How many times ???

[Grumpyoldman]

How many times has this happened to you?

You stop by someones house because you spied an old car sitting in there yard. And your wondering if you can get this vintage tin & the owner tells you....
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Its not FOR SALE, I'm going to fix it up someday!
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This happened to me yesterday, and the guy was serious.

And I know he'll never do a damn thing to it because of the TREE growing threw the engine compartment.

 

[CR55]

Sadly it happens too many times. As I posted on here a while back, I stopped to check out a 57 hardtop that was siitin outside next to the garage. Of course the owner was going to "fix it up". That was 15 years ago and I don't know how long it had already been there!.Still there........CR

 

[chipper]

Keep going back sooner or later they will either sell it to ya or shoot ya no really if you go back a few times the folks tend to see you in a more friendly way, stay and shoot the bull for a bit talk about believe me it helps

 

[donsrods]

About in 1985 when we moved to Cape Coral Fl there was a mint 58 Chevy 2 door sedan sitting at a garage. We stopped, it was a 348 car, all there, and they said they were doing some work for the owner...........not for sale.

Over the years we kept going back and the car was still in the same spot. Still not for sale.

About two years ago I stopped again and now it was for sale........$ 500.00, but it had rusted and fallen apart so bad from just sitting for the past 20 years I passed on it even at that cheap price. The motor and everything had turned to a ball of rust.

But, they were going to fix it up "someday."

Don

 

[cycledog]

I haven't counted the times that has happened to me, but it has to be in the hundreds.

 

[Barber]

Well I can see both sides of the fence on this one....

I've tried to buy cars in the past that I knew were going to rot into the ground, (and did) only to be told they were not for sale.....

But on the same token... after the divorce, dad had to leave his 72 Mach 1 sit outside for a few years, and had countless people stop trying to by it... and when he'd tell them it wasn't for sale, some of them would come back with a "well your not gonna do anything with it" But now it's sitting in my garage with several thousand dollars worth of parts I've been gathering, awaiting a full restoration....

So yeah, sometimes they are telling the truth...

 

[Paddy Bones]

this is actually one of the ways i got into hot rods/rat rods. i new this mechanic neighbor of my buddies and one day we went over there to borrow a tool from him and i spied an old truck, which upon further inspection i noticed it was a 51 chevy. well after talkin with him about it for like 2 hours the famous last words came up. went back a few times but still no dice. i eventually moved and id bet everything i own its still sitting there in a pile.

 

[chopper tom]

No ,no no.How about when ya keep checking and trying and they keep saying no that there gonna fix it up and one day you drive buy and its gone and for less that you thought it would have costed to purchase it too!
But at least i guess some one has done something with it.
I hate to see when some one that you know who want fix one or sale it gets ahold of it.

 

[Tripper]

I've seen several yards that had plenty of cool cars & even for sale signs out front & a phone # but when you call to set an appt... they never will show up etc! Like it pains them to sell anything but they'll let it all sit there & fade away!?!? WHAT is with that... must be some sort of rust related disease!!!

BoB

 

[buckeyedon]

Happens all the time most just rust to the ground. Sometimes I think it's an attitude. You want it but they got it. Somehow it makes them feel good.

 

[shakey56]

Hey Guys. I have a friend who went back every 6 months for TWENTY years tryin' to buy a 33 Roadster in a garage covered in bikes, etc. On THE day, the owner said I'm gonna give you one price, one time and if you flinch, don't ever come back. He bought it, spent $175,000 on it, then sold it because it was too nice to drive. I went to high school with both guys. Keep tryin'.

Shakey

 

[Barber]

Reminds me of 53 Willy's jeep pickup I tried to buy for years... had a 351 Cleveland, C6 and 9-inch in it.... About every 6 months I'd stop and talk to the ol boy... gave him my number every time and he swore that when/if he sold it I'd be the first one he'd call..... well it's been gone for a couple years now and I never got the call....

 

[Rev Tex Devlle]

i just call them liars and say if you intended to fix it you would have took better care of it!!! and then i leave
dont make any freinds that way but maybe they will think about what they are really doing and thge next guy that come along they willsell it!!!! faced with the truth of what we really are is harder to swallow and i understand!
There is no truth existing which I fear, or would wish unknown to the whole world” tom jefferson
He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and a third time till at length it becomes habitual.”

 

[gassersgarage]

Way back when,,,,I traded a '75 Chevy Monza for a '68 Corvette roadster with a blown motor. I got the vette running but the rest was in sorry shape. I was by the front room window when I heard a guy telling his girlfriend, "If that car were mine, I won't let it just sit there!". It ****ed me off so much, I drug into a body-on resto and finished the vette in 4 months. Fortunately, I had broken up with my girlfriend so I had the money to spend. After the car was finished, we got back together. (LOL)

 

[Sam_Fear]

OH NO!!! I've turned into the "I'm gonna fix it up someday guy". My 48 Olds has been sitting in the same spot for over a year now. (I knew it would sit for awhile when I bought - too good a deal to pass).

Been ask if it ws for sale 4 times now. Guess what I told 'em.....



I do have a frame for it in the garage I'm working on right now.

 

[hotrod preacher]

sometimes the "not for sale" is b/c too many people have offered too little....

sometimes its b/c the owner has memories with the car worth more than a few dollars --

no matter how mad it makes car guys... it is their property to do with as they please........even if it rots away.....here's a family example
my uncle owns this car-and has for 30+ years, will never do anything with it and everybody knows it....tried to buy/trade for it and couldn't..even worse its stored in a barn behind Dad's place (gotta look at it every time i'm there)

 

[Thunder1]

Happens all the time most just rust to the ground. Sometimes I think it's an attitude. You want it but they got it. Somehow it makes them feel good.

That's a pretty safe bet in my opinion too. They got it, you want it, they don't want you to have it! I've been through this Sh** too many times to count a couple of years ago too. I found a 50 Chevy pickup once with the most incredible patina that I just had to have it. I tracked down the owner through a friend at the court house and called to see if he would sell it. I got the classic - "I'm gonna fix it up one of these days, It's not for sale" line. I couldn't help myself and told him your a damn liar - the damn thing has been sitting there for over 10 years falling down! If you were gonna do something with it you would have by now! That was two years ago. The truck is still sitting there except now the front wheels have come off and it's laying completely down on the frame now! Some people are just plain idiots!

 

[Grumpyoldman]

LIFE SUXS

I found a 1957 CHEVY-150 model in an old garage in New York. I ask they owner if he would like to sell the car, He said no not right now.This was in March. You have to understand the car has been in this garage for approx 31 years. Only 48k miles and in really good condition except for rocker panels and inside trunk and a mouse in the glove box. All normal for the year. He finally tells me this past Saturday he wants 2 grand for it I said, NO PROBLEM , check or cash. Oh course he wants cash, OK that was on a Saturday afternoon. My bank only allows to withdrawal of $1000. per day limit from the ATM. Saturday I get a grand out, Sunday I get a grand out. Monday morning I'm at his house with a friend and a trailer And guess what...CAR IS GONE...He sold the car to someone else on Sunday for $1,500.. I still can't believe that he did this. And its my own damn fault for not going to his house on Saturday and giving him a grand down. I really work hard at trying to get this car and I got it stuck up my wa-zoooooooo... Live and learn....

 

[hotrod preacher]

i sure hate to hear that, Grumpy....those kinda stories make a preacher want to 'cuss