How to not get ripped off when buying a used classic car! How to spot fakes, frauds and phonies! The importance of documentation and pre-purchase inspections, and other lessons learned over 50 collective years of car shopping!
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We start off with a reminder to put fuel stabilizer in your car when it’s going to sit for a while – especially if you’re using garbage California gas. We debate what the acronym “smh” stands for, and discover there seems to be a cat-flatulence epidemic in France.
Then we’ll dive right into the importance of the pre-purchase inspection (PPI) – something Jason thought he was more than qualified to perform himself on a Le Mans-blue Alfa Romeo GTV at Monterey Car Week several years ago. However, at the urging of concours car-prep extraordinaire, Tim McNair, Jason acquiesced and let expert automotive consultant, Chuck Wray, take a look at the car, and almost immediately discovered that Jason was moments away from buying two GTVs that had been stealthily welded into one.
Derek will fill us in on how there can possibly be multiple “numbers matching” cars with the same serial numbers. And we’ll cover several of the factory-based archival certification programs like VW’s Birth Certificate, Porsche’s Kardex and Certificate of Authenticity, Lotus’ Certificate of Vehicle Provenance, and the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust. We’ll cover Ferrari Classiche (pronounced “classi-kay”), and the handful of exhaustive and painstakingly researched books detailing the specs of iconic models: Carrera RS, The Dino Compendium, and Simon Kidson's The Lamborghini Miura. Plus automotive engineering and restoration atelier, Pur Sang.
We take a trip to Esoteria once again to discuss the subtlest model changes on cars like the Scirocco, Rover SD1 3500, Porsche 911 Carrera 2.7 RS, Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.3-16 and what each change signifies (or doesn’t in the case of VW’s haphazard product planning). Jason even uncovers a handful of U.S.-spec C43s accidentally left the factory wearing a Europe-only paint color, Black Opal. Which is actually blue.
Jason’s approach to not getting screwed while buying a 996 cabriolet on eBay involves arriving at the seller’s in a blacked out E39 BMW 5-series wagon with Argentina plates and wielding a baseball bat – classic haggling. Meanwhile, Derek does everything by the book and pays for a $500 PPI on a Porsche 911 he found online, only for it to arrive smoking and in need of a head rebuild.
Both Carmudgeons revel in learning the histories of their cars (and others’ cars): Jason getting the original paperwork for the Ferrari 308 GT4 from distributor Chinetti-Garthwaite to dealer Schwing Motor Company in 1975, and Derek tracking down his friend’s 356’s Kardex and subsequently locating photos of the car with its original owner when the car was brand new. There's loads of automotive history, forensics, anthropology and archaeology in this one!
The question is, would you give up your original California plate if it meant no more SMOG checks? Leno's Law hopes to find out.
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