Redemption

[MicroMachinery]

This past weekend I had the privilege of unveiling a labor of love that started back in February. While far from finished, she's come a long way and been a fighter from the get go. Here are a couple shots taken by Indy at Canby 2011.

 

Like I said, she's come a long way. I was first notified of the wagon back on February 11th of this year. There was a small, obscure post from a single-post member saying that they had a 610 in the Seattle area that they were trying to get rid of. I was notified of this small lead by another member, and gave chase. I was eventually able to get in contact with the author of the post, and had a little more information along with some pictures. Here are the pics that I received regarding the 610 in question:

From the looks of it, it was mostly complete. I was made aware of the front end damage incurred during the winter, but it wasn't a deal breaker by any means. A deal was made, the price was set, and I was postured and ready to come and pick her up first thing the following morning. I spent the rest of the day ogling the pictures, making plans, and fantasizing about the glories of having a wagon once again...

 

This is where the story turns sour for a while.

[hellamikey]

That, my friend, is one GORGEOUS goon.

 

well done sir!

[skunk]

thats so cool, iv been waiting to see pic of when you got her.

wagon looks great.

[izzo]

Damn that thing was really messed up. I got to ride in it, is very nice.

[flatcat19]

Yes.

Good job.

 

Dig the paint.

Wheels.

The whole package.

Score.

 

Did it come with that motor set-up, or was that your doing?

[MicroMachinery]

I had agreed to come and pick up the car the following morning(Saturday), because of complications due to the planned meeting to sell my 200sx that Friday evening. All was fine, and there was no issue with the seller. The excitement was building, and I could hardly wait to be on my way north to Seattle in the AM. That evening, while helping the 200sx onto the trailer to go home with it's new owner, I received a phone call from the owner of the 610. He explained to me that there was another interested party, but that he wasn't interested in doing business with the other party. He assured me that the car was mine, and was just calling to make arrangements for the following morning, just to make things concrete. I was all the more encouraged about the transaction that would occur the following morning, and I went home to sit and daydream with my girlfriend about the wagon we were about to join up with. You see, I once had another wagon: an orange 510.

My girlfriend and I had a blast in this car. We went on trips, cruises, went camping, and made memories in this car. I eventually ended up having to sell it, and it has since been an empty void for us that none of my other Datsuns could fill. I have ever since regretted getting rid of it. However, with this new wagon as close as the next sunrise, it brought hope of redeeming something that was once forfeited.

We sat at home, gazing into the screen at the few pictures. Planning. Laughing. Imagining. Reliving past times.

My phone chimed. A text message.

"Hey man, um.. this other guy is here and he is offering me *** dollars for the car" I laughed. It was only a fraction of what I had offered, which was the full asking price.

"Well, like I said, I'll be there tomorrow morning first thing. I'll leave at 5 and be there by 9".

"Right on, thanks man. I'll tell this guy to get lost. He just wanted to butcher it anyway.. I'd rather sell it to someone like you who really wants to treat the car like it deserves; a real enthusiast. That other guy is a douche".

We went back to picture gazing. The phone chimed again.. a call this time.

"Hello?"

"Hey man, this is *** with the 610. This guy is offering me ***, and I really am tempted to take it. I know it's not what I'm asking, but he's waving money in my face"

"Dude, stay cool. Like I said, you have my word that I'm going to pay you full amount in less than 12 hours. The only reason I'm not there right now laughing in that guys face as I hand you the money is because I had to sell another car tonight. I have cash in hand, and you have my word."

"So you're promising you'll buy the car for the asking price, sight unseen?"

"Sight unseen. We had a deal, remember?"

"Right on, man. I'll see you tomorrow"

"Thanks, see you then."

Back to the pictures. The phone chimed.. a text message.

"Sold."

I didn't even have time to think before I got on the horn, calling the weasel.

"Hey, what's going on?"

"I sold the car"

"And our deal?"

