt sold until you have the money.Sorry for the lecture but after years of getting pissed about over cars on a daily basis, and to be honest, pissing people about over cars just as much - I once took a deposit and then sold the car to someone else before the man came back for it, pretty despicable but I had a feeling the first guy was going to mess me around and it was a quiet week, I had wages to pay and a large VAT cheque to send off, I couldnt risk him giving backword - I just thought it ought to be pointed out that people will do this kind of thing sadly, and not always for the wrong reasons.

[pogweasel]

Now here's one.... do you think this one's being honest, or trying to back-peddle because they asked too little?

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0290696269

 

Already paid for it (had a Paypal voucher that snipped another £90 off that), and was hoping to fetch this afternoon....

 

... then I get this:

 

Hi am selling this for a friend and just been over to talk about it and its crap in has no tax or v5 and not just rust but big holes in the roof floors etc, the paint is miss match engine lumpy when it starts and steel wheels its a shed so let me now what you want to do as not happy selling a car like this i have spoke to my friend at uni and said im not happy about this

hmm.

[Albert Ross]

They seem to live on a caravan site, with gas bottles and a Pajero....................did you have a lucky escape?

[andrew e]

I'd say back pedal but ive burnt once this week allready....

[Claypole]

I'd go collect it regardless. It's under sold for less than what they wanted I bet and they are trying to get out of the sale. I'd collect it and then leave then a neg for their troubles. Using Ebay's new "buyer is king" supposed improvements.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I'd defo go and have a look, nowt to lose have you! If he is trying to pull a flanker you'll have the upper hand, and if it turns out to be as shite as he says, then fair enough and you can sort out waht to do 'face to face'.

[Split_Pin]

Personally, I think the guy was spinning you shite about it being raced and the banger boys beating his door down. So many people say that 'oh theres 10 people interested in this' etc etc whether its a house or a car, and its a pretty crude way of making the prospective purchaser jump.Anyone tries that I usually just walk away. Guy sounds like a total pillock. Hope you end up getting your Farina in the end