In June I inquired about a 1967 Jeepster that was advertised on Hemmings Motor News by Gephart Classics. I spoke to Leo Gephart, owner of Gephart classics, he told me that the Jeepster was in show condition and one of the best in the world. I asked him multiple times if there were an issues with the vehicle and he claimed that vehicle needed nothing and that only flaw on the vehicle was the upholstery and that he would send me a new upholstery kit so that the car would be in true show condition. I specifically asked him if the vehicle had any rust and about how the car drove. Mr Gephart claimed that I could fly in from Southern California to Arizona and drive the vehicle back. He also explained to me that the vehicle had a brand new motor and that anyone could hop in at a moments notice and drive the car to Pebble Beach or even South Beach! He also told me that the individual he bought the car from was a personal friend of his and he knew the full history of the vehicle.
I ended up sending a check to Mr Gephart for the vehicle and received the vehicle a few days later. The Jeep was far from show condition, the Jeepster's temperature gauge would immediately peg to Hot upon startup. I took a sample of the coolant to have tested, and when the results came back it showed that there was oil in the coolant (bad head gasket). When I attempted to pull the Jeepster into my garage the steering was so loose that it was impossible to maneuver the vehicle even a short distance. There were multiple leaks under the vehicle and when I crawled underneath the vehicle to find out where these leaks originated from I noticed that the floorboards were rusted through! Mr Gephart had applied fresh undercoating to try to mask the significant rust issues on the vehicle. The Fuel Gauge was also not working. When I confronted Mr Gephart on all these issues he claimed that he knew nothing of them and that these issues must have occurred during transit (Floors rusting out in 6 hours?)
Mr Gephart also claimed that he never actually drove or inspected the car and was going off what someone else told him. I asked him how he could represent a vehicle in the condition he claimed it was in without ever driving or inspecting the car? Gephart had no answer for this question. Mr Gephart vowed to make this situation right by fixing these issues, and urged me not to contact anyone and that he would handle it. I contacted Mr Gephart for the better part of two weeks but he seemed to always be out sick (due to a dust storm).
After 3 weeks I finally received a phone call from Mr Gephart, he told me he had a solution to the problems with the vehicle. He told me that if I fixed the bad head gasket on the motor, that he would cover up the rest of the rust with undercoating and fix the steering, he would then proceed try to sell the vehicle to an unsuspecting individual on Ebay. After the sale was complete, we could then split the profits. I told Mr Gephart that this was dishonest and I wanted no part of this scam. Mr Gephart told me he would call me back with an alternate solution to fix the issues.
As of today Mr Gephart has gone AWOL and is unresponsive to any of my queries and continues to perpetuate his Classic Car scam. He hides behind the veil of old age and claims to be an honest classic car salesman with 60 years experience. This guy is the definition of scumbag car salesman, I am sorry I even crossed paths with such a dishonest person. Do not trust Mr Gephart's soft spoken demeanor he is full of evil and is looking for his next victim.
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