Photo: Facebook / Hurst Autoplex
He probably never imagined a visit at a Mitsubishi new and used car dealership would turn into this, but “Tommy from Fort Worth” is, right now, one of the most ridiculed and arguably controversial regular people of the week.
And that’s because of his seemingly irrational decision to trade in a brand new C8 Chevrolet Corvette 3LT Coupe in Rapid Blue for one of the least desired vehicles out there, a Mitsubishi Outlander. As it turns out, said decision wasn’t a rushed one, and it was definitely not baseless.
Contrary to what car enthusiasts have been saying on social media ever since the trade-in became public knowledge, it wasn’t due to blackmail or some mental breakdown either. The whole thing was planned in advance because Tommy never wanted the ‘Vette in the first place.
Mike Baum, pre-owned sales manager at Hurst Autoplex, the Mitsubishi dealership in Hurst, Texas where the trade-in took place, tells The Drive that he personally knows Tommy, so he knows first-hand that he never wanted the C8. In fact, the only reason he bought it was so he could flip it and turn a profit, capitalizing on the fact that it’s the most in-demand car in the U.S., right up there next to the Ford Bronco.
So, Tommy brought the C8 to Mike to sell it and, since he was there, he thought he’d look into getting a “work SUV to run around town in.” He settled for the Outlander, which he got at around $9,000, after the $10,000 dealer payout for the C8 and the dealer waiving the sales tax. This sounds like a whole lot of headache just to score an Outlander on the cheap, but that was Tommy’s plan, and it paid off: he got his money back from the C8 and an extra $10,000 that went toward the Outlander.
In the end, everyone got what they wanted: Tommy got his cheap SUV, Mike is laughing all the way to the bank, and someone who wanted a new C8 Corvette was able to buy this one within minutes of the original Facebook going online. Ryan Wells from Texas tells the same media outlet that he’d configured a C8 exactly like this one, so he rushed to the dealership right away and bought it.
“It's just a cool car man, everything about it is cool,” Wells says. “My wife loves it, my kids love it. It's pretty crazy.” That it is.
Contrary to what car enthusiasts have been saying on social media ever since the trade-in became public knowledge, it wasn’t due to blackmail or some mental breakdown either. The whole thing was planned in advance because Tommy never wanted the ‘Vette in the first place.
Mike Baum, pre-owned sales manager at Hurst Autoplex, the Mitsubishi dealership in Hurst, Texas where the trade-in took place, tells The Drive that he personally knows Tommy, so he knows first-hand that he never wanted the C8. In fact, the only reason he bought it was so he could flip it and turn a profit, capitalizing on the fact that it’s the most in-demand car in the U.S., right up there next to the Ford Bronco.
So, Tommy brought the C8 to Mike to sell it and, since he was there, he thought he’d look into getting a “work SUV to run around town in.” He settled for the Outlander, which he got at around $9,000, after the $10,000 dealer payout for the C8 and the dealer waiving the sales tax. This sounds like a whole lot of headache just to score an Outlander on the cheap, but that was Tommy’s plan, and it paid off: he got his money back from the C8 and an extra $10,000 that went toward the Outlander.
In the end, everyone got what they wanted: Tommy got his cheap SUV, Mike is laughing all the way to the bank, and someone who wanted a new C8 Corvette was able to buy this one within minutes of the original Facebook going online. Ryan Wells from Texas tells the same media outlet that he’d configured a C8 exactly like this one, so he rushed to the dealership right away and bought it.
“It's just a cool car man, everything about it is cool,” Wells says. “My wife loves it, my kids love it. It's pretty crazy.” That it is.
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