"Sorry man, I couldn't risk you not coming up here".

"Bullshit. You had my word, and I would be up there right now had I not kept my word to another person"

"I'm sorry, it's driving away"

"..."

"Goodbye"

"Alright, man. You do what you have to do. I don't know why you did this, but I'm sure you have your reasons. Take care"

I saw red. I stood up.. silence. My girlfriend, jaw dropped having heard the entire conversation leaned over. "I'm so sorry.."

After what seemed like minutes, I ground my teeth, "I'm going for a walk".

I left the house and walked down our brightly lit Cul de Sac. Over the past months, I had had 610 wagon after wagon slip through my fingers. A very recent, crushing blow involving a complete, white 610 wagon in a wrecking yard in Modesto, CA was just beginning to scab over.

Ripped open, once again.

[bananahamuck]

Was this the one that was advertised to have solex carbs and some problem with the front end ( steering ) ?? Cause we rang that guys phone off the hook but never got a call back.

 

 

( this is about 610 )

 

 

how did you type all that so god damn fast

[skunk]

and then?

[hellamikey]

pins, needles, ect ...

[flatcat19]

Shady.

What's wrong with some people's children?!?

That sux! Almost had the same exact thing happen to me and my 521.

Can't wait for the next chapter.

You can sell me the whole seat, but I'm only using the edge.

[MicroMachinery]

I went to post a wanted ad.

"Wanted:

ANYTHING 610 related. 610 complete cars, parts, whatever. Let me know"

 

A few days passed and nothing. Whatever. Probably better this way. The unicorn has vanished altogether; maybe I'll get lucky and forget about it. And then I checked my email. I had a message that looked like regular spam; the name was very generic, but the title was "610". I opened it up, thinking it could still be spam relating to my ad, but it read as follows:

"Hi im the guy that bought the wagen im takening what I need from the car if yr interested in the rest of the car let me know"

This has to be a cruel joke. I emailed back to get a phone number. As it turns out, the only parts he wanted were the 5 speed conversion, and the windshield for his coupe. Lucky for me, the sedan and the wagon share the same windshield, but the coupe is different. So that ruled that out. As far as the 5 speed conversion goes, I already had the pedals, and a transmission and master cylinder/hard lines are easy to source. No problemo. I was back in the game, and it was going to happen after all!

After a good conversation with the buyer, I had a very good feeling. He wanted only a few parts, but the rest he would save for me. It wasn't going anywhere, he assured, and let me know that he was in support of keeping these cars intact and on the road. Wow, I thought, what a stand up guy. He was busy with work, but would let me know when I could come and get the wagon in a week or so. Patiently anxious, I waited... and waited... and waited... ... and waited.

I finally sent a message, not wanting to nag, asking if it would be soon that I could come up. Needing only to find the time to pull the transmission, he hadn't come up with the time yet. That was understandable. I eagerly continued to wait.

Over a month later, a time was established to come and get the car... however, the deal had been.. modified.

"I'm also taking the carbs. The tach is coming with me too."

"Eh.. well.. it's your wagon, and you can do that, but that wasn't the original deal"

"Well, if you don't like it, I'll take what I want and cut the damn thing up. Don't jerk me around"

What!? I didn't see where this was coming from, but it was apparent that the guy was getting excited about something.

"Ok ok, that's fine. How's this Sunday sound?"

"Great. If you can't make it, let me know 24 hours in advance"

"Done. Talk with you then."

The weekend came, but it wasn't the joyful trip that I had long awaited. That Friday night, the youngest of my girlfriend's cats(of which she loves dearly) became very ill. By Saturday night, he was going fast. At the stroke of midnight, I watched him pass in her arms. As infinitely sad as it was to watch, what happened next was ever so much more. We went to sleep, and woke up hours later to prepare for the trip. Her other cat(the father of the younger that passed the night before), was acting strangely. Very strangely. She went to pet him and he growled in pain and jumped off he bed, leaving a trail of blood behind him.

