Tracking down an owner etiquette (oblong Maserati content)

[NathanChadwick]

Hello PH. I turn to thee for advice, and in the hope that the owner of said car reads this mighty organ, or at least someone who knows him does.

For the TL:DR crew: having exhausted every kind of approach, at which point does 'trying to contact a person' turn into 'that's a bit weird, shouldn't he be on medication'?

The longer version is that a few months ago I was stood in the wonderful Panini Museum of rare and wonderful Maseratis. I came across a Ghibli II Open Cup (in more ways than one), and having flirted with the idea of owning a Ghibli Cup for ages (including the light metallic blue one for sale in the Cotswolds for ages), decided that being nearly 40, happily childfree and shorn of all expensive vices, that this was the year to do it. Life is too short to drive boring cars, as a failed former publishing venture of mine imparted. Well, time to live it.

It wasn't going to be just any Ghibli Cup. It had to be the only French Blue Ghibli Cup in RHD. So I set about tracking it down: none of the specialists from Emblem to McGrath (and many specialists in-between) had seen it in years, and had no contacts. It wasn't in the club, either.

So I invested in a VCheck – the car still existed, it hadn't been written off, nor had it been sold overseas. Some of the details are wrong with the DVLA – they think it's a five-speed 2.8, when it's a 2.0-litre six-speed. It was in regular use until three years ago, and has been SORN ever since.

Now clearly, buying a non-running 90s Maserati is not something you do without much thought but the way I see it is that I could over-leverage a car loan on a fully working one and for it to throw up a bill to drain the fluid from my brow with the accelerative force of said Ghibli Cup's 2.0-litre, 330bhp twin-turbocharged V6. Man(child) maths instead sees the sense in buying one I know needs fixing, and attack it in the manner of a house – as a steady, ongoing restoration and renovation.

I'd like to point out that yes an "M2 would run rings around it" and "it wouldn't see which way an AMG45/Golf R went" but neither am I Saturn, nor all that bothered about being the fastest to places, otherwise I'd get a microlight and see how long it would take me before I wrapped my innards around a Sky dish.

I digress. It turns out that the owner of said car is on Instagram, and active – but he has thus far ignored messages, replies to his posts etc. I even tried to call via Instagram once. There's a faint lead via Mark at Prestige and Performance Cars, but it was a customer who met him; apparently no success just yet.

I've been told writing to the DVLA for his address is pointless, so great minds of PH, what do you suggest? (No, not buying a Porsche 996)
Do I hit up some of his tagged in friends on Instagram as a way of getting hold of him, or is this creepy and weird? Is this more likely to make him refuse to sell or even discuss the car?

Are there any other routes people might suggest? I have tried all of the Maserati specialists in the south, talked to other Cup owners, and have thus far drawn a blank. There aren't many of these cars – 24 left out of 26 RHD made, and this is the only one in Blu Francia. So, great minds of PH, what would you do next?

Edited by NathanChadwick on Wednesday 13th July 19:59

Edited by NathanChadwick on Wednesday 13th July 20:03

[pits]

NathanChadwick said:

Hello PH. I turn to thee for advice, and in the hope that the owner of said car reads this mighty organ, or at least someone who knows him does.

For the TL:DR crew: having exhausted every kind of approach, at which point does 'trying to contact a person' turn into 'that's a bit weird, shouldn't he be on medication'?

The longer version is that a few months ago I was stood in the wonderful Panini Museum of rare and wonderful Maseratis. I came across a Ghibli II Open Cup (in more ways than one), and having flirted with the idea of owning a Ghibli Cup for ages (including the light metallic blue one for sale in the Cotswolds for ages), decided that being nearly 40, happily childfree and shorn of all expensive vices, that this was the year to do it. Life is too short to drive boring cars, as a failed former publishing venture of mine imparted. Well, time to live it.

It wasn't going to be just any Ghibli Cup. It had to be the only French Blue Ghibli Cup in RHD. So I set about tracking it down: none of the specialists from Emblem to McGrath (and many specialists in-between) had seen it in years, and had no contacts. It wasn't in the club, either.

So I invested in a VCheck – the car still existed, it hadn't been written off, nor had it been sold overseas. Some of the details are wrong with the DVLA – they think it's a five-speed 2.8, when it's a 2.0-litre six-speed. It was in regular use until three years ago, and has been SORN ever since.

Now clearly, buying a non-running 90s Maserati is not something you do without much thought but the way I see it is that I could over-leverage a car loan on a fully working one and for it to throw up a bill to drain the fluid from my brow with the accelerative force of said Ghibli Cup's 2.0-litre, 330bhp twin-turbocharged V6. Man(child) maths instead sees the sense in buying one I know needs fixing, and attack it in the manner of a house – as a steady, ongoing restoration and renovation.

