Herb,
I just love this kind of a story!! There's nothing more exciting than
bidding on an object when you know it's value and the bidding doesn't seem
to be approaching this value. I don't know about you, but my hands start
getting very sweaty, my heart starts racing, and when the bidding stalls, I
keep hoping the auctioneer will say "Sold!" as quickly as possible.
Bob
-----Original Message-----
From WFO <froggi at cdsnet.net>
To: spidgets <spridgets@autox.team.net>
Date: Friday, April 28, 2000 2:12 PM
Subject: New LBC...of a different type
>Fellow Spridgeteers,
>
>A bit about my car... Well, I purchased it at a warehouse auction. It
>had been in storage for the past 10 years. The last time it was
>started/driven was when it was to be auctioned off in '94. The fellow
>(an attorney in Guam) paid the back fees so it didn't go up for sale.
>
>I almost missed it all together. Here's why. My son... the one that
>has designed a fuel injection system for Spridgets (BEEFI for BugEye
>Electronic Fuel Injection) was told by his neighbor that he was holding
>an auction and there was some kind of sports car to be sold off. He
>thought it was a Triumph.
>
>It was coming up on Easter weekend and Saturday, the day of the auction,
>I was on my way to pick my son up as I headed over the mountains to
>spend time with the family. As I drove past where the auction was to
>take place, I spotted what I thought was the car that was to be
>auctioned, a TR7. I told my so that I'd seen it and there was no need
>stopping since we knew what it was. We had not interest in one of
>"those" things; why waste our time.
>
>Well, we did stop by on our way out of town, just to "check it out".
>Guess what... it turns out the car was a TR8, not a TR7 like I "assumed"
>it was... I mean after all, when was the last time you heard of an 8
>being auctioned off, right. Well, needless to say we waited around for
>the sale. It was to be the very last thing auctioned off so we knew we
>were in for a wait.
>
>Since we had ample time to take a closer look, we scrutinized that
>sucker! What we saw, we liked. No rust anywhere, even the battery box
>was in good condition. Good soft top (it's a DHC). Paint was good and
>only a couple door dings. Tires were virtually brand new... but, they
>were M & S's (it snows a lot here). All the wheels were straight
>including the spare, not even so much as a scratch on any of them. Oil
>looked/smelled good, coolant in the radiator. Everything looked
>fantastic. This was too good to be true. A chance to buy an original
>TR8...and hopefully at an affordable price!
>
>The Auctioneer was asking for bids when someone yelled out $500. Very
>quickly the bids went up from there. Wasn't too long before the bidding
>slowed down. A number of bidders dropped out and it was down to myself
>and two others. With the final blow of the hammer, I was the (proud?!?)
>owner of a "Midas Gold" (GCC paint code) 1980 TR8 with 57,734 miles.
>
>Dustin, my son, and I are two very happy LBC owners at this point. Oh
>yeah, I forgot to tell you... I paid One thousand, Two hundred and Fifty
>dollars. Yep, you read correctly, $1250.00 American dollars.. For once
>in my life "I" got the good deal.
>
>WFO Herb
>Keep the sticky side down!
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