No..

She began tearing and crying, knowing he was ill as well. We placed him in the bathtub to quarantine the bleeding. I immediately contacted the emergency veterinary clinic to see if we could have him put down. Without running a bill of $200+ in tests, on top of letting him suffer his remaining hours in a cage alone, they would not put him down. I hung up and called my mom to see if she would let us bring him out to her house in the country. We drove out, my girlfriend's dying cat Tubbs sitting in a box, trailer in tow to my mom's house in the country. I had never put an animal down before, let alone my best friend's close pet, but I can tell you, it was heartbreaking to say the least, and one of the hardest actions I've had to physically carry out.

By now, we were hours behind schedule. I called the seller in Seattle and explained the situation.

"Hey, we're running late, (insert above story), so we are on our way, just a few hours behind"

"That's not my problem. If you can't keep appointments, then how is that my fault?" Heartless. Absolutely heartless. At that point, I was so tempted to tell the guy how I felt about him and his asshole ethics, and his bullshit attitude.. but I didn't. I could only laugh at the situation that was in no wise humorous.

Instead, I drove north. I was now feeling sick myself; fed up; drained. I made it to Seattle to where the car was being stored and waited for the man that was holding all the cards. He showed up and brought me to where the car was.. I looked in disbelief at what was before me. Everything forward of the driver's seat was gone. I looked in through the window and saw nothing but wires and firewall. He took the dash. He took the entire pedal box, not just the pedals. He took the window cranks. He took the seatbelts. Knobs? Switches? All gone. Center console? You guess it! No shifter knob, no boot. The slime even took the headlights! I looked under the hood. Of course, the carbs were MIA. I later on took account of everything that was missing. It was abominable. He even took the last can of "Who Hash"!

"Where is everything!?"

"Well, I took a couple other things. I'll drop the price down ***, but that's it. And um.. I'm not trying to be a dick, and put pressure on you, but you have 60 seconds to make a decision"

Was this really happening? Someone smack me in the head with a 2x4, because I'm ready to wake up. I gave the car a quick looking over. The body was there, and what was left of the interior was good. There was no way I was going to leave here empty handed. Not after today. All the urges inside me I suppressed. I wanted to rage. We loaded the car onto the dolly, and he handed me the title. I looked in disbelief. It looked like a 6 year old's treasure map. Scratched out here, new numbers put there.. you have GOT to be kidding me.

"Hey, the DMV isn't going to take this, it's mutilated"

"If you don't want it you can get in your truck and go home. You need to decide quick."

"I'm going to need a bill of sale from you, and the previous owner.. I see it was never transferred to you".

"Not a problem, I'll have them in the mail this week"

"Fine." I knew it wasn't the smartest thing to do, but there comes a point when mental, physical, and spiritual exhaustion takes over, and it was bearing down on me quickly, with a 6 hour drive ahead of me whether I went home with the 610 or not.

.. and away we went.

[hellamikey]

What a piece of shit, control freak asshole...

[flatcat19]

Damn.

I say again...

WTF is wrong with some people's children?

 

That guy isn't a Ratsun'r, is he?

[MicroMachinery]

We got home and I was feeling terrible. I wasn't hungover, though I thought I was. Over the next 2 weeks, I battled the worst flu I've had in my life. In 4 days, I dropped 15lbs and reached a fever of 100+. For some that may not be much, but for someone that gets sick once every few years, it's a big deal. During that time, I did some research. As it turns out, the guy that I bought it from had bought it from the previous guy that I had the deal with(the guy that sold the car out from under me). Unbeknownst to me, there was a THIRD party involved that I was unaware of. For the ease of explaining the following scenario, I will be referring to the different owners as "A(Owner whose name was on title)", "B(Shady seller #1 who made the deal with me then sold the car out from under me)", and "C(Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde who said one thing and did another in regards to directly selling me the 610)".