I'd like to point out that yes an "M2 would run rings around it" and "it wouldn't see which way an AMG45/Golf R went" but neither am I Saturn, nor all that bothered about being the fastest to places, otherwise I'd get a microlight and see how long it would take me before I wrapped my innards around a Sky dish.

I digress. It turns out that the owner of said car is on Instagram, and active – but he has thus far ignored messages, replies to his posts etc. I even tried to call via Instagram once. There's a faint lead via Mark at Prestige and Performance Cars, but it was a customer who met him; apparently no success just yet.

I've been told writing to the DVLA for his address is pointless, so great minds of PH, what do you suggest? (No, not buying a Porsche 996)
Do I hit up some of his tagged in friends on Instagram as a way of getting hold of him, or is this creepy and weird? Is this more likely to make him refuse to sell or even discuss the car?

Are there any other routes people might suggest? I have tried all of the Maserati specialists in the south, talked to other Cup owners, and have thus far drawn a blank. There aren't many of these cars – 24 left out of 26 RHD made, and this is the only one in Blu Francia. So, great minds of PH, what would you do next?

Edited by NathanChadwick on Wednesday 13th July 19:59

Edited by NathanChadwick on Wednesday 13th July 20:03

I guess, just buy an MX-5? I would maybe keep trying the Instagram thing, or trying to search but maybe it isn't to be?

[Austin_Metro]

Leave him alone.

Buy another and spray it.

[anonymous-user]

The French Blue one at Stanford Hall in 2011..



Then what seems to be a French Blue one in road/track guise on the homepage of in2motorsports.com
Might be worth a message to them? Seems to have a plate on the front, but now sporting a rear cage.




Edit- missed the bit where you said he was on instagram! Ignore me!

Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 13th July 21:02

[anonymous-user]

Get a really pretty girl to message him on Insta

Chat to him in a sexy way

Get him exited to meet you

You turn up, with all the evidence of said chats - threaten to take it to his missus

Agree a deal to sell the car to you on the cheap.

This is why am not on Insta.

[Sway]

Move on.

Your intentions are clear, yet the owner is ignoring you.

There's a reason for that.

[ecsrobin]

Sway said:

Move on.

Your intentions are clear, yet the owner is ignoring you.

There's a reason for that.

This

[mattyprice4004]

Sway said:

Move on.

Your intentions are clear, yet the owner is ignoring you.

There's a reason for that.

I hate to say it, but I think this is the answer

[Monster Mash]

As others have said, move on and find another car. The fact the owner is ignoring several attempts to communicate tells me he’s aware of your interest and doesn’t want to sell. If you go too far and annoy him too much you’ll burn any possible bridges.

[Unreal]

NathanChadwick said:

I digress. It turns out that the owner of said car is on Instagram, and active – but he has thus far ignored messages, replies to his posts etc. I even tried to call via Instagram once. There's a faint lead via Mark at Prestige and Performance Cars, but it was a customer who met him; apparently no success just yet.

I've been told writing to the DVLA for his address is pointless, so great minds of PH, what do you suggest? (No, not buying a Porsche 996)
Do I hit up some of his tagged in friends on Instagram as a way of getting hold of him, or is this creepy and weird? Is this more likely to make him refuse to sell or even discuss the car?

So, great minds of PH, what would you do next?

Edited by NathanChadwick on Wednesday 13th July 19:59

Edited by NathanChadwick on Wednesday 13th July 20:03

Back off. You sound bloody weird. He or she isn't interested in talking to you so respect that.

[AlexRS2782]

Monster Mash said:

As others have said, move on and find another car. The fact the owner is ignoring several attempts to communicate tells me he’s aware of your interest and doesn’t want to sell. If you go too far and annoy him too much you’ll burn any possible bridges.

This, and agree with other posts above saying similar. Let it go OP, if you've messaged the current owner that much / often and they've not replied that's surely your answer? Plus the more you try and contact them, the more you're painting yourself as a bit of a weirdo to the person receiving your messages

As someone who has experienced a weirdo back in the early 2010's trying to stalk / track my details down after i knocked back their repeated lame online attempts, including PM's, messages on forums, etc, to try and get me to sell my Focus RS for various reasons including that "it's a waste that you ain't using it", i feel for the owner you're currently stalking, sorry messaging, repeatedly.

