Friday, April 27, 2007

United at last! At long last!

So I there I am, already late for my 2nd year anniversary dinner with my ex-girlfriend (because she's now my fiance and soon-to-be wife), and I’m setting up an ebay account for the sole purpose of landing me my baby. I rush through the details and manage to set one up, and the next thing I know, I’m already making blind bids for really nice looking ones. I start with those listings which have low running bids, and at one time, have a bid on about 5 cars where I am in the lead. My logic is telling me to just wait and sit them out, but my zealousness keeps me shopping for more. Just like a baby first discovering the sensations from learning how to pick his nose, you can’t stop yourself from checking out post after post, and the draw from the possibility of buying yourself an American classic for US$2,000 is overwhelming. Days pass, weeks pass, and I find myself sucked into the entire ebay process. I'm convinced that I had at one point, morphed into an ebay junkie – checking my emails for bid notifications and for new C3 postings almost every other hour.

After about 4 weeks, I manage to find a yellow 1973 matching numbers small block in Colorado with a bid running at about US$4,500. Jackpot.




There were only 30,464 units produced then (half of which has probably ended up in scrap heaven) and from the pictures, it didn’t look half as bad as some others that I threw my reckless bids on. So I decide to click the “Buy Now” button at US$6,000 just to kill other bids. Did I pay too much for it? Who cares..

I get a notification from the seller, Colin, who’s a Kiwi married to an Australian on a permit in the States, and of course, a confirmation from ebay. We make contact. And Colin gives me more information on the car. I check out his trade history, and notice that he’s already sold a light blue 1968 Mustang to a buyer who’s satisfied and validated the trade with a positive comment. There were also other trades on other stuff which gained him quite favorable feedback. Colin also didn’t hard sell, but reminded me that I was buying an unrestored relatively beat-up barn car which needed work. I felt comforted with his honesty, and it was a real confidence booster when it came down to me putting down a 50% deposit via my PayPal account to Colin’s, and so I did fully aware of the risks of what could go wrong.

When my funds were transferred out of my credit card to PayPal, I knew I had just bought myself a big endorphin rush and many many sleepless nights to come in the form of a 1973 small-block 350cui yellow (and at the time, mellow) Corvette Stingray.

(note: Throughout the 15 years that the C3 was in production (i.e. 1968-1982), there were a total of 542,741 units that ran off the GM production floor. And the thing with the C3s now is that the older they are, the pricier they get. For example, an early stock standard 1970 LT1 would cost about 50% more than that of a similarly stock 1982 L83. For a numbers matching unit (i.e. the engine block number matches the chassis number), a slight premium is normally attached with it.)

Finding Nemo

As Malaysia is half-assed when it comes to the types of cars it wants to have on its roads, you will never find a worthy American Muscle (or any other type of muscle) project available in the daily classifieds. You will hence need to scout around a bit over yonder in lands afar, either in the United States, Australia, or Europe. Where specifically? Well, that totally depends on the ride of your choice. Different markets would yield different pricing, given the unique and dynamic landscapes dictated by logistics, taxes and foreign exchange. You've got to do your own math.

Generally, the markets you want to look at would be;

1. The United States - for (duh!) the 3 classes of American Classics & Muscle (i.e. Ford, Chevrolet, and Mopar (which are made up of makes such as Dodge, Chrysler, Plymouth, Oldsmobile, AMC, & Jeep));
2. Europe - for classic Jaguars, Alfa Romeos, Fiats, Aston Martins, Rolls Royces, etc. ;
3. Australia - for Holdens, and right-hand drive conversions of American & European rides.

If it doesn't make sense getting the services of a broker in these markets, you can just carry out your own searches over the internet. I did. And it worked for me. The sources that helped me with my search were:

1. ebay (motoring sections) - for the United States (www.ebay.com), United Kingdom (www.ebay.co.uk), and Australian (www.ebay.com.au) markets;
2. unique cars - in the Australian market

and a host of other websites that you would need to invest some time researching for you to understand the pricing of your project make. Trust me, research is invaluable, and will save you a shit load of time and from costly errors later down the purchasing and even shipping stages.

