Wraith1027

I'll save the meat of the story for after the responses. Met a guy there that I had spoken with briefly on the phone. He seemed to be very nice and mostly professional. I arranged a meeting time and Drove to the shop. Can you all tell me what you would expect the outcome of this meeting to be? I want to get other impressions before I express mine. Only because I want unbiased opinion. I know they are well known on here. What say y'all?

V2Rocket

he thought you showed up in an RX7?

Ronin-951

Wanted to know what year your 924 was?

Wraith1027

Well, he may have thought that I could be convinced it was a RX7.

V2Rocket

did he ask how many times youve replaced apex seals?

racer

Autothority of the 1970s and 1980s changed significantly when they went into the "chip" business in the late 1980s/early '90s. IIRC, Al Collins (original owner?) eventually lost out as it were and sold the "name" to the more sucessful chip business (or was bought out.. I don't really know the behind the scenes BS). Not sure what Autothority really is now. IIRC, I thought they opened a shop in Chantily?

CPR

Which location?

...and if it had Autothority on the window, it is not either of the APE Porsche locations. Unless they changed it VERY recently.

running_cold924

he tried to sell you some pistons for your WANKEL!!!

Wraith1027

Ok, I'm getting the just of it now. I did some reading here and it seems to confirm my experience. I found a part on Flea-bay that I was interested in and started looking at some of the sellers other parts for sale. On one of the parts was a number to call for further information. I called and spoke with Andrew?. Nice enough guy other than the fact the he was intent on making it clear that he knew more than I did about my car. Once I got him past what he wanted me to know, I was able to explain my situation and what I was interested in doing. The part that I was interested in was doable. He said "If someone offered me XXX dollars, I would sell it". I made arrangements to drive over there (YES, Chantilly, VA) to look at the part and make the deal pending fitment to my car. Mind you , at this point, I wasn't sure they were THE Autothority that I have read so much about on here.
I arrived on time and he was out front, talking on the celly or smoking. After introductions, we talked some shop about P cars. He once again started to go down that road. I know more so you need to let me tell you what you want. I nipped it quick with an inquiry about the part I had driven over there to see and BUY. After looking it over, I wanted it. Thats when it happened. Total backstroke. He told me, no less than three times, how much he paid for it and each time produced a new story to go with the original purchase price. He then told me that his "magic" number was $XXX. W.T.F.? But, you told me you would sell it for XXX. Yeah, but.. Now the story is that he isn't even the owner of the part and they really need to get XXX. So, I drove here on a lie. Thanks. I left my name and number and told him to call me if the "owner" changed his mind.

This is what I call bad business. I walked in there with alot of money, and he not only blew that deal over $50.00, but he also turned me off to buying anything. And he was pitching his wares the whole time. I was looking at spending over a grand untill he lied to me. Am I over reacting here?

carlege

No your not over reacting. Walking away and not giving it another thought is a good choice.

P.S. i hate it when people try to tell you things about your car and its even better when they have their facts wrong.

odb812

I used to take my car to a place right around the corner from Autothority and I've heard the same things about selling the name and the company not being the same. I noticed they started trying to sell MAFs again for 951s in this thread https://rennlist.com/forums/944-turb...mass-flow.html

I took a look the MAFs they are selling on eBay and they are exactly the same as the old POS that I took off my car. I had my doubts about Autothority when they refused to give me a copy of the users manual for their product and this reaffirms my doubts.

From a strictly equipment standpoint their MAF systems are crap and I'd look elsewhere.

minho78

Wraith1027. I just posted somewhere in the forum about Autoauthority. I actually dealed with Minh which was supposed to be part owner. I had a bad experience, therefore i can only say %^$^**. But I have dealed with LR, Russel Berry and others and I can say this guys stand for their word. Russel was a very nice guy and I'll always thank him. Look if you are looking for a maf kit I suggest LR and John Vitesse(I haven't purchased anything from him) but I know a couple of rennlisters locally and they say very good things about him. Stay away from APE from my experience.

minho78

Todd Minh(Autothority) told me that there were a lot of copies of their products on ebay. Guess what I should kept my ebay MAF kit it was actually the same crap and keep my money in my pocket. That would be anough for the standalone.

odb812

I could be wrong, but the kit I looked at was new, in Chantilly, where Autothority currently is located, the seller name is autothority-6000, and the price is what the kits used to be listed for new. I did make an assumption that Autothority is selling the part I looked at on ebay, but I believe it is a strong one. I had an authentic Autothority MAF on my car and it was not a quality part.

minho78

Wait their site is down. Be carefull.