Caveat Emptor
Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 5:06 pm
Tom mentioned his experience with trying to connect with Robert Doucet, who claims to have a motherlode of parts his father collected, before he passed:
https://59plymouth.net/59forum/viewtopic ... 5873#p5873
I mention Robert's name here, because of an experience I had with him this afternoon.
Robert claimed to have a NOS '59 Sport Fury steering wheel, still in the original wrapping, one his father had stored in the rafters of the garage; one of several, in fact, that he had -- but the rest had been sold, he had but one left. He agreed that he would sell it to me for $600 (!).
Enroute to Myrtle Beach from Ohio, he agreed to meet me on the PA Turnpike at the Downingtown exit, an hour or two out of his way. He left his wife at a motel in Carlisle while he drove east to meet me coming west. We got off the turnpike at the same time, and he recognized me -- and signaled me to follow him to a side road where we pulled off.
After a lot of folderol -- those who met him at Carlisle, know he does like to "go on" -- he tried to sell me a horn ring that was very beat up, but inseparable from the steering wheel, he claimed; which should have been my first clue. By the time he cut away the last piece of duct tape from the blanket covering the steering wheel, I was more than ready. And then I saw it.
OK; so, it was in fact one piece, without cracks. And despite the paint on the non-clear parts, it was solid. But, it was solid amber; and, it was full of nicks and scratches. And in places, the chrome beneath the plastic was rusty -- even the clear plasticless chrome ring already on Faulkner is not rusty.
I was astonished that he was trying to represent this as "New Old Stock". It was obvious that it was the mate to the horn ring he wanted me to buy, and that it had been on his father's car for some time before he replaced it with the '60 wheel that is now there. Whether he had in fact any other '59 wheels and had sold them, I don't know; but this was no NOS wheel.
I told him, no deal. I at first told him he had misrepresented the condition of the wheel -- he said that the scratches could be polished out, and the "other people he had sold wheels had never complained". As he grew increasingly agitated and insulting, I told him that he had in fact lied to me. He told me that I had "hustled him" to come these many miles out of his way, and I saw that there was no point in further discussion. He said that "If I ever see your car again at Carlisle, I will seriously f*** it up. And that's from my mouth" (And, that's a quote). Having received a threat against my car, I now worried about a tire iron to the head -- and as he threw the blanket back in his truck cab, I hopped in the Scion and floored it. Fortunately, the light was green and I was eastbound on the Turnpike without seeing him again.
Not that my cell didn't ring 12 times on the way home. I never answered, and he never left a message; but if he does, it will be digitized for posterity. I can only imagine what it will say.
Dan
https://59plymouth.net/59forum/viewtopic ... 5873#p5873
I mention Robert's name here, because of an experience I had with him this afternoon.
Robert claimed to have a NOS '59 Sport Fury steering wheel, still in the original wrapping, one his father had stored in the rafters of the garage; one of several, in fact, that he had -- but the rest had been sold, he had but one left. He agreed that he would sell it to me for $600 (!).
Enroute to Myrtle Beach from Ohio, he agreed to meet me on the PA Turnpike at the Downingtown exit, an hour or two out of his way. He left his wife at a motel in Carlisle while he drove east to meet me coming west. We got off the turnpike at the same time, and he recognized me -- and signaled me to follow him to a side road where we pulled off.
After a lot of folderol -- those who met him at Carlisle, know he does like to "go on" -- he tried to sell me a horn ring that was very beat up, but inseparable from the steering wheel, he claimed; which should have been my first clue. By the time he cut away the last piece of duct tape from the blanket covering the steering wheel, I was more than ready. And then I saw it.
OK; so, it was in fact one piece, without cracks. And despite the paint on the non-clear parts, it was solid. But, it was solid amber; and, it was full of nicks and scratches. And in places, the chrome beneath the plastic was rusty -- even the clear plasticless chrome ring already on Faulkner is not rusty.
I was astonished that he was trying to represent this as "New Old Stock". It was obvious that it was the mate to the horn ring he wanted me to buy, and that it had been on his father's car for some time before he replaced it with the '60 wheel that is now there. Whether he had in fact any other '59 wheels and had sold them, I don't know; but this was no NOS wheel.
I told him, no deal. I at first told him he had misrepresented the condition of the wheel -- he said that the scratches could be polished out, and the "other people he had sold wheels had never complained". As he grew increasingly agitated and insulting, I told him that he had in fact lied to me. He told me that I had "hustled him" to come these many miles out of his way, and I saw that there was no point in further discussion. He said that "If I ever see your car again at Carlisle, I will seriously f*** it up. And that's from my mouth" (And, that's a quote). Having received a threat against my car, I now worried about a tire iron to the head -- and as he threw the blanket back in his truck cab, I hopped in the Scion and floored it. Fortunately, the light was green and I was eastbound on the Turnpike without seeing him again.
Not that my cell didn't ring 12 times on the way home. I never answered, and he never left a message; but if he does, it will be digitized for posterity. I can only imagine what it will say.
Dan
But he'd better stay away from Carlisle next year, unless he wants to know what "Furyous" means. 