B24 engine for sale

[ncundy]

Not mine   but if it is what it says then it's very good value

http://aberdeen.craigslist.co.uk/pts/2750738540.html

[williamcorke]

Last year (Sept 2010) I followed-up an ad for an Aurelia engine from the same part of the world and displaying the same photo.  I smelled a rat when the seller wouldn't talk to me on the phone (claimed recent throat surgery); so I asked questions of online forums (fora?) and found that a repeat-offender would-be scammer was at work.

Of course there's a possibility that the ad is genuine this time...

As ever, caveat emptor.

[ncundy]

Good advice, it's certainly very cheap for an Aurelia engine if that's what it is and they do say if it's too good to be true it usually is.

[B20B24]

Not mine   but if it is what it says then it's very good value

http://aberdeen.craigslist.co.uk/pts/2750738540.html

Beware! - that is definitely a fraud - that was my old spare engine I sold a couple of years ago on eBay - the picture is the same I used in the listing of the motor in my garage. In my limited experience of the craiglist site, almost everything on there is fraud.

Watch out

Clive

[peteracs]

Hi Clive

Out of interest if you do not mind me asking, what was the engine you sold? What price did you sell it for?

Thanks

Peter

[B20B24]

Hi Clive

Out of interest if you do not mind me asking, what was the engine you sold? What price did you sell it for?

Thanks

Peter

Hi Peter -  I sold a surplus complete Aurelia engine with heads stamped B24 xxx less all ancillaries, sold unseized but for total rebuild only. It had been out of a car for at least 30 years (originally from a scrapped late B24S convertible,  series 6 I believe). The winning bid was Euro 7500, at the time about 6k sterling. It was sold to a German garage, acting on behalf of a Russian buyer. I bought the engine years ago from an Italian vendor with a package of other Aurelia parts when I embarked on my Spyder restoration in 2004.

At the time (2010) I was not unhappy with what I got for it, although as it transpired I had a massive amount of grief with the sale later. Wish I'd kept it under the bench, to be honest!

Clive

[Richard Fridd]

Sorry to be naïve but what sort of grief is possible with selling an engine as I may be selling a low miles fulvia engine which is 'under my bench'best regards richard

[ncundy]

Given the state of the worlds finances I think an Aurelia engine "under the bench" may be one of the safest investments around! It would be damn hard for the EU to bugger that up as a savings plan   

[peteracs]

Hi Clive

Thanks for that, makes this one as mentioned completely suspect.

I did email the guy and received a response quite quickly giving its location as "I'm from south of aberdeen, Fife, St Andrews", which in itself is a little odd, given that St Andrews is miles away from Aberdeen or am I being naive in my geography? I replied asking for a contact tel nos and no response yet....

If I get one, I will post so anyone interested can follow up if they like, but given that the picture is not of the actual unit and the price is v low, I too suspect some sort of fraud or the engine is not as advertised.

Peter

[peteracs]

Hi

Ok, had a reply, does this sound familiar?

"Peter, if I could talk on the phone would have done it with you but unfortunately I can not. I was operated on maxillary, now I have a braces in mouth and only if I can breathe a few words. doctors told me that 15-20 days after surgery like this will be the situation. it is a very difficult situation because I go to work every day and can not talk to anyone...but what to do?
So please email me if you have any questions and i will do my best to respond asap
Regards!
Chris"

I have now asked for more photos and any numbers on the engine, will wait and see what happens....

Peter

[williamcorke]

Hi

Ok, had a reply, does this sound familiar?

"Peter, if I could talk on the phone would have done it with you but unfortunately I can not. I was operated on maxillary, now I have a braces in mouth and only if I can breathe a few words. doctors told me that 15-20 days after surgery like this will be the situation. it is a very difficult situation because I go to work every day and can not talk to anyone...but what to do?
So please email me if you have any questions and i will do my best to respond asap
Regards!
Chris"

I have now asked for more photos and any numbers on the engine, will wait and see what happens....

Peter

The email below was received 4/9/2010, so yes there's a family resemblance...

"William, i have this engine of 6 months...i purchased it for a local project but unfortunatly, from financiar reasons i was forced to cancel this project and now i want to sell this engine.
The engine was tested, it is in perfect order. I attached a picture with the engine number
Please email me if you have any questions...I was operated on maxillary, now I have a braces in mouth and only if I can breathe a few words. doctors told me that 15-20 days after surgery like this will be the situation. it is a very difficult situation because I go to work every day and can not talk to anyone...but what to do?
Thanks!
Allan"

Amazing lack of originality apart from anything else.  Presumably this scammer (or scammers) has a strategy to target areas of specialist interest.  I'd be surprised if they don't have dozens of pieces of bait out there at any one time.  Is it  crime to advertise something for sale that you don't own?

[rogerelias]

Offer to pay by paypal, and i would bet that he cannot use paypal as his account has a problem, but he can use Western Union, see Michael Wesley post on this forum. 

[peteracs]

Hi

Resemblance and lack of proper English sort of gives it away.

If/when he comes back about the pics, I will ask about payment, ideally getting bank info and collection address..... Paypal does not really help to identify him.

Peter

[B20B24]

Presumably this scammer (or scammers) has a strategy to target areas of specialist interest.  I'd be surprised if they don't have dozens of pieces of bait out there at any one time.  Is it  crime to advertise something for sale that you don't own?
[/quote]

On the same craiglist site last time I looked you could have a 250GT engine for £2500 (picture sourced from a Ferrari blog), so yes it is a strategy.

It's a conspiracy to commit fraud, so yes very much a crime (of what use that is I don't know as plod is too busy to worry about such things).

[B20B24]

Sorry to be naïve but what sort of grief is possible with selling an engine as I may be selling a low miles fulvia engine which is 'under my bench'best regards richard

Aha. Richard you would not believe me if I told you how much grief I got, ranging from being sued to various threats of unspecified violence from Russian mafiosi (all I hasten to add in writing, much to the interest of Kent police). It seems the buyer of my engine, who was either delusional or spoke no English, and therefore did not understand the words "sold as seen, condition unknown and you must assume requires total rebuild" on my eBay listing, was under the impression, by which hand I know not,  that my engine was a virgin, time warp, factory fresh unit. I even got a signed receipt from the garage that collected and paid for it in new £10 notes (some 5 months after winning the auction) mirroring my eBay description, but it seems when they dismantled it they found it needed a lot of work. What a surprise that must have been for a professional garage dealing in classic cars.

Moral of story:

1. Don't ever sell an old engine built up, but dismantled,  and photograph and inventorise all parts, and
2  Avoid buyers that speak no English, and convince themselves they are buying a pear, when you are in fact selling a strawberry.

As I said, under the bench is the best place, with hindsight.

Clive