"Car Guy" Serendipity

A bit of a random story, but it goes to show how "car guys" always seem to come back full circle.

A couple months ago I got home from work and the wife said "I got a present for you." I go in the garage and there's a pile of new-in-box car parts, including a full set of Bilstein HDs. So I'm like "what is this?" She says she saw it on a facebook garage sale site and that some guy apparently had given up on a LeMons build (car unspecified) and his wife wanted old parts gone from the garage for next to nothing for whoever picked them up. So she picked them up, because she "recognized Bilstein and knew [I] used them."

So pile of parts. An hour or two of cross-referencing and calls to NAPA I figuret out they're a mish-mash of VW/Audi parts, mostly for late-90s Passat (no wonder the guy gave up). Some crossover to Audi A4/A6 of that era too. In any case, I figure that the retail value of this stuff is over $1k (including the billies, a clutch kit, and a bunch of new suspension pieces), so maybe I can sell it off for a fraction of that value to make some race cash. So I post it on CL, GRM, and some forums. Nothing, barely a nibble. Even with them listed as "I will take any offer."

Back on facebook marketplace they go. A couple weeks later a guy calls and says he wants the Bilsteins because his Passat has a blown shock, but he's kind of low on money so would I do $200. I figure I could probably sell them for more if I waited a bit (each one is $100-150 on ebay), but what the hell. I say ok and tell him he can have all the other parts for another $50. I could make more money on them doing ebay probably, but he seems like a nice guy so let him have it all.

A few weeks later, I get a message from him with a photo of a Porsche 944 at a local pick and pull. I need some random parts, so that's great. I go to the yard. This place I went to a decade ago and remembered it being a clusterberkeley. Well, still is. I can't find the car.

Send the guy a message "where is the car?" No answer. I use his picture to match up details of the background (trees, mountain, sun position) to find the car finally. I spend 2 hours pulling little parts I want - brake booster check valve, some window weatherstripping in so-so condition (requiring me to open the doors up and hand-remove the windows to get to them). Same with the sunroof - had to crank it from the (locked) hatchback area to open it to get part of teh wind deflector I needed. A couple engine bay parts. And this car has the rear-license-plate finisher "PORSCHE" lighted panel (aftermarket "Made in the the USA," oddly enough. I pull that for a garage decoration. A few other things.

I walk up to the front counter with mostly a bunch of marginal-shape stuff that may or may not work or be good enough to use. At most pick and pulls this would be a "Oh...uh..take it all for $5 bucks, and another 10 for the lighted thing."

Not this place..lady is clicking on a computer for retail value of a Porsche (aka VW) fog light switch, and says the window weatherstrips are $15 EACH (they're like 6" long and ratty). All in all, she says $90. Nope. I say "ok how about all this little junk and not the lighted Porsche thing?" $60. Nope. 

After a bit of arguing and finally some choice words on my part, the stuff got tossed off to the side and I departed with no parts and 2 hours wasted. 

As I'm driving home, the guy who sent me the photo messages back wth the car location. I tell him I found it and what went down. He is like "damn...man I actually work there on the side pulling engines for them in exchange for parts hookup" (or something like that). Too bad I didn't know you were there"

Next day he messages me with a photo of all the parts I pulled (including the lit panel) and says "they're at my house, come and get em" for a fraction of what they quoted me at the counter. So I go get em and throw some extra money on top for his effort.

Anyhow, not that exciting, but just kind of funny how things work out. Started with parts from a random person, sold them to another random person, who later got me parts that I needed unrelated to his own cars. The moral of this story is, I guess, "what goes around comes around." Seems over and over I find this especially true with "car guys," that we always seem to run into each other down the road.....

Cool story.

Year's ago I sold a used engine on the cheap to a young guy (maybe 19 Y.O) and moved on with my day. About four years later I am rolling down the road and a cop pulls me over, happens to be the same guy and remember me selling him the engine and still has the car and engine. Yes he let me go with a warning.

Paul B

Nice.  Well done.

FYI, those stupid license plate filler things were all dealer installed in the states, so it’s not surprising that they were made in the US.

Stefan said:

Nice.  Well done.

FYI, those stupid license plate filler things were all dealer installed in the states, so it’s not surprising that they were made in the US.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of those at all.  But, for a garage wall decoration, I'd grab one.  

Anyhow, just goes to show that karma works.  Put good into the world, get good back.

Stefan said:

 

Nice.  Well done.

FYI, those stupid license plate filler things were all dealer installed in the states, so it’s not surprising that they were made in the US.

Oh I know they were dealer options, but it' was still a bit surprising to see the "Made in the USA" so prominently on it. Almost a throwback...these days a part like that would definitely be made in China or Croatia or something!

When I was at the counter I actually pointed it out to the lady to show her it wasn't a "Genuine Porsche Part" and she couldn't look it up on her computer. She didn't care one bit.

That's why I like Pick-n-Pull. The prices are shown on a big billboard. Headlight for a Porsche is the same as a Kia. Don't like the price, don't waste your time pulling the part. I gave up on a much more local yard because every time I pulled parts, the prices were pulled directly out of the counter jocky's ass. Every. Damn. Time.

In the words of Ratt, "What comes around goes around."   Also ditto on Pick-n-Pull and Pull-a-Part, prices clearly laid out and it's the same regardless of brand.

I had kind of a car guy 'anti-serendipity' experience this week...

