UPDATED: I sold the Thingamajig three days ago.

"shop-teacher" (shop-teacher) 10/25/2020 at 22:59 • Filed to: Poor Jellybean

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I couldn’t bring myself to kill it. It had too much life left to give. Someone could use this to make a living for a year or two. It had genuine utilitarian value still. So instead of rallycrossing and gambling it until it died, I sold it so it could live on.

I got $900 for it. Less than the grand I was hoping for, but reasonable. Unfortunately the buyer was not a carpenter or a landscaper who would use it as a work truck. A guy bought it for his teenage son. Who apparently already killed it.

I found this out in a bitchy message he sent me. He didn’t ask for his money back, which is good because he ain’t getting it. It makes me sad though.

My buddy and I put a couple thousand miles on that truck, and it never missed a beat. It went on road trips, towed trailers, and was daily driven at times with no trouble.

RIP Thingamajig :(

Update: Tonight he messaged me again to demand a refund. I didn’t respond. I simply blocked him on FB.

Lemme get this straight dude. You buy your teenage son a $900 truck with 199k miles on it. Three days later, it's somehow my fault that the kid blew it up? I don't think so boss. I may not be the sharpest spoon in the shed, but I ain't that dumb.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > shop-teacher 10/24/2020 at 23:49

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Wait, what was said rude message? How exactly were you accused of selling him a lemon? Was it just that the truck broke or was it crashed?

Alfalfa > shop-teacher 10/24/2020 at 23:58

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My brother has one of these, same gen and cab with a V6 . Daily’ d it for years and then relegated it to occasional yard duty and such and it will not die.

shop-teacher > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 10/25/2020 at 00:03

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shop-teacher > Alfalfa 10/25/2020 at 00:05

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I didn’t think this one would ever die . The truck was a rusty beater, but that motor was good.

Just Jeepin' > shop-teacher 10/25/2020 at 00:05

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I have to admit , if I bought a truck and the engine died the very next day, I’d be grumpy too.

Not your fault, obviously, but on the other hand he doesn’t know that. I worked with a guy who knew his engine was dying, so he had it towed a block away from a dealership so he could drive it onto the lot and trade it in.

He s aw it abandoned  alongside the highway a couple of weeks later.

shop-teacher > Just Jeepin' 10/25/2020 at 00:08

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I don’t blame him for being grumpy, but I bet $5 that the kid went out with his buddies to show off his new truck, beat the crap out of it doing burnouts and whatnot , and blew it up.

jminer > shop-teacher 10/25/2020 at 00:14

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I had someone once threaten me with a lawyer over a $300 laptop. I told him that he bought a $300 laptop off Craigslist, it worked fine when I sold it and he he wanted something with a warranty to buy it a bestbuy.

Selling vehicles that need some work for cheap has gotten difficult.  The couple times I’ve done it recently it has been a pain.  Most people wanted to either give me scrap price or wanted it perfect.  It was the same deal with that Mazda pickup when I tried to sell it recently - it’s going to go to the local NPR station for them to auction it off now.

shop-teacher > jminer 10/25/2020 at 00:19

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He actually did ask me about a guarantee when I sold it. I thought he was joking and laughed. He laughed too. Thankfully I emphatically said no guarantee!

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > shop-teacher 10/25/2020 at 00:38

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The jellybean F150s were pretty stout mechanically. I find it hard to believe that a perfectly dependable truck randomly bricked itself by chance the moment it was sold. Clearly someone just was being an idiot. How I have no idea. And it's a non interference engine, right?

shop-teacher > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 10/25/2020 at 00:45

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I don't know, but I never liked Jellybean F-150's, and this truck gave me great respect for them. That idiot killed it in one day!

