It's all "Relative"...

[ri702bill 12,767]

I read the post by @Foxer14 regarding the out-of-line price set by his grandfather that wanted to sell his C175. I can relate to his frustration when it comes to WH Tractors and the over-the-top demands set by family relatives. You can pick your friends, but not your relatives...🤷‍♂️

Disclaimer: The names have been changed to protect the guilty and this really happened as I am telling it.

 

Back in 1990 my father in law bought a used D250 that had a 60 inch deck and an Ark FEL for $2800 from a local WH Dealer. The previous owner bought it new and had it for 2 years and then died; his widow sold it back to the Dealer. My father in law had it for 2 years, had a stroke and died shortly thereafter (notice a pattern here??) I am sure that every family has a relative that is legendary for their history of extraordinary frugality (aka cheapness). After the burial my brother in law "Bob" expresses his interest to buy the D250 from my mother in law for what they paid for it - the issue was getting it from RI to OK.

 

Bob worked for a major airline and could have it shipped to Tulsa for free, but it would have to be drained of all fluids and crated and dropped off at the local airport. He kicked at the cost of the skid and crating and asked me if I could build the skid and crate in the back of my 4 cylinder Ranger and drop it off. I refused and told him I could crate it if he bought the materials but needed to hire a Freight Carrier to deliver it to the airport. He then realized he had no way to get it home when it arrived - he did not want to pay a Carrier to deliver it to his house.

My sister in law, "Cindy" his wife, calls to demand that I help him get it home. At the time, I had just gotten a promotion and had 10 days of Vacation Time available. They wanted ME to load it in my Ranger and DRIVE it to Oklahoma with their "generous" offer of $50 per day for lodging & meals and "X" per loaded mile gas money - and less than "X" for the return trip - I flat out refused.

I gave them MY suggestion - He should fly here (he could do so for free) and HE should rent a one way small box Van. We would load it up and "hot shoe" it across the country, one drives, the other sleeps, no Hotel rooms, and I would help him to unload it and I wanted him to put me on the next plane to RI at his expense. He said absolutely not, forget the whole deal, let Mom sell the tractor.

 

Mom did sell the tractor to the next door neighbor for $2800 - he had it for 2 years..... then he died.

 

I do not know what ever became of the tractor BUT I have had people tell me that with the history of it I should have made sure my Brother in law got it !!!

True but sad, sad but true...

Bill

Edited March 26, 2022 by ri702bill

[SylvanLakeWH 32,083]

Kinda like the Hope Diamond of WH’s… wow. Can you say jinx? 

 

You made the right decisions at each step in my book…

[ri702bill 12,767]

1 minute ago, SylvanLakeWH said:

Kinda like the Hope Diamond of WH’s… wow. Can you say jinx? 

 

You made the right decisions at each step in my book…

Thanks - some people have that Flea Market mentality - they want it now, want it at a bargain price, and they want it delivered for free....

[Pullstart 71,059]

Wow.  How many 2 years has there been since 1990?  Lot’s a potential ownership changes!

[ri702bill 12,767]

Just now, Pullstart said:

Lot’s a potential ownership changes!

Yeah, Kevin, the potential is there...I purposely never tracked it down - I don't need a "Christine".

[Handy Don 17,272]

Handling family "heirlooms" can surely be fraught. My Dad restored a 7-leaf antique dining room table at which many family celebrations happened. After he died, my stepmom had no need of it. My brother, who lives in Europe, wanted it but had no place for it so I agreed to get and store it for a while at no charge (six hour round trip, disassembly & protection, space in my basement + gas & tolls). Finally, several years later, they had a place for it at their new home in Ireland and asked me to send it. He paid for all my materials to crate it with appropriate packing protection and for the door-to-door shipping (I did the research). The rest of the family were thrilled to see the table going back into use, pleased that our brother and SIL were getting something they would enjoy making new memories around, and thankful that I had made it happen.

Sometimes it's a good ending!

