Greed and oportunists

[64 f100]

I do a lot of searching of craigslist all over the USA , coast to coast. What I've learned is disturbing for our hobby and our trucks. I have over the past few years noticed that increasingly speculators are jumping on anything that comes up for sale that is a good buy or at least a reasonable buy. If it's a good buy, the truck won't last into the second day. Parts are the same way. I recently bought what was reported to be a NOS radiator support for 500$ from I guy in the Midwest. He was to call me back that evening to let me know what shipping would be. No call, and when I called back I found his phone busy for the next two days. The guy had bought a piece of property and stuck in the rafters of an old shed were two NOS fenders and used grill and the radiator support. He wanted 1200 for all of it. I already have 6 NOS fenders and did not need those, so I negotiated the support for 500$. Like several other deals I have made in recent years, the guy obviously sold the stuff to someone else. Probably my own fault for not buying it all I suppose, but he could have at least called me back and let me know what was going on. Instead he just blew me off. Seems that I a lot of people have no scruples or respect.

Rich

[unibody madness]

I agree its getting worse by the day

[mercuryv8]

... I already have 6 NOS fenders and did not need those, ... Probably my own fault ....

Rich

You said it! LoL

Nic

[tomrooster]

that's what craigslist has come to . half the people don't have the decency to call or even send a email or show up when they say there coming to look or buy. Tom

[slick4x4]

Some guys are so tired of dealing with tire kickers, when a guy shows
Up with cash in hand.... They are gonna deal

It sucks to get something sold out from under you.....
But I can see both sides

[orangeRcode]

I noticed this over a year ago when I was looking for a Slick. I scoured CL local and into neighboring states. What I kept finding was a truck would be there and I will inquire about it. Many times the lower priced ones that needed some work would disappear only to reappear a short time later for more than double the price. One in particular was a 63 short bed, 6 cylinder 3 speed truck that was pretty clean and supposedly ran but needed some TLC and a tuneup. I tried unsuccessfully to contact the seller. It disappeared and reappeared about a week later on Houston CL for more than double the price it had been listed for unchanged. Supposedly ran great but didn't look any different.

[64 f100]

I have ran across this buy and sell a truck repeatedly. Most recently on a truck from Arkansas . Ended up on Evilbay . You may have seen it listed , it was a light metallic green and looked good from a distance but up close has some serious rust issues. Did not sell the first time as the reserve was not met. So he tried again I believe it was on Craigslist. Dumbass said he was a Chevy guy and not a Ford guy. More or less admitted he bought it to jack the price and make money. I hope he had to eat it. I've watched one Texas long bed truck go from 10K about 3 years ago to 3K in recent months. I was dealing on a 65 in Texas and someone in Dallas bought the truck for 2500 and was then asking 10K for it. Only thing they did was wash it and put the hubcaps on that had been setting in the floorboard. As to selling anything on Evilbay or cragslist, I have had little luck on either. I recently bought a bunch of manuals on Evilbay, thinking I was getting something that was not there. So now I'm in the process of listing those on Evilbay with shipping included. The only thing related to our truck are a set of 57 to 63 parts manuals in good condition, and I already had a set of those. I did not list those on Ebay, but would sell the set if a member needed or wanted the set. Just give me a PM. These are the three book set with the illustration manual being one and the other two being the part numbers.

Rich

[ICEMAN6166]

Some guys are so tired of dealing with tire kickers, when a guy shows
Up with cash in hand.... They are gonna deal

put an old econoline van on c\l a few years back 84 i think it was anyways $400 was the asking price and i included all the bad in the description
had people calling wanting me to drive it 100 miles so they could look at it
got a bunch of lookers,mostly time wasters
one swore he would be back later with the cash,left no deposit then later that day a guy came and offered $250, he took it home
3 or 4 days later the other guy called back wanting the van and had an attitude that i already sold it

if i ever put something on cl again i will say
"as is, first come,first served,its here so thats where you need to look at it"

[6166 Junkyard Dog]

And here Rich I though it seems I was the only one with some of these ads.. One was just posted few days back here,, called several times with voice mail not set up,, seems that is a common problem so then sent 2 e-mails with no response,, or they will leave the ad up forever way after it was sold

[Roger Carter]

Not much different today than it was 30-40 tears ago. Only the vehicles have changed. 40 years back we were coming out of a gas crunch and any muscle car was cheap. Speculators stepped in and started jacking prices. Same for the early Mustangs. They were 10 years old and just becoming hot. Falcon's followed the Mustang.

Have to remember though, the newest Slick will be 50 years old in a few months.

[slick4x4]

I don't mind "flippers" ... If they don't lie...
But that's usually not the case...

Sold my 77 that I owned for 30 years
2 months later I saw it on Craigslist
The ad said "this truck has been babied by previous owner"

I bought it when I was 18 !
Ran a lot of mud runs & it was on its 3rd engine before it hit 100k
The only original tin was cab and one door.....

I've bought some trucks & cleaned em up & fixed a few little things
Made some fast money... I don't feel guilty... I took the first risk
But I never lied about anything... Told the whole story

[BarnieTrk]

I don't mind "flippers" ... If they don't lie...
But that's usually not the case...

Sadly, this is our world today. I suspect that many people who don't know the person, are more apt to lie or "bend the truth" to their benefit of the deal.

BarnieTrk

[bird55]

Agreed with most of the comments. I must admit I bought my truck with not losing money on it when it comes time to sell. I have also put lots of hard work and money into it. When a serious buyer shows up they should have cash on hand and know a good deal for both. EBAY an CL insulate most people from having any human contact to really make a deal happen. More and more our society. I get insulted almost daily by the sales people writing about what they have to offer. You know the drill… 'very little rust, rust in all the usual places, no rust Rare, super rare and on infinitum.

On the positive note, I just reluctantly bought an engine and had it shipped to me. Fully knowing the perils of this. It arrived shrink wrapped and metal banded to a palate with all the accessories. Cash exchanged hands by wire prior to shipping. The engine is a 64 F100 292, greasy and gross-but looks brand new inside! This is a perfect deal for me and the gent got the money he wanted, which I of course felt was too high at the time. we did it by text and phone, he sent a video of it running of the gauges etc. no smoke. Good people are still out there AND good stuff too at a reasonable price. Be patient and talk to each other.