Originally Posted by 767Jockey (Post 1517496)

I agree with you guys, lost in this whole ridiculous situation is the fact that this is a VERY cool car. A bone stock, very heavily optioned Hemi Challenger in near original, unrestored condition is incredibly interesting. I wonder what the car itself is honestly worth without the obvious bull$hit story attached to it?

Redvettx2, I agree with you completely on the definition of value. Anything is worth exactly what someone will pay for it. This buyer either didn't do his homework, or he believes the story and feels the story is worth the massive additional amount that he paid for the car. That said, it's still a scam. To me, and I believe to most, a "scam" is a dishonest situation deliberately fabricated and set up specifically to extract something of value from someone (typically money) for something of significantly less value in return. It's always based on some form of deliberate deceit in artificially inflating the value of the item offered. For example, false contractor calls to the elderly come to mind to illustrate this point. These sellers are lying. The story is very obviously false and completely fabricated. The story has only one purpose, which is to deceive some naive and unknowing buyer into artificially inflating the value of the car. This guy spent what he spent on the car. Whether or not he believes the story, or he got hoodwinked, that doesn't change the fact that is is 100% a scam. Someone who is elderly and taken advantage of is an innocent victim of a scam. This buyer isn't an innocent victim, he is simply a fool. That's on him. He fell for the scam. The fact that he fell for it doesn't change the fact that it's a scam that worked as intended.

Originally Posted by 767Jockey (Post 1517497)

I'm sitting here laughing as I write this. Back in the late 70's, when I was a young stupid guy (weren't we all?) on Long Island, NY, my friends and I were foolishly involved in street racing on a fairly active level. My car was a maroon 350 powered 1968 Nova SS. It was the typical small block Chevy setup of the day - headers, Tarantula intake, ported and polished double hump heads, 11.5:1 compression running Sunoco 260 gas, 650 Double Pumper, Muncie rock crusher M22 trans, Hurst Super Shifter, a 12 bolt posi rear with 4:56 gears, "cheater" slicks, etc. I took great care in the setup of the cars suspension, and it hooked like crazy. It was a 12.7 second car back in the day when that was a BIG deal. I wasn't a real regular street racer that the time. We raced on Route 231 in Babylon, NY. I would show up about once a month or so at the Burger King or Jack in the Box, I would pick my races carefully, and I usually won. I then went home to do whatever I had to do.

I can very easily spin what I did back then into the exact same story as this nonsense. I'll call it "The Maroon Ghost" :) It would show up on occasion. It would win. It would then "disappear" suddenly after the win into nowhere (my parents house, where I lived at the time), only to "re-appear" without warning only to win again. OOooohhhhhh - a "legend" in the 1970's Long Island street racing scene. :) :) :) Now the car is worth ONE MILLION DOLLARS!!!!! That's hiarious!

Originally Posted by twobjshelbys (Post 1517501)

Did you read the buyer's comments? He didn't seem to be motivated by the "street racing" story. In fact, none of the stories . His motivation was the intact unrestored car. That's the value to him.

Originally Posted by HealeyRick (Post 1517506)

Funny, I was just reading about street racing on Route 231 in this thread you may find interesting: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...#post-14871809
Regarding whether this sale was a "scam" I'd probably term it as the long-accepted sales technique as "puffery". For the difference, go here: html://smallbusiness.chron.com/difference-between-false-advertising-puffery-66945.