I apologize in advance for asking for help on this, but several of my
list friends agreed it should be done. Something happened today that
in my opinion is quite unethical when I went to finalize a deal on some
parts that the list should know about. I would like help in finding out
who is behind the situation, and to warn the rest of you about the
situation. It has really kind of rocked my faith in this list read on
if you have time and it will become clear.
Background
My name is Bob Porter, and I live in Eustis Florida. I owned my first
roadster in 1977, a 69 2000, which some of you know I bought back two
months ago after a 22 year absence. I bought a 68 a month ago. Ive
owned a half dozen Datsuns, and crewed for years on a Datsun SCCA race
team. Ive bought roadster parts from a half dozen of you on the list
the last month, and I think Ive sold parts to about a half dozen of
you. Paul Kort, Craig Halstead, Sid Raper, Brad Holmes, Brian Holland,
Mark Dent and Carl and Tim in particular have been a huge encouragement
and source of information in the last two months. They to me represent
what I thought this list was all about honesty and high integrity and
keeping the roadsters alive.
Problem
Over a month ago Joe Spano contacted me about buying his old cars and
spare parts that he left in Florida seven years ago when he moved to
Arizona. Finally, Tuesday night, we struck a deal for the entire lot.
You may remember his post, my reply post, and my note to the list asking
that people not hound Joe and allow me to actually conclude the deal. I
went so far as to reply to two other gentlemen who were interested in
the parts who live in the area and who were honest enough to contact me
I agreed to share the parts with them. I also contacted two other
list members who are not in the area to ask if there were parts they
were looking for and I would tell them if I found them. I believe that
is what this list is all about, honesty and high integrity and keeping
the roadsters alive did I mention that?
Well, Joe called me and set up a meeting with me and his dad who stills
lives in the area since Joe is in AZ. We agreed on a price for the lot,
what would be included, and my option to leave the parts in the
warehouse after I bought them and pay the $120 a month rent, or move
them this month. I offered to wire money to him ahead of time or send a
check by overnight service. He stated over and over that he prefers to
keep it simple and go on his word. He guaranteed me first right of
refusal and that he would not entertain other offers.
We set up the inventory and inspection meeting for today at noon, I took
the day off since its a 3 hour drive to get to the warehouse, and I
took the cash out of the bank to pay his dad as I promised, and arrived
at the agreed to time and place. Upon arrival Joes dad came up to me,
said he was sorry, but Joe changed his mind and decided to sell the
parts to someone else. You can imagine how shocked I was. He dad was
polite, embarrassed, and just said he was sorry but he decided to sell
them to someone else. He then walked off.
Its probably no surprise to anyone who has read this far, that Joe has
not returned any of my phone calls. My request to him was that he back
up a day, honor his contract with me, and lets set this straight. I
find it hard to believe that anyone from this list, either a roadster
owner or a vendor, would stoop so low as to undermine an agreement
particularly when I was naove enough to actually post to list that Joe
and I had an agreement.
If by chance someone on the list has caught wind of what happened to
this deal, I would really really like to know. I doubt Joe Spano will
ever tell me. Someone has obviously offered more money to him. This
deal involved two high windshield cars, three motors, several
transmissions, and a wide variety of spare parts. I have more details
if anyone needs them. I have contacted my attorney to check into legal
recourse. Thats a first for me. But, this type of thing should not go
without some follow up.
If any of you have any other advice, I would welcome it. I apologize
again for venting and taking up bandwidth. But if you can help me get
this corrected, I would obviously appreciate it.
Thank you to Paul, Craig, Sid, Mark, Brian, Brad, Carl, and Tim for
doing things right. Help me catch the bad guy(s) that screwed up my
once in a lifetime roadster find! It just seems way too coincidental
that the day after Joe posts to the list he breaks his deal with me.
Bob
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