Is this a legit sale?

[Timothy Keith-Lucas]

Hi.  I'm pursuing a Lotus 7. William W. Hughes proposes to sell me his 1966 S2 which I believe is SB2138. That car seems to have been on the market a lot recently. He says he is staioned in Poland an can sell the car remotely. Here's his last email, after I raised these questions. My question is whether this is a legit sale and a legitimate procedure for buying remotely.

 

Hello,

The vehicle is located in Cincinnati, OH sealed and ready to go. The vehicle, the title, two sets of keys, manuals and some service history records  will be delivered at the same time with the vehicle. I propose to close the  deal through a shipping company, in the most safe and easiest way possible  for both of us. Basically, it's similar to buying a vehicle locally, the  money will be sent to their escrow account, and they will keep the money  until you receive and inspect the vehicle. After the vehicle is delivered, you  will have a 7 days inspection period before you decide if you wish to  keep it or not. If you are serious about buying the vehicle, I will ship it  anywhere in the USA with no extra cost.If you want to move forward please contact me back so we can get the ball rolling!

Happy Holidays

 

All help is appreciated.  I'd like to join your ranks soon.

 

Best wishes, Tim. Keith-Lucas

[panamericano]

Classic scam language.  Why would anyone in the country want a "shipping co."?  I'd say I'm going to pick it up myself; live in Ohio; have a trailer.  Anyway, the shipping co, escrow is classic scam talk.  IFF it was true, there are many more convenient ways.  Besides it's a scam?  (When you get old enough for the AARP newsletter, you'll see this language every other month.)

Edited December 25, 2022 by panamericano
spelling + add

[slowdude]

1 hour ago, panamericano said:

Classic scam language.  Why would anyone in the country want a "shipping co."?  I'd say I'm going to pick it up myself; live in Ohio; have a trailer.  Anyway, the shipping co, escrow is classic scam talk.  IFF it was true, there are many more convenient ways.  Besides it's a scam?  (When you get old enough for the AARP newsletter, you'll see this language every other month.)

Feels like this to me too. If you had a way for it to be inspected locally to verify it- would help (I'd be surprised if it existed etc).

 

Did you check with the lotus 7 register? If that # is truly out there etc. Would debunk it further if it was crashed/written off.

[mrmustang]

As stated above, classic scam

 

Do not fall for it, simply walk away and do not converse with the scammer further.

 

 

Bill S.

[IamScotticus]

It was fishy long before the word ESCROW.

stay away.

It should be reported as wire fraud.

Furthermore,  his exact language is referring to a "vehicle".

Should you follow through and get this

You would have no recourse, you bought a "vehicle".

 

Edited December 26, 2022 by IamScotticus

[MV8]

SCAM. Anybody can create an advertisement for something they don't have. Plenty of classic sevens out there that are available in-person from folks with valid id matching ownership.

 

 

https://www.simplesevens.org/2138/2138.htm

[Timothy Keith-Lucas]

Thank you so much for your help!  I do hope to join you soon, but not by this route. I will go silent on the scammer and continue to search for a 7 that is largely original but has an engine upgrade. I won't be showing it.  It will be purely for fun, but it's being close to original is important to me. If anypone knows of a real sale that meets that description do let me know!

 

Best wishes to all in the holidays, --Tim.

[slowdude]

26 minutes ago, Timothy Keith-Lucas said:

Thank you so much for your help!  I do hope to join you soon, but not by this route. I will go silent on the scammer and continue to search for a 7 that is largely original but has an engine upgrade. I won't be showing it.  It will be purely for fun, but it's being close to original is important to me. If anypone knows of a real sale that meets that description do let me know!

 

Best wishes to all in the holidays, --Tim.

Best chance might be to watch the running for sale posts. I watched for over a year until I was able to find one I wanted.

 

https://usa7s.net/ips/topic/9351-ebaycraigslisthemmingsmarketplaceetc-ads-lots-of-sevens-for-sale/page/169/#comments

[Croc]

Simple Sevens has SB2138 as with another owner, not William Hughes.  It was last for sale in April 2018 according to that website.  There is a typo that refers to 2178 but the rest of the page refers to 2138.

 

SimpleSevens: Jim Gordon's Lotus Seven

 

 

I would echo everyone else as say it feels like your classic scam.  

 

In addition to the for sale listings and weekly summary (I will restart in early Jan), have a look at the for sale listings on Simple Sevens. 

 

SimpleSevens: Lotus Seven Related Items for Sale

 

John (he is on USA7s but I have forgotten his ID here) does a great effort to support the integrity of your original Lotus 7s and knows a lot about the cars located in the USA.  If you are looking for one, his site is a very useful resource.  

 

 

 

 

[SENC]

@SevenAmerica

[spitfun]

Do not fall for this... There is no car....

[MV8]

21 hours ago, Timothy Keith-Lucas said:

continue to search for a 7 that is largely original but has an engine upgrade. I won't be showing it.  It will be purely for fun, but it's being close to original is important to me. If anypone knows of a real sale that meets that description do let me know!

 

Best wishes to all in the holidays, --Tim.

It sounds like you want a 61-68 S2 chassis and narrow axle/rims/wings with the 1600 crossflow, referred to as a "S2-1/2". If the axle holds up, it sounds ideal. It might be feasible to fit early style wings on an S3 with narrower, S3 bolt pattern wheels.

[SevenAmerica]

I would personally walk away unless you can actually see the car in person prior to committing any money to the purchase.

[Timothy Keith-Lucas]

Thank you.  I have gone silent, much as I'd like to leave something truly rude.  I'm searching for other options, basically looking for an S2 with an improved engine. but not much else. Street use only.

[bball7754]

You’ve checked this out on BAT?

 

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1967-lotus-seven-4/

[TheDingo8MyBaby]

Sounds like this is pretty well settled, but thought I would share the BAT link about the car in question for anyone's future reference.

 

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1966-lotus-seven/

[IamScotticus]

Now that I've read the listing,

too many grammatical and technical errors. 

Writer doesn't speak Sevenish.

 

[Alex-Ks1]

Tim , my 7 s up for sale n the web site , it's a locost, but it's scary fast, fresh only has about 85 mils on it 

I built it my self and have been building cars since the 70s. Some where you can see the photos here 

NO SCAM ITS REAL ,  it's n the center of the USA , Wichita Ks area , half way to anywhere in country 

 

 

[Alex-Ks1]

There are more horror stories about buying cars on the internet than you can shake a stick at . I have seen it first hand when a coustmer brought a 65 GTO to my shop , it turns To to be a le mans , had a Chevy 327 , a complete bag of lies , but the add said 

"All sales final ,no returns no refunds "  so my customer was SOL . THE MORAL OF THE STORY IS  don't rush , kick some tirs , even have some one look at it for it's out of state 

[Timothy Keith-Lucas]

My cousin Christopher has a side consulting business in documenting obsolete racing cars. He should know, having gotten his start by building replicas of the Jaguar D Type. They were so close to the real thing that he had to stamp them with "Lynx Engineering." 

 

Alex, thank you for the interest. I have bought, and am awaiting delivery, on 1962 America SB1160. Yes, after two elaborate hoax sales across the internet, I road tripped to Vero Beach Florida and examined it.  By the way, Hayes Harris and his sons have been gems to work with.