Took a 90 minute ride to see a 1971 Cutlass Supreme yesterday. Looks good in the pics but sadly, just like me, when you meet me in person, well enough said.

The car was under consignment and so the guy showing me the car only had one line all day. Rob, I could get 20K at the Good Guys Event in Phx. Okay.

Repeated over and over. I was looking at 17K prior to seeing car and 15K when I left. I left telling him it's 15 or no deal. Well of course he couldn't get hold of the

car owner, and all offers had to be run by him. The items I found were items outside my pay grade. The more he talked about the 17K, the more I found wrong.

A white car with a green interior? Hmmm, he washed it before I saw it and I found a bath tub full of water in the trunk. The trunk seal was new so guess where the

water was coming from? Under the rear glass. The package trail was stained, Multiple places when the speedy Earl Sheib pulled the tape away from the trim

after paint, the new paint came with it and now the car showed it's green skin. Oh and I guess Rust Free means something different to this sales person. Maybe he

meant acceptable rust. 10 year old tires, but of course plenty of tread and good to use as they are. Yepper. He quoted JD Power prices but when I asked him if

he looked at the graph and sale prices were sliding, I was told not to pay attention to that, you know like the guy behind the curtain in the Wizard of OZ.

So, another 3 hours driving and 1 hour evaluating and half a tank of gas and I'm back to that square on the gameboard called START HERE. Have a good day.

POST SCRIPT: The question I asked and never got a straight answer on, if you can get an easy 20K at Good Guys why are you trying to sell to me for 3K less?

 

This, sadly, has been my experience every time I've considered buying a car that was all done (which explains my backlog of projects...). I repeatedly said that I would pay for a solid, rust-free car, and as you have found, "rust free" only means "no rust visible at the moment". A repaint can cover a multitude of sins. This body style is susceptible to rust in the panel between the back window and the trunklid - it's so common that they actually sell a repop panel for it. Given the rust, you were generous at 15K.

 

Thanks for your valuable insight Joe......

 

The other issue is supremely high asking prices. Used to be, the seller put it up for a good deal for him. Not a stellar deal, but a good deal. You could argue down to a fair deal all around, and if you really wanted the car, you took it for that, or you could try for lower, and, if the seller was just tired of trying to sell it, he might cut and run and give you a good deal.

But now, you have to dicker from sky high, down to robbery, down to good deal for him. You never get to even middle ground any more. I saw a 67 Cutlass, good project car, asking 18. That's 442 money! How can you even start from there?

 

An experienced dealer knows there is always someone who will pay the premium price, so they don't usually feel a need to cut their profit to make a sale to a savvy buyer. They'll wait for the buyer who is uninformed or just eager to get the car regardless. A friend of mine was a dealer for years, and still flips a lot of classic cars as a private seller. It's certainly an education watching him wheel and deal and seem oblivious to the obvious flaws in a car.

And he always gets his price.

 

The above two posts are spot on as well as it seems the practice of buying and selling has changed, and NOT for the better, just my .02

 

That's a bummer that the Oldsmobile was ragged when you looked at it.

 

Let's give some royalties to the one who penned and copyrighted the saying: IT IS WHAT IT IS.........I feel so young and dumb saying that but hey, I am what I am (POPEYE)

 

"Iyam what Iyam..." I loved watching that cartoon as a kid.

 

The new gen says "I iz what I iz".....yet they're not sure what IZ IS. God help them......Yes I actually won 1st place in our
small town's Halloween Parade dressed as none other then POPEYE himself. My grandfather loaned me a pipe and my
grandmother made up a can of spinach I carried to accent the look. And badda bing badda boom....1st place!

I remember breathing behind that plastic mask and the condensation running off the bottom of the mask. Cold cold night and
warm breath equals a drippy mask. Yes you heard it here first.

 

You're dancing around the punchline of a famous joke with "I am what I am" vs "I is what I is."