Beware Of The Scammers!!!

[bobbythejudge]

Well folks, The scammers are out in full force,I have been emailed over 20 times by one couple in California. What they are doing is to use a members pictures of their cars and trying to sell the car as theirs. I checked the motor of the pic they sent and looked back on a members pic and the paint was peeling off the valve covers in the same exact places, also the car was parked in a driveway and the trees were exactly the same. I emailed the member to tell him so and he still has his car and thanked me for warning him. just today I get another email from Canada supposedly and this character tells me he has a red '73 Europa 5 speed for sale. He sends me the pics and sure enough they belong to a member that just recently had his car on Ebay and the description was word for word of the restoration that was done, I also emailed him today to tell him what I got in the email. When I wrote back to this person and told him the car look familiar as it was parked next to the house,I haven't heard back from him. Just thought you ought to know this y'all, I'll disclose more info later on as to names.

[Mark B.]

Nasty stuff! I've just been a victim of a Scammer myself, through my website. It's very unpleasant.

[WayneB]

I am ignoring about 10 emails a day now all from scammers.

Interesting to see the scam has worked its way down to the less valuble cars , 3 years ago it was all about Lamborghini Miuras and Ferrari 275 GTB/4's.

They would use photos of a car and doctor the vin number plate with photoshop to produce a "lost" car which was usually in a third world or South American country.The car was available at a bargain price (about a quarter of what one would usually fetch)

Either a large deposit via Western Union or a meeting with an associate (with cash) would "secure" you the car.

That would be something, flying out to Bolivia with 50 grand in cash in a suitcase.:(

[Autocross7]

I am ignoring about 10 emails a day now all from scammers.

Interesting to see the scam has worked its way down to the less valuble cars , 3 years ago it was all about Lamborghini Miuras and Ferrari 275 GTB/4's.

They would use photos of a car and doctor the vin number plate with photoshop to produce a "lost" car which was usually in a third world or South American country.The car was available at a bargain price (about a quarter of what one would usually fetch)

Either a large deposit via Western Union or a meeting with an associate (with cash) would "secure" you the car.

That would be something, flying out to Bolivia with 50 grand in cash in a suitcase.:(

Well, in selling the 308 I have been quite the other way. You come here... you see the car... no money. We can talk about that after you see the inspection photos and the car. Then... you want the car... I get paid. You do not get the car until I get paid. If I get a bank check... you get the car when the check is cashed and I have money.

I know of a guy that took a bank check for his car... and the bank check was fake. It was a very very good fake... but the bank would not cash it. In the end he reported the car as stolen and since it was insured he came out okay after much time a a lot of head ache.

Cameron

[Martin]

Hey Bobby, how is it going on finding a JPS Europa?

[bobbythejudge]

Well Martin, I have not found a JPS but the brown car that I wrote about earlier that had a JPS steering wheel,is what I'm buying for a decent price. It's a 73 Europa Twin cam that is in pretty good shape and was owned by an older couple and donated it to their church and they are delivering the car to me this Saturday. It has known carb problems and I'll get that done here in Texas. I will paint it black later on once I get it running. I'll never resell it and if I did I would let it be known it is not a JPS. Any that I have found are more than I can afford right now and this car will do,Thanks for asking, Bobby

[bobbythejudge]

here is an update so far on the '73, changed the oil, castrol syntec as that was used before storing the car for 5 years and did the usual with the fluids and pulled rear wheels and brakes are in good shape. I pulled the carbs and a friend and I are doing them. One was leaking gas from the side of the bowl and looks like the float was stuck, we'll know more tomorrow when we do this. The motor tried to turn over and looks like it will be okay. All lights and radio work and will check radiator when we get it running. The cosmetic work will be done later as I am just trying to get it road worthy for now. The people from the church sent me a Thank you card and I feel we both benefitted from this transaction. I let you know how it turns out after it gets running this week. Bobby

[bobbythejudge]

