Looking for Mr. Good-Car

[NutmegCT]

(Those of a certain generation will recognize that line ...)

How do you guys find your old cars? Online, local shop, local car club, print (classifieds in newsletters), friend/acquaintance, inheritance ...

I'm currently looking for a 1950s Mercedes four cylinder, but I've had this happen with LBCs also.

I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong once I find something. Sometimes the seller is the long time owner, sometimes "friend of the owner", sometimes child of the owner, etc. Here's the scenario:

Car #1 - Found a car that meets my criteria up near Seattle, and contacted the seller using his preferred email contact. Emailed, then phoned and got some details. Asked his permission to set up an inspection. After two weeks, and two follow ups, still no reply - so no ok for setting up the inspection.

Car #2 - Found another near Phoenix AZ. Emailed, no reply after a week; telephoned (left message on cell), no call back.

Car #3 - Found another near Atlanta - still waiting for a reply. Call and leave message - still no replies. Amazing.

And here's the kicker. On car #1, I finally reached seller's daughter. She said it sold two weeks earlier.

Good grief. If you don't see the car down the street, your only way of contact is via email or phone. But if they don't communicate - we have a *problem*!

How do you guys handle this? Should I just stick to "the neighborhood"?

Thanks.
Tom M.

 

[JPSmit]

we have a *problem*!

No, *we* don't have a problem, *we* dodged a bullet. One of the things you need to remind yourself over and over again is that you are searching for a car not a kidney. It may be important but it isn't urgent! If people don 't return calls or answer emails you discover as much about their character - and therefore their integrity and ownership as if you were inspecting the car itself. Be at peace, look gently put out the word and the universe will reward you with a car. (how zen is that from a Presbyterian )

Seriously though, the last thing you can be in this type of search is impatient. Unless you have a cheque book big enough to buy the best, impatience will only assure you that you will be taken advantage of. I realize time is not on most of our sides these days, but, it's not that quick either.

 

[NutmegCT]

Thanks J-P. I think my "impatience" is made much worse by the silence from the guys selling the cars!

So, if I haven't heard back from a seller after two weeks, I just move on. That's what I'm doing. (Can't using data mining and GPS coordinates to track 'em down and force them to speak!)

As we've said here before, the new "digital age" makes it much easier to share information. But seems to be reducing our ability to communicate.

Onward through the fog!

Say, how'd you originally locate your 1976 MG, your 69 Vauxhall, your 58 Fiat?

Thanks.
Tom M.

 

[HealeyRick]

Could they be thinking you're not a serious buyer because you are so far away?

 

[NutmegCT]

Rick - that's always a possibility I guess. Who knows. Even advertising in a national print medium (MBCA, Hemmings, etc.) the replies are scarce as hens teeth.

Just surprises me that even after establishing contact, and sharing "old car stories", the communication seems to evaporate. If it even starts at all.

Here's an idea. How 'bout if I email seller "hey - saw ur car. whats lowest youll take"

 

[Deleted member 8987]

They are so busy text-ing, twitter-ing, and facebook-ing, they haven't got time for normal, accepted communication protocols...oh, like actual voice telephone calls...or, worse, e-mails.

 

[coldplugs]

...
How do you guys find your old cars? Online, local shop, local car club, print (classifieds in newsletters), friend/acquaintance, inheritance ...

Hemmings (online) and "Uncle Henry's" (local to Maine but also covers NH and some MA, also online). Never had a bad experience with either, buying or selling.

 

[Popeye]

Funny, when I dream of a specific car, e.g. a 1950-52 Hudson and look for it, I can't find it. But I'll find a bunch of other cars that are just as appealing, for example in today's Hemmings' email was a 1940 (?) Buick special that was beautiful.

Bottom line, it seems as if you are not specific, there is a lot of neat stuff out there. Having said this, I must qualify my skills: I have bought a grand total of two vintage vehicles in my short time on this earth... a Vespa and a TR4A.

 

[JPSmit]

Say, how'd you originally locate your 1976 MG, your 69 Vauxhall, your 58 Fiat?

