For those of you who like me take Stationary Engine it was a pleasure to read David Edgington's article about a certain Petter Nut and his Petter Marine engine. I don't think I am wrong when I say that its first outing was at the Burford Rally and very nice too. My actual point is that the article reads that the said gentleman was misty eyed and lost for words. The latter I find difficult to believe but if you get a magnifying glass and look closely you can see a tear in the eye, the same sort of look you get when somebody see's his first born for the first time :-)) Go to it my son I to feel the same when I fall in love with something of beauty.
Could have been the joy of retaining that part of his anatomy which he was apparently willing to give up for a marine 'S'!
An interesting issue of SEM, though ebay/internet bashing seems to be becoming a regular feature - would you have parted with £400 for an engine without apparently even having seen a photo'? Seems to me that the medium involved is of little consequence.
"The latter I find difficult to believe but if you
If you look close at the other side you will notice his big toe under the engine :-) :-) :-) thats whats bringing the tear , sorry ill get my coat !
Love to hear the water cooled silencer, anyone with pics from Burford ??
Nick , quite agree dont know how you could part with any cash unless the engine and the guy who is selling it is in swinging distance, Ebay does get a bashing but all you need is a bit of common sense, somthing alot are lacking these days
This seems to be the same ebay seller which I mentioned on here a couple of months ago. At that time he was trying to sell a very rare 1919 Bamford 6hp (Bamfords didnt even go into engine production until 1920), which was 99% complete, yet was clearley missing the mag, governor assembly, tank, exhaust etc etc. One quick look at the sellers feedback would have instantly told anybody with a knowledge of ebay not to trust this guy, and therefore not to spend £400 without even seeing the engine.
Bob, I have put pics of Burford up a few weeks ago, if you go to
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will find them.
As regards EBay I have bought engines at what I class a reasonable price but I do my best to make sure that the pictures match the description and ask for more info if I am not sure. I always set myself a maximum price to not bid beyond. I have not been bitten yet.
My experience of buying on eBay has been pretty good. The only unpleasant experience I've had was the condition of the tyres & trailer when I went to Glasgow to fetch the Parsons engine. For this I blame myself for not asking the right questions. I asked plenty, but they mostly related to the engine & all were truthfully answered!
Life is a learning experience & now I'd ask detailed questions about any trailer I was expecting to hitch to my car.
It was clear from the letter in SEM that the purchaser did not buy his engine on eBay, but during a telephone conversation about another engine entirely. So there was no reason to part with his cash until he'd eyeballed it. However, he was uninclined to drive the necessary distance (400 miles) in order to collect his purchase & relied upon a courier who naturally just took away what he was given.
Obviously, he has been well and truly tucked up, but I think it unfair to tar eBay transactions with this particular brush as they were not involved.
I find the eBay knocking thing slightly annoying as it seems to me that eBay, whilst far from idiot proof has the benefit that eludes conventional auctions in that you can ask the seller questions before buying. If it transpires that the seller is lying through his/her teeth, then there are varying degrees of recourse, most limited, but still more than most conventional auctions.
The key thing with eBay is to look for well photographed and described items and to check that the descriptions match the pictures - simple really.
Most auctions give little information as to the true state of the item (i.e. it's got a knackered magneto or duff main bearings) and so your maximum price must take these risks into account.
I have bought a number (many?) engines from eBay and only once have I had the slightest problem where I bought an open crank engine with an undisclosed knocking big end which turned out to have had it's shells replaced but not properly scraped in. An hour with a scraper fixed the problem. Otherwise, I guess I've been lucky, but then my cynical nature tends to make me think of the possible risks before bidding!
Whilst things can go wrong even for the most vigilant, the chances of problems arising seem to be proportional to a large extent to the prospective bidders position on the cretin scale!
One thing that does annoy about ebay is that if you are unfortunate enough to get swindeld and you have used there recomeneded method of payment ie paypal, that if the said crimanal does a runner and disapears you only gte a proportion of the cash back and they charge an administartion fee for handaling the cliam , oh and guess who owns paypal thats right ebay , so its win win on there behalf and lose lose for you apart from that I have had no problems
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