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Old March 5th 04, 02:22 AM
Bob Fry
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Dude, from your posts your are having continuous troubles with
sellers. That means, it's time to think about your attitude! Please
take this in a friendly way--yes, there are plenty of goofy sellers.
So what?

I wish I had written stories about all the goofy sellers I ran into.
One guy, supposedly an A&P, had refurbished his airplane and repainted
it--with a spray can under the awning of his double-wide. I am not
making this up, the wings looked like a spray can job and he even had
photos to prove it! He was quite proud of his ingenuity.

Another guy had a fairly runout looking plane, but the interior had
just been redone with--I am not making this up--electrically heated
seats! This was an Ercoupe. They were extremely well padded and since
I am 6 feet, the whole test flight (he flew) was with me bent over
like a pretzel. Afterwards, seeing I wasn't showing a lot of
enthusiasm, he pointed out the many interior pockets as a selling
point and said he would throw in his nice metal insulated coffee cup
free gratis.

Another guy had a plane that hadn't been used for so long there were
cobwebs hanging off it. I declined the opportunity of a test
flight. Another plane, nicely equipped and apparently well-maintained,
had a nearly runout engine and vibrated like crazy.

Why go on? You get the idea. The funny thing is, I had the time of
my life talking to these people, looking at their planes, and
sometimes flying with them. I didn't insult them. Each one thought
their plane was the best--and to them, it was. I had other opinions
and kept them to myself. I found something nice to say about each
one, politely made some excuses, and left.

I almost didn't look at the last plane on my list. But on a whim I
drove over to see it (2 hour drive). It looked good, and now I had
the experience to tell. His asking price was fair (I had learned what
a fair price was too), but I couldn't fly it as it was in annual. A
couple of weeks later he flew up to my airport to give me a test
flight. I accepted his price, conditional on my mechanic inspecting
it, which we did the next day. The deal was struck and I was a new
plane owner! Gad, the last time I was that nervous was on my wedding
day.