The Purchase

I looked for a VW Rabbit Pickup diesel on ebaymotors, and other places, over a period of several weeks. Every day some would pop up, some would disappear. I slowly got a feeling for what the going prices were and what to look for. There were three basic categories, crappy to sell for parts, decent but needs work, and good condition with a few minor problems. None were in perfect condition. I prioritized for the truck to have nothing wrong with the engine, minimal rust, a not-too-hideous interior, and an AC. There was a beautiful one in central Florida, but it was a little above budget. This one eventually became a kind of ghost car for me. The one "I should have gotten." 

But soon after that a very nice one appeared. The price was more than most others, but it looked very complete. It had a new paint job, the interior looked well matched up; many other listings had a real mix-and-match look, not this one. The seller claimed the engine had been rebuilt, with only 16k on it, and the AC was functional. Later, on the phone he said the AC works "but not very well". He said the car was bought in Arizona (therefore minimum rust), had been used by an archeologist. In any case, it looked like someone had cared for the car. One problem was, he wanted a money order, not paypal, and my bank advised me to be very careful and get more information. I was also advised by my friend Steve as well as my wife against buying from this seller, based on the seller's behavior: he seller got very frantic when I wanted to back out of the deal. He felt the bidding was over and he would be stuck with having to do another listing, etc. I arranged for a third party, a shipping company, to accept the car so that, at least there really is a car and to make sure it ran OK. In any case, I was anxious to get the car, tired of looking, and I had the feeling it would all work out. Long story short: I bought the car.

This is what the listing looked like:

and this is the listing's text:
Up for sale is  very rare very clean 1982 vw truck with 1.6   TURBO Diesel rebuilt with less than 16 k miles on it . Truck has 155 k miles on it.  5 speed transmission,  working A/C , new headliner , new seats , new tires , new paint  and photos before the paint job are available,body is and was straight .It was  just faded paint from the Arizona sun . It will get 40  to 45 mpg .  New head was installed along with head gasket water pump timing belt ,3 front seals and rear seal .   It has the stock vw oil cooler , 6 blade cooling fan, new front shocks, new rear brakes.14 inch vw alum. wheels. Great truck get in it today and drive it coast to coast. Make your own homemade bio eco diesel and run it with no conversion, also B99 soy diesel . 5 year 100 k mile warranty is available above final price.