FF 255 at CCA Auction

[johnw]

If I was in your position, I would go back to the owner that had the work done, finish the car to his specification of the day, and get a photo of the car with him next to it. That "rust" on the bonnet was a small paint reaction, rather than underlying rot. There were other small defects in the paint/areas of blistering which were minor paint reactions, typical when painting over lead. I don't think you will find rot under there. There is a bit of development left to get the car working, so I would leave the paint as is, and just touch it up for now. Leave a repaint until after you have some miles on it.

You have the logbook. No more welding needed. All mods were done 20+ years ago, and relate to suspension, efficiency and braking improvements anyway. It is a bit more interesting that a standard Mk2 FF. You could have it on the road in 3 months if you set to it.

Helps if I know who had all that work done!?

"Fishboy" would know. I will just say that it appears the guy who had the work done didn't want to sell the car. My understanding is that he was a lawyer and there may have been "legal disagreements" over what constitutes reasonable company car expenses!

[cannonball]

Just restore it to something like how it left the factory, get rid of that abortion rear end the original set up works just fine,hack those lower quarters and rear valence off and make good there then chase foreward and see what else is crucial to having a ok FF car, why the geezer put that rear end in is beyond me GKN built a special called the fff 100 it had a keith black hemi with circa 700 hp and ran that in speed trials with a stock rear end so baby tulip lil 383 with a sixpack was never going to hurt it,

[Timbo-FF]

Need some advice on CCA and the invoice terms......

When I called and registered to bid on the FF the rest of the lot (ie) the parts were all due to be collected prior to the auction taking place; - with the lock down this has not happened, I only have it on their assurance that the parts can be collected after the lockdown. So despite there commitment to having a complete project they only have the car..... I suggested a contactless collection of it long before now but that’s no good!?


problem 2 they state that the funds for the entire purchase need to be paid tomorrow, again, fine in principal but they are not going to pay the vendor until 10 days after the lockdown ends and they have everything on site..... potentially they will be sat on the 28,500 for the undetermined amount of time that the lockdown is on?! Again if the car was sat with them with all the parts I would feel more at ease!?

Effectively it feels like they want me to pay for the invisible: - I’m not saying they will, but lots of companies are facing financial crisis at the moment and what happens if they go bust and have the money and haven’t paid the vendor - or even have control of the vehicle and parts they have sold? What happens if the divorce is more messy than it looks and the parts don’t materialise?

I specifically enquired about all of this to be told that everything would be collected prior to the auction; - just feels really really off????

[cannonball]

Throw the towel in I sold my FF last year with Historics at Brooklands I was very dis satisfied with how I was treated by them, I was due my payment 10 days after the auction it did not happen and no one contacted me to tell me why after much chasing they told me the guy had not paid and until he did I would not be getting paid, I said what a load of horse magnolia you must have a dead line for the payment coming in they said no we do not so they hid my car I knew not where it was no docs car keys or money uintil they had payment, its all a crock of shite, u keep your money until all parts and the car are together do not pay them as you mentioned they may go broke there has been circumstances where people have lost there cars at auction and never got paid because of the house going under so could happen in reverse to you no car or parts to collect, you have good grounds to with hold that payment

[Peter Rothery]

My recent experience with Brightwells was vastly different to Cannonball's...but then the buyer paid immediately and all was well. I still begrudge the fact that auctions get paid a buyers and sellers commission for often little effort on their part...but I suppose they can attract a wider audience than other forms of advertising and remove the hassle of selling...blah, blah, blah.

By registering and bidding you have agreed to CCA's terms...although now slightly more onerous due to the lockdown. Your contract is with the seller as I understand it. CCA acting as agent seem to be able to charge the buyer 4% above base interest on the unpaid overdue amount. They can eventually sue you and/or resell the car and charge you the "loss"...whilst still collecting their commission but presumably only after instruction from the seller. They seem to have it all sewn up....I would have thought that they, like solicitors have to maintain a separate client fund? Might be worth a call to their professional membership organisation, SOFAA?

