Boy, with Cory's car going down, I hate to celebrate the arrival of mine. We should be out there chasing each other around town and having a ball. So Cory, get your car going ASAP.
Anyway, it wasn't supposed to arrive for a couple more days but I got a call this morning and my car was here an hour later. Now, I know how these things go, and remember I purchased this Beck without ever driving or inspecting it, from a dealer in Texas. It only has 13k miles on it and it was $10k below what I've been seeing Becks go for. I was slightly suspicious because of this. But my thinking was that it's a Beck, the foundation is good and I can fix whatever could be wrong. Hell I plan on upgrading to a much more powerful engine soon. The 90 hp CB engine just won't do..... right?
So the guy at the dealer and I had been texting back and forth as the deal neared completion. One of the last things he wrote was that they had put a battery charger on it (in preparation for the truck arriving to pick it up), and that the AC blew nice and cold. Reading between the lines, this meant the battery was questionable and they had charged the AC because it wasn't blowing cold and leaked the Freon out somewhere. Now remember, I really don't believe in putting AC on these cars even if it's 110 degrees here in Phoenix, in fact the engine is suffering enough without adding an AC compressor to the engine compartment. I could tell the car had been parked for more than a year. Over a 15
month period, it was driven 300 miles.
So the car comes early and the battery is dead (just what I suspected). The truck driver digs out a portable jumper device and we fire it up, and it sounds pretty good. I stall it pulling off the carrier and it won't start, this battery is completely toast. So we jump it again and I pull off the trailer and park in my driveway. I pay the driver and added in a little tip for getting here early.
My family oohs and aahs for a while and it's time to go get a new battery. My nephew gets me his discount and I switch out the battery. Now it's time to go for the first ride. My son riding shotgun I begin to back out and the car starts running on 3 cylinders. I shut it off and pop the engine compartment lid. My son points out that the fuel filer looks empty. I check the gauge and it shows empty. Could they have sold me a car with enough gas to pull it off the truck, and that's it? Yup they did.
So I get out the can of lawn mower gas and ad enough to get us down to the gas station. The car runs fine but I thought I'd turn on the AC just to see if maybe...... and it blows warm. Just what I suspected. Not really a big deal, I never planned on using it anyway. I'll probably find someone who wants to buy it (the AC, not the car). The car runs great and when we pull into the gas station we're surrounded by people wanting to know what it is etc. One black family parked nearby started talking about Eddy Murphy having a car like this. So the fun begins.
I think I'll contact the dealer tomorrow and ask that they pay for the battery. Seems only right that the car should start when you get it. I'm not one of those nightmare customers that is never satisfied. I understand purchasing a car like this has it's risk factor. So far, only a few hours having it, I'm happy, very happy in fact.
