Hi guys and gals,
Well I was all excited to join the ranks of the SyTy group. To become one of the few was my dream. I had been hunting for a Typhoon for months. I finally came across a black 92 in Ohio. Mr W, (I will leave the name out but if asked can be provided) was more than pleasant and helpful with my questions about the truck. He claimed that any problems whatsoever he had with the truck he brought to his dealer and had it taken care of. When asked about the interior, he said it was immaculate with the usual wear on the leather that you would expect. After many more telephone calls and emails exchanged, I made plans to make the 1800 mile trip from Montana down to Ohio to pick up the vehicle. He said he would have no problem getting in the truck and taking that long of a road trip himself. He also said he would take it to the dealer one last time to have it checked out for piece of mind.
So this weekend, the 16th of February, a friend and myself take a flight to pick up the truck. We are met at the Columbus airport to begin our journey home. We get in the truck and I notice a few things right off the bat. The backside of the passenger seat is missing some panels or some other parts, you could see gears and inner workings of the reclining mechanism. Also the passenger door panels where cracked pretty bad. I thought to myself, well that’s pretty minor, I can look over that and have it fixed.
After taking a few off ramps out of the airport, Mr. W pulls over to let me drive. I sit down and try to adjust the seat a bit. As far as it would adjust, I felt like I should be one of the G’s in Boys in the Hood. Being a somewhat average height of 5’11’’ I felt I should at least be able to see over the wheel completely. Strike two. Driving down the freeway, the truck did not handle very well at all. The power was not there as it should have been and the steering was out of whack and I had a hard time keeping it pointed straight.
So, I pull into a Denny’s restaurant. About 12:30 AM, I go against all guidelines of making a deal at night. But it had been a long day and I was anxious. Under the dim parking lot light, my friend inspects the vehicle as I am shown the extra set of 18” rims that are included in the deal. Peeling and dented, I am not so happy with them. As I walk around to the passenger side, I notice the front cladding above the tire is about 2” off the body! What’s with this I ask? “I’m not sure, minor problem” he says, or something to like. I then notice no Typhoon stickers or GMCtruck sticker anywhere. That’s odd, has this been repainted? I ask. “Not since I’ve owned it”. He replies, playing it dumb and ignorant. Just then we spot overspray all over the passenger side fenders, Great!
My friend then proceeds to look under the drivers side front end. “Frame is bent” he yells. “Putty all over this side of the truck” and to top it off the drivers side door has been replaced, no wonder the key doesn’t work in the lock. Well now is when I am completely upset. I fly 1800 miles to buy a “Clean, Straight, Good running” truck and get this.
“I’ll pull it into a spot and we can talk it over” The guy says. He proceeds to start the truck and … roughly 10 attempts to start and then a backfire and it starts, followed by a loud ominous clank from the bottom end. Now I am pissed.
We go inside and I let him know I was told this was supposed to be a clean vehicle and well taken care of and that we have NO deal. I was so mad I would have cussed him out and threatened reimbursement for the flight down. However, I was in a place I don’t know and needed a ride to a hotel. Looking back, I would have been relieved a bit if I had. But, that’s hindsight for you. I am also kicking myself for not taking pictures of the problems and a video of the startup, I had the camera with me.
The pictures I received prior to flying down showed none of the problems I mentioned. This guy had no problem sending my friend and I 1800 miles west with this piece of junk. I was at his mercy, I was told this and that about how well it was taken care of. What can you do? You would expect people to have more integrity than this. I am posting this here today so nobody else gets suckered by this guy. He has no conscience. He will do anything to make a buck and sadly to say, he probably wouldn’t have missed a minute of sleep if I had driven off with it that night. Who knows what that thing would have looked like in the day time, let alone how long it would have lasted before falling apart leaving us stranded in the middle of the US of A.
Thanks for taking the time to read my experience. Unfortunately that was just the beginning of my long weekend. But that story is for another time and place.
Still on the hunt for a Typhoon
Sincerely, Ryan M.
