Disappointing Morning

[Kasper]

OK here goes: After speaking to a guy on ebay and having come to an agreement that if I like the Cortina he is selling we will do a swap for my Focus I was full of enthusiasm. Car looks great in the photos and it would save me the hassle of selling mine. With an MoT until Feb next year and the Mrs not hating it completely things looked promising. 1 owner, 66k and in good condition I could barely contain my excitement. So on Sunday I pulled a few strings, swapped my early shifts to lates and went to sleep dreaming of cherry bombs and fluffy dice. Here is how it all went wrong...

 

0930 am - Got up, got ready and went outside to refit the standard stereo to the Focus and empty out all the other bits out.

 

1005 am - Set off to view the car with my lady in tow, who it's fair to say is not impressed at being dragged to look at a car on her day off, lol!

 

1030 am - Arrive at location, an auction house, and get pointed towards the 'tina and a set of keys handed over.

 

1031 am - First impression, hmm, not shiney like it is in the pictures, in fact the paint is totally flat and looks like its been cleaned with a brillo pad. Sheet stuck to the windscreen says 'brakes pull left'.

 

1032 am - Starting at this point to wonder what gave the guy the idea this was in good condition. All the doors are bubbling quite badly and the bottoms of all wings and quarters ane non existent. The chrome bumpers had been brush painted (black) and the gutter trims (silver). 2 nasty bits of rot on the A pillars and the front panel had a bad repair 1 side and the other had a hole you could put your fist through. Things weren't much better underneath, there is a hole in the n/s/r section of the chassis and floor has a couple of badly plated areas. Supposedly this passed an MoT 3 months ago...

 

1040 am - Lost interest at this point but thought I'd have a poke at the mechanics anyway. Get into a mouldy interior, stick the key in and turn it - Battery is dead, although at this point I'm not surprised. Front suspension seems OK but there is a lot of sidways play in the rear.

 

1045 am - Hand the keys back and walk away dejected.

 

Don't get me wrong, I know it's knocking on the door of 30 years old so I wasn't expecting a showroom fresh car, but good condition it was not! I kind of hope no one bids on it without seeing it first (no brainer I know but people do it none the less.), if they do they will be met with a sorry sight that looks absolutely NOTHING like the pictures. I guess alarm bells should have rung from the start but there is always hope of grabbing that elusive bargain!

[.pete.]

sounds like you were mislead about a bit. It does happen thoiugh. The right one is out there for you. Just have to keep looking.

[Mk2Jo]

Hmm, sounds like the guy's view of good condition was not what we would call good condition on these cars. I have just bought a mk1 Fezza off flea-bay and the guy said there were a few surface rust spots on it ... well there are a few more than a few and the paint has faded in places ... there is also a big dent in the passenger door which was deffo not mentioned, however, it does look quite fresh so maybe it wasn't there when he took the pics over a week ago

 

Anyway, it is still a nice car and so we took it away with us and I am pleased with it ... but I can imagine your disappointment

 

Keep looking, they are out there .... you may find something nice for sale at Classic Ford Show on 6th June They usually have quite a few cars for sale

[Col-ashtonmobile]

unfortunately you cant go by pictures, we advertised a fiesta si on e bay and the pics i submitted made it look spanking which it was far from , so i had to revise the ad saying 'viewing is highly recommended as the bodywork is,nt as good as the pictures show it to be ' lucky for us a guy bought it and thanked us for being honest.

moral of the story is make your decision once you,ve seen it in the flesh !!

[Kasper]

The guy has a real cheek, another bloke has asked a question yesterday after I emailed him to say I didn't want it because of the reasons above, check this out!

 

Q: hi mate am in edinburgh but am intrested in car has it had much welding how dose it run do you think it would drive here like my classics all ready have a morris and bettle how soon do you need it collected would have to be weekend cheers jon 10-May-10

A: this car would drive you where ever you want, it had some welding on the n/s/r chassis for mot but it is good overall, can arrange collection for weekends, it runs superb, cruise along.

 

Now unless it welded itself and started running after I left I'm confused!

[Mk2Jo]

Report him to the e-bay people for misleading information What a to$$er (not you by the way )

[Kasper]

Yeah I think I will, clearly he's taking the proverbial! He's a trader as well, he should know better...

[radar tech]

was it this one ????

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1982-FORD-CORTINA ... 3a5a72ae7d

[Kasper]

Thats the 1. Believe me it looks nothing like that. When I spoke to the guy on the phone he wasn't very forth coming with the truth when I asked him questions. It soon became apparent when I got there that its been stood up for some time. I'm a bit dubious about its MoT too, the brakes pull and the chassis is rotten in places. Seems a bit iffy as its only 3 months old.

[banarama]

another dodgy motor dealer.been there done it.you learn through experiance.glad you didn,t buy it

[Kasper]

Well its ended with no bidders so at least no one has paid a grand for it!

[bortaf]

I'm surprised TBH, it wasn't anyewhere near as bad as you say when i saw it last year it must have gone down hill rapidly? or been full of plop that's rotted out

Bumper are sposed to be black not chrome so i guess somone has replaced em at some time

Although he's deffo full of shit cos the LRZ compliant recovery he has for sale is only LEZ compliant for another 5 months, he dont mention that does he updating his fleet my arse

 

Actually i have to go to tottenham today, i'll grab some pics of the car cos i know somone else who was interested

[Kasper]

I thought all the Crusaders had chrome bumpers? My 1.6 did, so did my mates 2.0. It really does look like crap, the scratches on the boot are quiet deep but still have paint in the bottom, made me wonder if its had filler there and not flatted properly like the front panel. What really cheesed me was when I saw the reply to that question. Car was in Letchworth car auctions, it will make a nice project but its WAY over priced.

[bortaf]

I thought all the Crusaders had chrome bumpers? My 1.6 did, so did my mates 2.0. It really does look like crap, the scratches on the boot are quiet deep but still have paint in the bottom, made me wonder if its had filler there and not flatted properly like the front panel. What really cheesed me was when I saw the reply to that question. Car was in Letchworth car auctions, it will make a nice project but its WAY over priced.

 

2 tone ones had black bumpers

went there yetsterday after asking to see it and it aint even there (tottenham) ? asked where it was and no one knew where it had gone, maybe we sold it, WTF i just asked to see it 30 mins ago and you told me to come here

we are talking about the same car? letchworth - tottenham??

[Kasper]

Yep, he is in Tottenham but the car is in 'storage' at Letchworth car auctions. It had a LCA sticker in the window so maybe it went through and has sold as pre 1993 cars have to be sold no reserve there. Guy is a joker, did he tell you how good and what a rare find it is? lol!