Saw this Euro on Craigslist and had an attraction for it. After speaking with the seller over the course of two weeks I offered him $1500 for the car. Seller said he has a lot of spares and will include them with the sale. He claimed that the car is all original and the only problem is the head gasket. Once this is fixed I should be ready to roll. I figured well, this is not such a bad deal although I had to pay $1000 to have the car shipped to Ohio. The deal was close Aug 8th, 2012. My plan was to eventually take the 5 spd tranny from my rusted '88 and do the conversion. With a time frame of 2 yrs it won't be so heavy on the pockets while giving my Audi some rest at least for the winter.
I could not contain the excitement of having the car delivered and got little sleep. The driver was ahead of schedule and made the trip two days earlier than the expected.
The Arrival, Aug 13, 2012:
Driver contacts me at 8:20 am. "Louis you car is here". I rushed to the bank and got cash to take car of the driver. It was a happy pain. I got to the Giant Eagle parking lot and passed the car to get some change to pay the driver. Hey wait a minute! That must be the cleanest windshield I've ever seen or.....HELL NO! THIS MUTHA@#@$@%@#!
My conversation with the driver: " This guy I don't know..... I told him I cannot take the car with the windshield like that. (blue masking tape) I got big ticket. I tried to call him, police tried to call him..." I tried to call him too, since Friday. He has not returned any of my calls! I also have damage to other vehicle because of windshield. I'm sorry. In my contract, not responsible for loose parts. See here....
What can I say, the guy did his job and fast. I had to cough up the dough! He asked me to call and price a windshield. Safelite quoted me $350 to have it taken care of. Driver: "You know I put car in gear and it still moves, maybe no have transmission eh?" What else is going on here I said to myself. Upon further inspection I don't see any rear rotors, springs, shocks, differential, drive shaft. I am surprised its on all 4 wheels. I felt rapped! These spare parts he was referring to must be from the car itself! To top it off the car was repainted and a horrible job at that. The color was off and you can clearly see its not right.
I am done with Craigslist! Too much deception. If all the information was disclosed to me I would have walked away and continue my search. I was so nice to send him an extra $70 to cover the paypal fees on top of what I paid him!
I was so pissed! I had paid him thru paypal so there's some type of protection for the buyer. I opened a dispute for Item not as described.
On a positive note the car is worth something and not trying to get the car for free and thing a re-negotiation is in order or he can tow it back to Cali!
There are a few new parts on the car...Cylinder head with no cams, the rear subframe looks new, so does the exhaust system although mounted poorly. The engine looks intact, everything is in German even the valve cover and air filter case, No rust issues, All interior instruments in German except the Speedo and Tach. A new headliner in the box with some water stains but in white I believe it will cleanup but may go a different route on this. It has the BMW sport steering wheel, very comfy and feels right. Had little tiime to go over the car. I had to get a tow truck to take the vehicle to my garage. Probably won't have time to go over the car in detail until after vacation. This will be a job. Hopefully, paypal did not release the funds as yet and have this guy answer some pending questions to the police, the driver and myself. Here are some pics of the car as it is now.
I think this will be an interesting story and hopefully turn this lemon into lemonade and an inspiration for future shark heads in the long run. Luckily the 88 is still here that I can salvage parts from. I may have to hit the books hard on this one. I was just getting used to the 88 motor and the 85 Euro engine looks nothing like it, well...almost. I need the gurus on this one with suggestions for improvements while trying to do an inventory of loose or disconnected wires. Now that I have the VIN I will have a better idea of more details on the car. Wish my luck on the negotiations, paypal is giving the seller 10 days to respond. Keep y'all posted.
