More than one year later, a week after Thanksgiving 1989, I put my Rabbit up
for sale. The first caller to look at it bought it on the spot, wouldn't leave
without it, paid cash. The following Tuesday, I got a call from the owner of
car #1, the basement car. This was the end of November. His landlord told him
she wanted him to move out by the end of December because she planned to
demolish
the house to enlarge her flea market area.
This meant he and the Tiger were about to lose their home, and the Tiger was
going to lose its indoor storage. In addition, the Tiger owner need money to
repair his truck, which had recently met with a guard rail. I told him I would
take another look at his car, but his original selling price would be hard to
raise before the Holidays. I told him I would see the car the following
Saturday,
but he would have to be more flexible on the price.
Sometime between that phone call and the following Saturday, the buyer of the
Rabbit called, he said the car failed a state inspection, and he wanted me to
buy back the car. By law, a private party owner has to buy back a car that fails
an inspection, but the buyer has to relinquish the title. In this case, the
title was on its way to the Registy. I told the buyer I needed the title. At
this point, I got the feeling he just wanted to renegotiate the selling price.
Knowing that I might have to buy back the Rabbit in three weeks or shell out
some of the buyers money, I went to look again at Tiger #1. I told the owner
that whatever he agreed to sell his car for, I would have even trouble raising
the funds for it, and the Rabbit situation would aggrevate things still more.
Before I made an offer for it, I asked the owner to show me everything he had
for the car. Although the original motor was gone, he had what he called a
'hi-po'
motor, the original valve covers, exhaust manifolds, transmission,
driveshaft,etc.
The only thing missing was the air filter housing he told be about.
I asked about the 'hi-po' motor, hoping it was the legendary 'K" motor found
in some Mustangs and Cobra 289's. In fact, it was a regular block he had tweaked
on his own. I wasn't interested. I told him he could keep the motor, and if
the Rabbit situation turned in my favor, I would make him an offer on the car
after the first of the year.
The legal limit of 30 days had arrived and gone on the Rabbit without hearing
anything from the new owner. The owner of the Tiger had moved, but had received
permission to keep the Tiger in the basement of the old house. I'd gotten a
small loan. In the middle of January 1990, a friend with a ramp truck met me
in Westford. I paid the owner, and picked up the car, parts, and the 1972 title.
I loaded my Capri II V6 with Tiger parts, and ninety minutes later, the ramp
truck backed up to my loading dock at work, and I helped roll my Tiger into
the dealership parts department.
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