FOS ~ Festivals of Speed

I hope you you have made plans to attend the most exciting car events of the year. And the best part is they are happening in sunny, snowless Florida in two of the nicest locations possible.  

Festivals of Speed Spring 2014     

CLICK HERE FOR

FESTIVALS OF SPEED AMELIA ISLAND TICKETS

Yum Yum Again

Coffee, Donuts, Cars ~ Yum Yum!

What did you do this Wednesday morning? Did it have to do with cars?

A week had gone by and it was time for another trip to the bakery. So I forced myself to go get a great cup of coffee and doughnut. While I was there I meet some really great car enthusiast, handed out a few business cards, and of course took some photos of great cars. ( see all the photos )

What I like best about this setting is the relaxed atmosphere. No trophies here just coffee, doughnuts, cars and great car stories. It doesn't get better than that.

If you are looking to buy a Class or Exotic car please visit All About Detail - WeBe Autos

If you want to sell one of your cars you will be please to find that we do not charge for listing with us. 

Call me for the details.

Larry FitzGibbon All About Detail-WeBe Autos ( of Southwest Florida) 

941-492-2094

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Be sure to read my other articles as I Chase Classic Cars in Southwest Florida, such as "1963 Corvette   Convertible" 

Classic Car Buyers Beware!

6 indicted in Internet-based car-selling scheme

 This is off the Los Angeles AP 12/29/11

I found this article and wanted to share it with my Classic Car friends: 

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A federal grand jury indicted six foreign nationals on charges that they defrauded hundreds of customers out of more than $4 million in bogus Internet car sales, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

The 24-count indictment returned Wednesday alleges a scheme in which vehicles were offered for sale on legitimate websites that deal in auto trading, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office.

The six defendants — from Germany, Russia, Romania and Latvia — are accused of collecting payments from hundreds of would-be buyers nationwide, siphoning millions of dollars to Europe and never delivering a vehicle, the indictment said.

Authorities identified the alleged leaders of the scam as Corneliu Stefan Weikum, 37, a Romanian national, and Yulia Meshina-Heffron, 23, a native of Yekaterinberg, Russia. Both are in federal custody in Nevada on charges related to bulk cash smuggling.

Weikum monitored the fraudulent bank accounts to determine if funds had been deposited, the indictment said. The money was then withdrawn — primarily in cash — and delivered to Weikum and Mishina. The two then allegedly wired the money from the United States to other countries, mailed the funds in concealed packages to Berlin, or concealed the funds in personal carry-on luggage while traveling to Germany, according to the indictment.

At least 110 bank accounts were opened to fraudulently receive the funds, according to the indictment. From September 4, 2007 until October 5, 2010, victims deposited at least $4 million into the accounts.

"This case demonstrates our ability to track down even the most sophisticated fraud artist who attempted to hide behind false identities and the perceived anonymity of the Internet," said U.S. Atty. André Birotte Jr.

The defendants face charges including conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud and money laundering. If convicted, each could face sentences totaling hundreds of years in federal prison.

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If you love Classic Cars like we love Classic Cars join us:

www.all-about-detail.com or Facebook :-)

A Bull Story

Thanks to a Utah convenience store's contest, Frito-Lay truck driver David Dopp won another set of wheels last Saturday: this lime-green, 631-hp Lamborghini Murcielago LP-640, worth at least $200,000. Such an awesome car that will...oops, he already wrecked it.


Just a few hours after getting the keys to the V-12 powered Italian supercar named for a famed Spanish fighting bull, Dopp took to the roads around his home in Santaquin, Utah. According to In Santaquin News, police were called about dusk after a witness spotted the all-wheel-drive Lambo bass-ackwards in a field, with skidmarks from where it left the road.
Dopp -- who had apparently already taken one call from the local police about takin' it easy before going off-road -- says he was going about 40 mph to 50 mph on a 35-mph road when he hit a patch of what he called black ice or gravel. The police report says the car went over a curb, off the road and 75 feet into the field, calling the accident "speed related."

The Murcielago is now bound for Las Vegas, where mechanics will calculate a repair estimate on the busted oil pan and damaged bumper. Dopp, who has insurance, says the day was "an emotional roller coaster." If you mess with a bull, don't be surprised when you get the horns.

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If you love Classic Cars like we love Classic Cars join us:
http://www.all-about-detail.com/  or  Facebook :-)

Most Expensive Cars 2012

The Bugatti Veyron Super Sport

shatters land-speed--and pricing--records.

