[Pecosbill]

Originally Posted by poncho-mike

Sometimes these things don't work out the way you would think.

I bought a 1970 WS engine and the Muncie 4-spd out of a 1970 Lucy Blue Trans Am in the mid-1980s. The buyer went with a 454 and a M-22 after he spun a rod bearing in the original motor. About ten years later and after several new owners, a guy contacts me to see if I still have the motor. I told the guy I didn't want to sell it, but I would trade it for another 1970 WS in the same condition and $200 for the trouble. He didn't like that answer, so he decided that since the motor had the same VIN as his car, he had legal claim to it. He hired a lawyer to write a letter demanding his block stating he was willing to compensate me for what I paid. A friend who was a lawyer said he had no claim unless the car had been stolen. He contacted DMV enforcement and an officer called me, and essentially agreed that he had no claim to the motor. The guy irritated me enough to where I told him the motor wasn't for sale, and don't call me again. I had a few unknown people call me randomly inquiring about a Ram III, but I said I didn't have one. I held onto it for another twenty years before I finally sold it to someone in Texas. If the guy hadn't been such a jerk, he could have gotten both the original motor and tranny (which he wasn't even aware he was missing).

Wowser! Momma used to say, “you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.” That fellow could’ve used a lesson in civility and he got it!