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Car buyer: Dream to help dad ruined
By EDIE GROSS © St. Petersburg Times, published October 18, 2000 It's one of Clayton Stokes III's fondest memories: His father at the wheel of a shiny new, baby blue 1966 Dodge Charger while Stokes, then a 9-year-old boy, enjoys the ride in the passenger seat. Nearly 35 years later, several strokes and heart attacks have robbed Stokes' father of his health. But Stokes had a plan to recapture the magic of the past: He would buy a '66 Dodge Charger and drive his father anywhere the 76-year-old wanted to go. So in June, Stokes purchased a cherry red '66 Charger with white interior from the classic car division of P.J.'s Auto World in Clearwater. When the car arrived at Stokes' Annapolis, Md., home on July 5, Stokes wheeled his ailing father out to the driveway to see it. "I promised him we'd get him in the car that weekend," Stokes recalled. "That was the whole purpose of it, just for Dad and I." But there would be no rides for father and son. The car quit running two days later and has been in the shop ever since. It seems Stokes did not plan for a laundry list of big-ticket repairs. He had not counted on months of arguing with the Clearwater auto dealer about the condition of the car. And he never envisioned leaving his shiny '66 Dodge Charger in an auto shop for 110 of the 112 days he had owned it. Even if it were fixed tomorrow, Stokes' father is too sick now to ride in it. Stokes, a graphic artist for NASA's Hubble Space Telescope project, is demanding his money back and a big apology from P.J.'s Auto World. "They really hurt my feelings, my family's feelings," he said. "I want them to scream "Uncle' with tears in their eyes for what they did to me. More importantly, for what they took away from me: a few good times with my dad." Stokes has e-mailed everyone from the Pinellas County Commission on up to the state Attorney General's Office, looking for help. The county's Consumer Protection Department is investigating Stokes' complaint. Bill Grant, general manager at P.J.'s Auto, said his company is trying to resolve the problem and will probably buy the car back from Stokes. But the car seemed in great condition when he sold it to Stokes, Grant said. "I don't know if anything happened because of the way he was driving it. I just want the car in the same condition as when it drove out of here," Grant said. "He got it to bring some memories back and give his dad a lift. I understand he's at his wit's end, and it's been going on for a long time here. But it's not being ignored." Stokes' sentimental attachment to the Charger dates back to late 1965, when Clayton Stokes II, a Chrysler Corp. employee, bought the new Dodge for his daughter, who was married and living in Virginia. He invited his young son along on the ride from their Maryland home to Norfolk, Va. Earlier this year, the son began searching for a '66 Charger. He spotted the car he liked on P.J.'s Auto World Web site. "Every once in a while, one pops up on the screen that you just stare at and go, "Oooooo,"' Stokes said. "This was one of those." The company sent him a video that showed the car's polished chrome, advertised it as "in mint condition" and even let Stokes hear the engine revving. Stokes, who could not travel to Clearwater to see the car, wired $9,400 to the dealership, which trucked the car to him in Annapolis a week later. When the car would not start two days later, Stokes called P.J.'s Auto, which arranged for him to take the Charger to Walp's Service Center in Annapolis. Mechanics there found a dozen problems with the car, including a leaky fuel tank, a bad engine and an undercarriage so rusty that it could have dropped the transmission system on the highway. Mechanic Will Garland discovered that old stop signs had been riveted onto the belly of the car to close up rusted-out holes. But there were still gaps that would have allowed exhaust fumes to leak into the cab of the car. That problem combined with the fuel leak could have caused an explosion. "You want to buy a '66 Charger?" Garland quipped. "Stop sign's a good metal. The problem is stop sign's a little abnormal. You don't just slap it together with putty, stop signs and whatever you've got in your garage and charge top dollar. That's just ripping people off." Stokes and Garland both say that P.J.'s Auto agreed to pay for the car repairs, which added up to $1,575.33. An August fax from P.J.'s to Walp's Service Center seems to support that claim. But Grant said his company originally agreed to only $500 in repairs, and that Walp's Service Center is overpriced. P.J.'s delivered a new power steering pump, hose and box for Walp's to use, he said. Grant insists that the car was in good condition before Stokes began driving it. In fact, Grant said, he drove his two children to a car show in Ocala in that Charger and noticed no problems. "I put 300 miles on it that weekend, and it never skipped a beat or gave me any indication of trouble," said Grant, who said his dealership never worked on the car. Grant said P.J.'s Auto intends to reimburse Walp's Service Center and buy the Charger back from Stokes, but the parties differ on how much money is owed to whom. Grant also noted that Stokes bought a second car, a 1973 Mercedes convertible, from P.J.'s and has not had any problems with it. Stokes said he bought the car for his wife a few weeks after buying the Charger, but his wife has been afraid to drive it because of the Charger's problems and is planning to sell it. Meanwhile, Stokes said he just wants a refund and to be rid of the Charger. His father was able to sit in it once before it was taken to the auto shop, but any chance for a ride is all but out of gas. "He got to sit in it. He kind of smiled, ran his hand over the dashboard and put his hand out the window. He got to do that at least," Stokes said. "He's deteriorated a lot since then. He's not going for any more rides."
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