Thanks.
Tom M.

Basically the MG and the Fiat followed me home and I bought the Vauxhall on Kijiji (like Craigslist)

1. The MG - when we lived in Florida I had a friend with a big Healey - I was visiting one day and he was showing me the Jensen Healey he had just been given through his club. I jokingly said, "If you ever get a deal like that again let me know." "He said, are you serious?" I said "of course." He said "I have a friend who has been trying to give me her Midget for three years, shall I ask if she could give it to you?" - and the rest is history.

So, free to a good home, having sat for 13 years after a light rear end accident. But body was solid, and engine was free. Took 5 years to restore - remembering I like the wrenching as much as the driving (maybe more sometimes)

2. The Fiat - back in Canada now, I am friends with a fellow who restores mostly micro cars - he had the Multipla and, one day I said how much I would love one some day - his reply, "It's yours if you want it." Again, free to a good home (It followed my home dear, can I keep it?)

Now just in storage but, a big job ahead, though, the body is in pretty good nick for a Fiat.

3. The Vauxhall SWMBO was laid off from her job - just as I was getting ready to start the Fiat - However, being faced with the prospect of a slightly uncertain financial future, a Multipla full restoration was not going to be cheap, so there was nothing for it but to buy another car. Seriously, that is almost exactly what happened. It showed up on Kijiji and every week was $200 cheaper - so, finally had to email the guy - turned out I knew him through my club - it was an abandoned project he had bought and decided not to do - but, the reason I bought it when SWMBO had just been laid off was indeed because much of the hard work had been done - body/ paint/ many new parts (not enough new parts as it turns out but pretty good) Anyways I paid $1500 for the car which was just about exactly 10 cents on the dollar invested - so, a lower cost project when I wanted something to do.

Needless to say the Vauxhall has taken much longer than it should have but what else is new.

The kicker is this, I am not sure I would have picked any of them. I love the Midget but, in retrospect, it is a 50 mile car not a 500 mile car. So, taking it to Wisconsin for the square body 50th was horrible - hot/ interstates/ break downs - fun when I got there but I would never drive that far again. Even here in Toronto, we are 1 1/2 hours from Niagara on the Lake - wine country - and it seems too long a drive to get there. Did I mention I am a big guy?

The Vauxhall. SWMBO has a theory about cars she likes - If Mickey Mouse would drive it she likes it - it is a remarkably sound theory! Mickey Mouse would not drive the Vauxhall! She has never really liked it mostly because it looks too much like the General Lee (I tell her to wear her Daisy Dukes and she punches me!) So, when done, I will likely drive a year or so and sell it to fund the Fiat. (I'm actually OK with that)

I do love the Fiat - but again, it won't even do 60 mph - so, a local car. I am looking forward to restoring it though as I want to do the body myself.

I am not sure I would have chosen any had I had to go out and find one (maybe the Fiat) but I am happy with what I have. Sometimes when I look at classic cars online I try to imagine what my dream classic might - I truly am not sure I could answer that question. Sometimes I think I know (Armstrong-Siddeley - mid 50's Lagonda) but then I think an early 40's Buick or Packard - but then I see a Corvair convertible or a Rampside - or a forward control Jeep - the list goes on - so it is probably just as well that someone else made the decision for me (sort of). I am happy with what I have and hope I will always have space and time to play but, other days I think I should just sell them all and live vicariously through the interweb magazines and clubs. At the very least, while I am happy to have the Fiat in waiting I have absolutely no desire to have a stable of cars. One or two at most.

The one thing they all have in common though is that they came through friends and indirectly through clubs - even the Vauxhall came ultimately because I knew the seller from the club.

How's that for a long answer to a short question?

 

[NutmegCT]

J-P - you are *blessed with good luck*.

Wow

:angel:

 

[GTP1960]

There is a '59 190 in Sandy UT listed in EBay, (looked kinda rough). Didn't specify diesel or gas
(as well as a couple 0f '59 200. That looked pretty nice)

non-diesel though

 

[NutmegCT]

Thanks Guy. Is the Sandy UT 190 the same as the South Jordan UT 190? I can't find one in "Sandy" UT.

