1990 Thunderbird SC Show Winner $7000

[timmylovestbirds]

From reading the sellers past posts, most of the build was over 20 years ago, of a car that was 15 years old then. I guess listing it as a "Show winner"" was a little misleading.Was that when the pics in add were taken-20 years ago? My Model A was a show winner from 1972-75. It was restored by my Dad in 1971, if I was to sell it now 53 years later, I wouldnt use that phrase in the listing.

I asked him how long ago the pictures were taken he said a few months ago but i find that hard to believe .Its still my fault not looking at the car good enough but i trusted the guy because he has his own restoration business and a garage called Birdman Garage . His Names in the news paper hes suppose to be a good guy and donating money to the community. So i was fooled but now he's saying i knew all this . If i knew anything about it i would have stayed far away . He wants nothing to do with the car ,He says Its a 30 thousand dollar car i got for 7 grand , that i should drive it the way it is and have fun. Its not road worthy . He said he wont give back my money because i drove it 50 kilometres home and i could have blown the head gasket .I have all the screen shots , the list go's on .

 

[timmylovestbirds]

 

[DOUG H]

I asked him how long ago the pictures were taken he said a few months ago but i find that hard to believe .Its still my fault not looking at the car good enough but i trusted the guy because he has his own restoration business and a garage called Birdman Garage . His Names in the news paper hes suppose to be a good guy and donating money to the community. So i was fooled but now he's saying i knew all this . If i knew anything about it i would have stayed far away . He wants nothing to do with the car ,He says Its a 30 thousand dollar car i got for 7 grand , that i should drive it the way it is and have fun. Its not road worthy . He said he wont give back my money because i drove it 50 kilometres home and i could have blown the head gasket .I have all the screen shots , the list go's on .

I know its easy to say now, but if he own's his own resto shop & the car is in such great shape, why wasn't he willing to sell certified or safetied?

I find it very hard to believe he had been driving it all summer based on the pic's you posted & your description of the 50 km's you drove it home.
That really sucks for you & reflects badly on his business. I was tricked simularily on a 88 Turbo Coupe 24 years ago. Hurt my pride more then my bank account, as I thought I had checked it out throughly & I'm in the automotive trade. It started knocking on the way home about 100 km's after I picked it up.

Hard to say whats the best way to proceed with yours- rebody it, part it out or just repair what you have.

 

[351tt]

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Considering BC law , you absolutely have a case ,his claim in writing " nothing is going to stop you from driving it every day , mechanically the car is sound " would probably be a form of guarantee.... and it is obviously not a true statement , having a business in automotive would put the onus on him even more , if the car was registered to his business name , then even more so again .
There is no way that car can be driven safely in the condition he sold it to you ... BC small claims starts at 5K and up , so you are in that range with this mess .

 

[jco1385]

I sold and shipped driver's side floor pans & rockers to the OP back in March 2023. It was a pain in the ass. Sucks he didn't fix the car.

 

[DOUG H]

I sold and shipped driver's side floor pans & rockers to the OP back in March 2023. It was a pain in the ass. Sucks he didn't fix the car.

View attachment 99629

I wonder where they went? Should have went with the car. I guess if the seller had done that though, it would have been a admission of what was needed or how bad it was.

 

[351tt]

I asked him how long ago the pictures were taken he said a few months ago but i find that hard to believe .Its still my fault not looking at the car good enough but i trusted the guy because he has his own restoration business and a garage called Birdman Garage . His Names in the news paper hes suppose to be a good guy and donating money to the community. So i was fooled but now he's saying i knew all this . If i knew anything about it i would have stayed far away . He wants nothing to do with the car ,He says Its a 30 thousand dollar car i got for 7 grand , that i should drive it the way it is and have fun. Its not road worthy . He said he wont give back my money because i drove it 50 kilometres home and i could have blown the head gasket .I have all the screen shots , the list go's on .

