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Author Topic: CS3 down here at the bottom of the world  (Read 2517 times)


AdeV

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Re: CS3 down here at the bottom of the world
« Reply #1 on: January 30, 2018, 12:43:45 AM »
I always love this bit in these sale/auction descriptions (and it's always there, in some guise or another):

Quote
Hasn't run for some years but was running when put in the shed so would go with a little bit of a clean up.

Yeah, sure mate. It's been parked upside down in 10ft of seawater for 40 years but yeah - a bit of spit & polish and fresh diesel and I'm sure she'll run. Thats why I haven't bothered of course, I'm clean out of diesel. And spit.

The other one that sparks me off these days is, when describing some crusty old car that's been languishing under a tarpaulin at the bottom of the garden for 40 years as a "barn find". No, a "barn find" is when you buy a farm, and crack open a barn that's been locked up for 20 years and find a treasure trove of well preserved old machinery.... not some POS you bought 5 years ago, stuffed in a leaky garage, and are now passing off as a family heirloom!

Some long-time members here might recall a time when a contingent of US members clubbed together to buy a container full of Lister diesels from here in the UK; and, mr muppet here, agreed to buy a truck with a crane on it to drive around our small island picking up these various purchases (one of which, I kid you not, had clearly spent a considerable number of years in the sea!). I agreed with the vendor to buy the lorry at its full asking price, on the condition that he got it it's MoT certificate (basically, a road worthiness test). He agreed.... although 4 tests and £400 lighter in the pocket, he was considerably less happy about that deal! And that's the sort of thing that really gets my goat - "she'll run, she's a good 'un", when she's clearly a knackered old cow who's going to cost more to repair than just buying one that actually works in the first place...

Erm, rant over. Sorry!
Cheers!
Ade.
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1x Lister CS Start-o-Matic (complete, runs)
0x Lister JP4 :( - Sold to go in a canal boat.

mikenash

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Re: CS3 down here at the bottom of the world
« Reply #2 on: January 30, 2018, 05:50:08 AM »
I always love this bit in these sale/auction descriptions (and it's always there, in some guise or another):

Quote
Hasn't run for some years but was running when put in the shed so would go with a little bit of a clean up.

Yeah, sure mate. It's been parked upside down in 10ft of seawater for 40 years but yeah - a bit of spit & polish and fresh diesel and I'm sure she'll run. Thats why I haven't bothered of course, I'm clean out of diesel. And spit.

Yeah.  Kinda, sorta . . . but in this case I reckon NZ$400 isn't a bad gamble anyway - think about a couple of hundred Guineas . . .   The one recently advertised for $1200; THAT was a bad deal :)

(edited by AdeV to fix quoting)
« Last Edit: January 30, 2018, 11:58:18 AM by AdeV »

ajaffa1

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Re: CS3 down here at the bottom of the world
« Reply #3 on: January 30, 2018, 11:22:22 AM »
There is no piece of machinery that can`t be fixed given enough money, determination and man hours.(with the possible exception of space debris/space shuttles etc.)
If it`s rare or old it`s worth the effort but sadly we live in an internet connected world in which mechanically deficient chancers
believe they can make a quick buck without having to break a sweat. Perhaps it`s time for those of us that are mechanically inclined to go on strike. If we all stopped servicing stuff and paying too much for spares to keep numpties in a job things might improve.

Bob

AdeV

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Re: CS3 down here at the bottom of the world
« Reply #4 on: January 30, 2018, 12:07:59 PM »
Hi glort,

Yeah - I read your story on the mower. Made me chuckle (but also made me mad on your behalf about the lying ****s).

I have a simple rule with eBay: If it says "untested", it means it's broken, and the seller couldn't get it to go... Using that as a default position, and bidding accordingly, I have (occasionally) been pleasantly surprised... The irony is, I found the boot on the other foot a few months ago: I sold an old 19" server cabinet, a big sturdy Dell thing. In the bottom of it was my old APC UPS. Since I couldn't be arsed digging out the cables to plug it all in, I splashed "untested" liberally around the auction (it'd been sat, unused, for around 8 years at this point). So finally the cab sells, and I've rolled it out to be picked up, and figured I really ought to give it a try.... so found a cable just as the buyer turns up. I said, we can test the UPS now if you like, to which he agrees... Anyway, 15 seconds of loud buzzing, a pop and large cloud of magic smoke later, we conclude that it's broken... Never mind I said, I've got another one on the shelf, almost as unused, you can have that instead. Sometimes I'm just too bloody good to people.

It's the liars that annoy me most. "Untested", yet when you get the thing, it's obviously had someone trying everything to make it work. "Barn find" when it's in the garage attached to the side of your house. Or rusting away on your parents driveway. "Rare" when there's 50 identical items for sale at the same time ("Ultra rare" if there's 5 or less identical ones for sale). etc.

Mike - in fairness, I didn't take much notice of the price; but looking at that engine, it's been sat outside for a long long time with nothing covering it. It is, of course, quite possible (if the insides are sufficiently oily) that it will just need a bit of a clean up to run again; but I'd guess the entire fuel system will need an overhaul, the valve springs will need replacing, the whole valve and head assembly will likely need dismantling, cleaning up, probably the valves will need grinding in again, and so on. Definitely not a "little bit of a clean up"! After all, if it just needed a little bit of a clean up, surely the vendor would have done that, posted a video of it running, and charged a legitimate $800 as glort says...
Cheers!
Ade.
--------------
1x Lister CS Start-o-Matic (complete, runs)
0x Lister JP4 :( - Sold to go in a canal boat.

BruceM

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Re: CS3 down here at the bottom of the world
« Reply #5 on: January 30, 2018, 06:09:53 PM »
"she'll run, she's a good 'un", when she's clearly a knackered old cow"
A gem from your rant Ade, really got me laughing. Brits have a way with the language we yanks just can't master, but do appreciate.




vdubnut62

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Re: CS3 down here at the bottom of the world
« Reply #6 on: March 02, 2018, 10:55:30 PM »
"she'll run, she's a good 'un", when she's clearly a knackered old cow"
A gem from your rant Ade, really got me laughing. Brits have a way with the language we yanks just can't master, but do appreciate.

+1
Ron
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