Ok, let's see if I can get this all in one try. As the story goes, Guy "A" who lived in Vancouver, WA sold the car a couple years back to Guy "B" who lives in Seattle. Guy "B" fails to put title into his name, and drives the car recklessly and receives multiple traffic camera tickets.. well.. not entirely. The license plate is captured, so that the tickets are forwarded to Guy "A" in Vancouver. Guy "A", being innocent of the charges, contacts the DMV and informs them that he has released ownership of the vehicle, and it is no longer his. DMV puts this on record, despite Guy "B" not transferring title. Years pass, and Guy "B" decides that he wants to get the car out of his hands, I assume because accepting ownership of the car by transferring title would also accept ownership of tickets. He sells the car to Guy "C", knowing that Guy "C" plans only to use the car for parts then scrap the rest. At this point, the car would be dead, and any incriminating past with it. Guy "C", rather than scrapping it, sells it to Guy "D(Me)", only providing a title and a false promise of non-existent bills of sale in the mail.

So.. with that said, we continue the story... where were we.. ah yes, me dying in bed. As my flu went on, I decided that it would be a good time for me to get some paperwork done, and try to get my ducks in a row so that I could start in on getting the wagon operational. Due to the nature of the situation, I found it wise to hold of on any work on the car until the car actually belonged to me. This way, if there was any funny business, and the car was reported 'missing', 'stolen' or whatever(which at that point didn't seem like too wild of an idea), I wouldn't be losing any of my parts or time. So thus began yet another obstacle. I called the DMV and told them my situation, and they explained that because the title was written on, or 'mutilated', by their nomenclature, I would have to find the person whose name is on the title, even though he had released ownership. ??? Yeah, doesn't make sense, but whatever. So I began the journey to find Guy "A". Somehow, in my bed ridden state, I mustered the absolute luck to find him through various wanted ads in forums. I sent messages on each of the forums to potential matches, and eventually found him. It was like a game of Battleship, actually. "MISS. MISS. MISS. HIT!"

Lucky for me, Guy "A" ended up being a VERY stand up guy. He was more than helpful and sympathetic to the situation. After I won my bout with the sickness that laid me out for 2 weeks, I made arrangements to meet with him and go to the DMV in Vancouver. There, we took care of the paperwork needed to correct all the errors on my scribbled on, pathetic excuse for a title. I thought that's all I needed. WRONG. Unlike in Oregon, in Washington, there are Bills of Sale required with the purchase of a vehicle. So now I had to get these Bills of Sale that never came to me in the mail. I got ahold of Guy "C" pretty easily, but he was somewhat reluctant to send me a legitimate Bill of Sale. When asked to get a Bill of Sale from Guy "B", as we had promised, he flat out told me he couldn't get ahold of the guy, and that he'd moved, etc.. knowing I was dealing with a rat, I went through my records and emails to find contact information for Guy "B". Phone number being erased, along with all text messages, my only hope was to reach him through email.. after email.. after email.. nothing. I started looking online for matches for his name, and whereabouts to mail a letter. Nothing. The guy is a ghost.. I went over and over through my emails, and finally found one with his phone number. Text.. text.. text.. nothing. I finally got up one Sunday morning and called.. a groggy voice answered. GOTCHA.

"Hey man, this is the guy that was gonna buy your 610"

"Yeah?"

"I have it now, but *** never gave me a bill of sale from you. He said you said you were going to give him one for me"

"He's a liar. I never said that"

"That's not too surprising. Well hey, I know you don't have to, but I'd like to get this thing going and driving.. you know, back on the road. I need a bill of sale, so would you send me one?"

"Yeah, what's your address?"

"***"

"I'll get it in the mail tomorrow"

"Thanks. By the way, did you move? *** said he went by your place and you didn't live there anymore."

"No.."

That scum.. Never even went by to check on it for me.

So again I waited.. and waited.. and waited.. nothing. By this time, it was into May... 2 months after I'd bought the 610. 3 months after I'd made the original deal with Guy "B". I was beginning to lose heart.