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > shop-teacher 10/25/2020 at 01:01

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My friend has a high mileage 98 Lariat that just won't die. Since this is Georgia it doesn't have any body rot so I reckon it'll last until the transmission goes. Not much else to go wrong with it. And it has suffered so much abuse without complaint I'm shocked someone managed to kill one in a day. 

atfsgeoff > shop-teacher 10/25/2020 at 01:32

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Mechanical empathy is a real thing, and my heart goes out to the poor truck that was murdered by a youngster who probably didn’t know any better.

shop-teacher > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 10/25/2020 at 06:28

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My friend who was storing it, used it to move his now wife from Michigan to Illinois. If it hadn't been so rusty, he would have kept it.

shop-teacher > atfsgeoff 10/25/2020 at 06:29

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Very true. I'm just bummed that it's dead. It was given to me to kill, and I couldn't do it. And now it's done.

liam > shop-teacher 10/25/2020 at 10:34

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I always make up a bill of sale, two copies which I sign and the buyer signs.  Includes things like the VIN and the words AS_IS.

shop-teacher > liam 10/25/2020 at 10:51

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I got a bill of sale. I didn't bother with as-is wording, because by law all private party sales are as-is.

liam > shop-teacher 10/25/2020 at 17:32

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Yeah, but I like to make it clear to people who live in a dream world what the reality is :-)

Alfalfa > shop-teacher 10/25/2020 at 23:04

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Imagine buying a 3 figure car off CL and handing it to your teenager expecting everything to be fine.

Cash Rewards > shop-teacher 10/25/2020 at 23:09

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Wow, that would piss me off something fierce

smobgirl > shop-teacher 10/25/2020 at 23:09

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He should be thankful it’s just a $900 truck...wait until his kid destroys the next one.

facw > shop-teacher 10/25/2020 at 23:19

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I can’t blame him for trying, but yeah as is is as is. I don’t know that anyone pays for a PPI on a $900 car, but you have to know you are rolling the dice, and you have to know there’s a high chance that any car given to a teenager has a high likelihood of failure.

Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer > shop-teacher 10/25/2020 at 23:23

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“as far as I can spit”

Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer > jminer 10/25/2020 at 23:26

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My Dodge has a fallback option: The six speed tranny b olts to 318/360 and new hemi, my Dodge friends know this and have ideas. I can’t sell a car without telling you eve rything wrong with. Used cars are not the Business of Honest men (or ladies). 

WilliamsSW > shop-teacher 10/25/2020 at 23:29

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Anyone who asks for a ‘guarantee’ on a $900 pickup truck is either a moron or thinks you’re a moron.

And FFS with minimal effort he can probably get much of his $900 back even if there’s a hole in the block.  

shop-teacher > Cash Rewards 10/25/2020 at 23:34

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I'm more disappointed than mad.

shop-teacher > smobgirl 10/25/2020 at 23:34

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For sure.

shop-teacher > Alfalfa 10/25/2020 at 23:35

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Yeah, nothing can go wrong with this plan. Nothing.

shop-teacher > facw 10/25/2020 at 23:35

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Yep!

atfsgeoff > shop-teacher 10/25/2020 at 23:36

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Update: Tonight he messaged me again to demand a refund. I didn’t respond. I simply blocked him on FB.

This is why I use a Google Voice number for classifieds.

Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer > shop-teacher 10/25/2020 at 23:37

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Teenage boys are the kiss of death to vehicles.  Many of us used to be teenage boys and we know what we did.  So does this dipstick’s dad,  also try to find a chevette for 900 bucks, a grand don’t buy much car anymore. 

shop-teacher > WilliamsSW 10/25/2020 at 23:39

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Maybe a little from col omn A, and a little from col omn B.

There isn’t much to part out. The body is quite rusty, and the trim pieces are to rn or tired. 

Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 10/25/2020 at 23:41

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Mine never gave a lick of trouble, and I saw it at least once a year for years afterwards. 

shop-teacher > atfsgeoff 10/25/2020 at 23:42

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Good call. He doesn't have my phone number though. We were just using the messenger app. He doesn't know where I live either.

WilliamsSW > shop-teacher 10/25/2020 at 23:42

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Do you know how it actually died? I’m curious if it was an obvious teenager hooning issue.

I was pretty good with cars even at 16, but most of my peers were horrible. My stepbrothers completely destroyed several cars without getting into accidents - just through abuse.

I can understand the guy being mad, but screw him.  

shop-teacher > Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer 10/25/2020 at 23:43

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I was never that kind of kid, but I sure as hell know what my friends did to theirs!

Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer > shop-teacher 10/25/2020 at 23:45

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The fastest car in the world is whatever a 16 year old can get his hands on. 

shop-teacher > WilliamsSW 10/25/2020 at 23:45

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He just said the motor is bad.