I looked at his website, all image oriented.. claims to give 10 percent of profits to Parkinson's society , great PR to be abused by some.. , he also claimed that car was driveable.
Blowing the head gaskets in 50 kilometers ? ... sounds more like he knew other issues were there ... this is such a BS deal .. a 30 thousand dollar car for 7 grand ??? ... ya ok.., I had to buy a 1000 dollar fax machine to deal with FOMOCO buyers way back , once everything went to e mail type communications shortly after that 1000 " value " dropped to zero and had to accept it as just part of doing business ... sounds like this scenario but he wanted to sell his worthless fax machine ...but in an automotive rusted out now worthless chassis version ... 30K ya, maybe buying the car for 15 and spending 15 .
If you do get stuck with this car or come to an agreement I would be doing a lot of investigation on the engine etc .. if all this info that you have presented is accurate/true his word means less than nothing .
jco1385 has also provided you with more proof [ and very solid court proof ] of his absolute knowledge the car needed major structural work .
If this BS has not completely taken the joy out of the hobby , a re-body may be the way to go if you keep it.
But a bit of advice, don't let some (*%(*% head beat the fun out of your hobby... its not just you losing out , its also your family, friends etc.

 

[351tt]

I wonder where they went? Should have went with the car. I guess if the seller had done that though, it would have been a admission of what was needed or how bad it was.

BINGO !!!

 

[David Neibert]

I'm curious about the engine being rebuilt to be "Bullet Proof". Who did the rebuild and what did it include ? Was it even rebuilt or did someone just slap a set a head gaskets on and call it good.

 

[351tt]

I'm curious about the engine being rebuilt to be "Bullet Proof". Who did the rebuild and what did it include ? Was it even rebuilt or did someone just slap a set a head gaskets on and call it good.

Maybe he meant Nerf gun bullet proof .

 

[coupe crazy]

I'm sorry to hear the car didn't turn out to be as advertised. That amount of rot doesn't happen overnight and if he had a hand in putting that much effort into car, it's amazing to me that he would allow it to end up in that state.

 

[timmylovestbirds]

Here some more picture's of the 30 thousand dollar car lol. Tires separated and cracked , Bondo , transmission leak Rust and more rust . Go's up on the hoist on Monday wonder what else were gunna find . Buddy says he's stand by his car saying its solid and high performance.

 

[351tt]

Here some more picture's of the 30 thousand dollar car lol. Tires separated and cracked , Bondo , transmission leak Rust and more rust . Go's up on the hoist on Monday wonder what else were gunna find . Buddy says he's stand by his car saying its solid and high performance.

Man that is something ... complete garbage car , as has been said , that body could cost you the same as the purchase price alone just to fix it properly , maybe even more now seeing what else is there . .. never mind anything else that will most likely be effed as well considering the previous owners maintenance/repair quality/skill level .
Those tires are garbage as well , once they crack they are done.
I seriously would be very weary about putting that car on a hoist for fear of it folding up considering the amount of integral area rust it has .
The guy obviously has no shame ... like at all .
Previously I have said one option is to pull the good parts and swap to a solid metal chassis , like the red SC I mentioned out near you... but seeing how bad this car is ,everything will now be suspect including the engine etc ... take him to court, go for refund plus costs ... this guy is not just someone who effed up and resistant to fix it .. having an auto based business model , he knew the car was that bad and can now be proven , he knew it could not be legally driven or even safely driven on the road... and made claims to the contrary ... imagine driving it home with your family and hitting a large pot hole... that could have taken out the whole rear sub frame and possibly all of you .
document everything , do not fix/alter anything , park it , get a lawyer that understands this stuff .. the PR alone with all the evidence you now have will cost him more in sales threw " word of mouth " what kind of a business guy he is ... besides just doing the right thing and giving you your money back should be a no brainer , I find it hard to believe he is that stupid to not just do the numbers and understand he is in a losing proposition that he created and is legally tied to ,... unless his business is failing and he is going bankrupt and grabbing every cent to hide that he can .
Just a tip, while documenting pics as you are doing ,also do trail video/s starting from the ugly dangerous rusty stuff underneath directly to the VIN on the car as to show the court absolutely you are depicting the same vehicle ... courts care less of what you claim , and appreciate far more of what you can prove .

 

[timmylovestbirds]

Here is what the mechanic said when i took it in . Oil looked like it was never changed like molasses. Air filter plugged .Shocks rotted out .Front end totally hooped .He said there was brake work done to the car and the brake lines go through the rust holes .Id guess the brake line mounts are rusted off . Only thing that checked good was the battery and the brakes . He said the hole car flex's.Car has been hit in the back for , nothing lines up properly. The list go's on . The car has been deemed by mechanic unsafe to drive and should be towed . The cars a piece of garbage . The seller offered me 1000 dollars back . What a joke. Now the sellers gonna try a find any way possible to get out of this when he knows what he did. its "Bullet Proof""solid Car". Hi performance car 30 thousand.He's a total scammer and should lose his business. How does this guy sleep at night and think he did nothing wrong . He's a liar . I'm pretty much stuck with this piece of shit and what can i do with it ? 7000 bucks should be able to buy a nice car .

