There are definitely a lot of scams out there. But don't be scared to buy online. Just ensure you do your research, and never pay till you inspect the vehicle. I flew from WI to FL to pick up my Lightning several long years ago, ebay. I had bank check in hand, and a refundable return flight just in case. Ended up getting a 30k (at the time) truck for 17k from a Ferrari Dealer who called it an "I soar". It had 6800 miles on it. (Now it’s got 140k+ lol) It was on eBay for about an hr before I called him. I found my ‘86 Liberty on Craigslist, 2k under normal price, drove 350 miles to inspect, and bought it. She said it was her husbands, but he “up-n-left” and she had the title in her name and wanted it gone. My point is both vehicles were WAY under priced, and looked like a scam, but turned out to be solid deals. Both parties were under the mind of just getting rid of them. Be smart and you can save HUGE online, be gullible and you will lose HUGE online.

 

LOL I have a feeling that guy IS Michael C. Barson.

Funny when spammers start spamming about con men. Oh the irony....

 

I have gotten a couple of good deals on craigslist, you just need to know what to look out for.

 

Perhaps he owes you money like he does to me!!!

See my intro in the new members section. I had to drop a couple g's to get my jag right after this con had his mechanics make it barely drivable after getting it at auction. This jerk left me stranded in Florida and Virginia because of the BS he had done to my Jag before purchase, he had sold me a story and some photoshopped pics and I had broken down on my drive home from florida with the car and almost lost my job in the process due to the missed time at work.

After getting home I had to spend quite a bit of time and $$$ to get this thing fixed. He promised to cover half the repair bills as I was willing to work with him. Yeah well after sending him the bills I never heard from him, his wife, or his son again.

That was when I did some research and found all this horrible stuff about the jerk. I mean, what a ********, ripping off old ladies and others young and old. I was only 28 at the time.

And I am just a small fish to this jerk. I cannot comprehend how he is still out of jail.

Sorry, this just makes me mad. I hope the world reads these posts and sees him for what he truly is. A true lowlife whose path will lead to an ultimate end whether in this life or the next. I hope that hell has a special place for douche-bag's like this guy. If he is in jail and anyone knows please contact me so I can pay some Ball-Busting Neo ****'s to make a girlfriend outta him for life.

 

Some divergent tales indeed. Some good and some certainly not good.

Re the Classified section, if you see an advert that is somewhat dubious please report it or send a PM to any of the Mods/Admin, we will and do look into things, and of course will be discreet.

 

Hello, all...

I found this board while doing my biannual websearch to see if anyone has caught up w/ Mike Barson yet. I had the misfortune of buying my 560SL from him about 7 or 8 years ago when he was running "Exquisite Autos of West Palm Beach" or something like that on eBay. Let's just say I learned some very, VERY valuable and very, VERY expensive lessons about eBay, SquareTrade, PayPal, and just how evil human nature can be.

I've tried to pm ajmainevents and Niemeyer, but can't figure out how to do that via this bulletin board. Is there a way to do so? In any case, I'd like to hear from you guys about your experiences with Mike. His screen enclosure con is well documented on the web now, and his four year prison term for his vacation fraud scam is also documented. Too bad I couldn't find any of that information PRIOR to buying from him... sigh...

How can guys like that STILL be out there ripping people off? It boggles my mind..

Anyway, nice to meet you folks. Never owned a Jag, but have been drooling over them for 40 years. I love my German cars. Only British car I ever owned was a '93 Range Rover County LWB. I LOVED it, but it required so much work that I finally gave up on it. It was easy to work on, at least, but I was ALWAYS working on it. I hear Jaguars can be similar.. except that they're not particularly easy to work on. True?

Nice to meet you all.. wish it was under better circumstances... <grin>.

Barry

 

Hi Barry,

You may not have full member functions yet until you reach 10 posts or so. Sending a PM is as easy as clicking on a member's name once your PM's are enabled. So do a little more chatting and you can get the PM-ability.

Welcome to the forum. I know what it's like to wrench on the older Rovers - they can drive you batty this is true - BeCM's and air suspensions, etc. the 1993 County was a nice truck, I wish they kept the front end styling on the P38 from the Classic. I wouldn't say a direct comparsion can be made to the late model Jaguars really - many are quite reliable and not all that difficult to work on, not any more so than most modern vehicles. Old Jags, well I've not turned a wrench on them so I can't make any statements.

Anyway, welcome aboard, and stay long enough and you just might find a Cat in your driveway...

 

Thanks so much for the pleasant, quick reply, Chris... nice to hear from you. I, too, wish that Land Rover had left the styling alone on the Rangies. The new ones, at least to me, seem like they're geared toward the Escalade folks, rather than people who truly DO drive off road in challenging conditions. My favorite Range Rover story..

A few years back, I was driving up route 81 from Syracuse to Watertown in February, in the middle of a bad blizzard, on my way to a gig (I'm a musician). The plows had lost the battle w/ the snow, and they closed down 81 in front of me. I pulled up to the police road block, explained that I needed to get to a gig and had no time to back track, and asked if I could just keep going. He took a look at my truck, asked me "Do you know what you're doing?"... I said, "Yes, sir, I do."... he said... "Help yourself." <grin>. Like I said, I loved that vehicle.

Another time, I was parked outside of an informal eating and beverage establishment. Two scruffy-lookin' early 20's surfer types emerged and saw my Rangie. One of'em said to the other, "what the hell is that ugly thing?".. and the other one slapped him playfully and said, and I quote, "That, my stupid friend, is a classic Range Rover...one of the most intense vehicles ever made." I enjoyed that, too..

The air suspension WAS fun while it worked. Once it gave up the ghost (as they all eventually did in those years), I ripped it out and replaced it w/ Old Man Emu springs and Bilstein shocks. It drove WONDERFULLY with that setup, both on and off road.

Darn you... you're bringing back some good memories... now I'm going to have to find an old Rangie AND a Jag... <grin>....

Best to you.

Barry

 

Thanks for sharing Barry - those are a couple great stories!

I too got fed up with the airbags on my current 96 P38 and went coils - I like the performance of the airbags a bit better, but not having to wonder if I will be on the bumpstops every morning is worth the trade.

I do wheel my P38 a good bit, actually have an offroad excursion coming up in 2 weeks at Nemacolin Woodlands here in PA (Laurel Mountains) - the Rangie still surprises me how capable it is with some decent all-terrains.

You know you'll get another LR - the "disease" can go dormant for a while, but there is no cure.

Cheers and best of luck getting in touch with the other members. A side note on the PM's, if they member you want to reach doesn't have 10 posts either, then they wouldn't be able to receive your PM I believe.

 

A few posts have been removed as they were no longer relevant.

Remember the Report Button guys, even though we try to get around, we do sometimes miss things.