READERSVOICE.COM aims to give a few samples from old and out of print books. These books are well worth tracking down. And op shops are good places to see what random books turn up.

One book described some of the dodgy ploys used by a handful of shady car vendors on the Parramatta Road in Sydney up to the 1980s. Up the Parramatta Road (Lansdowne Press, 1985) is a 95 page book by Brian Woodward and John Wright. The ploys the book describes show the timeless manipulative traits of the classic narcissist. These people can be found in all walks of life.

THE LOWBALL

One con outlined in the book is the lowball. Here is one tale the authors relate: Generous Gerald fancied himself as a shrewd buyer of cars.

One day a farmer drove up to the yard in an absolutely spotless Holden HZ wagon, which he’d owned since new. He wanted to sell. Gerald walked a couple of laps of the wagon, kicked the  tyres and allowed his best worried look to permeate his facial features.

Farmer Harry knew his vehicle was sound and he wanted $4500 for it. The tyres were almost new. The kilometrage was just 70,000. Gererous Gerald wanted to buy the wagon for $3000. “I won’t beat around the bush with you,” he said. “The wagon’s worth around two grand, but I’m prepared to give you $2300 because it’s very clean and I can see you’re a fair dinkum [genuine] sort of a bloke.”

Farmer Harry made as if to get back in his Holden and drive away. “Wait,” said Gerald.