 

[DOUG H]

Sorry Man, thats awful that someone (& a member here) would screw someone that bad!!
Must have done a bait & switch? I can't believe by the pics posted by the seller that it could be that awful under hood & chassis? Must have been a different car. Hard to believe it would be so neglected-dirty engine & trans oil, plugged air filt, code PO300 multiple missfires. Maybe this was a car he bought as a parts vehicle

You had no inclination at all when you looked at it in person or drove it? I said it in a earlier post-if he owns a resto shop, why wasn't he offering certified? Was the title in his name or the shops?, if it was registered to the business, Does B.C. have a dealer council that you can contact.

 

[351tt]

Here is what the mechanic said when i took it in . Oil looked like it was never changed like molasses. Air filter plugged .Shocks rotted out .Front end totally hooped .He said there was brake work done to the car and the brake lines go through the rust holes .Id guess the brake line mounts are rusted off . Only thing that checked good was the battery and the brakes . He said the hole car flex's.Car has been hit in the back for , nothing lines up properly. The list go's on . The car has been deemed by mechanic unsafe to drive and should be towed . The cars a piece of garbage . The seller offered me 1000 dollars back . What a joke. Now the sellers gonna try a find any way possible to get out of this when he knows what he did. its "Bullet Proof""solid Car". Hi performance car 30 thousand.He's a total scammer and should lose his business. How does this guy sleep at night and think he did nothing wrong . He's a liar . I'm pretty much stuck with this piece of shit and what can i do with it ? 7000 bucks should be able to buy a nice car .

This is all pretty crappy , as it seems also the seller ... but you have received a lot of advice on how to proceed with at least legal action ,there really does not seem to be much that is salvageable, anything less than a full refund would not be acceptable , in your case that plus court/legal costs would not be unreasonable either.
You have a lot of claims in writing , he is a business, he is also an auto based business, he purchased parts to fix the , as he claimed " ready for the road drive it anywhere " car .
Put it this way, if you drove that car off his lot and it failed in some way causing a crash , maiming you or someone else , he would for sure have at least some liability... , liability that could be brought criminally .. by the looks of it , you and he are probably very lucky this did not happen.

 

[timmylovestbirds]

check out this , this is the newest one i found , this just keep's getting better.

Two more SC's found online...

http://www.usavehiclefinder.com/LISTING-26599369/VehicleDetails.aspx digging the paint.....wonder what mods are done to it. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/SuperCoupe-/271122996537?afsrc=1&forcev4exp=true#v4-41 I think this guy is a member here. Readlly decent sled.

www.sccoa.com

 

[SC-AL]

You have now well established that the car is in terrible condition, and not usable. What is your next move? Civil small claims court? I did a search, and this is part of what one attorney posted:

"Firstly, when buying a used car from a private seller, the principle of 'caveat emptor' (let the buyer beware) often applies. This means the responsibility is on the buyer to check the condition of the car before purchase. However, there are exceptions, especially if the seller made specific representations about the car's condition that turned out to be false.
In this case, the seller claimed that nothing was wrong with the car. If this statement can be proven to be knowingly false or misleading, you might have grounds for legal action based on misrepresentation or fraud."

An attorney is you best bet, but be careful, because 90% of these cases are thrown out, and the buyer is out of luck. Possible out of court mediation might get you back a few thousand, but then what will be the legal costs.? Also, if this sale can be tied to his business, that might give you some leverage.

 

[SC-AL]

Oh look everybody, "Quattro" just stopped by to bring a little sunshine to our forum, and rub salt in the wounds of the SC buyer, dealing with an unfortunate situation. Why are you here? Did everyone block you on your other sites? Now, how about just crawling back in your Turkish hole.

 

[DOUG H]

Looks like the biggest abomination of a bird I've seen lately, the seller must be a scam artist. Oh and, I'm going to apologize for bad mouthing you couple months back... our Audi is also in a horrible condition right now. The ECU idles around 1100-1200 RPM, hotter or colder, doesn't matter. I want a new car that doesn't totally suck. Oh well...

I didn't know ECU's could idle or rotate LOL. I think Most North American units operate at 40-MHz & stay stationary.