The GTO is not that rare … 10,000 of each year ?
People like this are common scoundrels plain and simple who need to be shown up severely by their friends and co-workers at the local soviet.
You’ve been dealt an interesting hand here; report back on your method:
You could write it all out and nail it to the works’ front door, like a modern-day Luther exposing the abuses of the Church;
You could start a whispering campaign until your fellow workers are in a lather of excitement, then leap up on a desk denouncing him by name.
You could go with the most severe punishment known to man by cutting him in public, and you personally never speaking to him again. This will hurt him the most.
This is why I love the dope.
Tell him that you’re in touch with an old friend who produces a car show and they are coming to your town and want to do a short piece on his Monaro CV8 Z among other unique vehicles in the area. They will pay him $1500 for a 10 minute drive around his neighborhood and a short interview. Note the ways he weasels out of it. Then plan your next move. I wouldn’t reveal your hand for a long time with so many entertaining possibilities.
Is it possible he was tricked by whoever sold the car to him, and actually believes it’s a real CV8-Z?
Whether or not the above is what happened, I’m sure he will spin it that way.
Unless he was trying to sell it as the genuine item, I’m not seeing a need to confront him with it at all. You described him as a co-worker. How do you feel about also having him as an enemy?
That was my point earlier. If so, sucks to be him.
Which, ref Scumpup just above, is all the “revenge” our OP needs. The quiet satisfaction of learning that an irritating rube got fleeced.
How about getting a hobbyist’s magazine issue that highlighted the vehicle in question and just casually and obviously read it in the break room with the boaster present? Then mention how his vehicle doesn’t check any of the boxes. No doubt he’ll start spewing about how ill-informed the author is, but before he spews, you’ll have a “headlight deer” moment to remember.
Sure…publicly humiliate somebody you have to be around on a daily basis. What could go wrong?
Worst case scenario, you’ll get your ass beat in the parking lot. Given your “pacifism,” he won’t even have to be a very tough guy to do it.
I think I’ll tell him that I know a guy that might be interested, and would it be o.k. if I ran the VIN.
His reaction should tell me whether he is the victim or the perpetrator of the con.
edited to add: If it looks like he got fleeced, then I’ll let him know privately and let him decide what to do with the info.
And then there will be a stunned silence before everyone bursts into wild, spontaneous applause and carries him shoulder high for his contribution to Fighting Ignorance and exposing this fraud being perpetuated on the automotive public. No, wait, the real world one, where there’s an embarrassed silence and people stare awkwardly down at their lunches before somebody says heatedly, “Mate, what’s your fucking problem? Everybody knows Bob loves his car”.
Why in the world is this even remotely your business? So the guy (at most–the OP doesnt’ make it clear) brags about his car a little–if it were constant bragging, I’d expect that it would have been mentioned in the thread somewhere. Granted, it’s a little sad that a chunk of his self-work is taken by this. But it’s even sadder to try to take that away from him for…reasons.
So, what horrible crime has the guy committed by either being fleeced or fibbing about a car that he obviously loves?
Better yet, put the article about the car in an envelope along with a note made out of cut-up letters
i kNow ur A fraud!!!
And wait for him to crack under the constant worry he’ll be exposed!
I never proposed any grand public exposure, and the silly “cut and paste letters” scenario isn’t even worth commenting on. If I find out he was conned I think he would want to find out before it WAS exposed in a more public and/or more embarrassing manner, and if he was the one doing the conning, then letting him know that I know the truth,might make him think twice before he tries to sell it to someone as something it definitely is not.
In my opinion this became my business when he first made the claim to me without any prompting from me.
Who is he conning. There’s nothing indicating he wants to sell it in the OP, so you’re either going to make him feel like crap for being conned or look like a crazy-assed stalker who actually took the time to research the VIN number to see if he was bragging. Either way, you’ll end up looking like the asshole.
I’ll be interested to see which method you choose tomorrow.
yeah, honestly I’m going to guess this guy isn’t that old, probably under 25. likely hasn’t outgrown his “try to impress people by bullshitting” phase.
It is very common to rebadge GTOs as Holdens among a certain set of people. Honda guys do it to Acuras, BMW owners rebadge their cars with European-only badges, etc.
The simple fact is that if it isn’t right-hand-drive it’s not a Holden, it’s the Pontiac captive import version. Anything else is illegal. If you wanted to make him back off his claim, at the cost of whatever friendship you have with him, you could confirm it with Customs and show him the correspondence. If it IS an illegal gray-market import, Customs will be along shortly to impound and crush it. They take the 25-year rule VERY seriously, as Land Rover and Nissan Skyline importers have found out to their dismay over the last couple of years.
But it’s a GTO. No doubt about it. Anything after that is up to you.
Why do people want a Holder? Color me confused. AFAIK, Holden isn’t held up as the premier manufacturing nor design house at GM. And for bonus points, I used to deal with the President of Holden, Chris Gubbey, when he was in a different role at GM China
It would be simple enough to tactfully let him know that he has either been sold a dud or that you are on to his lies.
“Hey, ah that car of yours is a left hand drive isn’t it? I think the previous owner might not have been completely honest with you.”
Leave it at that. No big expose. It doesn’t look like you’re being a stalker. You’re just giving him a bit of friendly advice.