Who makes these rules?
Posted on 19 June 2010 by Chris
I’ve been doing VW’s for 15 years (since I was around 15 years old). I recently acquired a 55 oval from a family friend with the sole intent to get it running and and resell it to fund other projects. Our friends had also placed an ad on Craigslist for the bug. I decided I would give them their asking price and they knew my intentions of reselling.
Apparently several other individuals had inquired on the car during the 20 hour period from when the ad went up to when I bought it. Some of whom I’m sure were flippers and other’s who maybe wanted to restore or get the car driving.
A certain one of those individuals on this forum had the audacity to send me a PM through this website stating: “NICE!! You buy it for $xxxx on craigslist,wash it,put gas in it and ask almost double what you bought it four…………….dude”
So I called him on the phone. He fumbled around his words at first when I told him I was the guy he sent the PM to. I asked him if there was a problem with my ad and after he recovered from foot in mouth syndrome, he gave me a rulebook of sorts for buying and selling old VW’s, who is entitled to make money, who is not and who needs to F_)$ off… All based on his own convictions nonetheless. Here’s his rule list in short order:
-If you are a dealer anything goes, buy sell flip and be happy (the Core VW guys hate dealers)
-If you are an enthusiast with say, 3 or more years experience you’re entitled to make a little money, say oh 20% on your investment but no more because then you’re a prick.
-If you are not an enthusiast and just somehow knew it was a good buy and you could maybe make a buck, you need to f- off and leave VW’s to us “Core” group of enthusiasts who would never think about making money, we sacrifice, we lose but we love the marque… And more importantly, we promised that down payment was overnighted but we really don’t have it. We’re just kicking your tires, yes we are the “Core” VW enthusiast…
-If you are an enthusiast with say 10 or more years, you should have the right to make a little more than the not-so-experienced enthusiast, like maybe 50%
-If you inherited the car and it’s a split window with 20k og miles, you better not sell it for more than $2500. Because you don’t know anything about it and it wasn’t yours in the first place and you’re just a rat punk who got lucky and the “Core” guy is still sacrificing everything he has to build his “rat” bug or “hood” ride as he learns his welder settings and how to not blow through the rocker he’s welding incorrectly. Now why won’t my doors shut properly? Ah screw it, weld em shut and climb through the window!
-If you are a life long enthusiast with a collection of 4 or more excellent grade cars, anything goes, but you’re still a jerk in the “core” guys eyes because you earn a living and can afford your cars.
You see where I’m heading here?
So who makes up the rules? I mean seriously, I love old VW’s and Porsche cars just as much as the next guy. I have multiple articles published in Porsche Magazines. My wife and I took our 78, 911SC on our honeymoon. My first car as a married man was a 71 Karmann Ghia. Now 8 years later my wife, two kids and I have toured across the USA 3 times in our 74 Campmobile… When I was 16 I pulled a 64 Ghia out of a field, got it running and drove it for the summer and guess what!? I doubled my money on it! And now I should feel bad about that? I’ve owned 24 VW’s in my 30 years of life.
But some jerk like this guy sends an email saying it’s wrong for me to make money on a car? So I’m guessing he was one of the people wanting to buy the car and is now a sore loser? And he acts as if I need to prove my enthusiasm to him in order to validate my asking price? Come on Dude, seriously!
Okay, my rant is over. Sorry for boring you but I had to get that off my chest.
July 6th, 2010 at 10:29 pm
That sounds about right – how dare you break the rules. You’ll need to immediately send the extra money to me because if you are also a Porsche enthusiast/owner you don’t need the money anyway.
August 6th, 2010 at 3:22 am
The jerk is just that, a jerk. I am 32 and have been flipping VW’s and Porsche’s since I was 14, does that make me a bad person? No. It has funded my 63 notch, and my single cab and my 50 split oval and so on and so on. I am all for getting a deal, drive it if you must, sell if you want to. The guy is just jealous because he still searches thesamba day and night for that special piece of trim to make his 73 sunbug perfect. Tell him to get a life. I love your site. Keep on flipping, at least your keeping your rides on the road…
October 14th, 2010 at 8:16 am
well not to long ago I caught a nice classic 912 4 sale on the craigs minutes after it was posted…..I has been wanting to own this specifice affordable model as my intro into the Porsche world having owned couple old BMW’s & M-Benz’s I felt I was ready…I learned to do all my mechanical maintenance myself over the yrs (basically I had to somehow justify all the $$$ I had spent on accumulating all the mechanics tools I own) so the 912 owner calls after I had left him a message & tells me I was the 1st so far to respond to him & I could view it 1st at his earliest convenience which was 3 day from then..I had 1st appointment..well of course I’m sure you can guess how this is going to end…tragic…912 owner emails me the following day & tells me someone bought it sight unseen the with cash….of course I was totally confounded ..turns out Mr Smoothtalker said he had cash that day to buy it & would not be available too see on the only supposed day the owner was able to show it 3 days from when he 1st posted on craigs..owner said he wasnt sure anyone who was scheduled to see it that day would actually buy it & since Mr. Smoothtalker said he would buy & bring $$$ with him next day..all I said was he should of at least called me to let me know & give me a chance to do the same since I was 1st to contact him about buying & was under the assumption i would see it 1st….well as I stated earlier I already activaly searchn for my 1st Porsche own & take car of…low & behold less than 2 weeks later theres she blows on a supposed reputable Porsche shop for sale DOUBLE the price not a thing done it…so I email the former owner the link & told him that 912 you gave so much love as its custodian for the past 20 years is being flipped by a dealer..he responds back sorry the guy who bought said it was for him, I was very impressed by all his Porsche knowledge & felt he would make a excellent next owner…anyway I email the Mr Smoothtalker Porsche shop owner & tell him if I had bought it it would have been in my garage for the next 20 years & really wanted to own that classic Porsche as a intro into becoming a porsche enthusiasts..you know like how you 1st started I’m sure many moons ago before sleazy flippers existed…he replies yes it getting harder to find affordable classic Porsche these days I’m always looking…thats it…extinguished the flame of my classic affordable Porsche dream by a supposed Master Porsche Enthusiast….yes with in a couple months it was for sale on good ole ebay by the owner who bought it from mr smoothtalker porsche shop owner for about 5 gs more that doubled price he bought it for..wound up on the other coast..funny thing was that I emailed the ebay seller who bought it from Mr smoothtalker because in his auction stated he had bought from prior owner of 20 yrs…turns Mr Smoothtalker of course never registered it & claimed on the phone to have been that original craiglist owner of 20 yrs to him…he was a honest seller & corrected the auction details but it did wind up selling to a buyer who made him a offer before the auction ended..ebay seller emailed me later & told me the details…..just my humble “the 1 that got away story”