Re: My 'new' car - BZZZT!

[Mike VanAmburgh <vwvr6r@fiber.net>]

We took off for Kansas Friday morning to pick up the 87 Scirocco.  The
car looked great in the pics and went I spoke with the guy I on the
phone a few times and thru e-mail correspondence, the guy seemed to have
his shit together.  So we go over there Saturday morning (a friend and
my wife came along with me) and proceed to check the car out when the
guy mentioned he called the 'racing' shop that did all the work to the
car.  The first thing he informed me of was that the shop thought the
springs were Suspension Techniques and not H&R.  WHAT?? (See ad below). 
Already a bit bummed out over this huge oversight on his part, I felt
the need to *really* check out the car before handing over the check. 
I'm glad I did.  We took it for a drive.  The car was mechanically
excellent, besides a small exhaust leak near the cat area.  When we got
back, we were just poking around a little to see if we could find the
exhaust leak.  No big deal, just curious.  Remembering the ad's comment
about ABD sway bars, I thought I'd take a look at these beauties.  What
do I see?  STOCK swaybar in the front!  Go to the back...STOCK again! 
Now I'm absolutely fuming.  I take a minute to count to 10 (I think I
made it to 30).  I calmly walk over to the dude and ask him if he's ever
looked underneath this car.  He says 'well actually, no, why?'.  I said
'Dude, the sways are stock'. In a confused stuper, he babbles on about
the guy who sold the car to him told him it had all the stuff on it that
he advertised.  Duh.  Well, guess what...you were screwed over. 
Dumbass.  Supposedly, when he put his ad on AutoTrader, he just cut and
pasted the ad that he saw before he bought it.  Anyway, I tell him to go
look at the sways.  He looks under there, gets a rag and wipes off the
sway bar (notice the ad says all these mods were done in Nov...any idiot
could tell these sways on the car have never been removed).  What does
he see?  He says a red paint on the swaybar.  Then he says, 'last I
knew, VW didn't pay their swaybars red'.  So I get under there again and
clearly see that the red is just overspray from when the car was
repainted!  That was the deciding point that this guy was just a f*cking
idiot.  Plain and simple.  

The car did have a lotta mechanical work done to it as mentioned in the
ad, but the H&R racing springs and front/rear sways were non-existent. 
It did have the short shift, but the reverse lockout was screwed up.  We
had already discussed on the phone that he wouldn't go lower than 3350. 
He would just suck up the transportation cost to ship it to North
Carolina (his job transfer).  I decided the car was not worth my 3350
and left it at that.  32 hours of driving and $140 worth of gas so my
wife could spent a day with a few relatives, althought I did get some
benefit.  I got to rag on the Jetta at low altitude.  :-)  Amazing what
4200 feet does to a car.  Those of you who live at high altitudes can
relate.  Heh!  Ah well.  Lesson learned.  I should have had Christian
Els completely check over the car before making the trip out there.  I
really don't think the guy was trying to screw me over.  It appeared
that he really didn't have a clue.  Or maybe he was a really good
actor.  

BTW, the 'hole' on the rear view mirrow was a little speaker mounted on
the mirrow.  Hehe.  Weird.  

I also learned a little about Tokico shocks.  I always thought they only
made the adjustable type.  My bad on that, but that was another surprise
to not see any adjustments on them.  Whoever did the mods, went the
cheap way. This car was not SCCA prepped as advertised.

I'm glad I went with the unlimited use on the Carfax thing.  Looks like
I'll need it again!  Speaking of that, it shows that I (ahem, ok not all
me) have 144 reports.  Heh!

-Mike
 


87 VW 16V Scirocco. I bought this car to run
                  SCCA but a job transfer will not allow that. All
                  this was done since NOV. New H&R racing
                  springs, Tokico struts, ABD sways, ABD short
                  throw shifter, windsheild, rear defroster switch,
                  ignition switch, dist, head temp sensors, O2
                  sensor, battery grounds, Valve cover gasket, Fuel
                  pump, heater controls. The car was also fitted
                  with MOMO Ferrari wheels and RE71 Potenza
                  tires. The car has been Zeebarted (no rust) Rear
                  seats were replaced with leather and the car has
                  the orignal seats as well. I also have the orignal
                  wheels. The T belt was done at about 101K and
                  the car has 127 now. have most of the records
                  since 90. This car looks great not to mention it
                  handles like a go-cart. The car was balanced and
                  aligned when all the goodies were installed
                  color: Red 
                  Color: Red 
                  127000 miles, $3500

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