I let a week pass by, and after calling, I was unable to reconnect with Guy "B". Shit. I decided to put all my chips in a basket and go for the Hail Mary. Using my roommate's cell phone(a Washington number), I called Guy "B".

"Hello?"(GOTCHA!)

"Hey, this is ***, with the 610. Hey, check it out. I'm sending you a letter. Inside is a filled out Bill of Sale. I have highlighted where you need to sign. Also included in the envelope is another envelope. Signed, addressed, and stamped. All I need from you is your signature in the highlighted area, then slip the Bill of Sale into the provided envelope, and put it with the mail. That's it. All I need is your address to send it to"

"Uh.. ok.. it's ***"

"Right. Ok, I'm sending it. If you send it back, You'll never hear from me again, or about the 610. Done deal."

"K"

 

What do you know? It worked! It worked on him, and the same thing worked for Guy "C". I had to hold their hands through the whole process, but by Jove, it worked!

 

I got the Bills of Sale, and on May 19th, I marched into the DMV, papers in hand, and made the 1973 Datsun 610 Wagon mine!

[skunk]

wow, just wow.

glad you got all the parts together to make it work.

[MicroMachinery]

Did it come with that motor set-up, or was that your doing?

It came with an L20b(L18 was factory for the 73'). Just the long block. No carbs or anything.

Was this the one that was advertised to have solex carbs and some problem with the front end ( steering ) ?? Cause we rang that guys phone off the hook but never got a call back.

Yessir. Dunno why he didn't answer. It sounded to me like he was afraid it wasn't going to sell.

how did you type all that so god damn fast

Mavis Beacon :cool:

 

Shady.

What's wrong with some people's children?!?

I ask that daily.. :rolleyes:

 

Damn.

I say again...

WTF is wrong with some people's children?

Still asking...

That guy isn't a Ratsun'r, is he?

He knows about Ratsun, so I'm sure he lurks. If you're reading this, "HI" :)

[MicroMachinery]

wow, just wow.

glad you got all the parts together to make it work.

Yeah, no kidding. Luckily, I'm a hoarder and grab up parts when I see em. I haven't had to buy anything that I didn't already have for it yet.

 

Here's what I had to work with at the beginning.

[flatcat19]

If he's reading this...

You are shady.

Stay away!!!

Don't corrupt our forum with your disease!

 

That is one hell of a story man.

We're all glad you stuck with it.

That's a beautiful goon.

 

Now it's on to the build?

Should be nothing but good times from here on out.

[MicroMachinery]

Yeah man, just wanted to lay the foundation and give some history. Seems like I've told the story a dozen times, so I figure I'd get it out in writing once and for all.

 

Now the fun stuff: I've kept a picture log of the progress, so I'll post it up in chronological order and bring it up to date as soon as I can.

[motavated]

This wagon was in real nice shape for cheap. It was on here as well i think. Sad... Glad you got it running man. Nice work!

[zerow]

Micro - this story trumps all build stories. You and I have chatted about this, but seeing the written form has really given me something to chew on. Wow, just wow!

 

Good job on the build! Like I said, I am here if you need anything '73 specific. I will likely have the small stuff that will complete this build. :) :thumbup:

[BareAssGodzilla]

Man this story was amazing and actually made me want to cry at some parts. I REALLY hate people sometimes and this is a perfect example of why. I would go through the same thing to get a cool little datsun too though. I'm very happy to see that you ended up with it in the end. Good job man.

[ehime]

One more reason I hate meddling with D-Bag assholes...

 

Congrats though dude, glad you picked it up, you totally deserved it.

[NWOleman]

Wow what a douchebag!!!!!! you shoud put an add on craigslist personals guy for guy with that guys number just to get back at him a lil bit for being such a scumbag!

[]2eDeYe]

Wow man, way to stick it out. The wagon looked great at Canby, didn't realize it was yours. :cool: