MG Sports Cars

[cgi.ebay.com]


Dave

I hate eBay car ads. This one is typical - lousy pictures and incomplete information.

Quote:

This car was professionally built...

Why do people write "professionally built" and then not say who the builder was?

Quote:

...and has many of the features utilized in factory built V8's.

Like what? "Many is a word that always leaves you guessing..."

I bet that exhaust system is even louder than mine. A 2001 Corvette design? Yeah, right...

I wonder why the builder relocated the battery to the trunk? I always cringe when I read that. (If I were going to write a really incomplete description of this car for an eBay ad, I would probably have left that detail out.) Are these advantages? (1) raises the center of gravity, (2) increases the car's polar moment of inertia, (3) requires a longer cable to the starter (more resistance/voltage drop), (4) requires adding a pass-through connector (expensive) or a grommet (hard to service) on the path to the starter, (5) moves acid fumes from a well vented location to a poorly vented location, and (6) uses up the car's already very limited trunk space.

Cut the guy some slack. Maybe he didn't get the lingo straight or maybe he's just somebody trying to do the best he can. Either way, none of us are perfect and one of us build perfect cars. Part of the fun (and interest) of this hobby is that different people have different ideas of what is important or what moves them. How about respecting his effort the way you would like him to respect yours? Simple. Life is too short. Peace.

I didn't mean to be mean. I was hungry when I posted earlier.

I totally agree that it's very cool that different people build their cars differently - but this seller didn't show us how his car was built! Eight of the ten photos show us exterior paint, and very little else. This car might be quite nice, but the ad doesn't seem to be doing it justice. There's just not much to give a potential buyer any indication of craftsmanship, positive or negative, and I find that frustrating and irritating. It's a gripe I have with eBay car ads in general.

I think Curtis is commenting on the general phenomenon of buying a car via ebay more so than this particular ad... it's just a good example of the case. In general the ads don't tell you much and often have misleading comments. I, personally can't imagine buying a car from eBay unless it was one I could go inspect (or have a trusted friend inspect for me). There's just way too much opportunity to get burned. Inspecting it is the only way to know whether you're looking at the prom queen or lipstick on a bulldog.

What gets me is the camera phone pics (although they are getting better).

I think the ad did what is was designed to do.

We all looked at it. And if it was in our local area, we all probably would have gone and taken a look at it.


FWIW

Bruce

Looks like a solid car.

I've always gotten burned when buying items from ebay.
I don't even look there any more.

Daisy, if you have been burned on ebay, a good rule to follow is to limit your interest to only those cars in your geographic area where you can physically look at and drive the car. This should give you peace of mind in your car selection....now, this advice is coming from a 66 year old guy who lives in Ohio, who bought a 2.8L brg Z3 in Dallas in January on Craigs List, bought a $50 seat on Southwest and flew to Dallas, picked up the car and then drove 700 miles to Enterprise, Alabama to pick up a matching hardtop for the car (purchased on ebay) and then drove another 800 miles back to Ohio (with a Sunday evening stop at Dan Masters house in Tennessee to see his stunning gt and visit with Dan and his lovely wife) Do as I say, not as I do:-)
BTW, the car more than exceeded my expectations..I got lucky on this one!