Shame on me for my impulse buy

[S Allen]

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[carlkaty]

How can the vin tag be missing?

[theunz]

Well, now here's a convoluted way to look at it. You probably paid about $2000 to much. If you restore or restmod it and increase its value to, say 15 or 20 thousand dollars, then the percentage you overpaid decreases exponentially. Heck if you really do it up nice the percentage could drop to near nothing! By the time you finish this car, or any Roadster for that matter, the $2,000 will seem negligible. Hmmm, maybe this line of thinking is why I spend too much Make yourself some lemonade

[Mackn367]

Well, now here's a convoluted way to look at it. You probably paid about $2000 to much. If you restore or restmod it and increase its value to, say 15 or 20 thousand dollars, then the percentage you overpaid decreases exponentially. Heck if you really do it up nice the percentage could drop to near nothing! By the time you finish this car, or any Roadster for that matter, the $2,000 will seem negligible. Hmmm, maybe this line of thinking is why I spend too much Make yourself some lemonade

Well my intention was never to sell the car or flip it. I love these cars. I don’t have much money so every dollar counts. All I want to do is have a working Datsun Roadster that I can simply enjoy. As I’ve said before I’m not upset with the car. I just wish I had more money (not spent as much on the car) so I could actually fix it up faster to enjoy it sooner. $2,000 may not sound like a lot but when trying to just it up and running and drive-able that $2,000 really goes a long way. And I don’t have any connections for discounts/help so I’m trying my best to find reputable parts and shops. Getting burned from the start really took a lot of “air out of my tires” so to speak. But I’m not giving up. Just a hiccup I guess.

[Mackn367]

How can the vin tag be missing?

Not only that but someone even pointed out to me that it looks like whoever sold it to me changed out the radiator fan and water pump and were worried they might have swapped the engine for an older one. But I confirmed the engine wasn’t swapped as the # is R-60681 which isn’t one of the old ones. So again it looks like Michael took many parts from the car and either swapped them with broken parts or just never replaced them at all. The engine may look intact but there are so many pieces just sitting in the engine bay not even connected to anything.

[datsun1500]

If it's any comfort, I've bought uglier, and it turned out to be a GREAT car.

That car was just the beginning of the best part of your life, sir.

[C.Costine]

I don't see much that is missing other than what would have been worthless and would have had to have been removed and trashed anyway. The removal is value added.

[Linda]

It is possible that those parts were never there or rotted out since the car had been sitting so long.
Linda

[Mackn367]

It is possible that those parts were never there or rotted out since the car had been sitting so long.
Linda

It was advertised as “complete” so the parts must have gone somewhere. Some items that should not have missing but were, were for example the passenger window, all exterior emblems and chrome pieces, and the basic locks for the car. Those don’t just rust away. This guy sells items on eBay. He took what he could and figured I would buy the items I needed from his eBay account at a “discounted” price. It’s funny how when I requested the passenger window and exterior emblems he said “oh, um yeah I’m sure I can find those parts somewhere around here”... as we are surrounded by 4 roadster and hundreds and hundreds of parts all around us.

[Mackn367]

I don't see much that is missing other than what would have been worthless and would have had to have been removed and trashed anyway. The removal is value added.

You should come see the car in person. You will notice a lot more than you think. Even a small item like the ignition key is busted. Which I now have realized the ignition itself is also busted. Add that to the list.

[theunz]

Please quit whining, and take responsibility for your own actions. Put your big boy pants on, cause mamas not going to bail you out this time. Everything you've brought up was plain as day when you bought the car. Everyone here has been trying to help you either feel better or find a way to minimize your losses. Buck up,grow up, and move on!

[dbrick]

How can the vin tag be missing?

Good point. You really do need to find the frame VIN, drivers side top of the frame up near the steering box. SPL311xxxx
Hopefully matches the paperwork.
Example here, big file, but good photo viewtopic.php?f=69&t=29276&p=267467&hil ... re#p267467


Classic car math
As Mike said, the "loss" will disapear as you go along. In finance it's called cost averaging. Make a whole bunch of good buys and it offsets the bad ones.
You are way ahead on body work/rust repair. Unless the photos lie, you might be able to buff that car out and have a decent finish.

All estimates are to be multiplied by 2 to get real cost and then there is the SRF, (Spouse Retention Factor). Usually a number between .5 and .75 that all actual expenditures are multiplied by.

[Curtis]

My first roadster I bought in the 70's was not an impulse buy.

Now we come to 2001. After running in to the Datsun club on a Friday night I decide it would be cool to have Datsun again because after all, my wife and I went on our first date in the roadster.

So instead of getting a hold of the Datsun group like I should have I comb the ads for a roadster. Lucky me! I find one for sale in CA sitting in a garage and not running. Get some pictures and it doesn't look terrible. Okay, time for the impulse buy. Get it shipped here. It arrives and I of course foolishly thought I was going to get it running. Not a chance. So I tear part way in to it and then it sits.

At this point I am pissed off and disgusted with my foolish buy. So what do I do? Go to ebay and find a running car for $3k with the agreement I can back out if it is not as shown. Fly to the bay area and drive it back. And it is still my driver. I have put some money in to it including a stroker motor I got for cheap.

The other car? It was not a CA car, but a Colorado car that wound up in CA. The frame is newly restored. After removing all the paint and bondo from the body and seeing all the dent and rust damage I bought another body in much better shape. I paid more for the good body then I paid for the whole car with shipping. In the end I'm okay with it and have learned my lesson. No cars by pictures only and be prepared for anything with a 50 year old car.

[fj20spl311]

I still have not seen any pictures of rust, a very solid body.

Maybe this will put things in prospective.

This Alfa sold for $6K

[Mackn367]

My first roadster I bought in the 70's was not an impulse buy.

Now we come to 2001. After running in to the Datsun club on a Friday night I decide it would be cool to have Datsun again because after all, my wife and I went on our first date in the roadster.

So instead of getting a hold of the Datsun group like I should have I comb the ads for a roadster. Lucky me! I find one for sale in CA sitting in a garage and not running. Get some pictures and it doesn't look terrible. Okay, time for the impulse buy. Get it shipped here. It arrives and I of course foolishly thought I was going to get it running. Not a chance. So I tear part way in to it and then it sits.

At this point I am pissed off and disgusted with my foolish buy. So what do I do? Go to ebay and find a running car for $3k with the agreement I can back out if it is not as shown. Fly to the bay area and drive it back. And it is still my driver. I have put some money in to it including a stroker motor I got for cheap.

The other car? It was not a CA car, but a Colorado car that wound up in CA. The frame is newly restored. After removing all the paint and bondo from the body and seeing all the dent and rust damage I bought another body in much better shape. I paid more for the good body then I paid for the whole car with shipping. In the end I'm okay with it and have learned my lesson. No cars by pictures only and be prepared for anything with a 50 year old car.

Oh man that story makes me feel better but also upset for you that you had to go through all of that. I’ve definitely learned a lot from all of this. And I will do my best to still get this car up and running and enjoy it as it should be enjoyed