I am looking at an Eldorado on eBay
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cadillac-Eldorado-Coupe-Simply-stunning-1978-Cadillac-Eldorado-Biarritz-Triple-Yellow-like-new-17ks-/111317100696?forcerrptr=true&hash=item19eb042898&item=111317100696&pt=US_Cars_Trucks
I spoke with Dan from Lakeland, FL who has LOTS of cars on eBay, mostly low mileage Caddys and Lincoln from what I have seen (thats all I look for). Has anyone ever bought anything from him?? Any feedback would help, also anyone near Lakeland FL who could look at this. My concern is the body, if its not dead straight down the sides I don't want it. You can't tell from pictures, ask me how I know :-[ Thanks, Marty
Same advice I give everyone, don't buy a car online without you or a qualified person looking it over first.
I remember looking at either a 61/62 that he had represented as "all original." There's not much you can pass under my nose on those cars having owned 5 of them so far with a 19,000mi original example sitting in my garage right now. Within 30 seconds of looking at the photos, I could find a couple dozen authenticity errors on a car that was "all original."
Hello Marty
I don't know the seller. Don't skimp on any automobile purchase ESPECIALLY from a distance. Call AAG to do a professional appraisal for you. I did and it was money WELL SPENT AND INVESTED.
Hi Martin,
Have good experience, eventually. Inspection is a must. Sent you a PM
His cars sometimes are sold, but relisted right away. To me that might mean when people go to see the cars that the bought, they back away.
The ebay listings look detailed and all greased up full of Armorall.
Hopefully the car you are looking for is a good one but I was looking at an El
Camino he had and it sold for a big number the other day and its already relisted.
An inspection might be a good thing or fly down and see for yourself.
Brian
His cars are all doctored up.
Just look at the carpeting on the one you posted.
Low mileage and the carpet in the front is that dirty and worn. Also look at the carpet in the trunk, near the pull down latch. Rust on trunk lid. He paints the bottom of all his cars, and sprays up the engine area. DOCTORED UP BIG TIME.
I have 24,000 miles on my car, and you could eat off my carpets.
Walk away.
Roy
I had found this in regards to that gentleman:
http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/Cars-of-Yesterday-Inc-Marv-Friedman-ebay-Motors/Pompano-Beach-Florida-33062/BURNED-by-Classic-Car-Dealer-on-eBay-Motors-rip-off-REBUTTAL-5562
Marvin Friedman. Is this Luvdg with a new eBay handle? If so, my advice is --- DO NOT, under any circumstances, buy a car from this person, not even a new car off the dealer's showroom floor. Luvdg has been cussed and discussed here many times over the years. He seemed to have disappeared but apparently is still around with a new eBay handle.
My opinion.
Gentleman ?
Eric, your being way to kind today...............ha
This guy runs under at least 3 different names on Ebay.
Stay away from all 3.............ha
Roy
Right! And he is not a "popular" eBayer in the normal sense of the word.
For entertainment, I just had a peek at the pictures and noticed the following:
Original blue rocker covers have been replaced with aftermarket chrome covers.
Rust on bottom corner of driver's door has been painted over with yellow paint. (Picture of driver's door panel with door open)
Rust visible near trunk weather stripping - driver side, near corner. (Picture with trunk open, looking to left)
Aftermarket wing nut on air cleaner.
Aftermarket radio.
Aftermarket fog lamps.
From where I stand, this car is no virgin queen.
More food for thought for everyone else out there:
http://www.yelp.ca/biz/lash-auto-sales-lakeland-2
I see from one of your other posts that you bought a 68 Eldo from a fellow CLC member. Good move!
That's how I bought my 61 Fleetwood and I couldn't be happier. Hopefully I'll see the previous owner at this year's GN and he can see the difference the spit and polish I have put into the car has made.
Dan,
About what I thought.
You can smell the Armoral, cherry air freshener, and BS right on the computer screen when you look at his listings.
Brian
My experience has been that the truly spectacular examples of original cars (as he makes this one out to be) very rarely come to public market such as this. There are usually buyers who know of such examples and are willing to purchase. That's why they never hit the market.