Well I was all excited to join the ranks of the SyTy group. To become one of the few was my dream. I had been hunting for a Typhoon for months. I finally came across a black 92 in Ohio. Mr W, (I will leave the name out but if asked can be provided) was more than pleasant and helpful with my questions about the truck. He claimed that any problems whatsoever he had with the truck he brought to his dealer and had it taken care of. When asked about the interior, he said it was immaculate with the usual wear on the leather that you would expect. After many more telephone calls and emails exchanged, I made plans to make the 1800 mile trip from Montana down to Ohio to pick up the vehicle. He said he would have no problem getting in the truck and taking that long of a road trip himself. He also said he would take it to the dealer one last time to have it checked out for piece of mind.
So this weekend, the 16th of February, a friend and myself take a flight to pick up the truck. We are met at the Columbus airport to begin our journey home. We get in the truck and I notice a few things right off the bat. The backside of the passenger seat is missing some panels or some other parts, you could see gears and inner workings of the reclining mechanism. Also the passenger door panels where cracked pretty bad. I thought to myself, well that’s pretty minor, I can look over that and have it fixed.
After taking a few off ramps out of the airport, Mr. W pulls over to let me drive. I sit down and try to adjust the seat a bit. As far as it would adjust, I felt like I should be one of the G’s in Boys in the Hood. Being a somewhat average height of 5’11’’ I felt I should at least be able to see over the wheel completely. Strike two. Driving down the freeway, the truck did not handle very well at all. The power was not there as it should have been and the steering was out of whack and I had a hard time keeping it pointed straight.
So, I pull into a Denny’s restaurant. About 12:30 AM, I go against all guidelines of making a deal at night. But it had been a long day and I was anxious. Under the dim parking lot light, my friend inspects the vehicle as I am shown the extra set of 18” rims that are included in the deal. Peeling and dented, I am not so happy with them. As I walk around to the passenger side, I notice the front cladding above the tire is about 2” off the body! What’s with this I ask? “I’m not sure, minor problem” he says, or something to like. I then notice no Typhoon stickers or GMCtruck sticker anywhere. That’s odd, has this been repainted? I ask. “Not since I’ve owned it”. He replies, playing it dumb and ignorant. Just then we spot overspray all over the passenger side fenders, Great!
My friend then proceeds to look under the drivers side front end. “Frame is bent” he yells. “Putty all over this side of the truck” and to top it off the drivers side door has been replaced, no wonder the key doesn’t work in the lock. Well now is when I am completely upset. I fly 1800 miles to buy a “Clean, Straight, Good running” truck and get this.
“I’ll pull it into a spot and we can talk it over” The guy says. He proceeds to start the truck and … roughly 10 attempts to start and then a backfire and it starts, followed by a loud ominous clank from the bottom end. Now I am pissed.
We go inside and I let him know I was told this was supposed to be a clean vehicle and well taken care of and that we have NO deal. I was so mad I would have cussed him out and threatened reimbursement for the flight down. However, I was in a place I don’t know and needed a ride to a hotel. Looking back, I would have been relieved a bit if I had. But, that’s hindsight for you. I am also kicking myself for not taking pictures of the problems and a video of the startup, I had the camera with me.
The pictures I received prior to flying down showed none of the problems I mentioned. This guy had no problem sending my friend and I 1800 miles west with this piece of junk. I was at his mercy, I was told this and that about how well it was taken care of. What can you do? You would expect people to have more integrity than this. I am posting this here today so nobody else gets suckered by this guy. He has no conscience. He will do anything to make a buck and sadly to say, he probably wouldn’t have missed a minute of sleep if I had driven off with it that night. Who knows what that thing would have looked like in the day time, let alone how long it would have lasted before falling apart leaving us stranded in the middle of the US of A.
Thanks for taking the time to read my experience. Unfortunately that was just the beginning of my long weekend. But that story is for another time and place.
Still on the hunt for a Typhoon
Sincerely, Ryan M.
