Beware this seller. Larry Brown Quincy Illinois

Not a pretty sight..

That's a sad story, sorry you got burned.

It is unfortunately also a very good example of how risky it really is to buy a car sight-unseen from a seller that you know nothing about. Most of the cars I looked at on the site you listed are bone-yard specials, so I would have found that to be a warning sign. His statement: "No real rust to speak of... the car has no big problems and would make a great Driver" is unfortunately vague and open to some interpretation since we are talking about a car that is almost half a century old.

$5,500 is a lot of money and I would have wanted a lot more proof that the car was as advertised.

The good news is, I don't see anything there that another $40,000 can't fix up.

The bad news is, by the time you get your money back, if you ever do, it will be handed over to your attorney for his fees.

I've been burned and robbed by all sorts, but never at this *level.*

I don't see a happy ending to this story. Somebody is going to pay for the transport to/from Florida. Somebody is going to have to pay attorneys and court costs.

This can go to a bench trial where a judge alone will decide, or to a jury, considering it is Federal ( over State Lines ). You may have to wait a long time to get the case to court. Then you have to pay a Process Server to serve the Summons. Don't expect the original seller to be around to collect it.

I am somewhat too trusting in my own transactions, but am getting to the point, after seeing shit like this, where I'm not trusting anybody with anything unless I can see, touch, drive, check out the materials in advance. Good luck with this and keep us posted.

Lg

A sad story. OTOH, I can't believe anyone would buy something sight unseen for over $20. You would get eaten alive in the real world.

Granny had some sort of saying about a fool and his money......

Steve B.

Just to rub it in, I've seen this car/story before but I just finally noticed that it appears to have the steering wheel, horn ring, and horn button from a '57 President.

The good news is that SASCO still has wheels that would be correct for your car, although I think they are all two-tone (for Larks.)

Of course, I expect you will be doing some repairs before worrying about an incorrect steering wheel.

nate

Nate, is that really that terrible of a price for what he got? I know it's a fairly rare vehicle. Where I live I would expect to see a price af about $5K on anything in the 55'-65' range that was fairly complete. If the desire is to make it exactly original, then it's going to take a lot. Based on the pictures he posted, what is the most a person should pay for it?

Well, let me put it to you this way... I bought a '55 coupe (same basic car, although it looks completely different) with *no* rust, a 20-footer paint job, a few missing chrome pieces (actually hard to find ones, one of which I still need to locate) a ratty but much more presentable interior, and a tired but functional '63 289/auto for probably $7-8K worth of other auto-related stuff in trade.

The best people to actually answer the value question would likely be found over on alt.autos.studebaker; I am just a guy who works on cars and makes an occasional trade, and I'm not really tapped into current prices. However, the car in those pics, while still salvageable, I personally wouldn't pay more than $2K for (actually I probably wouldn't buy it at all because it's more of a project than I have time for.) The thing that really worries me about it is the mishmash of different year parts; the carb and intake on there is from a much earlier car and the lack of breathers on the valve covers and the presence of the oil fill "stack" at the front of the block makes me suspect that it's an earlier partial-flow engine (i.e. no provisions for modern full-flow oil filter which was introduced in mid '62.) Not a big deal to some (although I would get a bypass filter for it) but if for some reason someone was counting on having a full-flow block, or wanted to do a 100% correct show resto, that might be disappointing.

nate

There is of course the possibility that the buyer thought he found the steal of the year in an underpriced fully running clean stude and rushed in to grab it before someone else did. And in the excitement forgot to ask the right questions or didn't really listen to the answers.

Honesty, after looking over Larry Brown's website, I should think you would have been VERY nervous about buying anything from him.

All these old cars are apparently pulled out in a field, in the weather, and in pretty dispicable condition.

It is a junkyard, in so many words.

While I understand you may feel you have been misled, this merchandise looks pretty scabby.

I would never buy anything from a site like this without traveling personally to see it.

And, I would NEVER have bought a rustbucket like this. I can deal with a lot of imperfections, but a ruster is beyond my interest and my finances.

Hope you two manage to work it out.

Maybe I'm frugal, but I think what he paid is probably about right for a cosmetically shot but mechanically functional (with maybe a few minor issues) Hawk. OK, maybe a little low, but that money should buy you a sweet Lark.

I've seen Hawks driven home that were bought for not much more than that.

nate

Well, I was sure off in my valuation. And I gave the guy a bad time in the other group. My appologies to him to the tune of about $3k. He's going to have a hard time with it legally unless he can get the state AG or somebody to carry water for him. It's an expensive lesson. There's an old saying in stock trading that may apply. It goes, "A loss quickly taken is half a gain."

Very possible at that price. But in this case the car is not mechanically functional. I suspect that it has set in some boneyard with rodents nesting in the engine compartment for the past 20 years.

OK, maybe a little low, but that money should buy you a

Well, I've been told that I'm "frugal" before, but that seems to be a common trait among Stude owners. IMHO Studes are a great bargain for a "classic" car (loose definition of classic, obviously not the AACA one) with interesting styling, torquey V-8 engines, and other than a few models they've remained below the radar for high-dollar rod builders so values are still low.

nate