Edited March 26, 2022 by Handy Don

[ri702bill 12,767]

23 minutes ago, Handy Don said:

Handling family "heirlooms" can surely be fraught. My Dad restored a 7-leaf antique dining room table at which many family celebrations happened. After he died, my stepmom had no need of it. My brother, who lives in Europe, wanted it but had no place for it so I agreed to get and store it for a while at no charge (six hour round trip, disassembly & protection, space in my basement + gas & tolls). Finally, several years later, they had a place for it at their new home in Ireland and asked me to send it. He paid for all my materials to crate it with appropriate packing protection and for the door-to-door shipping (I did the research). The rest of the family were thrilled to see the table going back into use, pleased that our brother and SIL were getting something they would enjoy making new memories around, and thankful that I had made it happen.

Sometimes it's a good ending!

The way it should be ....

[squonk 47,851]

My Grandparents house was THE SPOT for family gatherings. They had a piano that my Uncle and brother played all the time. My Uncle died at 39. I remembered the good times as he played 50's jazz on that keyboard. They also had this dining room set, big table china closet and buffet. After My Grandfather died my Grandmother became unable to take care of herself all the time so she moved in with my mom and all the stuff in the house went to the grand kids. There was a book with who had asked for what. I wasn't married at the time but my now wife and I were in the process of buying a house. No one had asked for the piano or dining room set. So they became mine. The innards of the piano were shot but my wife restored the cabinet and installed an electric keyboard in it. You can't hardly tell it was done. The strings are still in it and when my coonhound barks in the house the strings sing!  Last summer my wife restored all of the brass hardware on the dining room set.

 

I used to work on Renaults. Luckily It was only 2 years so maybe I avoided a stroke but I know why those things caused them! 

[ri702bill 12,767]

6 minutes ago, squonk said:

I used to work on Renaults.

Like the LeCar (AKA the LeJunk)??? As bad as a Fiat 128 - not good at all, even when new ....

Bill

[squonk 47,851]

52 minutes ago, ri702bill said:

Like the LeCar (AKA the LeJunk)??? As bad as a Fiat 128 - not good at all, even when new ....

Bill

They were pretty much extinct by the time the Chevy dealership I was working at  made the horrendous mistake of buying out the AMC/Jeep/Renault dealer down the street. Mostly Alliances and Fuego's. At this time Chrysler wanted Jeep (For some god-awful reason) so they came on board and introduced the Eagle Medallion (mostly Renault). We called it the "Unfixable car" They made K cars seem like a BMW or Mercedes. Also the Eagle Premier which was a decent car but ugly. Jeeps were junk back then too. No comparison between an S-10 Blazer and Cherokee. The 4.0 Jeep engine was great but the rest of the truck was high maintenance.

Edited March 26, 2022 by squonk

[ri702bill 12,767]

@squonk Yup, the fall of 1985. I was at Chrysler's Transmission Plant in Kokomo, Indiana for a period of time installing two new Gundrilling Machines we had built. two things happened then - Chrysler had just acquired Jeep and the rank & file were thrilled they could get a new Jeep on a payroll deduction instead of a Dodge truck.

They were up in arm though when the Management hired a new Nutritionist - first thing she did was remove Biscuits & Bacon Gravy from the breakfast menu and replaced the Pork Rinds in the vending machines with Granola Bars (or something else healthier)...

Bill

[8ntruck 9,210]

Ah.  The AMC Alliance. 

 

I did the stress analysis on the steel wheels for that car.  Working with the product engineers and the drafting department, we came up with a steel wheel that was lighter than the optional aluminum wheel offered.  Was one of the first production wheels to use HSLA steel, too.

 

The SCCA developed a class of road racers (Sport Renault?) that used the mechanicals form the Alliance in a mid engine configuration.  I had a hand in developing the spec steel wheels for that class, that used the centers from the production wheels fitted with wide rims.  I've got a set of them stashed out in the garage.  I found out several years later that my dad's cousin was campaigning one of those cars.

Edited March 26, 2022 by 8ntruck

[Achto 32,305]

7 hours ago, ri702bill said:

Like the LeCar (AKA the LeJunk)???

