[bobzdar]

Originally Posted by PonchoV8

the story is:
This L78 400 Y88 car was bought on ebay for about $1650 delivered as a non running, non operational, non original engined Y88 needing a restore--with a reportedly rebuilt 'correct' engine. I bought it from someone that posts here sometimes. Since it had the wrong heads, it wasn't checked for VIN status. The seller wouldn't bother and I assumed that's because it wasn't original. I bought the car to lose money on it just to get a correct engine.

It was resold on Craigslist for either $1400 or $1500 at a loss just to move it out the door quickly. I chose to take a loss just to help my car gain value with a correct engine (I have a WS6 Y88) and to keep neighbors from complaining. Almost a yr later, car gone and engine stored at my house, it was determined that the dates coincided with the car's build date. I emailed the buyer and confirmed it was the original engine. If it wasn't worth anymore than any other engine, he wouldn't have jumped at it. He told me later that he was just trying to get the best deal he could by asking me to take less. I don't suppose he looked at it through my eyes. I won the car on ebay, paid to have it delivered, removed an engine, installed an engine, repaired some wiring, paid $75 for a steering column, removed it from a junkyard car, removed the damaged one from this car and installed the new as a replacement, drove a million miles the other direction looking for seat tracks to replace the rusted tracks, removed them from a different junkyard car and installed them in this car,got the car running-driving and sold it for less money than I paid (not even including my labor and parts)--because I wanted to make my car more valuable and or desirable/salable with a correct YA. I know I had a couple of weeks labor tied into trying to iron out problems with his car to get it running, but that was my choice. Ten months later I was about to start installing the engine in my Y88 when I discovered (1) my car's '74 400 isn't damaged, (2) the YA is matching #s to his car, and I'd hate to bust up the two if he's going to restore it. Even though I'm going to lose all money labor, and time (money in lost value for my car), and a ton of labor I put in, I'd rather give the engine up to keep it with it's original car. The $500 that I got from this YA would just cover the cost of the other running 400 (not the installed price) that I gave with the car and the money I lost on resale. I worked for a couple of weeks, and irritated my neighbors and lost money. I wish you guys hadn't reminded me just how much time I've wasted and now I'm down two engines.

Well, you definitely gave the guy a good deal and kept a numbers car together. I'm sure if you hold on to that $500 and look around for a while you'll be able to find a couple of 400's for that much. I know I can around here but I already have a spare and no need for more.