Imagine your childhood dream car just waiting for you at a classic car shop, owned by some small town car guys on old Route 66, in the middle of the cornfields of Illinois, that just love the hobby and are able to make an honest living doing what they love. Kind of clouds your judgement doesn't it. Well it did for me, and probably more than a handful of other guys that are to embarrassed to admit they put a little too much faith in their imagination and gave their prudence the slip.
I bought an '87 Chevy Silverado 4x4 from those clowns last year. I really wanted a low mileage, older pickup and had come to believe that Country Classics was reputable.
I emailed and talked on the phone with them about the truck that was advertised as a solid, apparently original 51,000 mile truck, with original paint and interior. I had them send pictures, and I faxed them an Intent To Purchase figuring if it was in as good a shape as they said I would pay them $8,000 for it, and would fly out and drive it back to NH.
When I arrived in Staunton, I found out that the truck had obviously been resprayed, with overspray on the moldings. It had a cheap undercoating that was flaking off of the frame. The cab corners had been bondoed. One inner rocker panel had been replaced with a crappy rivet on replacement. The dashboard had been recovered.
I told them that this truck was in a lot worse shape than I was lead to believe, and they offered to drop $500. Maybe I cared too much about my pride to catch a flight home. Big mistake. I decided to buy it anyways, thinking all these items were more or less cosmetic problems that I could iron out, and still walk away with a low mileage truck.
Shortly after leaving the dealer in my new old truck, the gas tanks began leaking. When I was about to reach NJ the transmission totally went out. I needed a full rebuild and had to catch a series of buses and trains to NH. One month and $3,300 later, I went to NJ to pick up my truck and complete my trip. When is the last time you heard
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