  

Porsche 918 Spyder     Price $845,000 

  

SSC Tuatara     Price $970,000 

 

Maybach Landaulet     Price: $1.4 million

Aston Martin One-77     Price: $1.4 million

 2012 Koenigsegg Agera R   Price: $1.7 million   

Zenvo ST1     Price 1.8 Million

 

 

 Ferrari 599XX     Price: Rumored in excess of $2 million.

Bugatti Veyron Supersport  Price: $2.6 million

 

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Do you love Classic Cars like we love Classic Cars? www.all-about-detail.com or http://www.facebook.com/AllAboutDetail.ClassicCarBrokers

Good for Collectors: The Arizona Emissions Study

Historic Vehicle Association HVA Monthly Newsletter
3/01/11
There’s a common belief among historic vehicle enthusiasts that environmentalists and regulators will continue to find ways to make it seem that we’ve made little progress in cleaning up our air and that things will only get worse unless aggressive new regulatory programs are implemented.

Can well-reasoned arguments backed up by hard data still make a positive difference where stricter emission law threaten historic vehicle ownership? Thankfully, the answer is yes.

Take the case of Arizona. In 2005, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) conducted an exhaustive study on the impact of “collector vehicles” on carbon emissions and overall air quality. The Arizona report concluded the impact on emissions and air quality was “negligible” and, based on this information, Arizona regulators moved to exempt historic vehicle owners from emissions regulation. This exemption required the federal EPA to review and approve the Arizona findings before the exemption could take effect. In April, 2007, the federal EPA did just that. Click here for copies of the ADEQ study and the EPA approval.

While reasoned debate and compelling data doesn’t guarantee that all regulators will come to their senses and follow Arizona’s lead, it does provide a strong precedent for the future defense of historic vehicle owners elsewhere in the future.

Check out the HVA's Interactive Emissions Laws Map


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Please join us at All About Detail to review some of the nicest Classic Cars on the net.

Did you get a chance to review our last news/blog "How to buy a Classic Car at Auction"

Welcome to All About Detail Classic Car News

All About Detail Classic News Blog is devoted to owners of Classic, Vintage, Exotic Cars, Classic Trucks and Classic Project cars. We are hoping our little effort here will help preserve historic vehicles for the future.

Our mission is to keep those Gorgeous Cars rolling down our highways – by keeping our readers abreast of Classic Cars News and Events and hopefully perpetuating an interest in preserving the automobile of yester-years.

 It is our aim to have this News Blog an open forum. We invite your thoughts. We invite your articles and will publish them if they pertained to Classic cars and will help keep those Gorgeous Cars rolling down our highways.

Join us at ALL ABOUT DETAIL CLASSIC CARS.

A couple things for today:

Q. How do you double the value of a Yugo?
A. Fill the Tank

Can you identify this car?

**Always "Kick Tires" before buying a Classic Car**

What can happen when you don't "Kick Tires" when you are buying a Classic Car on Ebay ? It can steal your lunch money. Let me share my experience.

Ed Maitre, Partner of All About Detail and I decided to start a Detail Business in a most unlikely place, Clearfield, Pennsylvania. Clearfield absolutely fits the description “Not the end of the world, just close enough to see it”. We did not have high expectations concerning too much work. We knew that a population that is attached to Pick Up Trucks for the most part would not be clamoring to get those trucks washed. After all it takes a long time to get those trucks to the correct state of muddiness and who would want to wash out the evidences of the latest hunt or road kill.

Never-the-less we moved forward. Never did we expect that we would have to turn work away and we were absolutely correct. But we were a little too correct. More correct than was acceptable.

We thought we better figure out how to advertise on a shoe string budget. Two ideas struck us: 1.) We could purchase a Classic Car or Truck that we could place a business ad on, bring it to car shows and possibly use it for hauling mobile detail equipment and/or 2.) We could place strategic ads on the internet, Penny savers, the local newspaper classified ads, or billboards. Did I mention our shoe strings? All of these were too expensive and were without any assured results. We ended up using the idea but developed our own free website: All About Detail. 

With a lot of work that is starting to prove fruitful. But the first idea struck us in a different way; it took some of our shoestrings and did not give us a return on investment (ROI).

After months of bidding on vehicles on the internet we were not able to get the sellers of cars or trucks to move to our shoestring budget and we had become a bit disillusioned. Then all of sudden there she was. A dream, she was beautiful. She could draw attention; she could get someone to turn their heads. What fine lines. I had to have her.

She was a beautiful screaming Red 1975 Volvo 164 E. I read the description carefully. It had been owned by a fire chief, the mileage was extremely low (53K), the pictures indicated the seats and the carpet and the paint were excellent. The only problem was the heater fan switch was not working. That is minor, we could fix that in a few minutes and then she will be perfect, a 10.