Well, I have the car ready for the road and inspection. The last fix was the right headlight as the ground was eaten through by the mice. The brakes are working better as I have been driving it around my developement and adjusting them. I'll be replacing the tires as they have flat spots in them from sitting for 5 years. They look good with no cracks but might be drying out inside and I don't wont to take a chance of running it on the highway at any speeds above 65. The car has a lot of power and I know they road raced it when it was newer as to the suspensions and clutch and rear axle. It has a stainless steel muffler or looks like one and sounds a little like a rod. My friend that helped me is impressed with it and says it has a lot of guts. I'll post some pics of it after I put another polish job on it. Again thanks for all of your advice on bringing this car back to life. Bobby

[Kylie]

Ditto to the above with influx of scammers/spammers. We changed our internet service provider at home to a much better one a few years back as we were getting 40+ crap emails a day. This provider we are now with they really check the incoming mail to block out these F#@#*rs from reaching our hm computers. But we are getting on avg 10-15 spam mails now in the last week from 1-2 each day in the last three years :mad:

The sickest ones of late is when purchasing something off Ebay and all goes really well until a scammer sends you a UPS tracking number with a file. Last week Simon was expecting a parcel from the states just to top things off and if it wasnt for his other tracking number already given in the receipt anyone could have easily opened the virus. A$$holes

[WayneB]

I get about 10 spam emails a week ATM, I dont open anything that looks remotely fishy.

My last big computer disaster was about 2 years ago , got the mother of all viruses (Runstock D) and in the end a nice chap I know from California helped me sort it all out.

Do you get this sort of thing with a Mac computer?:confused:

If not, Im going to get one.:)

[Kylie]

But how would a MAC improve over PC? afterall its all about what software yr running and ISP isnt it? No?

Another take on this relevant or not - Wayne I used a MAC for about a year in my day job and I ended going back to PC. I loved the MAC for all its really cool little icons and extra functions that PC doesnot have but for me I found there was compatability problems with the two.
I do alot of writing procedures and designing new company polices in my day job and found it frustrating sending docs for approval to PC users who couldnt read the same font or it would show up in a right mess. The majority of people are still using PC so I wanted less compatibility hassles for that reason only. Basically I found that I never used half of the function anyway, call me boring but just like these fancy mobile i-phones.

Thats my take. My mate swears by her MAC so whatever floats ya boat.

[BCST]

Well, I have the car ready for the road and inspection. The last fix was the right headlight as the ground was eaten through by the mice. The brakes are working better as I have been driving it around my developement and adjusting them. I'll be replacing the tires as they have flat spots in them from sitting for 5 years. They look good with no cracks but might be drying out inside and I don't wont to take a chance of running it on the highway at any speeds above 65. The car has a lot of power and I know they road raced it when it was newer as to the suspensions and clutch and rear axle. It has a stainless steel muffler or looks like one and sounds a little like a rod. My friend that helped me is impressed with it and says it has a lot of guts. I'll post some pics of it after I put another polish job on it. Again thanks for all of your advice on bringing this car back to life. Bobby

I look forward to seeing your pics.

[bobbythejudge]

Well, I tried to upload some pictures of the car,but for some reason it keeps kicking them out as to cannot display this page. I am wireless and have a pretty good signal but that might be the reason. I have been sending pics by my email without any problems so I'll have to figure out how to post them. Bobby

[WayneB]

Send them to me If you want Bobby at waynebarratt@msn.com and I will post them up.:)

[WayneB]

Heres the pics of Bobbys 1973 Europa Twin Cam Special.:)

I quite like the Ford Tawny brown paint myself.

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f355/WayneBarr/LotusEuropaTC1.jpg

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f355/WayneBarr/LotusEuropaTC4.jpg

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f355/WayneBarr/LotusEuropaTC3.jpg

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f355/WayneBarr/LotusEuropaTC2.jpg

[Mark B.]

Very nice indeed :). Love the colour, very 1973!

[Martin]

Bobby...I love it!

So the body and paint was like this when you bought it?

[BCST]

Excellent, looks great.

[Autocross7]

It needs an 8 trac tape deck! With the Paul McCartney and Wings or Steely Dan in the slot! Love it... such a fun ride.


Cameron

[Mark B.]

It needs an 8 trac tape deck! With the Paul McCartney and Wings or Steely Dan in the slot! Love it... such a fun ride.


