Weird things you have come across when buying(looking for) a car...

[myxr6]

I saw a HQ kingswood in a cheapies yard in Brisbane in the early 80's that a Monaro guard on one side and normal on the other.I saw a XD Fairmont Ghia in a car yard around the same time , that had factory 351 on the windsrceen , but had all the 6cyl info stickers under the bonnet and no 4 wheel discs.When I pointed this out I was told not very politely to get out of the yard and never come back.

[Zed7fiddy]

Just last weekend my Boss went up to Cooroy (a hour and a bit) to check ou ta car for his mrs (a suzi vitara) they were quit keen on it with it having a fair amount of rego on it and RWC for 4g's

They get there and check it out, engine bay is clean, car is clean, everything looks good, ask the saleslady if they can take it for a drive, sure she says.

They take it for a spin, come back, are ready to hand cash over when the boss looks under the chassis to see a rust hole the size of a 50c coin, and oil dripping all over the driveway, he asks who did the roadworthy and mentions these to the lady and she cracks the poops and walks back to the office.

So here is my boss and his Mrs wandering what the hell, and are about to leave when the lady walks back and hands him the phone and says "here, you talk to him"!

She had rang the mechanic that did the RWC and forced them to talk, needless to say the guy that did the RWC wasnt there to talk to so the boss of the mechanic said he woul dhave it all fixed!

The boss picked up a VS commodore on Gas with 12 months rego on the weekend for 3g.

[Zedjay]

i bought a landau to use for parts in the early 90s..
while stripping it down we found a loath of bread in the sill all bogged over

[Mark s]

Originally Posted by NJXR6

only real thing was the salesman talking me into N/A falcons and not turbos..
"extractors and a pod on an N/A falcon and you'll smoke a turbo mate!"

Yep had something along the same lines. Car salesman telling me there was no difference between the turbo and the N/A. I asked him what the turbo did and he said it made the car more econimical. Funny thing is he had no Turbo's in the yard that day and only XR6 N/A and a few 8's.



Years ago on Parramatta road we looked at a HZ for a friend. We asked the guy what sort of carby it has and his response was a Holley Thermojet. The VHT yellow painted heads almost had us on Yella Terra units.

[cosmo20btt]

Originally Posted by Fev

Well its the best way of letting you make sure its an LSD :P

Maybe the guy thought he asking if he on Lsd ? LOL

[Thornie]

Been looking for a 4wd for the last couple of months and come across a 94 hilux twin cab in a car yard, thing looked pretty neat untill i spotted a rust hole in the bottom sill under the rear passenger, closer look hrm filled with space filler, tap my fingers along the sill and hit a crunchy bit, have a look and all the bottom sill under the drivers door has spray painted fibre sticky tape, same thing on the passenger side.

Hrm no thanks looks like it had done alot of beach work.

[Yellow_Festiva]

Went to look at a 98 Festiva advertised locally for a mate a few years back.

Advertised with 36,000km. Pulled my car over a few houses down and knocked on the door to look at the car.

Owner comes out, explains that the low kays is caus the wife only took it down the street to the shops etc. No worries....

Looked at the carpet (under newly bought car mats), large hole from a heel worn through the carpet and the sound deadener. Rubber pads on the pedals exposing large amounts of shiny steel from excessive wear...

He told me this was 'normal' as the cars were built cheap. (then challenged me to 'compare it to other Festivas, as they would all be the same or worse' he assured me)...

He no longer wanted to compare cars when I told him my 99 Festiva with 150,000km had nowhere near the wear of his car.

He also 'didn't know' how the original sales date was out of sync with the current rego date, and why the rego plates were not the same as when the car was originally sold lol...

[Jastel]

Bought a BA from the govt auctions and on driving around a few days later noticed an annoying rattle in the back, so checked out the susupension, undone and retightened every bolt and it was still there

A few days later took out the back seat and found about 100 spent 9mm bullet shell casings all making a nice rattle!!

Found out later car was from a prison.

In other ex police cars I have bought I would often find a stray live bullet or two under the seat.

[Papa Smurf]

Years ago a mate and I went to a private persons house to buy a carby for a 120y Datsun, while there the guy was showing me his EH225 S4 Holden wagon?? I was working for a holden dealer at the time and told him he was wrong as the 225 S4 was a sedan that GMH built more or less for Bathurst, he wouldn't believe me and told me I didn't know what I was talking about.. fool

[artwebber]

a year ago i was getting my ba xr6 serviced whent into a car yard next door looked at a 2005 vz SV6 fully optioned the guy talked it up saying it was ex cort judges car and it was supercharged and when i told him about my xr6 he was like pffft this thing will eat that i took it for a drive and hated it slow compaired to my xr6 the guy then poped the bonnet no supercharger i asked where is it mate ummm its all hidden after 30 minuits of sucking up me and my gf's ***'s i then said mate its not supercharged its a 190kw engine the leather seats are rock hard u want 34k for this yet brand new VE SV6's start from $35k they shut up and i walked out lol.

[Teflon Turbo]

just in general try buy a vl off someone selling one and i guarantee you, you will be gob smacked everytime

[BPXR6T]

I found a bong, balaclava, and lubricant of the non automotive kind in a car I bought once.

[Suvo]

I was looking at a BF GT in a dealership and the dealer was going on about how it was a new FG with the boss 315 motor in it etc. The most amusing bit was there was a FG GT just over the other side of the driveway. I haven't bothered to return there.

Another time when my folks were looking at a TDCi Mondeo I was rattling off more info about the car then the dealer could. I got offered a job on the spot.