I was like you, but I know what my buddies did to theirs. Ugh, that poor Ranger.

shop-teacher > Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer 10/25/2020 at 23:46

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Without a doubt.

atfsgeoff > shop-teacher 10/25/2020 at 23:49

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Well-done, and good riddance!

Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer > shop-teacher 10/25/2020 at 23:51

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I was driving the K-car when the tranny let go,  I was invited to provide a second car for the family and was concerned about my mum and dad driving the wheels off my geo (it was little and zippy, they loved it, people learned to drive stick on it). 

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > shop-teacher 10/25/2020 at 23:56

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A teenager killing a car? Well I never!

Chariotoflove > shop-teacher 10/26/2020 at 00:00

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I sold my mom’s Celica to mkbruin, who gave it to teenagers. They didn’t realize engines needed oil to run. They killed it. Any idea what killed this pickup?  It’s amazing how many kids don’t realize that a piece of machinery as complex as an engine needs maintenance. 

WilliamsSW > Chariotoflove 10/26/2020 at 00:03

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As a teenager, my brother killed a 2nd gen Camaro the exact same way.

Oil?  What’s that?  Dumbass.

Chariotoflove > WilliamsSW 10/26/2020 at 00:04

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That’s not just stupid. That’s a mortal sin. 

WilliamsSW > Chariotoflove 10/26/2020 at 00:06

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No, it was a 305 in a ‘79 base Camaro.  Pretty bleah, really.  

Chariotoflove > WilliamsSW 10/26/2020 at 00:07

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Oh. Well, venial sin  then.

smobgirl > Alfalfa 10/26/2020 at 00:22

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I drove a $200 Cadillac in high school. It was far from fine  but impossible to kill when driven with even a smidgen of respect. But I knew if I wrecked it I’d end up in something even worse.

shop-teacher > Chariotoflove 10/26/2020 at 00:26

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I don't have enough information for an actual diagnosis. Knowing what I know about teenage boys, I'm guessing burnouts were involved.

shop-teacher > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 10/26/2020 at 00:28

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News at 11!

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > shop-teacher 10/26/2020 at 00:29

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When I sold a car for 400 bucks, I got nothing but complaints from the buyer who also treated it like garbage (and eventually sold it for more than they bought it ). Sell shitty cars, get shitty buyers... I wish I'd pushed it off a cliff.

ranwhenparked > shop-teacher 10/26/2020 at 00:31

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Same, I had a friend who went through no less than 3 Beretta GTs during junior and senior years. Guardrail and telephone pole related mishaps kept happening to them, and he replaced the last one with a Grand Am. Honestly was impressed he kept finding them so easily in the same color scheme whenever he needed them.

My high school cars were a Super Beetle that I resold to a girl in college after about a year and a Volvo 940T that I passed to my younger brother since it was worthless as a trade-in by then. He beat the crap out of it, and let my parents trade it in under C ash for C lunkers, because he wouldn’t let me help him fix the overheating fuel pump relay.

Spasoje > shop-teacher 10/26/2020 at 00:36

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Choosy beggars, I suppose. Reminds me of a recent experience of mine.

I bought a van that had a chip in one of the sealed beams; I replaced both, but felt it was a waste to throw both old lights away seeing as they worked perfectly ( including the one with the chip) . I eventually sold the old pair for like twenty bucks to a guy who needed to replace one of his sealed beams on his RV .   I didn’t say in the ad that one had a chip, because the pic of both lights I posted showed them from the front, where the chip was visible...

The guy that bought them didn’t even look at both lights until he got home, at which time he sent me angry messages saying how I was a “fuckhead” that screwed him over to make $20 

I politely replied that I sold exactly what was in my pic, that he never even looked at both lights in person before paying me, and that he in fact bought a goddamn $20 pair of used sealed beams off a guy on CL ...I also sent him the pic from my ad again in that reply, just to leave no stone unturned .   He replied with a strange profanity-laced message, which also sounded like he never even read my message lol

Some people are nuts. I’ll gladly throw away stuff like that next time - dealing with delirious people   isn’t worth the money.

Dead_Elvis, Inc. > smobgirl 10/26/2020 at 00:38

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My first car was a ‘72 Cutlass, one  that my grandparents couldn’t get $400 for in 1986. “Far from fine but impossible to kill” is dead on, and at no point in my ownership was it driven with anything resembling respect (or skill).

