OT Nice tale

I found this on rec.auto.antique and it appealed to me. (Lagonda content.)

My father's death last year has me recalling this. Almost fifty years > ago, my father took me on one of his occasional buying trips. He was a > farm manager, and used to buy machinery from a "didicoi" family in the > East Midlands of England. "Didicoi" is the term for a settled gypsy, > and not derogatory. (Didicois were rarely true Roma gypsies.) Anyway: > this extended family of numerous adults and countless kids, lived in a > settlement of caravans etc, in what must have been 40 or 50 acres of > scrap metal. You could find ANYTHING there --- buses, helicopter > frames, railway parts, trucks and trailers and tractors. > > The chief chap, let's call him Hunt, did not read or write, but always > dealt straight and fair. When he named a price, that was the price. I > was about 10 or 11 on this occasion. Mr Hunt was talking to a London > car dealer who had spotted a vintage LAGONDA among the junk, had asked > to buy it, and the car was craned up onto one of Hunt's lorries to > transport it to the dealer's place in London. > > At this point, the dealer got sticky, pointing out "extra damage" and > various defects in the Lagonda, and countered with a lower bid. I can't > truly remember, as my dad was holding me away from the "language" these > chaps were using! Anyway, let's say Hunt had asked 500 pounds. The > dealer said "No good, I'll give you 400." Hunt said "No, you can't > have it." The dealer then offered 450, and Hunt said "No the price was > 500 and you're trying to do me." > > The dealer eventually said "Okay, you can have your 500." But Hunt > said "No, I told you you're not having it." The dealer was nonplussed, > but Hunt told his sons to lift the Lagonda back off the lorry. Hunt > said the dealer was dishonest and was treating him like a fool. The > dealer then got generous and said "How about I bump it to 600 or so, > and we can be friends?" Hunt refused, and amazingly the dealer went up > (my father reported) to well over 1,000 pounds, cash in hand. > > I'll never forget the next bit: Hunt said "Look, I named you a fair > price and you tried to cheat me. You are not having that car. You think > you are better than me because I'm a didicoi, but you're not better > than me. PUT IT IN THE CRUSHER, LADS." The Lagonda was crushed, in > front of the dealer's eyes, and Hunt finished by telling him "NOW GO > BACK TO LONDON AND LEARN SOME MANNERS." > > Honour counts, eh?

That's why my edress is "midlant" Karl

Reply to
midlant
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The arrogant Gypsy should have been crushed instead of the Lagonda! God knows he probably charged someone to haul the car off of their property & knew that the car had damage the buyer couldn't see. His stupidity cost him a bundle of $$.

Reply to
Barry

So the $ is the most important thing? I respectfully disagree, Barry. We have Stude owners who wont sell cars to street rodders even when offered more money or at least even money. I'm willing to bet we all know parts sellers who wont deal with certain people,once again money is not the bottom line.Call it arrogancy or stupidity but everyone has a point at which they would rather destroy something than see someone else end up with it.Ever been at a reading of a Will in a family who didnt quite get along like a Norman Rockwell painting?

Bob40

Reply to
Bob

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