Restored car pet peeves

Speaking of flippers, I know one - basically a good guy, good to his family, a good friend, but a flipper. He claims to have "restored" umpteen hundred cars, but mostly he just gets them painted and has some interior work done and calls it restored. Every now and then he gets me to help him on mechanical stuff if the car won't make it 3-4 miles to the nearest cruise night and back, but he does as little as possible. One time he wanted me to tow one of his cars to a swap meet 60 miles away. I asked him why didn't he just drive it? He about swooned at the thought of doing that.

Despite all that, some of the cars he has sold were actually pretty decent. If it was basically sound to start with, his freshening up would enhance its true value. On the other hand, if it had structural problems when he bought it, they would not be fixed properly when he was done with it, and to do so would require undoing whatever he had done.

In his defense, he really doesn't understand anything about how a car or any of its systems work, so he mostly doesn't understand the difference between a perfumed pig and a properly done car, or a car that can be driven 5-10 miles without blowing up and one that you can hop in and drive across the country.

When I first met him, I'd give him parts for practically nothing. When I found out all he was gonna do was turn around and sell the car at a profit, then brag about it, I started charging him fair prices. He'd moan and complain, but he always paid my price. Where else was he gonna get what he needed?