*This message was transferred with a trial version of CommuniGate(tm) Pro*
Dean
> ya'll...(Doug Greville, Claude Vaughn, John Steids, Mel Miller, and more).
Thanks for the recognition.
> the early 1990's from Italy by a Mr. Allen Cors of Virginia and "restored".
Pity you didn't know this before hand, there are a couple of things
I could have told you to look for.
> I corresponded with the current owner and had him take 56 photos of
> the vehicle (interior and exterior....though he did not take too many of
> the interior despite my requests).
Immediately a warning bell sounds.
> Mullins thought it looked good from what he could tell in the photos.....SO
This is why I always say to check the vehicle in person, amazing what
doesn't show if a photo is taken from an angle such that light doesn't
fall correctly on the vehicle.
> THE FIRST REALITY CHECK:
> SO, what did I find.....Well, it does need to be repainted.
Annoying, but it is an older restoration.
> is some body filler in parts of the sand skirts.
You don't say how well this is done or how thick it is. The vehicle IS
over half a century old and mudguards (fenders) do take a bashing on
most AFV's.
> There are lots of modern nuts and bolts on the vehicle.
Hard to avoid if you live in Australia. But I don't know how easy it
is to purchase the genuine ones in the US?
> The brakes pull hard to the right when
> applied.
This could be just a case of misadjustment of the brakes shoes, more
likely, one or more slave cylinders are seized or blocked.
> Shifting into second gear is hard. The gears do not clash at
> all, but a lot of force needs to be applied to shifter in order for it to
> go into gear.
Just like mine, except mine goes "up" to 2nd reasonably okay,
the downshift to 2nd requires a lot of finese. I have been told this is
a common Greyhound/M20 trait, something to do with the synchroniser in
those old Ford gearboxes. Notably Frank Robertson's M20 doesn't have
this problem.
It could be something really basic like the shifter is binding.
> Break fluid was spilled from the brake master cylinder and it has blistered
> most of the glossy white paint under the driver's feet and on the area in
> front of the driver.
I would expect that. The brake and clutch cylinder are in a bugger of a
location and very inaccessible unless you make something, eg a funnel of
a weird shape to do the job. Then you cannot tell how close to full,
because the funnel is blocking your line of vision.
If, (and although this sounds improbable), there is air getting INTO the
brakes system without any obvious leaks (as happened to my vehicle) then
the master cylinder may have overflowed all by itself. This would
indicate a hydrovac problem, which can be anything from a quick control
diaphram replacement to the more expensive faults.
> The boat cable throttle works fine, but the
> reservoir, elbow, and lower half of the throttle master cylinder are gone.
> The hydraulic lines for the throttle seem to be there; however, there are
> some cut hydraulic lines barely visible near the gas tank.
That location (top right corner near the battery mount, but under the
armoured fuel tank cover) is where both the main brake line and throttle
line go from horizontal to vertically down. If on the other hand, you
are talking about the ones near the hydrovac, then I would be very
suspicious of the brake system. More than 1 cut hydraulic line does
not sound like the throttle system?
> transmission leaks loads of oil when it sits....a seal probablly.
Hmmm.
> water pump leaks probably because of the teflon packing used in a
I am told that in the US, you can still purchase the water pumps BRAND NEW
from whatever the new name of the Hercules engine company is called now.
> There is some surfaace rust at scattered places around the vehicle that
> should not be too bad to fix.
Another reason to repaint!
> It does not have the correct front bollards
> and lacks the correct tow cable.
Yes.
> those are the main ones with the vehicle. It is an older "restoration". I
> would really consider it more of a "motor pool" level vehicle.
US input needed here: for what the seller is asking, is the price
realistic for a vehicle in this condition? My opinion is no, but that
is from an Australian perspective?
> On the good side it has lots of extra parts. It has a working radio
> (SCR-508) and interphone system (the wires for the interphone are modern).
Not bad, for such an old system. The old wires were probably rubber
insulated and fell to pieces with age.
> It has a nice 50 and 30 cal machine gun set. It has all the extras for the
> turret (37mm shells, etc.). In short it has good potential, but does need
> the work as outlined above. I managed to argue the owner to....$40K. He
> would not go lower.
It HAS been for sale for quite some time! Perhaps his price is still
too high?
> NOW FOR THE SECOND REALITY CHECK.....
> The owner never had a title for the vehicle.....so he has had a
> friend write out a bill of sale and is using that to get an antique vehicle
> title.
This does not sound very ethical, but that ia a matter of opinion, more
to the point, is it legal? with your 50+ states over there who knows?
> It has always been insured, but never officially titled.
> REALITY CHECK #2-does this sound ok?
Very much an American concept and issue.
> NOW FOR THE THIRD REALITY CHECK.....(saved the best for last)
> After we agreed on the price, I went to pull out a check to put
> down a 10% deposit with the rest to follow by cashier's check. The owner
> stated that he will only accept CASH.....greenbacks....the real thing. NO
> CHECKS OF ANY KIND.
In summary:
NO paperwork history.
NO insurance.
NO cheques accepted.
Friend writes a receipt to create a paper trail.
Will you even get a receipt? If you do, is it proof at all that the
vehicle is yours and legal?
All in all, the vehicle probably is not that bad, it is after all 50 years
old, has been in open air storage in Italy and then been got going rather
than restored, but when it all boils down to it, is it worth what he is
asking?
I would be VERY concerned about the no paperwork/cash only thing if I
lived in the USA.
That alone would cause me to abandon the deal.
Your problem is, and really
it happens to us all, you have put a lot of time and effort into this to
then turn around and walk away. It would be very easy to pay up and
take the vehicle home. But.........
Regards
Doug
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Armoured Vehicles Collector
_______
_/_(_o_)_\_ ____
_/|___|_|___|\_ /____\
/ [___] [___] \ Douglas Greville _/[o]___\_
/\_ [o] [o] _/\ Broken Hill __/=_|____|_=\__
|w||___________||w| N.S.W. /__\__________/__\
|w|\u u/|w| Australia |w| \ / |w|
|w| \_________/ |w| |w|$ \______/ $|w|
[w] [w] [w] [w]
M8 Ferret
dgrev@ruralnet.net.au
Web Armour site at: http://Fast.to/DG
(http://members.xoom.com/dgrev/index.html)
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Apr 04 2000 - 21:57:08 PDT