The seller ("Eisbarknut") in South Jordan UT has two 190s (1959 and 1960), both diesels. Both need *lots* of work.

TM

 

[JPSmit]

J-P - you are *blessed with good luck*.

Wow

:angel:

Thanks though I wouldn't actually call it luck - I don't think my experience is that far off many peoples. The notion of a "free" car has its own special issues -(freedom isn't free ;p ) The joke in my club is a version of "he got it for free and boy did he get ripped off" or "he got it for free and he got exactly what he paid for." :grin: Restoring a free car is always going to cost more than just getting a runner but I like wrenching so that is OK.

That said, I was talking to a fellow club member who just bought a TR7 - runner - for $700! - weak engine but I think it even came with a replacement - and, he didn't quibble on the price because the seller is storing it for him in a heated garage for the winter. You will recall the Daimler a year ago that we just missed for maybe 2k. There is recently on Kijiji here an early Jag XJ6 that needs a bit of mechanical sorting and a headliner for 1k.

I would also be remiss if I didn't mention the massive changing of the guard that is taking place - more and more owners are retiring or dying. (sucks I know) but I know owners will often prefer their "baby" goes to a good home than get top dollar. Again, I have seen this more than once in my club.

My sense is that your challenge is finding a specific car for a specific task - so, for instance, a Rambler while cheap and cheerful will not meet the conditions. So, you are a little more at the mercy of the market and time. Still, I might be joining your local MB club and start attending - I can't help but feel you might be surprised.

 

[NutmegCT]

"Still, I might be joining your local MB club and start attending - I can't help but feel you might be surprised."

Yikes! the local MB club is down near NYC. You're joining that?

Wow x2!

 

[JPSmit]

"Still, I might be joining your local MB club and start attending - I can't help but feel you might be surprised."

Yikes! the local MB club is down near NYC. You're joining that?

Wow x2!

Yeah, not me, you - not sure about NYC - though I belong to a club in Orlando still (free to join costs $15 to quit - like that's going to happen! :grin: and a Vauxhall club in the UK that is admittedly, web based.

Even BCF - in my experience the longer you hang around, the better it gets. (duh!) seriously though - if we are known to each other, we are much more likely to give parts for shipping or sell parts or even cars cheaper to members because we want the car to go to a good home or care about the people. The point here is not to take advantage of people's kindness, but, to remember that relationship is always the best starting point.

 

[NutmegCT]

I'm already a member of the area MB clubs (we have several here in the northeast). Networking is always a good technique - but I've never heard of a member giving away an old Mercedes! Today's members tend to be familiar with 1990s and later cars. If I mention my (former) MG or TR, they'll roll their eyes and say "yeah, I had one back in the 70s".

Still - eventually something turns up. It's just really frustrating when you find something, and the seller never replies to emails or phone messages, or plays "hard to get".

Thanks.
TM

 

[JPSmit]

BTW - just looked

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-classic-car...80/1204176524?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

11.4k USD and for sale since November so willing to bargain? My brother lives a few miles away if you need someone to look - and my friend I got the Fiat from is there very regularly.

 

[NutmegCT]

J-P - that's exactly what I'm looking for, except for the gasoline engine. Great looking car, for sure. It's the early W120 model, with the original dash and steering wheel, the "tall" false radiator, the original rear lights, original ulonites, and what looks like an original interior.

TM

 

[GTP1960]

Thanks Guy. Is the Sandy UT 190 the same as the South Jordan UT 190? I can't find one in "Sandy" UT.

The seller ("Eisbarknut") in South Jordan UT has two 190s (1959 and 1960), both diesels. Both need *lots* of work.

TM

yes that's the one.

Somewhere in his ad he says the car is in Sandy ( which is a suburb of SLC.)

figured you had already checked that box.

 

[GTP1960]

What about this one?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1960-Merce...d76a7f3b:g:9cMAAOSw44BYWxKR&item=252722183995