My secret of how I used to find rare cars...

[Historybuff]

In the days before the internet (yeah, I remember steam locomotive and propellor driven transAtlantic flights too) the way I used to find cars
was to buy an ad in the Auto Trader picturing an old Ferrari or somesuch
and say "WANTED: OLD FERRARI" or somesuch and a guy would answer with pictures, usually with some rusty hunk of junk. But that was in the days when Ferraris were going up $1000 a week so my buyer would send me to the person's house (by surprise) with a cashier's check made out to his name and most times the guy would go for it (especially if his wife saw the check) . I would go unannounced so he couldn't hawk the car to his buddies first. The flaw in this was that the check would be made out to a set amount and sometimes the car was worse --like one Bizzarrini that was solid rust in Ohio--and if I didn't buy the car I didn't get a finders fee so I'd buy it anyhow.

I bought 3 Ferraris, a Bentley, a RR SCIII, a Jag, three Ghia 450SS and I forget what else..then the market collapsed around 1990

I wonder if anybody has found a Cobra, or Shelby this way. One problem is that some Auto Traders wouldn't take ads if you wanted to buy a car, only if you wanted to sell one.

Like to hear some stories if anybody has a better method of rooting out these long term never finished project cars...

[mrmustang]

Again I'll ask, is this for your personal use, or for a potential reprint at some time in the future?

From your past posts (and not identifying yourself as the apparent author searching for content), that you are out of fresh ideas and content for your portfolio of salable material.

[jdog]

I have bought 2 boats over the years with a similar method.

I had spotted each boat sitting in a back/side yard with 2 or 3 years old expired tags. You can tell from a distance by the color of the tag. Also the 3 foot high weeds under the boat trailer was another good sign.

I went to the door and flash a wad of cash & ask if they would like to trade what I have in my hand for that old boat?

Both times I went home with a boat!

jdog
P.S. I have also bought a 56' Ford PU this way, but it needed a battery & 3 new tires!

[Mark IV]

Bill,
Don't talk to Wally that way..................

Rick

P.S.
The way to solve the "cashiers check" being for the incorrect amount is to have several of them in denominations such as 10K, 2K, 1K, $500, etc. up to the max you will go, you mix and match to make the amount. Allows you to negotiate and prevents spending more than you intend. Helped buy a 289 Cobra this way some years back.

[cobrajeff]

I used to spot a white Pantera "L" rusting way in a yard near Akron Ohio. I saw it several times making trips from Dearborn back home to Akron. One time, I finally had a chance to stop and check it out. Nobody answered the door, so I left a note on the car to "....please call me if tis car might be for sale...". The car had been sitting in this spot so long, a small tree had grown up through the floorboards.

Next time I got chance to drive by there....the car was gone. Don't know if I scared 'em or gave them the idea to part with it. I didn't need it (I already had a Pantera) myself, but, it would have been a fun project to restore.

Jeff

[Ron61]

A year or so ago there was a 1969 Super Bee that was in pretty good condition that had set in a driveway here for I don't know how many months. I stopped one day and a teen age boy answered the door and I asked him about the car and if it was for sale and if I could come back and take some pictures of it. He really acted odd, so I left, but went back by the next day. The car and boy were gone and according to the people living next door he left around midnight that night. I have always wondered about why he acted so strange and then just took the car and vanished. If it was stolen I wouldn't think he would have let it set out in plain sight for so long. That would have been a nice car to have as it was in very good shape.

Ron

[Trueoo7]

Ron 61
That post reminded me of the flip side to this thread. There was a 69 or 70 R/T Charger that used to sit out in front of this old broken down garage next to a house. It was dirty and faded, purple with the white band around the back. Because it was so close to the road everybody used to stop and ask if it was for sale, and everyone got turned down. Then one day it was gone and about 2 days later you saw flyers with a picture of it hanging up all over the place asking if anyone had information as to the whereabouts of this car, that there would be a reward.
Evidently someone liked it sooo much that they wouldn't take no for an answer and swiped it late one night. To my knowledge they never got the car back.

[RedBarchetta]

Originally Posted by Trueoo7

There was a 69 or 70 R/T Charger...dirty and faded

Hey, leave a $15,000-$20,000 "asset" lying around and that sort of thing will eventually happen. Why steal a Honda when you can have a classic for so much more?

-Dean

P.S. Driving back roads and country roads is always a good way to find new projects.

[4RE KLR]

I know where there is a Cobra Torino, right now sitting and rusting away. It has been in the same spot for over ten years that I know of.

Funny thing it is in plain sight and next to a busy road. The car seems to be in reasonably good shape but it diffenantly needs restoring. No way you could drive it from where it is.

[spl310]

I have found a couple of fun cars in that kind of condition. One was a 65 Mustang convertible. Black with the two tone blue/white pony interior. Factory short console, airconditioning car. 289 4 speed with the wire wheel hubcaps. It had turned green from the pollen on it....

The one that got away was a Facel Vega convertible - one of 11 made. Man, I regret that one...

