Hoodwinked at auction

[thamilton5]

EDITED FOR TRANSPARENCY - COPAKE HAS COMPLETELY TAKEN CARE OF THE ISSUE AND THEY HAVE ISSUED A FULL REFUND.

Hi guys, I just want to share my story of being misled when I recently bought a bike from auction. The bike is a 1939 Mercury Pacemaker s/n MD29285 that looked beautiful to me and worthy of bidding on, and I ultimately won for a price of 2K. The gentleman I am working with on shipping the bike informed that the tank and tube piece are fiberglass. Needless to say this is a big disappointment as I stretched myself a bit more than I would have liked to for the chance of owning this bike.

This is just a heads up to other buyers to be very careful when buying online without seeing or having the ability to verify the true condition of the bike.

 

[thamilton5]

Pics of the fiberglass parts.

 

[redline1968]

That sucks..

 

[cyclingday]

As one of my homies growing up used to say.
“ You got burned!”

 

[sworley]

That's a major bummer, I'm sorry to hear that. Hopefully it's still worthwhile to you and a nice bike ultimately.

This reminds me, to some extent, of a bike auction I participated in with my uncle a few years ago. I was busy that day with an obligation but my uncle (who knows nothing specific about old bikes) was bidding for me and sent me crummy cell phone photos that I was trying to best decipher. Well, I ended up buying about $2300 worth of junk. A lot of wrong parts, scrapped together stuff, repop, you name it. Ugh. I will not do that again.

 

[Freqman1]

Copake auction? I believe this should have been disclosed. I can see some repo pedals or other high wear parts e.g. grips and tires but when the money pieces are repo and especially fiberglass I think it should be noted. Had it been listed properly the bike would have done good to get half that bid. V/r Shawn

 

[cyclingday]

 

[HEMI426]

The saying (YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR) Dosen't always apply, here he paid for a steel tank and a pot metal head shroud and got fiberglass. Was this an auction or an online auction from an individual, if it was an auction house they might not have known the details (faults), but an online auction, who ever listed it probably knew and knew not to mention it to get a higher bid. My 2 cents. I think that bike is beautiful and still worth the money.

 

[Frank and Pam Skid Kings]

Beautiful bike. Of course I would have been just as bummed. But the saying you didn't pay too much, just too soon may apply. A ways down the road you could probably get your money back the way the hobby is growing. Or upon finding a real tank and shroud, sell the nice re-pops, re-coup a bit of the loss and still have a great bike.

 

[Mr. Monkeyarms]

If it helps any, I need a tank & shroud for one of these bikes. They don't come up for sale often and VERY expensive when they do. Your bike is complete & looks good. Mine is a pile of parts waiting for the day I can get my hands on a tank & shroud of any kind.........

If memory serves, the last original tank that was posted for sale on the Cabe was 2016 or something.