Jack Canfield didn’t really have a “Plan B” when he went to Colorado to adopt a cool Oldsmobile convertible a few years back. But when things didn’t work out and it looked like he was about to get gypped, Canfield unexpectedly stumbled into a pretty nice backup plan.
“I was looking for a ’57 Olds Ninety-Eight convertible. I was all excited and talked to the fella that owned it, and after I talked to him four or five times we worked out a price and I gave him some money down,” recalled Canfield, a resident of New Brighton, Minn. “I was supposed to come down and pick the car up, and he had told me there was no rust whatsoever on the car, and I was paying a fair enough price and I didn’t want any rust.
“So we get down there and he happened to have a hoist in his garage and we put the car on the hoist and I could tell right where all the rust spots were. I said, ‘I can’t take this car. It’s not represented right. I’d like to have my money back.’”
Unfortunately, the owner of the Olds wasn’t in the mood for refunds.
“He said, ‘No, I can’t give you your money back, but I have another car — a 1960 Bonneville convertible — that’s about 90 percent done with a restoration, and I might want to sell that,’” Canfield continued. “So we went and looked at the car and I was happy with it.
“I was a little concerned. I didn’t think he should have kept my money, but it was his prerogative, I guess. But after I saw the [Bonneville] I said, ‘I’m interested, let’s work out a price.’ The next morning before we left to come home from Grand Junction, Colo., he called and said, ‘OK you can have the car.’”
Read more.