Buying over ebay

If you have, like me, identified your car via ebay (after having done some serious research, I hope), you would then need to ensure that you are equipped with the necessary resources and information to carry out the trade.

First of all, make sure you've paid off your credit card bills and are ready to roll with at least a RM30,000 (~US$8,000) credit balance. This however really depends on the base price that you would be willing to pay for your car, after considering its condition and general market pricing. For my C3 Corvette, prices ranged between US$3,000 (for bad shaped ones) to US$20,000 (for nicely done up ones, especially for the earlier non-collision front bumper versions circa 1968-1972). The Australian market priced the C3 between AU$18,000 (for a running but not in great shape unit) to about AU$50,000 (for a show unit).

Obviously, you would need to:-

1. compute what your costs are in local currency;
2. consider what the transportation costs are for shipping the car from that specific location;
3. consider the amount of local taxes that Customs would charge you - this varies depending on year of make and condition; and
4. measure the risk that you are willing to take if the trade goes bust - no point having sleepless nights over something fun like this.

On the issue of risk, you would need to establish the legitimacy of the seller and his/her offer. ebay (and payment gateways such as PayPal) provides some validation tools (like the feedback system) which are not perfect, but enough to provide you with an adequate enough level of assurance. Make sure you understand how they work, and take the necessary precautions.

The world is full of degenerate cons who have no qualms scamming even their own grandmothers. There WILL be scum who will somehow obtain your correspondonce details and email address from ebay (or from other sources) and will send you details of their non-existent so-called rides. My experience included solicitations from Russia and Eastern Block countries such as Croatia, the Czech Republic, and Poland. Pictures, history and specs of the car, whatever you want, they are ready with it and will provide it to you in a split second. They will also normally try to sell below market price, and fake sympathy and lie that they are forced to because of some tragic circumstance. When you do bite, they will then ask for a deposit. If you do proceed with the deal, that is when you walk down the yellow carpet for your initiation into the League of Extraordinary Suckers-Born-Every-Minute. Like everything else in life, if it appears too good to be true, have the common sense (and strength) to walk away from it. Chances are, its a scam.

So be wary and do not be fooled!

Thursday, April 26, 2007

The C3 Corvette Stingray

For me, it has always been about the C3 Corvette Stingray. Ever since I was pubeless and had this remote controlled rally 'Cougar' Corvette that had its body smashed against every pot in the house, I had always wanted to be in one. Not because I wanted to crash into a pot (but smoking one? well that's another story), but beacuse of its muscular lines and the ferocity of its 350cui V8 heart. The itch has always been there, and it was about time I did myself justice by scratching it.
The Corvette Stingray was born in 1963 as the C2 through the talents of the legendary Ed Cole, Zora Arkus-Duntov and Bill Mitchell. It was hailed as “America’s only true sports car” and had been lauded as among the finest performance machines in the world. In 1968, the 3rd generation Corvette was born. The Stingray underwent a change in engineering and shape (stylized by Larry Shinoda) which resembled a “mako-shark”, and marked the beginning of the C3 marque and of Corvette’s legacy of muscle till today. The mako-shark Stingray continued production up to 1977, and production of the Corvette continued in this basic style until the production of the C4 post 1982.

Today the Corvette continues to be one of the world’s best sports cars having taken the class of honours many times in the annual 24-hour classic endurance Le Mans events. Le Mans is the Holy Grail of sports car racing and there is nothing like it in the world next to Formula 1. Every year there are more than 2,000 journalists covering the event, nearly 300,000 spectators at the track, and millions watching the worldwide television coverage. Four times in the last five years, Corvettes have finished first and second in the GT1 class beating the likes of other sporting marques in the GT1 class such as Aston Martin, Porsche, Ferrari, Panoz, Roush, and Saleen to name a few.

Aesthetics? Muscle? Heritage?

All of the above.