Thought I'd better introduce myself as I am new here, we bought Lono's car ( http://57fordsforever.com/smf/index.php?topic=1915.0 ) a from the bloke in Florida, he found his "dream car" and needed the cash, 57's are pretty rare over here as Ford were still selling the Customline . We run a small shop doing restorations, rods, customs etc in Melbourne Australia, so this car has done some travelling since it was last mentioned on here. Will get some pics up soon although it has not really changed much, will also put up a couple of pics of some cars we have done in the past if that's ok? They are not 57 Fords though.
Welcome aboard, good to see new members and their 57's.
Welcome!
Welcome Gibbo, I look forward to seeing you cars.
Welcome to the site Gibbo. We'd sure like to see some pics of the car, and your plans for it. Glad it ended up in the hands of a restoration shop, it'll be nice to see that car done right.
We're always interested in other projects members have got going, but just a heads-up from another member, not a moderator,....James is real cautious, as one needs to be nowadays, about new members just joining to "hawk their wares", sorta speak. Kind of a fine line here, but post your stuff with the emphasis on the '57, filtering in some shop projects on other cars so we can see what kinda work you do and get to know ya.
Sounds like you know some of the history of that car. I'm curious as to what the floorboards, inner rockers, and floor supports are like.
Forget all of my above comments on the '57. I thought you were talking about a ranch wagon he(Lono) sold to another member here without disclosing some major issues. Didn't realize you were talking about the scalloped 2 dr hardtop.
Rich
Major issues? what happened? Did I miss something?
No problem on posting some of your projects, so long as it doesn't turn into a big advertisement, and so long as the number of off topic cars is kept to a minimum. Heck, we have even had a couple brand x station wagon pics on here in the past to draw comparisons from.
kind of a long story if you followed it thru, but here goes. Remember when Lono was working on that car, posting lots of pics, moving right along? at one point he was cleaning some of the old paint off with a pressure blaster. Shorly after the pressure blaster pics, the car was in flat black. From the pics Bill sent me off line, I'm guessing my assumption that he went straight to paint with no sanding was correct. That was one of many "minor" problems Bill found. He repaired alot of mechanical things on that car, but I think he was kinda expecting that. After all, it wasn't a high dollar car, and Bill just wanted something dependable to drive that he didn't have to worry about.
The big problem on that "solid"car was what Lono never posted about, and what wasn't mentioned when Bill bought it from a "trusted fellow member" (the car was in Canada remember, so Bill was taking Lono on his word)The floor pan, inner rockers, and floor supports had fist size holes rotted out. When Bill decided he didn't need another major project car, and advertised it here for sale, he was making anyone that inquired about the car aware of the problem. Bill, being the kind of guy he is, just couldn't bring himself to selling the car as it was sold to him. That's why it took so long for Bill to sell the car, and why he sold it for alot less than what he paid for it.
Anyways, it really pissed me off that a member here would do that to a fellow member...particularly to someone like Bill who has gone out of his way to help so many. Kudos to Bill for the limited comments he made publicly on that deal..I wouldn't have been so quiet.
The next chapter...Bill sold it to a hot rod shop in Tulsa, making them aware of the problem. He even trailered it there for them, and had them look at it before they unloaded. "Not a problem for us" I think Bill said was their comment. So, now we're really curious, because less than a month later, the car appeared and sold on ebay with a shiney new paint job for 3 times the money. Could that shop posibly had time to do all that panel repair, strip the old paint and repaint in less than a month, or did someone else get stung? who knows? I'd like to.
Bill...I'm sure you'll read this....correct any inacuracies I may have.
Wow...I never knew that. Caveat Emptor is the rule of the day, guys, let the buyer beware. Sorry to hear about all that Bill.
That's pretty much the straight story. Funny thing, the guy that "flipped" the car didn't even take the bumpers off to paint it. I did save the pictures of the "rust free" portions so if it surfaces again anyone here can get the "rest of the story". I do not find it funny to hear stories of folks that intentionally deceive to make a buck.
Feel lucky, that is the first "burn" I've gotten, I do trust folks to be up front and most have been over the years.
So... lemme get this right.... a member here sold you a car with fist sized holes in it and never told you?
Yup..... http://57fordsforever.com/smf/index.php?topic=2806.0
Bill..... your a much better man than I.
All I can say is ...wow.
I feel very bad for you Bill.
Post those Pics Bill.
Dang...who smited lono so many times, lol? Harsh, man..
Seriously, Bill, had I known that had happened, I would have said something about it a long time ago. I hate it that you lost money on the car, especially after all the hoops you jumped through to get it from BC all the way to Alabama. Hopefully, it didn't destroy your faith in dealing with the guys on the forum. Hopefully, if anyone else has any issues like this, after failing to work it out between yourselves, that you report it so we can make it known here that a particular seller is a risk. I may try to find some kind of seller feedback system, like the Corral.net has for its members. (Corral.net is a late model mustang site, I buy parts from there a lot, still.)
I wholeheartly agree with James.... Getting a car from BC to Alabama is not a easy feat......
...... This a small board.... hence why I love it so....
I don't do smites....truth eventually comes out about folks. I'm on the road at my kids place in VA, will post what I have next week if you think it will do any good.
James don't think anything could have been done, really don't think it would have been worth the effort. I do have better things to do with my time.....
Nope, I'm good with the guys here. Looking at all the post and comments from people will give an idea of their character.
I think we got off topic here, But :welcome: Gibbo!
Thanks for the welcome! Seems I may have opened a can of worms here, I can only say that the Fairlane we bought is in pretty good shape, we did see the car advertised initially in Canada and were interested but it was too hard to get it picked up and delivered to a port in the USA for shipping to Australia. Was about 13 months later we saw it on ebay, but now in Florida and a new owner, and that is when we got hold of it. So we had no dealings with Lono at all, sounds like that may have been a good thing?
Welcome Gibbo...sorry to help get off topuc there...
Yes, welcome. Sorry for my worms getting into your welcome thread. We do drift off topic here from time to time....
Yea.. sorry Gibbo.. and welcome!
I guess I was the one with the can opener...sorry about that. So what are your plans for the Hardtop?
Hey, no problems. No huge plans for the car at the moment apart from driving it, we are just getting into car event season here so we will be getting out and enjoying it. We have another project on the go and are having enough trouble finding time to get that done, that is the trouble with having to make a living, gets in the way of the important stuff!
Howdy Gibbo!!