Perfect, Can't Buy a Thrill!

Or first Eagles album with Chug All Night (my fav :)).

[bobbythejudge]

Thanks again for posting the pics, Yes that is the original color and all I did was to give it 2 polish jobs with color magic. There are a few bad spots where the paint has some discolor probably from fluid spilled on it and of course the usual stress cracks. It does look pretty good for 35 years and the chrome is in very good condition with a few small spots of pitting but I polished those out pretty well and hides them whereas they are not so noticeable. I think I did get a great deal on this car from the church that I bought it from as it was donated by one of their members. He kept it garaged for 5 years and except for the mice living in it and eating some of the wiring, it cleaned up pretty well like some gals I know! Thanks again for all your help and advice on bringing this little car back to life, Oh, it does have a radio and tape deck, Bobby:wave:

[bobbythejudge]

An update on the '73 Europa,Today I finally had it inspected and the fellow who drove the car around to check the brakes, came back and said Wow, what kind of car is this? After telling him the story of this car, he could not not believe the pickup and response it had. I took it for a shake down run now that I am legal, and cant say how fast I went on a back road and also the expressway but I had to gun it to get on as some smartass did not know who he was fooling with when he tried to pass me getting on the ramp on my right. He must of thought I was driving a kiddie car but was left in the dust in no time flat. I was truly impressed with this car today and tomorrow will check all fluids etc. to see how everything held up. The tires need balancing and inspected when they do as they shimmy a little at high speed and I mean high speed. Bobby:steeringwheel:

[WayneB]

I always thought the Europa Twin cam was a world of improvement over the Renault engined S1 that was only really designed to be sold in France originally anyways(to massochistic Frenchmen):lol:

The current managing Director of Lotus, Mike Kimberley was the head engineer in charge of the Twin Cam Europa project back in the late 60's, some of the staff at Lotus found his original technical drawings of the car and presented them to him a while ago. It was the first whole project he headed up and it seems to house a lot of fond memories for him.

Great car, hope you get alot of pleasure from it Bobby.:)

[Martin]

Sound fantastic Bobby!

[bobbythejudge]

I have some more pics with the pinstripes that I just put on the car and they do make a difference

[bobbythejudge]

More Pics click on the pic for a larger view

[bobbythejudge]

Hey Wayne, I got A new air card with AT&T and it will download pics for me as it is a 3g card. My previous one was a dialup card with T-mobile and it was too slow. I pinstriped the car and really makes the difference and it is running great. Thanks again for the earlier downloads.:thumbup::steeringwheel:

[GregWO]

Been following your recent purchase with intrigue. The color is not my favorite but it just works on the Europa! Nice touch with the pin striping. I gather Lotus didn't pin stripe, but it does look good. Hard to believe that car survived 35+ years with little to no changes, DPOs, mice, or rust for that matter. Only in Texas!!!

So whats next? or is there anything next?

[eurosport]

Nice car, Bobby! How about some interior pics, too? :thumbup:

Do you know any more history on the car? I'm guessing if it was always a Texas car it was probably sold in San Antonio...

Keep us posted!

[bobbythejudge]

This car was originally bought in Virginia and then taken to Arkansas where it was eventually stored for 5 years when the carbs started leaking gas and I was told the owner did not have the time to fool with it as his job had him traveling all the time. They trailered it here to me from Arkansas and I did find 3 dead mice and their nests in it along with the chewed wires. After pressure cleaning it and cleaning out the interior it looked pretty good. As far as rust goes,I only found few small spots on the frame near the engine brackets and sprayed them with that rust inhibitor that turns it black. A friend of mine that rebuilds planes gave me the idea of that as he does the frames that way before repainting the plane. Here are a few pics of the inside,The pinstripes were black from age and I just followed the lines as it was pinstriped before. I believe they road raced this car in it's earlier days as it has racing suspensions,clutch and rear axle changed.I have the original equipment in 2 boxes that came with it.

[bobbythejudge]

Some pics of the motor after I painted the valve covers. It has racing exhaust headers and stainless steel muffler. I have the original header and springs etc in the boxes.