It usually goes down like this - two people enter a room, one with cash and the other with keys and registration. A swap takes place in this room. Both emerge to never discuss what happened in the room.
thanks for all the replies, I did notice the carpets and the trunk area rust but thought it could be the lighting or some adhesive not rust. After speaking with him I am staying far away thanks for all stories,yikes.
I did end up buying a 68 Eldo from Jim Beard, sight unseen but Jim seems to be a real good guy and club member so I have no worries. He also had lots of pictures of the rough spots and explained the whole car really well. I am looking forward to the 16 hour drive home, I will keep you posted. Marty
Quote from: 76eldo on April 04, 2014, 12:29:19 PM
You can smell the Armoral, cherry air freshener, and BS right on the computer screen when you look at his listings.
Hey! You're giving BS a bad name!! ;D
Definitely.
If you just go into Photoshop you can bring the brightness down a bit, bump up the contrast, and sharpen the photos and take a mundane photo and make it look like a calendar shot.
That's why you can't trust photos alone to evaluate a car.
My inspection and acquisition for a client in Norway is picking up as they are grabbing up American cars due to the low value of the dollar right now. They insist on a comprehensive inspection, detailed photos and sometimes video, but rely on my say so as to buying or walking away.
You can also negotiate a lot better in person after driving the car.
That Yelp report posted earlier says it all about this particular "popular" ebay seller.
Brian
Brian, How can you tell from only the EBay ad that this is one of Marv Friedman's cars? The hype certainly SOUNDS like Marv (aka "luvdg") but I see no mention of him in the ad. Am I missing something?
There's a classic "Marv" story in the Cadillac Database for those who are still not sure of the man! How can this person still be in business ... other than by continually changing his Ebay ID?
http://www.cadillacdatabase.org/Dbas_txt/Drm60-61.htm [search for: << "hybrid" 1959 Cadillac >>].
I think someone else mentioned Marv.
I don't know who the seller is but I have seen a few cars from the same seller from Lakeland Florida.
I don't know Marv, only from what I have read here in past years.
There are a lot of people that buy these cars on ebay sight unseen, not inspected, trusting a used car guy on the web. That's not really smart. If you are really up on the particular model and can study the photos carefully, and check out the sellers reputation, you may have a chance but it pays to have an impartial and emotionally detatched third party inspect the car.
Brian
This guy is so popular that he is selling cars under three different names on ebay.
Hello
Fortunately we have this forum to illustrate those that may be unscrupulous. Please continue to share.
From experience ... Look at ANY car you are buying.
I bought a car off a dealer in St.Louis (I won't say who as admin may get upset - PM me if you want name)... And he sold me a 1960 Coupe deVille that he advertised as rust free and runs beautifully. As I live in Australia... It was costly to return this car.
The entire floor is rusted away... The AC hasn't worked in years... The engine was in terrible shape... The brake lines were held on with zip ties... Etc ... You get the idea.
I have now stripped this car, and I am doing a full resto on it, so it will once again be a great Cadillac... But this is at GREAT expense to me , and something I hadn't budgeted for.
Inspect inspect inspect any car you are buying.
I believe I know the St. Louis dealer of which you speak? I also know another Aussie that purchased a car from him and had quite a hassle in returning it and getting his purchase monies refunded.
I'm assuming this dealer also has a strong eBay presence and one of the current offerings is a 1961 Series 62 convertible in red for about $69k.
My question is that if you're that heavy in inventory on slow moving pieces, how could you remotely afford to offer quality?
I am also uneasy about Ebay cars. A friend is looking for a prewar car. I too am pretty good at spotting flaws & such, but I advised him to hire an appraiser to look at the potential buy. It has been decades since I used an appraiser. What is a ballpark fee to appraise a collector car. I know there is a cost paid to travel to the prospective purchase. That aside, what can someone expect to pay for a good lookover by a PRO ? Ron
I am an advocate of "go look at it yourself" as it will be your own money that will be being spent on purchase, repair and transportation.