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > shop-teacher 10/26/2020 at 00:40

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You are welcome

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer 10/26/2020 at 01:17

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The jelly beans were tough little blighters even if their styling could be questionably swoopy. 

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > WilliamsSW 10/26/2020 at 01:19

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And my twenty-something nephew. Oblivious to the oil light.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > facw 10/26/2020 at 01:20

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Depends upon what the meaning of as is is.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > shop-teacher 10/26/2020 at 01:22

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But what about in Illinois?

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > WilliamsSW 10/26/2020 at 01:24

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I beat the crud out of my parents' cars.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > shop-teacher 10/26/2020 at 01:29

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THIS IS THE BEST OPPO THREAD I'VE READ ALL YEAR JUST SAYING

shop-teacher > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 10/26/2020 at 06:43

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I'm happy to provide such riveting content :)

shop-teacher > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 10/26/2020 at 06:45

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Even here!

shop-teacher > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 10/26/2020 at 06:46

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We were telling the story about my wife’s older brother’s Tercel last night.

“How long has your oil light been on?”

“I don't know, a few months."

shop-teacher > ranwhenparked 10/26/2020 at 06:52

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I grew up in a wealthy area. The things rich kids did to their free cars, was astounding. One guy wrapped his Blazer around the same tree twice! His parents replaced it with a Camaro. Somehow he landed that on TOP of a fire hydrant. So they bought him an Escalade.

There was one girl who crashed her LeBaron convertible seven times. Another girl received TWO cars for her 16th birthday (rich divorced parents). She rolled one of them a week later.

shop-teacher > Spasoje 10/26/2020 at 06:54

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Lol!

shop-teacher > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 10/26/2020 at 06:55

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If I had known it would be dead in three days, I would have killed it myself and junked it. I tried to give it a better life.

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > shop-teacher 10/26/2020 at 07:06

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About two years ago, I sold my 2002 F150 work truck (that I had just used to do home projects and haul way too much broken up concrete to the dump) with bad ball joints to a guy in landscaping for $1000, he was sure he could get a buddy to fix the suspension and get it inspected.

Warmed my heart to see him trucking along on the highway six months later. Hopefully it’s still out there running strong somewhere!

foghat1981 > Dead_Elvis, Inc. 10/26/2020 at 07:57

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What’s that saying....nothing runs poorly longer than a GM? :)

foghat1981 > shop-teacher 10/26/2020 at 08:05

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The “God bless you” at the end....wow.  

shop-teacher > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 10/26/2020 at 08:06

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This truck would have been perfect for a landscaper.

shop-teacher > foghat1981 10/26/2020 at 08:07

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It is a nice touch.

Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 10/26/2020 at 09:06

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I wonder what they would have looked like if the 94 Ram hadn’t come along first. 

Pickup_man > shop-teacher 10/26/2020 at 09:18

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What?! Noooooo, poor jelly bean. No details on what happened other than it simply blew up? These things are basically bulletproof. 

shop-teacher > Pickup_man 10/26/2020 at 09:29

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I know!  This sucks!

No, he didn’t give me any details.  I don’t even really know if it blew up, he just said the engine won’t turn on now.  I’m assuming the kid went hooning in his new truck, and spun a bearing or threw a rod while beating on it.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer 10/26/2020 at 11:16

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I always wondered about matching "big rig styling" with 90s Apple computer styling. I honestly like the styling more than most but them having to suddenly get bold with it without much time for consideration produced an odd design. 

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > shop-teacher 10/26/2020 at 17:57

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It’s family, so I don’t want to risk making an affront, but wow.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > shop-teacher 10/26/2020 at 17:59

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I was trying to make a joke as if you did not live in Illinois, but Indiana.

shop-teacher > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 10/26/2020 at 18:58

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I know :)

shop-teacher > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 10/26/2020 at 18:59

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Its ok. He's a freaking idiot.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > Chariotoflove 10/26/2020 at 21:56

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Ugh. Such a waste of a fine car.

Chariotoflove > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 10/26/2020 at 22:00

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It was really sad. And stupid on their part because it was a gift to them to get to work and have freedom. Do you remember those early years  when any working car was worth its weight in diamonds?