Thankfully the DVLA massively closed down the reasons to get info via the V888 as I imagine the majority of people (including the current owner of the car in the OP) wouldn't want their address / details being passed on to some unknown random on the internet, just so they can badger them to try and get them to sell their car (or personal reg plate as is usually the case on here)

[rodericb]

Buy a GR Yaris instead? Persistence can sometimes pay off with these things but a lot of people can be very attached to cars for various reasons - look at the abandoned cars thread to see how attached some people are! Maybe you need to qualify yourself a la Enzo Ferrari? As in have owned/restored a couple of that era Masers already so that the person is confident that the car will actually be going to a better place....

[donkmeister]

AlexRS2782 said:

Monster Mash said:

As others have said, move on and find another car. The fact the owner is ignoring several attempts to communicate tells me he’s aware of your interest and doesn’t want to sell. If you go too far and annoy him too much you’ll burn any possible bridges.

This, and agree with other posts above saying similar. Let it go OP, if you've messaged the current owner that much / often and they've not replied that's surely your answer? Plus the more you try and contact them, the more you're painting yourself as a bit of a weirdo to the person receiving your messages

I'd echo this, but add that now you've made your interest clear, if the current owner ever finds themselves in a mind to sell it then they know someone who will probably be prepared to pay a little more for it so if he doesn't think you're a nutter then stopping now will only bolster your chances. Maybe make a note in your calendar to ask again in a year or so; you might have found a new object of infatuation by then, or alternatively you might still be keen on it. Someone casually asking every year or two in a "if you ever want to sell it I'd be interested" manner is a lot more likely to result in a positive outcome, vs a bit of badgering.

I've received a couple of expressions of interest over the years, there's no harm in that.

[Deranged Rover]

Whilst I would agree with the posts stating that it's time to leave things alone and move on, the lack of response is annoying and, frankly, rude.

If the owner is active on Instagram, exactly how long would it take him or her to write a reply to Nathan's messages politely saying something along the lines of "Thank you for your interest but the car is not for sale"?

In fact, sod it; let's find out:

Thank you for your interest but I'm afraid the car is not for sale.

There you go - 12 seconds.

[mattman]

But why should they have to reply to someone they don’t know just because they happen to have an account on social media? 12 seconds or not, it sounds blooming weird and stalky - as others have said, let it go

[itcaptainslow]

donkmeister said:

AlexRS2782 said:

Monster Mash said:

As others have said, move on and find another car. The fact the owner is ignoring several attempts to communicate tells me he’s aware of your interest and doesn’t want to sell. If you go too far and annoy him too much you’ll burn any possible bridges.

This, and agree with other posts above saying similar. Let it go OP, if you've messaged the current owner that much / often and they've not replied that's surely your answer? Plus the more you try and contact them, the more you're painting yourself as a bit of a weirdo to the person receiving your messages

I'd echo this, but add that now you've made your interest clear, if the current owner ever finds themselves in a mind to sell it then they know someone who will probably be prepared to pay a little more for it so if he doesn't think you're a nutter then stopping now will only bolster your chances. Maybe make a note in your calendar to ask again in a year or so; you might have found a new object of infatuation by then, or alternatively you might still be keen on it. Someone casually asking every year or two in a "if you ever want to sell it I'd be interested" manner is a lot more likely to result in a positive outcome, vs a bit of badgering.

I've received a couple of expressions of interest over the years, there's no harm in that.

Very much this. There’s a particular car that I covet, which is a bit of a unicorn, that I made a polite and respectful approach to the owner via social media. We then had a further (lovely) chat at a car show when I spotted him and introduced myself, but I’d hate for the guy to feel harassed. He knows I’m interested in the car, and has my details whenever the time is right to sell.

Unfortunately the radio silence in Nathan’s case is (a little rude, but hey ho) a clear indication of either/or the owner doesn’t want to sell or be bothered. They’ve got your contact details now, so maybe in time they’ll pop up out of the blue if they do decide to part with the car.

Constantly asking that girl you fancy out on a date multiple times isn’t going to get you her, just a restraining order.

[Dinoboy]

No harm in leaving an expression of interest, I've had this twice and actually emailed one of the guys a couple of years later when I decided to sell a 635 csi.
He'd bought one by then but took 2 minutes of my life.

But leave it at that

[NathanChadwick]

Yeah I think it’s time to give up. It’s the complete lack of response, positive or negative that made me persist; if it was a no then fair enough. But no response at all; perhaps he just doesn’t check Insta that way; hence the idea behind reaching out. But I guess that’s it then.

Back to the drawing board.

[donkmeister]

itcaptainslow said:

Constantly asking that girl you fancy out on a date multiple times isn’t going to get you her, just a restraining order.

Good analogy

[droopsnoot]

Are Instagram messages like Facebook ones? I only see FB messages from people who aren't "friends" if I specifically go and look for them, I don't get notifications. Has he even seen the messages?

But yes, there's only so much you can do before it starts to get weird.