The seller does have an obligation to deliver the goods to the transport warehouse but, as you say, a messy divorce might cause problems but he won't get paid until he does. It is also the buyers responsibility to insure the car on the fall of the hammer....no idea how you go about that when you don't even know where the car or parts are.

CCA amongst others is owned by Nick Whale. Their accounts don't show a huge net worth so I have no idea how stable they might be in the current climate. In "normal" times I would suggest Solicitors advice or an Escrow account..but currently I don't have the answer....I hope however it turns out OK for you.

[RogerBrotton]

In every instance it is ''BUYER BEWARE''...……...that means beware of everything you are told and everything they all claim.
It is YOUR total responsibility to be satisfied that the goods on sale meet the advertisers claim. You must insist on a visual inspection of the whole lot.
Only then, part with money.....especially 32 grand. The auctioneers can easily arrange this.....FF's don't pass on viruses...addiction maybe, but not a virus.
Good luck for a happy outcome.

[jvcarrier]

If you were told that all parts would be on site prior to sale, they have failed to meet this undertaking. If the parts are not under their control they cannot ensure that they will be delivered up in there entirety. As such I would refuse to pay until I had the chance to inspect the parts and ensured they meet descriptions, photos etc.

This is not a normal situation so they will be playing it by ear a bit.

Good luck

[Chris_R]

I think you need legal advice. There is a whole raft of competing legislation here. The Sale of Goods Act may apply in that the item must match the description. Also the Trades Description Act may apply as although the contract is between you as the buyer and the seller the auction house acts in between and maybe liable for misrepresentation if the description of the goods is exaggerated. If some of the item is missing or not present then it could be argued that the description was exaggerated.
There is also the regulations on distance selling which normally don't apply to public auctions even if you bid by telephone or online but where you have the opportunity to inspect the items and to attend in person. However, although this was a public auction in the terms of those regulations in this case you were not given the opportunity to inspect due to the lockdown and therefore it might be that it is no longer a public auction. If it's not a public auction then the auctioneer should have given you a cooling off period of say 14 days in which time you could change your mind. If the auctioneer did not do this, and if the auction no longer qualifies as a public auction on account there was no opportunity to inspect the item even if you wished to do so then that cooling off period is extended I think to 12 months.

[nrb993]

Hi Guys, you talk about Medway and Cropredy. I brought my FFII 127/223 from Andrew Edwards on 1983/1984, it was a shed in Ford Blue and weird dunlop wheels, but I loved it (owned for 19 yrs)

I found it had no sills under the Stainless panels and it was struggling to hold itself together. I wonder if this really was a Cropredy car, even though it came with Warranty which I claimed on as the Maxaret was not working, which was fixed by Cropredy and worked well for many years. lovely feeling that kick on the brake pedal when putting in gear.

I visited Medway 10 years or so ago, he had a Bentley mk6 in boxes of bits I thought was a good project, but many parts were just scattered on the floor around it, so I would have needed a broom to sweep it all up, this included the so rare trinkets like handles, fittings and other easily lost bits on a one off car. But the building was a big old solid concrete garage of sorts.

[Tim Lamont]

Have just been alerted by a friend. I owned this car for 10 years, from around 1988/89 to around 1999, I bought from Medway Interceptors ( after the suspension upgrade by previous owner ) I bought it as a rolling chassis, all panels were loose, + boxes of bits, inc Engine etc . I had about 5 Jensens at the time, some were projects, so this one sat in my workshop for many years, whilst it was restored, very slowly. The bodywork was completed by a body shop, paint was good but not perfect, I had intended to use the car in London as a daily driver. The interior was in perfect condition, leather was 100%. from memory the engine was built by Huddard racing, there was a dyno graph , it had well over 100 bhp more than standard, the previous owner to me, had the suspension upgrade at massive cost, there were engineering drawings for all of this with the car, he also commissioned the engine upgrade, all this work would have been in the 80s . Due to me starting a new business, i needed space so the car went back to my friend at Medway around 1999. I still regret parting with it. happy to help with info, I do have some restoration images for the new owner, feel free to contact me by email tim@actproducts.co.uk . I would love to see this finished and in use.