Good price on a 6 conversion, No affiliation Options

[matthepcat]

Sharing the love. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/bye1.gif)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Porsche-914-914-6-...em=191588306773

[outbound]

I was the winning bid on this auction, the deal fell through unfortunately. I wanted to update the group on what transpired.

The car looks like an honest car, not much rust or much damage. I have more pictures that I had him take for me as I was trying to complete the sale with out going out to Boise.

The issue was with the title. I got great pics of the car, but the title pic was pretty blurry. But I was able to read enough of it to see that it wasn't in the seller's name, but someone else's. It was signed by the owner and notarized in Jan 2015 with all of the buyer information blank. It was also a Montana title with the car titled in Billings and the seller lives in Idaho. When I questioned this, here's the response with owner's name removed.

I thought I explained this all to you prior to the auction end. I'm sorry if I did not. I'm selling the car for XXX's wife. They had some family emergencies come up and so they asked me to come get the car at Thanksgiving. I picked it up New Year's Day and brought it to Idaho to sell for her. XXXX bought the car in 1995 from a guy in Sheridan, Wyoming. His name is John Small (he's sort of well known in the Porsche world). Anyway, the car was previously owned by a guy that was killed and John ended up with it. XXX had a BMW that John really wanted and XXX took the Porsche on a trade for it. Then XXX converted it to a 6 cylinder with the help of Murray (I can't recall his last name). He's a Porsche mechanic from Laguna Hills, CA. That was in 1996. In 1997 I left Montana to come to Idaho because I was laid off. I've been in ID since. We'd visit Montana 1-2 times year over the years until our kids got older. XXX and his wife also had kids and he went through a lot of jobs. The Porsche sat in the corner of their garage with a cover on it since 2005/2006. XXXX was not able to fix the little things it needed (like a fuel pump, swap in the stock fuel tank, etc...) to get it ready for sale. So he asked me if I'd do it. I've known him since High School and we'd been through a lot together so of course I agreed because that is what friends do. He also said Boise would be a better market for it than Montana. I'm not sure if that is true or not. I can run down to the DMV and transfer the title to my name and get a title in my name. If I were buying the car from XXXX that is what I'd legally have to do it. However since I'm just selling it for him I do not have to do it. And the reason I haven't transferred it to my name is that I'll have to pay the state of Idaho taxes on XXXX's original purchase which amounts to just under $700. I know because I looked into it. Do you want me to have you send the money directly to XXX's wife? That would be another alternative. It makes no difference to me. Anyway, I apologize as I was certain I had explained this to you prior to auction end. The last day of the auction I was quickly hammering out emails to multiple potential buyers. And where I got confused is some were coming via text messages, some via email, and some through Ebay. I know I think I sent the same answers to some potential buyers 3 different ways.

I didn't find this out until the Sunday after the auction ended on Monday. I already had transport scheduled to pick it up on Wed. I google John Small Porsche, and of course, tons came up, but this was one of them. At this point, I was a little freaked out. I Googled the owner on record and from what I could tell, he didn't even live in MT anymore. I tried to email him and left a message at a number that I found for a business that was in his name with no response. I googled the seller and found his LinkedIn page and his background seemed to check out. The title was issued to the owner in 1995, so it wasn't a quick title wash or flip. The seller was offering to make good with the title and he seems like a good guy, so I was prepared to fly out there, check everything and see for myself if the deal was real and go through with it.

At that point I told him that I'd feel more comfortable using Escrow.com to handle the transactions to protect both of us and that I'd like to speak with the owner since they were friends. He then backed out, canceled the sale and refunded my deposit with the message "I don't think I can ever win your trust. I don't think this is going to work out." I tried to see what the deal was, but his reply was basically that "He was done dealing with me", I'd taken up too much of his time, was asking for too much, wasn't agreeing to the original terms... He says he's going to keep the car and that it isn't for sale.

I know this is common practice with titles so that they don't pay taxes or have to apply for a dealer license, but his reaction and story made me question it, especially with the Rennlist post. I was pretty bummed about it as it looked like a good car and I was pretty excited about getting it. Who knows, maybe I got lucky and avoided a scam.

There are of course 2 sides to every story, but I don't think my wanting to use Escrow.com which is what Ebay recommends is grounds for backing out of a deal. Maybe I'm wrong...

*EDIT: VIN is 4732919866 1973 Signal Orange. It'll be interesting to see if it turns up somewhere else. He was in contact with the 2nd place bid, so I wouldn't be surprised if he offers it to them. Hopefully it all goes down fine.