Even if living in Australia, it is really worth it to simply hop on a plane and have a holiday at the same time, even if it is for a couple of days. Butter to spend a couple of thousand on travel, that many times more on a heartache.
Bruce. >:D
Couldn't agree more Bruce. Expensive lesson learnt.
At least my car will be stunning now once I finish it.
Hello Ron
I would recommend CLC member Tim Pawl and AAG. A honest guy who works for a professional appraisal organization. They are nationwide.
The percentage of their cars I am drawn to while searching Ebay listings is amazing! How many "low mileage" cars with "near perfect original interior" cars are there in Lakeland? Too bad they aren't on the west coast as I would have them take some beauty enhancing pictures of my own cars! Would make me happy just looking at them.
I have purchased two cars on the East coast and in both cases ,talked to enough people and saw enough pictures to warrant spending the $1,000 air/hotel bill to go see the car. Got lucky on the last one as Brian Rachlin had already inspected the car for another gentleman. He was kind enough to share the information.
The cost from AAG was in the $400 ballpark if I recall. It also depended how far the actual appraiser had to travel to the vehicle.
Randolph Hane
I do work for a broker in Norway. I inspect cars on the east coast for them, but I take it a step further.
They send me links for the cars they are interested in and have me contact the seller. I get a feel for the whole deal, the integrity of the seller, his knowledge of the car, and in 90 percent of the cases I can negotiate enough from the asking price that I more than cover my fee. I provide professional photography and video of the car, with an extensive written report.
I do extensive research on the make and model I am looking at which helps in two ways. I can do a more comprehensive evaluation on that particular model, not just a general eyeball, and it lets the seller know that you know what you are talking about and what you are looking at.
Cost is $500.00 per day plus gas and tolls. I also have a truck and trailer to go and purchase and remove the cars immediately and either bring them back to my shop for work, replacement of parts such as tires, brakes, or any other things they want to do to the car. I have even had cars repainted and done the interiors and tops. It's much less expensive to have the work done here and import the car with improvements already done.
The value is there because the car is right when it gets there.
It's hard to trust an eBay "Car Dealer" and you get better cars from private owners. There are some very reputable people trading on ebay and elsewhere but finding that out is difficult and can be a costly situation if you get a car from someone that is less than honest.
The downside of dealing with a private owner is that many of them are selling a car that they inherited or selling for a friend or neighbor that is not computer savvy and they truly don't know much about the car. Sometimes they accidentally misrepresent things out of ignorance, not dishonesty.
As with anything, It's buyer beware. It's really sickening when some of these eBay hucksters sell a really bad car to an overseas buyer. They have a lot of time and expense involved in importing the car, taxes, transportation, broker fees, and for the car to come off the dock and it's a crappy car? Inexcusable.
Get it inspected for sure.
Brian
Hi Randy,
The 53 Eldorado was a spectacular car at a great price. My client got cold feet and I was told NOT to complete the transaction and as you know, I was 5 minutes away from transferring about $200K in funds!
His loss (or fight with his wife) was your gain because that Eldo was absolutely beautiful. I hope you are enjoying it!
Brian
Thanks for your replies and the tips to us all. Because, residing in the West( US) airline fees with a hotel stay over, makes hiring a professional more convenient, and cheaper. Tucson to Dulles, for example, is over $400 on short notice + lodging. Ron
Great discussion! I have been tempted as so many of those "low mileage" cars look so nice in the photos! I have been to Pompano Beach by the way and there is a whole line of those "overnight" used car dealers all the way up the beach-strip! It's the "Little Creek Boulevard Car Dealer" area to those who served in the Navy know!
I like to watch for the tri-7's that come on Ebay.
Right now he has 1 -77 and 2 -78's on there. ALL of them are doctored up.
I don't believe a thing about any of them.
There was one 77 listed the other day. A light blue coupe, that was very nice. It wasn't fully equipped , but I believed the ad for the car.
You could eat off the bottom of this car. I don't know if it sold , or what, but it isn't there today.
Roy