 

One of the best deals that I ever had was a LeCar. Bought it for a winter beater, for $50.  What great winter beater it was too!! That car would go through almost anything, fact I would purposely miss corners and drive out into a snow covered field to scare the crap out of friends that were riding with me.   She always climbed through the snow & made her way back on to the road. Also took it mud running in the spring along with my buddies & their 4x4's, would go any where they went. Only thing that I ever replaced on the car was the rear side window ( it got sucked out of the car while I was passing a semi)  Cut out a piece of paneling and glued it to the old seal, worked great.  Some time late in the spring I stepped on the clutch coming up to a stop sign and heard a pop sound. When I went to pull away from the stop sign, she wouldn't move. Walked back to where I heard the pop & found pieces of clutch material all over the road.  On the bright side, the junk yard gave me $50 for the car. 

[kpinnc 18,872]

I know one thing:

 

I no longer want a D250... 

[ri702bill 12,767]

@squonk Hey Mike - or anyone else - what was the cutesy nickname given to AMC when they jumped into bed with Renault???

Bill

[Handy Don 17,272]

12 hours ago, Achto said:

 

One of the best deals that I ever had was a LeCar. Bought it for a winter beater, for $50.  What great winter beater it was too!! That car would go through almost anything, fact I would purposely miss corners and drive out into a snow covered field to scare the crap out of friends that were riding with me.   She always climbed through the snow & made her way back on to the road. Also took it mud running in the spring along with my buddies & their 4x4's, would go any where they went. Only thing that I ever replaced on the car was the rear side window ( it got sucked out of the car while I was passing a semi)  Cut out a piece of paneling and glued it to the old seal, worked great.  Some time late in the spring I stepped on the clutch coming up to a stop sign and heard a pop sound. When I went to pull away from the stop sign, she wouldn't move. Walked back to where I heard the pop & found pieces of clutch material all over the road.  On the bright side, the junk yard gave me $50 for the car. 

Working in London and Milan for a French bank, they had a Renault 5 (LeCar in Europe) as the company car in each office. I drove them quite a lot and, except that there were no seatbelts (?), I enjoyed the nimble and smooth ride. They kept up just fine on the highway, too.

[SylvanLakeWH 32,083]

7 hours ago, ri702bill said:

@squonk Hey Mike - or anyone else - what was the cutesy nickname given to AMC when they jumped into bed with Renault???

Bill

RAMC - “Renowned Accumulation of Motorized Crap”  

[EB-80/8inPA 2,115]

16 hours ago, Achto said:

( it got sucked out of the car while I was passing a semi) 

OMG that’s hilarious!

[ri702bill 12,767]

4 hours ago, SylvanLakeWH said:

RAMC - “Renowned Accumulation of Motorized Crap”

A swing and a miss - strike 1

"Franco-American Motors" is what I had seen it referred to ....

Bill

[Handy Don 17,272]

5 hours ago, Handy Don said:

( it got sucked out of the car while I was passing a semi)

I was in a Jaguar XKE that had a warning label on the glove box insisting that the windows be rolled up at speeds in excess of 110 mph. Apparently leaving them open could cause the rear hatch to pop open. The Renault 5 would have to be falling off a cliff to hit 110. 

Edited March 27, 2022 by Handy Don

[squonk 47,851]

Boy this thread is  but it's good clean fun. I had to attend a training class for Jeep and the instructor had worked in France for Renault. The topic of Customer Service came up and he told a story of a factory rep in France who had a customer complaining about wind noise in his 18i wagon. The rep removed the luggage rack and the noise was gone. Customer asked what the permanent repair was gonna be and the Rep opened the hatch and threw the luggage rack inside the car and said "that's it!" 

[ri702bill 12,767]

1 hour ago, squonk said:

removed the luggage rack and the noise was gone.

My son bought a used Ford E250 that came with 3 clamp on roof rack crossover bars - they would all hum and vibrate at any speed above 60 MPH...

[Roger R 473]

2 hours ago, ri702bill said:

2 hours ago, ri702bill said:

My son bought a used Ford E250 that came with 3 clamp on roof rack crossover bars - they would all hum and vibrate at any speed above 60 MPH...

 

Interesting, but still off topic:  My last E250 rack came with a small spoiler on the front bar...problem eliminated.