[Green X]

Spotted a photo of a early 90's Merc in the Auto trader a few years ago had a worked 350 in it or something the selling photo was the car in the guys driveway doing a stand- still LMAO

Was on a coach getting transported to a mine site south of Perth early this year, We were sitting at the lights and we spotted a For sale sign on a VE SS with a hot little blond number behind the wheel. Non of us gave a S about the car just the girl driving it.

A mate Paul, maned up and called up the number. A Guy answered, bit of a discussion followed Re car and who owned it, tunes out it was his Girl friend driving the car.
Not to be discouraged Paul says, "oh can i come look at the car on Saturday", Owner "Sorry mate no good, I'm going to be away".
Paul "Dam, Saturday is the only day i can look at the car as ill be on a mine for the next month and I'm pretty keen on it, would ya missus be around, so i can have a look"
..... Silence, owner "ummm Yeah she should be home on Saturday ill just give you her phone number."
Paul "oh fantastic that makes it easy, oh what was her name."
Owner> "oh yeah, it's Stacy".
Paul "cheers mate!"

at the time we had 20 blokes up the back of this coach loosing it with laughter as this poor guy just handed his girlfriends name and phone number out too 20 miners LMAO

[tankclare]

lmao some crazy things have happened.

Just last week a mate of mine picked up a VP commodore for $100 just to have as a paddock basher sort of thing. When he got there the bloke was bagging it up on his driveway and then doing fishies. When my mate asked what he was doing he said he had been drinking because he couldn't believe he was going to sell it so cheap and wanted to have one last go in it. What a tool hahaha

[Paddyboy]

When I was looking at buying my first car, I went to look at a hq gts 4 door (replica) that was advertised as "heavily hotted up 308" and "car is in showroom condition"
I then arrived with a mate 15 min earlier then I said I would (I do this to see if the owner is doing last min cleaning or touching up stuff) and the guy was standing with the car and I walked up and starting chatting with him about the history of the car.
He then said "oh i forgot to tell you on the phone but yesterday I side swiped a pole in a carpark and the whole left side is scratched"!!! I looked at it and he promised he would fix it only if I put down a deposit. haha
Then I asked him what he done to the engine and the response was "Dunno nothing about engines, the bloke I bought it off said it was an ex drag car" so I was interested in how the car drove so we took it for a drive and it felt like I was driving a 253, it was gutless, so we got back and I looked under the bonnet and yes it was a 253. I told the bloke and he thought I was telling lies. I just left hahaha

[ILLaViTaR]

Originally Posted by LTDterri

Sorry mate but my BA has a nice white engine bay to go with the outside.

God that's 2 people who can't understand that "hard pressed" and "less likely" don't mean 0%/impossible.

[mafiastafcar]

Went to check out a car for someone, a 95 Barina IIRC. Supposed to be a private seller, but he talked like a dealer. The car ran ok, but there were water marks around the rear of the hatch, he didn't want to know about that. Then we popped the bonnet and he took off the oil cap and showed us all the who-knows-how-many-years worth of sludge and tried to make out that it was a good thing!

Then there was a 2L Sigma I tested at a car yard. They had something like $1400 on it. It wouldn't run without the choke fully on, it pulled heavily to one side and you had to just about stand on the brakes to make it stop. Got back from the test drive and told them it was a death trap. The response? "Yeah, well, it's a cheap car for a student...."

[Bearman]

In early 1986 I was looking for an XA GT Sedan. I found one in a car yard in Preston, checked out OK, drove like a dream and the sticker price was right at the limit of my budget which was pretty much entirely a loan ($6K - A lot of money then!!).

Was in the office haggling on price. There was the main salesman, another bloke connected to the car yard, me and a mate present. We'd arrived at a price I was happy with and I was just about to seal the deal. The salesman must have thought I wasn't convinced so right on cue another salesman burst into the office with a really excited look on his face and said (loudly) "I think I've got a buyer for that XA GT!!!!"

The worst bit of acting I've ever seen!!

Then there was silence. The gatecrasher looked at me, I looked at the salesman I was dealing with, my mate looked at the other guy. Time stood still as we all looked at each other in total silence. You could see the tumbleweeds blowing around the yard and hear the crickets chirping in the background. It was only for a few seconds but felt like ages and I was trying not to laugh!!

I said "relax, I'm buying it, I'd already made up my mind." I then turned to the gatecrasher and told him he'll need to brush up on his acting skills.

Did the deal for $5.8K drive away. Very happy camper even though I'd almost committed financial suicide to buy it.

This XA GT Sedan was a 4 speed, Polar White with Parchment interior with zero options (no air, no power steer, nothing) and is still the best car I ever owned. No other car made me smile so much (although my Coupe comes close). It was stolen in June 1986 and I still miss it.

[Mr Brooksy]

Originally Posted by johnandjus

I think this is an urban myth, I remember being told about it in the 80's. I also think that the courts would decide that the wife had done the wrong thing and cheated him out of money.

I have heard a similar story that is folk law. But like I said, the chick was my Dad's school mate. Sorry not an urban myth this one.

[Iggypoppin']

I found heroin fits in the VL I bought few years back. Shudder

[jd dad]

was looking for a Capri for a drag only car around 1990. Rang up an add from the Trading Post, got told its setup for a cleveland and C10 has a 31 spline 9 inch mini tubs with 10 inch welds just needs finishing etc. Got there (a good 3plus hrs) to find a rolling shell with most of the firewall cutout ie a big hole and the same in the rear- no floor from behind the back seat. It did have the 9 inch but it was mounted on a cpl of bits of about 3 x 1 1/2 tube that had been welded into the back half. Said to the guy it didnt like very strong, he replied well Street and Strip did the diff and didnt say anything about it. Went around to S and S as it was close by to talk to John about it. He said no idea what car as he had never seen it and it sounds like a death trap. Hope noone else bought it