The buy was a bust (longish)

[tomatocity]

As the sign says I am new to buying a 67-72 GM pickup. This last weekend I traveled from CA to NE tp buy a 1970 GMChevrolet pickup. All looked well so we boarded a plane on Friday morning, got screwed over in Denver, finally got to Lincoln NE, missed our ride, rented a car, drove 100+ miles to Kearney, found a very clean frame-off rebuild. It was supposed to be a GMC frame with Chevy grill and tailgate. May I regress. A couple of days before the trip I was franticly looking for a GMC VIN decoder and many of you helped me, thank you. Late the night before I discovered there is a frame VIN and did not have time to have the seller send it to me. OK back in Kearney and I discovered the trucks frame VIN did not match the body VIN that had been removed and reinstalled during the rebuild. I asked the seller more than once if the cab had been changed and he always said it had not. The reason I asked so often was the trick had front disc brakes and it is a 1970. Well the truck also had bad brakes, ran poorly, the seat had been reupholstered but not rebuilt, the tilt column was from a van (no nuetral switch), no windshield sprayers, no overflow tak, we (me and my buddy) had to fix a radiator leak, door panels were terrible, windows did not roll up or down well, no door mirrors, no radio, shabby plumbing for the oil gauge, faded gauges, no PRNDL, new drivers door rubber was f'd up, other than that it was very clean. If I could have got it to CA it would have ended up being a salvaged title. This trip cost me more than I would like to have spent but some lessons are more expensive than others. The reason for this email is you. Don't take buying any vehicle lightly. Do your home work and believe yourself ask for proof from anyone else.

For those that don't know (I learned today) the frame VIN (SZ74856) should be the last 7 digits of the title and body VIN (CE134SZ74856). If you buy a vehicle in-state the DMV will most likely not find the error. In CA they inspect all out of state vehicles being registered the first time.

So who has a nice, clean, 2WD, any bed, for sale?

Crying in my beer,
Tim in Sacramento