Where can I find more info on "VolvoJim?" Does he have a website? I can't find it... Just would like to check out his "warez."

I thought I'd better add my two cents to this concern as last March I bought a '68 142 from Jim. Jim operates out of Kansas City, Missouri. Some folks may know that K.C. is on the border with Kansas. The car I bought was registered in Kansas, and Kansas has no safety inspection (at least that's what was explained to me).

Jim advertised for many years in Rolling; since electronic for sale ads have become commonplace, Jim has moved his ads to this site -- he continues to post on a regular basis. He explained to me that he purchases old Volvos from around the country, drives them to K.C., fixes them up to some extent, and then sells them off.

I'd been very much interested in getting an Amazon or 140 to complement my two 245s; after several phone and email conversations with Jim, I finally decided to move on this 142 he had for sale. I sent a bank check for half of the purchase price and took a Greyhound bus from Penna. out to K.C. to pay the balance and pick up the car.

The car turned out to be a tad more work and in somewhat worse shape than I'd been led to believe. I had some reservations about continuing with the deal, but since I had come so far, I decided to carry on. Male pride, and all that, I suppose.

There were a number of safety inspection-related issues wrong with the car which I'd have had to deal with in Penna. (which has very tight regs.) which Jim didn't need to deal with in Kansas. A crack in the windshield, non-functioning turn signals, intermittent fuel gauge, things like that. There were some patches on the floorpan which attested to it's having been treated for floor rot in the past -- the car was advertised as rust-free. The interior was perfect, and the B-18 was strong.

On my drive back to Penna., as far as I can tell, the rear diff. seized up. After driving approx. 500 miles, there was a loud crack/bang from the rear, both rear wheels locked up, and the car skidded off I-70 near Terre Haute, Indiana. That's where I left the car, in the possession of the wrecker who rescued me from the dark and cold of western Indiana. (I figured that this car was *now* going to cost me a lot more than I'd anticipated, so I decided to cut bait to minimize my losses.) I'm not sure if this drivetrain problem could have been anticipated ahead of time without a total stripdown of the rear differential -- something I've never done on a pre-purchase inspection. I don't hold Jim responsible for this.

Conclusions to be drawn from my experience? Don't we as sellers always think more highly of our cars than they 'really' are? Don't we as buyers always think this prospective purchase isn't as good as the seller thinks it is? That's just human nature. I'll never buy another car from Jim again. However, I'll never send money to *anyone* again without looking the car over ahead of time. That's not necessarily Jim's fault, that's my lesson to be learned.

Rob

/// If he has a site it has to be registered for domain name. Before he vanishies contact the web sites that track this. (Go to and search for web fraud etc.)

Report him to the IRS. Would you bet he did not report this income. I have found that this has the most effect. You might collect a reward.

I recently posted a classified for two exhaust manifolds. I got about 10 replies. I waited for more than a week. The email addresses expired on several. All others wanted cash in advance. They tried in several email exchanges to get cash in advance. So far I haven't bought a manifold. One person shipped COD and they sent an intake manifold instead of an exhaust.

In future transactions use i-escrow. There are several companies but they all charge about $3 for under $100 transactions. Use the one Ebay uses.

A cash transaction is when you put cash into his hand and he puts the part in your hand at the same time. If you send cash in advance he only "promises" to ship at a future date. There is no secure transaction there.

This fellow is in KC (maybe St. Louis) as I recall and posts ads for a large number of rare Volvo models for sale from time to time. For example something like a 123GT, '71 142E, 79 242 GT being posted at once. Not exactly those but something like that, multiple rarities, would be typical. I always wondered where he got all these hard to find models and have thought of asking how he does it. I have no knowledge that there was anything wrong with these ads other than he listed more rare Volvos, more often, than anyone on the web.

Where is he doing business (or it would seem in this case not doing business) out of?

Randy