A lot of this will be copy-pasted from my thread in The Car Lounge
I'm a 21yo automotive design student and back in May I bought my first car: A 1984 300TD with 180k miles and no rust. The PO did a full respray from the window-line down. I've now put around 12k miles on it, and the love just keeps on growing. Here's the story of the purchase:
I found this car on craigslist a few weeks ago while searching all of New England for 300TDs. I was immediately interested as it looked to be in really good shape, so two weeks ago, after talking to the owner a few times, on Wednesday I drove out to New Hampshire to take a look at it. I fell in love, and was back the next day to meet the owner and learn more about the car, as well as take a test drive. I put down a deposit, then went back the next day (Friday) to actually buy the car. On Friday afternoon, after getting the bill of sale, I drove to the RMV and got there five minutes before it closed. After waiting in line for two hours, the woman at the desk said "I have bad news... This car was reported stolen in Massachusetts in 1993". Nothing had come up on the CarFax or NADA reports, and my insurance company found nothing either. The woman said that there was nothing she could do until Tuesday (this was memorial day weekend). I went back to talk to the owner, and he was pissed. He had owned the car for eight years, and had it registered in New Hampshire with no problems. The owner before him was a good friend of his, and that guy had it registered in New Hampshire and Maine with no problems. So WTF was going on?
I went to my local police department over that weekend to see if they could sort it out. It turns out that, yes, in 1993 it was reported stolen in Massachusetts. But, the owner that filed the report had the license plates with him and then after that nothing happened. An investigation was never made, so the story basically ended there. Because of that, in all the other states as well as the national database, the record for the car looked fine. Only in Massachusetts did it say reported stolen, because the police department in that town in 1993 never fixed the report. Or something like that. My local PD didn't really know what was going on, and neither did the DMV. But everything got sorted out, so the car got a clean, cleared title and was finally officially mine
Photos from the week I got it:
Since then I've taken it to European Auto Solutions in Waltham, MA so it could get a much overdue full service (the previous owner barely drove it for the decade he owned it). Aside from the front brakes, nothing has needed to be replaced or majorly overhauled, so it has been smooth sailing.
Here's a couple recent photos:
I haven't done much to the car aside from a few stickers and a new radio, but it is currently Hanukkah so some presents are being ordered...
I'm glad that I've finally gotten around to posting on here! I've heard nothing but good things.
I'm a 21yo automotive design student and back in May I bought my first car: A 1984 300TD with 180k miles and no rust. The PO did a full respray from the window-line down. I've now put around 12k miles on it, and the love just keeps on growing. Here's the story of the purchase:
I found this car on craigslist a few weeks ago while searching all of New England for 300TDs. I was immediately interested as it looked to be in really good shape, so two weeks ago, after talking to the owner a few times, on Wednesday I drove out to New Hampshire to take a look at it. I fell in love, and was back the next day to meet the owner and learn more about the car, as well as take a test drive. I put down a deposit, then went back the next day (Friday) to actually buy the car. On Friday afternoon, after getting the bill of sale, I drove to the RMV and got there five minutes before it closed. After waiting in line for two hours, the woman at the desk said "I have bad news... This car was reported stolen in Massachusetts in 1993". Nothing had come up on the CarFax or NADA reports, and my insurance company found nothing either. The woman said that there was nothing she could do until Tuesday (this was memorial day weekend). I went back to talk to the owner, and he was pissed. He had owned the car for eight years, and had it registered in New Hampshire with no problems. The owner before him was a good friend of his, and that guy had it registered in New Hampshire and Maine with no problems. So WTF was going on?
I went to my local police department over that weekend to see if they could sort it out. It turns out that, yes, in 1993 it was reported stolen in Massachusetts. But, the owner that filed the report had the license plates with him and then after that nothing happened. An investigation was never made, so the story basically ended there. Because of that, in all the other states as well as the national database, the record for the car looked fine. Only in Massachusetts did it say reported stolen, because the police department in that town in 1993 never fixed the report. Or something like that. My local PD didn't really know what was going on, and neither did the DMV. But everything got sorted out, so the car got a clean, cleared title and was finally officially mine
Photos from the week I got it:
Since then I've taken it to European Auto Solutions in Waltham, MA so it could get a much overdue full service (the previous owner barely drove it for the decade he owned it). Aside from the front brakes, nothing has needed to be replaced or majorly overhauled, so it has been smooth sailing.
Here's a couple recent photos:
I haven't done much to the car aside from a few stickers and a new radio, but it is currently Hanukkah so some presents are being ordered...
I'm glad that I've finally gotten around to posting on here! I've heard nothing but good things.