As the eBay auction’s end drew near, I placed a bid, and I got ready for a snipe, a last minute bid that would make her mine. That’s when my wife interrupted with “we got to go now”. Ok then, I knew what I had to do; I would set my high bid to the end of the shoe string, punch it in, leave for my appointment and let fate take over.

The next three hours dragged on. Finally we arrived home; I rushed to my trusty computer, brought up eBay and found that I had won! I had won! She was mine (ours if you have been following the story) and all I had to do was pick her up.

I went to PayPal plunked down my $500.00 deposit and called the seller. I knew the deposit was non-refundable but why should I be concerned. After all, the car was perfect. Well perfect except a heater fan switch. Anybody with a little mechanically ability could have that fixed in a few minutes. The carpet was good, the seats were leather, and the paint was screaming red.

Any time I search for cars or trucks on eBay I always check the private seller’s button. I would never purchase a car or truck on eBay from a dealer. I called the private owner and a man answered the phone and announces “Ferati's Car Care Center”. That was the first indication that she, my beloved Volvo, may be wearing a lot of make up, she wasn’t a 10 after all. I spoke to Mr. Ferati and we made up some sketchy plan to get the car picked up by a Car Carrier but that conversation left me with a sinking feeling, I felt sick. What kind of Car Care business could not fix a heater fan switch prior to listing on eBay?

I had the Business and its owner’s Name and I started to do research on them. If my $500.00 was gone I did not want $5,000.00 to be gone. What I found was not good; for example look at these reviews found on Topix . In fact one review had complained about the same problem I was having. This business had held itself out as a private owner giving the would-be-buyer a false façade. I knew I had a problem.

I called and e-mailed Mr. Balkizf Ferati giving him an opportunity to explain the poor reviews and to return my $500.00 deposit back. He justified his holding himself out as a private owner saying that he had been using the car as his private vehicle.

So he has my $500 and I have a life lesson: Do not trust sellers on eBay and Always "Kick Tires"

Kicking Tires are one of the services All About Detail   provides. If you can't  “Kick Tires”  because of logistics or because you do not feel qualified,  we will "Kick Tires" for you.
 

As mentioned in our previous blog, our web site offers free classified listing for private Classic Car Owners. It is a great place to sell or buy a Classic Car.

We also offer Broker/Marketing Services and Inspection/Appraisal Services.

**Do You Have a Top of The Line Classic Car for sale?**

There are two major errors individuals make when trying to sell a Classic Car, or for that matter any car, on line. The Pictures that they post and the Description of their beautiful Car are sometimes less than adequate.

Let us review these two aspects and see how we can improve our presentations:

The first one, Pictures, is really and easily remedied. Good camera, nice setting, good pictures. If you need an example go to a out Classic Car site   and find what catches your eye and do your best to mimic it. At All About Detail  we have had some pictures of truly gorgeous cars where the owners have submitted some of the most unattractive pictures imaginable.

Two come to mind:

•First, a sleek looking Corvette, the picture had a water hose wandering
throughout and a garbage can overflowing with trash. We had to ask for a better picture.

•The other one was an eye catching 67 Malibu 396 SS. The picture was taken in a junk
 yard with hundreds of junk cars and a shamble of a garage in the background. That
 picture did not invoke confidence and that listing was turned downed. The lesson here is
 keep in mind what you want to stand out, The Car.

Make sure the picture’s setting, the background, has no distractions of any sort. We recommend that a setting extols confidence with nice buildings and/or nice scenery in the background.

The second error, Descriptions, is how the sellers describe their cut above, sleek, ultimate driving machine, impressive, eye catching, best of steed, top of fray, real looker, and great example of a Classic Car. This is not to suggest that you be disingenuous or less that truthful. For example do not describe your Volkswagen Bug as the ultimate driving machine. You could say it is a fun driving experience though.  

Do buzz words work? All you have to do is pay attention to car ads. Those companies pay a lot of money to marketing companies for just the right words.

Below you will find a list of buzz words that I pulled from a MSN article "2010 MSN Autos Editor's Choice Awards". Try to incorporate these and ones like these into your description.

If you give attention to these your car will sell faster and for more money then when someone ask you "Do you have a Classic Car for Sale, you will say no.

All About Detail is a website offering free listing to private owners of Classic Cars.

We also offer "Kick Tire" services, comprehensive car inspection and appraisal for would be buyers.
We also offer Broker/Marketing services cor Classic cars.

 Larry