By Tim Odell 
Awesome oddball classics, one hell of a gnarly beard, beagle puppies, herbal supplements and cereal marshmallows by the ton: it’s all in a day’s work for Nathan Wratislaw, aka 1OwnerCarGuy (dot com). A few of his eBay listings showed up in our saved searches for the kind of funky cars we love to feature, so we figured we’d see what else was in his eBay store, titled “Cereal Marshmallows“.
We could keep ourselves busy posting almost every car in his inventory, from this F250 Highboy to this Mercedes 220 to this Volvo 262 Bertone to this Fox Body wagon. His cars are well photographed and thoroughly described. He’s a model eBay Motors seller in so many ways. But his ebay Motors cars would only scratch the surface of his entrepreneurial empire. Turns out that store name isn’t just some clever in-joke nickname, the dude also moves bulk-packaged cereal marshmallows via eBay and cerealmarshmallows.com:
Right here in the USA I found the perfect Marshmallow only Problem was I had to order over 10,000 pounds WOW and Marshmallows are LIGHT this is a SEMI Truck full well a big step but nonetheless one we made and now we sell out every 4 months or so I’m sure you will love these marshmallows
Hit the jump and follow us farther down the rabbit hole…
Meeting absurd characters is one of the best parts of being into old and crappy cars; Guys like Jack, who exist in a bubble of exceptions that allows the accumulation of two dozen rare awesome cars in a random backyard in The Valley. Beyond the cars, they’ve always got great stories to tell, and they always leave us wondering how they pull it all off. Luckily, Wratislaw’s great at cross-promoting his different business ventures, so there’s lots to see.
First, the cars: from his eBay store we can go to his dealership in El Cajon (San Diego), CA. But then there’s apparently a Missoula, MT connection via missoulaautoauction.com. I suppose that makes it easy enough to take smog-failing California malaise-mobiles and traffic them to a land where they can breathe freely and be appreciated for their lack of rust.
Then, on to the marshmallows. You could pick up a bag via his eBay store, or just go to the somewhat more manically written cerealmarshmallows.com. Just looking at this picture has me thinking a cross between Lucky the Leprechaun and Pablo Escobar is standing just off camera.
After that, things get truly weird. Pocket beagle puppies? Here ya go. Herbal supplements (made Montana!)? Sure thing. Penny Stocks? Why not? That’s not to mention the miscellaneous swap meet finds, GI “cleanse” product, and condoms business ventures.
BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE!
While writing this up, we stumbled across the page for the Riot kit car he’s selling. Based on the pictures page, it’s been around for a while, but it seems he’s bought the design/rights/tooling and ordered a few rounds of improvements. For about $10-15k, you can get a complete car powered by a ~150hp VW motor burdened by a mere 1100lbs. Bet driving it’s a ri–oh…right.
Too often we’re only known by our screen names or writing; luckily, we get the chance to meet our hero up close and personal via his multiple youtube channels. This montage sums it up nicely:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mflSn4CQdFg[/youtube]
Does anyone else have a “plan B” they keep in the back of their head?
Were I released from the golden handcuffs of my day job, I’d love to traffic cool old used cars via some combination of eBay and maybe a brick-and-mortar store. Since that probably wouldn’t pay the bills on its own, maybe some bit of web enterprise (oh, wait…) along with a few other things would all add up to enough income to pay the bills. …and that’s exactly what 1OwnerCarGuy is doing. He’s living the dream. Even if it’s a bit of a fever dream.
Now, about that boat…
[All images Copyright Nathan Wratislaw, 1ownercarguy.com, used without permission but we’re giving him a ton of publicity so hopefully he’s cool with it.]
Jeff Glucker
The Riot was originally developed by Thunder Ranch, and it's a very well-engineered design (by VW kit car standards)
http://www.thunderranch.com/riot.html
That's a different Thunder Ranch than the one I'm familiar with: http://www.thunderranchinc.com/
He seems to always have some cool old beaters hanging around. I believe he even sold a la forza sometime around last November. Id love to have that highboy. Its in some shape.
That conversion van is super cool. Gotta love a big woody!
<img src="http://i.ebayimg.com/t/RV-Shasta-Motorhome-Camper-Ford-F250-Vintage-Chinook-Minnie-Winnie-1-Owner-Coach-/00/s/NzY4WDEwMjQ=/z/msQAAMXQxzZRcxze/$T2eC16hHJGkFFmdjKgrzBRc%29zev47g~~60_21.JPG">
I really want this. Not as in "I want this a whole lot," I mean, I seriously REALLY DO want this.
Paper-rock-scissors for it?
I've almost gotten sucked into this guy's online vortex of crazy several times. He always has interesting old cars for sale.
That Bronco, oh yes!
You finally find someone who really understands you. Then you realize he's only there to stripmine you.
As long as it's consensual right?
Emphasis on the "con" or the "sensual"?
That guy is my collector hero. At one point he had an examples of every Fox Body wagon for sale: A Fairmont,, a Granada, and an LTD (which he still has).
He's in El Cajon. Pay him a visit…
Yeah I know, I've considered it.
I'm really digging the Riot! Nose is a bit weird but not too weird. What is weird is this photo mixed in to the photos of Riots. I don't know about this one.
<img src="http://www.nathanwratislaw.com/riotpics/Pic_072.jpg" width="600">
He's always got some cool stuff. I remember the Fox body thread.
My first glance at that sales guy and I see Tom Hanks calling for Wilson.
Nathan has got to be one of the nicest, most interesting 'car guys' in the US of A. Months ago, I subscribed to his YouTube channel, only to discover that his range of interests is extremely broad. This is a guy who can describe a Mercury Lynx in such glowing terms, you'd think he'd discovered a Bugatti race car in a barn.
alberto gorin
al***********@ho*****.com
I hope to one day to meet Nathan I missed him when I had food poisoning
what Nathan is the all idea of 1 owner or 2 owner is to give not so rich person to feel rich. If you can buy Lexus or S class
or what was a expensive car,you make them feel rich
if you had a dream .now the dream come true
I hope many have that experience.
Unprofessional: that is all I can say about this man. I called Nathan a while back to inquire about a car he had for sale. As a car collector myself, I figured that we would converse about the car as I wanted to add it to my garage if everything checked out. He basically blew me off and told me "have a nice life" before proceeding to hang up on me. Another call to him produced the same result; I guess he didn't want to sell it even though it was advertised. True, he might have some interesting cars available from time to time, but this sort of behavior leads me to believe that he is nothing more than a shyster salesman.
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