Collector car auction horror story....
I just returned from a custom body/resoration/paint shop to have a Bearcat wheel repainted..(long story, don't ask 
).
In the main bay was a 55 Pontiac convertible. It was stripped to bare metal and had temporary tubes in the doors to hold the car together.
It seems the owners bought it at a famous collector car auction a couple of years ago, paying $35k for what looked to be a solid car.
When they took it to a custom performance shop (next dor to the paint shop) for upgraded brakes, the custom shop owner noting some funky paint so he called over the body guy.
Turns out the car was a bondo special. To make a long story short, when they got the car back from the sandblaster, about 1/2 the car was gone.
The cowl, an important part of a convertible, was swiss cheese, with huge chunks missing.
The rotten floor was left in place, the "restorers" simply welded a new metal on top of it.
The sills were gone. There are 3 bullet holes in the rear quarters that were simply bondoed over. A hole on the inside of the trunk was patched with something that is still plyable...rather like taffy. The bottom of the convertible trunk well was also holier than a room full of nuns.
Seriously, most of you have parts cars in better shape than this Pontiac.
The owners were in so deep with the purchase price and resto-mod parts already bought and paid for, they have no choice but to press ahead.
I guessed to the body guy a restored car like that might be worth $60K, and he said they were well past that already...before paint and interior. New doors have been bought (US made units that wil also fit tr-five Chevys) and he's reusing as many of the body panels as possible. He's adapting new Chevy sheetmetal for the cowl, floors and sills.
I know what you're thinking..."Silly buyers didn't check it out before bidding".
Yes, you'd be right, but these buyers weren't newbies with too much money.
They looked at the car, just not close enough. They assumed buying the car at a high-end auction would insure the cars were reasonably sound...this outfit says it picky about consignments.
Bad assumption.
So buyer beware.
BTW: The last two lines of the car's descriptrion are:
"Recent mechanicals include complete suspension rebuild, complete rebuild of driveline and new radial wide white wall tires. This is a rarely seen excellent, show-quality vehicle."
UPDATE: I just checked the auction company's website.
It seems the car (as indicated by the VIN listed on the website) was sold a year before by the company (but at a different venue) for $52,000. The next year it was sold for $35,000.
Looks to me like the first buyers found out what they bought and resold it the next year. The catalog description was unchanged. Hardly honest or ethical.
).In the main bay was a 55 Pontiac convertible. It was stripped to bare metal and had temporary tubes in the doors to hold the car together.
It seems the owners bought it at a famous collector car auction a couple of years ago, paying $35k for what looked to be a solid car.
When they took it to a custom performance shop (next dor to the paint shop) for upgraded brakes, the custom shop owner noting some funky paint so he called over the body guy.
Turns out the car was a bondo special. To make a long story short, when they got the car back from the sandblaster, about 1/2 the car was gone.
The cowl, an important part of a convertible, was swiss cheese, with huge chunks missing.
The rotten floor was left in place, the "restorers" simply welded a new metal on top of it.
The sills were gone. There are 3 bullet holes in the rear quarters that were simply bondoed over. A hole on the inside of the trunk was patched with something that is still plyable...rather like taffy. The bottom of the convertible trunk well was also holier than a room full of nuns.
Seriously, most of you have parts cars in better shape than this Pontiac.
The owners were in so deep with the purchase price and resto-mod parts already bought and paid for, they have no choice but to press ahead.
I guessed to the body guy a restored car like that might be worth $60K, and he said they were well past that already...before paint and interior. New doors have been bought (US made units that wil also fit tr-five Chevys) and he's reusing as many of the body panels as possible. He's adapting new Chevy sheetmetal for the cowl, floors and sills.
I know what you're thinking..."Silly buyers didn't check it out before bidding".
Yes, you'd be right, but these buyers weren't newbies with too much money.
They looked at the car, just not close enough. They assumed buying the car at a high-end auction would insure the cars were reasonably sound...this outfit says it picky about consignments.
Bad assumption.
So buyer beware.
BTW: The last two lines of the car's descriptrion are:
"Recent mechanicals include complete suspension rebuild, complete rebuild of driveline and new radial wide white wall tires. This is a rarely seen excellent, show-quality vehicle."
UPDATE: I just checked the auction company's website.
It seems the car (as indicated by the VIN listed on the website) was sold a year before by the company (but at a different venue) for $52,000. The next year it was sold for $35,000.
Looks to me like the first buyers found out what they bought and resold it the next year. The catalog description was unchanged. Hardly honest or ethical.
).
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