russo and steel chop job camaro copo

[BUIZILLA]

Drew, I understand your points, and they are clear. Are you saying he gave you an NSF check? or it was a stop payment check? big difference... how was he to know it wasn't a re-body if he didn't remove any panels to confirm a rumor?? I would have done the same thing looking for rumor proof. can't do that in the auction hall either... while I agree it IS buyer beware in most instances, it should also be seller beware in this instance. RichP has just stated, as others have, that the car wasn't legit, yet it appears again as legit. Pete thought it was legit. What would happen if I asked Pete as a broker to buy this car for me and this happened?? Clearly, people along the way knew this, your client very well may not have, but a bunch sure did...

did I understand you to just write that BJ sold this car as legit as well?? should be real easy to track it from RichP's honest client clean on to BJ if that's the case..

and, I do compliment your upstanding willingness to clear the air.

JH

[Drew Alcazar]

I may have used the NSF check designation too loosely. We typically refer to checks that are no good, for what ever reason as "NSF". You are correct, there is a significant difference.

The check was written, pending wire transfer on the next business day - Monday as per our bidders contract. A "Stop Payment" was issued by the buyer on this check.

Thank you for allowing me to clarify.

Drew

[Unreal]

As Xplantdad says: “For good or bad… Drew just tells it like he sees it” – to me that equals one thing: Integrity.

So it's OK to do whatever you want, as long as you are up front about it? So honesty and integrity are unrelated!! Now I get it.

[427king]

Im confused. Its illegal to rebody a car,but OK to sell it ONLY as long as you arent asking market value??

[AutoInsane]

Drew I think we all appreciate your candor and the fact you are willing to come on here and discuss the issue.

I would think you would be a bit perturbed that someone tried to pass of a re-bodied car at your auction. Apparently a Camaro that is well known in the hobby to be a re-body. When someone does that and they create negativity regarding the auction process that can potentially harm your bottom line.

I would think you would want to do what ever it takes to rectify the situation and make things right and not make statements that sound like "oh well, the buyer should have done his due diligence, not our fault".

Considering you are the purveyor of the merchandise I would think you would want to take responsibility for offering a quality no questions asked product. Isn't the first rule of retail: "The customer is always right" ?? I guess the seller is also your customer and I know you guys in the auction biz have some pretty tight relationships with guys who are big players in the hobby. It must not be the easiest job to be the middle man! But that, my friend, is why you get the big bucks!

I do think the buyer should have contacted you before doing any dismantling of the vehicle to speak with you regarding the situation and have gone forward from there.

[704EVER]

It's a terrible situation for all involved. I'm just surprised a collector with such a high end collection and so many cars would be turning this car over already after only owning it for 14 months. I always thought the big guys kept all there special cars.

[RamAirDave]

Many blame the "buyer" for not doing adequate research before buying the car. I can understand that.

However, if the seller (who knew nothing about its re-body status as Drew's opinion states) is an enthusiast/collector with "many, many cars, most well over the 6 figure range", then he should have researched the car as well when he purchased it at auction last year, right?

[427.060]

That's what I was thinking too Dave. Then again, maybe that's why he wanted to sell it.
james

[Racefan]

My question is this....SOMEONE out there performed an illegal act and got away with it. It seems that everyone is talking about it is the buyers fault or the sellers fault-- it really is the perpetrators fault. What is/can be done to track this back to the person who initiated the fraud?

Why not follow the lineage back to see who/where this thing was "restored" by?

I agree that the buyer has a responsibility to perform "due diligence". However, in this case someone (at some point) broke the law and made it a point to illegally mislead future buyers. Due diligence is checking to see if the VIN is a genuine COPO VIN, and it WAS (at one time atleast). It is a bit unreasonable in my opinion to expect the buyer to obtain information about illegal activites which were undertaken. Especially when dis-assembly was required.

It appears that Charley and Drew have a pretty good line of communication. Why doesn't Drew "float" these VINs by some of the accepted "experts" that I am sure he knows personally? Many from this site could have alerted R&S about this car just as easily as the buyer could have found the info. I would think this would make the auction house's lives much, much simpler?