So back in December, I bought a Miata from a local kid who told me he bought it with a bad valve, and fixed it to flip it.  He took my first offer.  I spent a day buffing out the paint, another day cleaning the interior, and later swapped in a manual trans drivetrain (it was an auto).  I also had to replace the radiator and water pump after I discovered he filled the cooling system with straight water when it froze overnight.  I got it for a great price, and it's a nice car, but it took some work to straighten it out.

Recently, I had a Miata cylinder head on Craigslist, and last weekend the same kid calls me and says he wants it, but he doesn't have any money.  He proceeds to blow my phone up for four hours with pictures of all the junk he wants to trade for it.  Finally he comes over, spends 30 minutes poking and prodding it, while I explain it came off a seized motor, and although everything appears OK, it hasn't run while in my possession.  He finally coughs up 2/3s of my asking price and I take it.  He makes a few comments about how he sold me the car too cheap, etc., and how he now wants the wheels that were on the car back.

For the next two days, he blows up my phone trying to get me to sell him the wheels.  I don't want to sell them, but I finally make what I think is a reasonable offer to get rid of him, and he tells me how that's not fair, etc, and he sold me the car too cheap, so I should give him the wheels back... blah, blah, blah.

Today, he texts me and tells me one of the cam journals on the head is bad and he wants me to give him his money back...

I don't think I've ever bought anything off CL and had the expectation it came with a warranty of some sort.  I didn't blow up his phone when I discovered he put straight water in the cooling system... in winter....

Oh, I also tried to get the car aligned this morning and found out it's got a bent control arm...  one more thing to fix. 

So, am I the bad guy?  Would you warranty something you sold on CL after being totally up front about the condition of the item as you know it?  Does 'used' and 'as is' mean anything anymore?  If someone annoys the E36 M3 out of you, are you less likely to care?

What sayeth GRM?

In reply to Rodan :

My friend and I have just the thing for that (complete with real-time universal-sign-language translation):

"If you" (point index finger at shiny happy person) "could berkeley off" (present middle finger) "over there" (hold hand in "thumbs-up" position, jerk it so that it points somewhere else), "that'd be great!" (move "thumbs-up" forward toward shiny happy person)

You need to tell him to snag those wheels for you too!  

Until I moved to the Lehigh Valley, I had never been to a yard with a price list- all of the ones in Philly would size you up and make up a price they thought you would pay.  It helps to show up driving an absolute pile of trash, and try not to let on what car the parts are actually for, but there were still a number of times I got the "berkeley you" pricing, and would "go put the parts back" just to have them miraculously appear on the other side of the fence   

In retrospect, I was probably putting myself in danger of getting shot more often than I realized.  Now I just go to places with price lists.

In reply to Rodan :

You told him it came off a seized motor, anyone with common mechanical sense would anticipate that the valve-train could've been why it seized...  If he contacts again complaining about the head or how he sold the car too cheap tell him about all the things wrong with the car you bought from him, and then ask why weren't those told to you upfront and at least you warned him the head was off a seized engine.  Probably will leave you alone.  Now had you lied about the condition of the engine the head came off then yeah you'd be in the wrong, but you didn't and were up front about it so no you've done nothing wrong.

Rodan said:

I had kind of a car guy 'anti-serendipity' experience this week...

So back in December, I bought a Miata from a local kid who told me he bought it with a bad valve, and fixed it to flip it.  He took my first offer.  I spent a day buffing out the paint, another day cleaning the interior, and later swapped in a manual trans drivetrain (it was an auto).  I also had to replace the radiator and water pump after I discovered he filled the cooling system with straight water when it froze overnight.  I got it for a great price, and it's a nice car, but it took some work to straighten it out.

Recently, I had a Miata cylinder head on Craigslist, and last weekend the same kid calls me and says he wants it, but he doesn't have any money.  He proceeds to blow my phone up for four hours with pictures of all the junk he wants to trade for it.  Finally he comes over, spends 30 minutes poking and prodding it, while I explain it came off a seized motor, and although everything appears OK, it hasn't run while in my possession.  He finally coughs up 2/3s of my asking price and I take it.  He makes a few comments about how he sold me the car too cheap, etc., and how he now wants the wheels that were on the car back.

For the next two days, he blows up my phone trying to get me to sell him the wheels.  I don't want to sell them, but I finally make what I think is a reasonable offer to get rid of him, and he tells me how that's not fair, etc, and he sold me the car too cheap, so I should give him the wheels back... blah, blah, blah.

Today, he texts me and tells me one of the cam journals on the head is bad and he wants me to give him his money back...

I don't think I've ever bought anything off CL and had the expectation it came with a warranty of some sort.  I didn't blow up his phone when I discovered he put straight water in the cooling system... in winter....

Oh, I also tried to get the car aligned this morning and found out it's got a bent control arm...  one more thing to fix. 

So, am I the bad guy?  Would you warranty something you sold on CL after being totally up front about the condition of the item as you know it?  Does 'used' and 'as is' mean anything anymore?  If someone annoys the E36 M3 out of you, are you less likely to care?

What sayeth GRM?

In situations like this I usually say something along the lines of go berkeley your brother. Come get the wheels would also work as long as they are actively involved in a bonfire when he arrives. 

I scrapped 51 Chrysler 2.4 turbo turbos, 80 exhaust manifolds, countless sensors, hoses, fittings, bolts, valve covers, etc because SRT4 people pissed me off I now explain to the dumbasses that they could have had a great resource for cataloged and organized used parts if the people didn't suck so bad this has not changed the ownership but I get left alone and it's wonderful.