[Historybuff]

In answer to the one repeated question as to why I want to know I said I am not trying to find out these successful techniques for personal use; so I will amplify that, because I think the market is too shaky to invest in old cars in the hope they will appreciate. The only money I ever made was in real estate and publishing. If I buy an old car it will be for myself and something totally useless for anyone else once I get done building it to my whims (which involve combining it with certain jet aircraft parts...)
I am only interested in what worked for others on this forum because really buying a car is a process of negotiation.It is not at all like buying a new car because there is a built in ego problem with buying a derelect collector car. Many guys with a project car are unwilling to admit to themselves they will never finish it; yet it is a point of pride that, if they sell it,they will be tacitly admitting to the world that they failed at their mission of "bringing it back to stock condition." Hence, it takes some knowledge of psychology to convince them it's OK to let it go. I have a friend like that; he's got my ultimate dream car (bizzarrini strada5300) , rotting away in his back yard but won't hear of selling it. He knows it's increased 10 times in value since he bought it even rotting away but yet would never pay modern day restoration prices ($100 an hour ) to restore it. But this guy is way too smart to use any standard techniques to wrest it from him; I have thought only a gorilla with a rubber hose might work

Oh, one other idea I forgot and I think I used once is to march the potential seller over to a new car dealer and buy them any car on the lot equal to what you want to pay for the old heap. Sometimes that goes a long way toward soothing their hurt in admitting they will never finish the old car.

With another car, one time, a GT40, I offered 100K but the guy's demand was too high, i.e. "I want to buythe forest around my cabin in all directions as far as I can see." I think Greg still has the car...

[mrmustang]

Originally Posted by Historybuff

In answer to the one repeated question as to why I want to know I said I am not trying to find out these successful techniques for personal use

So you are saying you want to use what others are posting here (without their written consent) for personal profit and gain. Thanks, that is exactly what I thought.

[Tenrocca]

Originally Posted by mrmustang

So you are saying you want to use what others are posting here (without their written consent) for personal profit and gain. Thanks, that is exactly what I thought.

I dont think he said that. Could be an interesting thread this without the cynicism ("written consent" - do you really think anyone posting a story here would insist on giving written consent before anyone reading it tried a similar technique?? - bearing in mind any thing posted is done freely with billions of potential readers )

I love hearing stories like this, let the post continues without the BS hey.

[BMK]

Mmmm sounds like BS to me also. I think he may have been trumped by a better person on a sale or purchase..
And believing we are on a private forum also...

The words of 'Waltzing Matilda' come to mind...

[rjbh20]

Originally Posted by Historybuff

In answer to the one repeated question as to why I want to know I said I am not trying to find out these successful techniques for personal use; so I will amplify that, because I think the market is too shaky to invest in old cars in the hope they will appreciate. The only money I ever made was in real estate and publishing. If I buy an old car it will be for myself and something totally useless for anyone else once I get done building it to my whims (which involve combining it with certain jet aircraft parts...)
I am only interested in what worked for others on this forum because really buying a car is a process of negotiation.It is not at all like buying a new car because there is a built in ego problem with buying a derelect collector car. Many guys with a project car are unwilling to admit to themselves they will never finish it; yet it is a point of pride that, if they sell it,they will be tacitly admitting to the world that they failed at their mission of "bringing it back to stock condition." Hence, it takes some knowledge of psychology to convince them it's OK to let it go. I have a friend like that; he's got my ultimate dream car (bizzarrini strada5300) , rotting away in his back yard but won't hear of selling it. He knows it's increased 10 times in value since he bought it even rotting away but yet would never pay modern day restoration prices ($100 an hour ) to restore it. But this guy is way too smart to use any standard techniques to wrest it from him; I have thought only a gorilla with a rubber hose might work

Oh, one other idea I forgot and I think I used once is to march the potential seller over to a new car dealer and buy them any car on the lot equal to what you want to pay for the old heap. Sometimes that goes a long way toward soothing their hurt in admitting they will never finish the old car.

With another car, one time, a GT40, I offered 100K but the guy's demand was too high, i.e. "I want to buythe forest around my cabin in all directions as far as I can see." I think Greg still has the car...

What kind of publishing?

[4RE KLR]

Bill,
I'm with you on this one!~

[Dangerous Doug]

Hhhhmmm, public forum, don't you mean? Just ask Miss New Jersey about that.

[Rare Iron]

There used to be a red T/A Challenger that sat by a house in Flint, MI. back in the early 80's just off a busy road - it looked to be in ratty shape. The car played on my mind & I planned to stop by the next time I worked the area. I stopped by a few weeks later & the owner's dad answered the door. Dad was very preturbed with his son's car sitting there for the past 2 years so he told me I could have it for 700-bucks! I told him if I could get the motor to turn over, I'd take it. I returned the following week with a tow dolly & a couple friends. We could not get the engine to crank, so I passed on it. The car was very rusty & hit in the left front, but it was a complete & real T/A with the T/A block & motor, six-pack, etc. It was an automatic plum-crazy car that had been painted red. There were a lot of other car stories from this era as well for me - I could have bought a LOT of cars. I knocked on a lot of doors & bought quite a few. What a great time it was back then!!!

Hey, speaking of Panteras, I street raced one with my old Cuda one afternoon & lost. Can you say TRACTION?

[relaxinrob]

I found a '67 RS/SS-350 Camaro convertible that a guy had in his barn. The car was in great shape, but the engine needed to be rebuilt. I told the guy that my first car was a '67 Camaro and I always wanted another one. Other people had tried to buy this car and other cars from him, but he would not sell. I asked him why he would not sell the car to me and he said, "Son, if I sell you that car, I'll have to give half the money to my wife and I will end up with half of what I started with." I told him I understood his reasoning. While walking around his property, I noticed that he did not have an enclosed car trailer......so I asked him if I bought him an enclosed car trailer, would he trade me the Camaro for it? He perked up and said he would. I found a trailer that he liked that week and we traded. He even brought my new Camaro to my house in his new trailer.

[BMK]

Dangerous Doug

.. yes we have just had the images on television here in Australia of Miss New Jersey...... long legs, or is that a denim jeans add in the making

Mmm should do wonders for the fruit industry over there...