:: Diary - September 2016 ::

:: Friday, September 2, 2016 ::

Nothing to do with TVRs, but a wee progress report on “project Further Acquisition”. I’m not going to say what it is, but suffice to say that it’s not a sports car, it’s not fast, it’s definitely not economical, it’s not really all that practical, but it’s bloody fantastic!

After missing out on 22 August, I found another one for sale by a car dealer - not classic cars, just general run-of-the-mill family cars, but he somehow has this one old car up for sale. It looks nice, it has been restored, so it’s a bit dearer than the other two I went to see, but still worth the money, for what it is.

So I called up last Saturday (the 27th) to ask about it. It’s even more awkward to get to than the other two, so I want to make sure that it’s nice, before I go. He tells me about it, and does sound like the berries. They (the garage) have been hiring it out for weddings, etc. Now that’s not my plan, but it would be nice as a wee hobby, eh? And you can meet lovely people at other people’s weddings.

When I start trying to nail down a time to go (which involves a plane plus hire car) he goes all coy, and starts saying that his business partners (his brother and his cousin) don’t really want t sell it, but I can come and see it if I like. He also asks if I want more photos.

My spider senses are now telling me that he’s looking for more money… maybe he has realised that it’s worth more, or maybe this was the plan all along - hook the fish then reel it in. I tell him to call me when they have decided whether it’s for sale or not.

An hour later, I get an email with 8 photos, then half an hour later, another dozen photos. Yes, very nice, but…

I leave it a couple of days, then phoned yesterday (1st) - he says they still haven’t decided whether to sell or not, then he also tells me it’s a bargain and worth a lot more. Yes, quite. As I suspected…

This morning (Friday) the advert has been deleted and the car has been re-advertised - with £10,000 added to the price!

I do a bit of research (did you know that you can search what are essentially “backup copies” of website for any particular date going back years? Very handy…) and then email him saying that the car has been advertised for almost a year now (first appeared on August 17 2015) at one price, then up by £5,000 over the summer, and then recently back down to the original price. I add that today, after somebody expresses an interest in the car, they have re-advertised it and added £10,000 to the price. I thank them for their time and for the photos, but state that “I’m out”.

The man is a twat. He has had the car up for sale on two different websites for over a year, and hasn’t shifted it. How the fuck is he going to sell it now for £10K more?

There are four possible outcomes:

1. He waits till I call to make a higher offer (fuck all chance of that happening);
2. Somebody buys it at the higher price after missing it at the lower price for over a year (unlikely, I think you’ll agree);
3. He decides to keep it (he’s a car dealer though, so how does that fit the business model?); or
4. He lowers the price again when he realises that his potential customer really doesn’t care and has already pissed off over the horizon.

Of those, No 4 seems the most likely, does it not?

Unfortunately for him, I have found another one. It’s not in quite as good nick, but it’s still nice and is a more desirable variant. And it’s already registered, MOTd and Taxed in the UK, which is a bonus. So I am going to go and see it. Another plane journey plus a train.

And in any case, even if our dealer pal does lower the price before then, would you want to deal with somebody employing this kind of tactic? No, me neither. He thinks he’s fly. Yes, well flies like shit, and now you’re deep in it.

Why do people want to make life so difficult for themselves?

:: Sunday, September 4, 2016 ::

Had a wee day out with the Porsche at the Bo’ness Hillclimb, collecting money for the Sporting Bears. Apart from the standing all day, getting sore feet and sunburn, not much to report. Except that I didn’t see anybody else on my stand, standing all day or getting sunburnt. Says it all.

Anyway, while I am standing there this bloke strolls up and says “Are you a git?” Well, I can’t deny it, so I say “sometimes”. He’s persistent though, “Have you got a TVR?” At this point I realise that his first question wasn’t just a general observation, but a sign of recognition, so I answer “Yes, an old one.” I’m still a bit cautious, but manage to resist asking him “Are you a twat that’s trying to sell an ancient barge for a vastly-inflated amount after adding 10 grand on last week?”

It turns out that this guy has recognised the Porsche from this site, not me (there are virtually no photos of me on here anyway, for exactly this reason, I can’t handle adoring fans very well). He was thinking of buying an S Series and found my site while he was researching using the power of Google. Unfortunately this was at the time that I had it spread all over the garage, while I was welding bits into the chassis where there used to be rust. That apparently put him off, so he didn’t buy one.

He has, however, kept reading these random meanderings over the years, just for fun. Whatever floats your boat, I suppose.

All this adulation means that I’m thinking about putting the whole site out in print as a book, but I’ll have to re-write it as “Harry Potter-about and the Garage of Broken Dreams” or something, to ensure maximum sales. Dave can get to pretend he’s Robbie Coltrane. And the Sorting Hat would still make sure that S-Owners didn’t have to mix with “the House of Medallion”. I’d have to develop an enigmatic smile and a more impressive décolletage for the publicity photos.

No that’s asking too much. I think I’ll stick to the online bloggy thing.

In other news, still no new acquisition. I haven’t been to see the one in England yet, and I am already being tempted by the fruits of another… different make, different model, 2 foot longer and 6 inches wider so there is no chance of it fitting into the barn at the farm, or my own garage here. It’s bloody nice though, in a fugly grotesque sort of way.

However, I hear that space is available on a different farm, in another barn with a big sliding door, so I need to find out about that. Not enough space for 2 cars, but you don’t want all your eggs in one basket anyway, right?

Decisions…

:: Sunday, September 18, 2016 ::

I have a new acquisition. My first grandchild was born last Friday (9 September) so that has kept everybody busy. I need to get on with restoration of the 50-year-old pedal car - I reckon I have 2 or 3 years to get that finished…

In the meantime, I decided to go to a car show today - not with a car club, not to collect money, just to eat bacon rolls and wander around looking at cars.

Do you ever kinda go into a trance and time seems to stop, and then you come round and then you wonder what happened? Well that happened to me today, and apparently while I was non-compos-mentis, I bought this…

It’s a 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air. Why? Well, why ever not?

It’s not fast. It’s spectacular ugly. It’s mahoosive. It floats like a sledgehammer and stops like a supertanker. It goes around corners like a hovercraft with a time delay in the controls. It doesn’t fit in my garage. It doesn’t fit in the barn along at the farm. I don’t have a clue what I’m going to use it for. It’s super-comfy though.

The interior is a nice place to be - at least from there, you’re the only person who can’t see the outside. And it looks like it has been pre-vomited in case the blindfold falls off before you’ve finished getting in. They think of everything, these Americans.

I absolutely love it.

Can’t actually collect it for a couple of weeks due to work commitments (the seller’s and mine) so that gives me time to find somewhere to keep it!

:: Monday, September 19, 2016 ::

I’ve found somewhere to keep it! No, not a skip, a bloody huge industrial unit, which it will share with various rice-propelled exotica. Oh and a boat, apparently… Lovely!