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Ebay Scores...

The first item I ever bought on ebay was my ttop/leather car with 5k miles on it back at the end of 2000, I'm sure the buyer thought I was full of crap with a 0 rating :) Went to CA the following week and drove it back to TX. Paid $14.5k for it back then and it was a NR auction.
Year later bought a 90k mile '79 TA on ebay, also in CA.
Bought a '86 Benz vert a few years later for my step-daughter on ebay, also a CA car.
Then bought my '05 SRT10 truck on ebay, also a NR auction and a CA truck...

All were very good transactions and all well bought, except the Benz, but I did go see it in person before buying so no fault but mine. Don't know why every car I find is in CA either.

All were better transactions and smoother than dealing with the dealer for a new car recently...will never buy a new car again, the ebay route is much better imo.
 
Well those are the ones I bought, I have went to Minnesota looked at one that was below expectations, then went to Ohio on same trip for much of the same. Also went to Tucson, AZ to look at a car that did not even match the pics the girl sent me...was like she sent pics of the car when she got it new, then drove it for 20 years and posted it for sale with the pics when she got it.
All of these though were outside of ebay. I've found if you call and talk at length with someone and about the history of the car you can determine real quick if they are legitimately telling you about the car and if they are car folks.. All of the bad experiences were with people that I don't even know how they ended up with a collector car as they knew nothing about cars and did not have any other hot rods, etc.
Almost forgot, flew to Seattle to look at a boat one time, was there less than 5 minutes..in a land with very little sunshine, the paint had faded more than if it sat in the Texas sun its whole life.
 
Congrats on your ebay purchases!

The issue with online car shopping is that the photos cannot tell the full story.


This statement is SOOO true. I usually try and get a good feel for the car and the owner before I decide on a road trip. BUT even high resolution pictures can hide things. Went to the Jersey Shore 3 or 4 years ago to look at a 83TA 5 speed that only had 11k on it. It looked wonderful in the pictures, but clearly had paint work on the front end. Of course they denied it, but I was willing to make an offer since we had the trailer with us. But it didnt work out.

Also looked at a different Indy Fiero than the one I ended up buying and even to the owners surprise, the trunk quarters had rusted out. The guy about flipped out when I pulled back the carpet in the rear hatch. He had took it on partial trade and realized he had gotten burned pretty bad.

Other times I dont even get out of the car and know I dont want the car. Those trips are the most disappointing because the travel expenses are already involved.

The best trip was for the MSE. Went to Philly, PA and that car was a real gem. Young kid was real nice and forthcoming about everything. I still keep in contact with him because he really did care about the car's future.

But this is the life of a classic car-a-holic, and when I do score something great, it makes up for the rest.:clap:
 
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