As we packed up the M5 and prepared to strike out into the dark Tennessee night, my brother said something that has stuck with me. In saying our goodbyes to Curtis, Coop said "Thanks for making my little brother's dreams come true. And thanks for restoring my faith in humanity. I have to admit, I was a little wary when he first said he wanted to fly across the country and buy a car, but you have shown us how awesome people can be."
I've been meaning to write a post about Curtis, the seller of what is now my car, for quite a while. But things pop up; first it was the journey itself, followed by the recent whirlwind of moving for the first time in 2 years, all while trying to get the M5 up to smogging standards. But more than enough time has passed, and I want to say "Thank You, Curtis."
The initial suggestion on MyE28.com to investigate the clean, reasonably-priced M5 in Tennessee seemed like any of my normal internet-based car searches: daydreams and wishes, wishes and daydreams. I was fresh off having an M5 so close I could taste it. It was local, it had 30k on a rebuilt engine, and I drove it. Hoowee, that sound, how could I say no to that? But it had plenty of blemishes, enough to make me pull myself from the tractor beam and into reality. If I was going to spend the money on my dream car, I knew damn well I had to do it right. But still, how the hell was I going to get a car that was over 2,000 miles away?
I toyed with the idea a little, mostly creating hypothetical possibilities with large amounts of skepticism. How does one ship a car? How do you know it is as it looks on the internet? How do you know that, despite the vouching of people who seem to have credible followings and trust on a most specific internet community, the guy isn't going to screw you over? How do you send money across the country safely? At the bottom of it all, how do you trust someone on the internet?
Well, Curtis was the man to put those worries to rest. I emailed him regarding his car. It was still for sale. He wanted to talk on the phone about it, so we connected. Over the course of several conversations about the cars, and several hours swimming in car-nerd talk, I got the distinct feeling that this guy loved this car. He loved it so much that he didn't really want to sell it, and he held such an interest in getting it to a good owner that he didn't care that he was getting far less than he had put into it. He could list the work put into it with such detail, often repeated casually in different discussions, that it became clear the car was real and his intentions were good. He offered to help take care of a few remaining issues he wanted fixed and split the cost with me, got a stereo installed for the trip back, and just generally held up more than his end of the bargain.
After documenting my journey, someone on MyE28 messaged me and asked about how to be sure of buying a car long-distance. It was hard to respond, because basically I wouldn't recommend doing what I did. Serendipitously, I found a seller who was a genuinely good person and held the rare quality of caring that I came out of the deal happy as well. I will forever be grateful to Curtis for his kindness and generosity. I don't think there are too many people out there like that, but then again, Curtis has affirmed that there are some people out there like that, and that's a good start.
