I just paid $28,000 for what the seller repeatedly described as a “mint condition, museum quality classic.” I didn’t even bother crawling underneath it when I bought it because at that price point I assumed the guy wasn’t selling something that looked like it had been dredged out of the ocean. If someone says museum quality, I’m going to take them at their word.
Today I finally put it on a lift just to admire what I thought was going to be a pristine undercarriage, and the entire thing looks like a science experiment in rust. Flaking metal, crusty bolts, and parts that honestly look like they might dissolve if you hit a pothole too hard. I’ve seen 20-year-old snow plow trucks around here that look cleaner than this “mint condition” classic.
I contacted the seller and he told me this is “normal for an old vehicle.” That’s great, except I didn’t spend twenty-eight thousand dollars on something that’s “normal.” When someone says museum quality, I expect it to look like it belongs in a museum, not like it was stored in a salt mine. I didn’t inspect underneath before buying because frankly at that price I shouldn’t have to.
Now he’s saying the sale was “as-is” and acting like this is somehow my problem. Sorry, but if you advertise something as museum quality and take someone’s money, you don’t just get to shrug and say that’s how old cars are. I’m not eating a 28k mistake just because he decided rust counts as “character.” If he doesn’t make this right I’ll make sure nobody else ever buys a car from him again.
