russo and steel chop job camaro copo

[Mr. Chevy]

QUOTE: recently bought a 1969 silver copo 427 camaro @ russo and steele in fort lauderdale , i took it home a day or two later i got a phone call from a friend and he told me to check the car out real good because he heard or a rumor that the camaro was a re-body , i remove the cowl and found that the car was a re-body , i contacted russo and steele and they treated terrible . QUOTE

That Sucks!!

Rich

[ZL1#17]

Are you kidding me or what?, Correct me if I'm wrong, If I call an "expert" to certify a car, I would expect them to check to see if it's a rebody?

[Les Quam]

Agreed, if he is a dealer he knows how to do his research. I was under the impression he was a private buyer just a new guy with a desire to own a car of his dreams who got a bad break at an auction.

To the new guy or an average guy Canadian paperwork, CC paperwork and formerly from the RJ collection is a green light to buy with confidence but to an experienced muscle car buyer it means what it means.

[quick-bowtie]

If you have proof (GM of Canada) like this car had that your car was a real COPO you could get a cert. with out it being inspected.. aleast thats what Ive always been told. Maybe other can Chime in?? Ive always taken a COPO cert to mean that it has the key items/percings and that it falls in to the batch runs? but its not bullet proof paper work.

[Les Quam]

I don't think there is such a thing as bullet proof paperwork? PHS docs are being duplicated now to the extent even Jim Mattison can't tell from looking at the docs and he needs to check his database against the docs. Jim advises getting new docs with each prospective purchase.With todays level of sophisticated fraud, paperwork is just the start in authenticating a car. And from my perspective Chevy's are always the most difficult to authenticate.

[AutoInsane]

Why is it that every time there is an auction there are stories of folks not being very happy with the outcome?

I think the auction company needs to take some responsibility for the product they are offering. If a situation like this arises I would think they would want to bend over backwards to investigate the claims and do everything to make amends.

Buyers must be confident when they go to an auction that what they are being offered is what they think it is.

[Kurt S]

To clarify, this is 9N635209.

[Ed Cunneen]

Just to clarify, the COPO Connection had issued verifications to those owners based on VIN. Similar to the way Canadian documentation is obtained. When the CC website was up, there was a disclaimer indicating that it was beyond the organization's control to monitor the way a vehicle was restored. Neither the Canadian documentation or the COPO verification ever required an inspection before getting paperwork.
Ed

[real-muscle-1]

))))))THE POINT OF THE STORY(((((( (( THERE IS A SILVER 1969 COPO CAMARO THAT IS A RE-BODY -RS -SILVER OUT SIDE AND BLUE INTERIOR , AUTOMATIC I THINK NOBODY ELSE SHOULD GO THREW THE PROBLEM ---- (2) THE OTHER POINT IS RUSSO AND STEELE AUCTION ARE NASTY TO THEIR CUSTOMERS,THEY WOULD NOT SEND AN INSPECTOR TO CHECK THE CAR,THEY REFUSED TO FIND THE TRUTH,THEY WANTED TO CALL THE POLICE AND CHARGE ME WITH A STOLEN CAR,I DID WHAT ANYBODY WOULD HAVE DONE AFTER I FOUND OUT IT WAS A CHOP JOB CAR , I PLACED A STOP PAYMENT AND GAVE THE CAR BACK. IF ANY OF YOU GUYS DONT AGREE WITH THIS YOU ARE AS TWISTED AS THEY ARE.

[Belair62]

I don't think anyone disagrees that you wouldn't want the car. Ed,PHS,Canada docs are all VIN relative. Would have been less headaches for you if you had asked around first.