The pressman's advantage (in finding cars)

I was remembering the other day that about 30 years ago I was out looking for cars in Los Angeles and I found this Ghia 450/SS through an ad I ran maybe in the Auto Trader and soon after I got it I somehow ran into this angry pressman for the LA Times who felt I messed up his deal to buy that same car by going early to pick up the car. It turned out that he had the ability --as an employee of the Times--to see on Friday the upcoming ads for the LA Times Collector section. He would set out in his big old Cadillac convertible, his girlfriend beside him, and with a pile of money and go buy the cars from surprised owners who thought their ad wasn't coming out until Monday. I figure he would tell about 3 to 4 owners he was coming for the car and then when he got a good deal shine on the other owners. He actually expected me to turn over the car to him because he had "dibs" on it. I laughed.

Did anyone else run across this character? I know he got some great cars that way and hey I should look at it as "whatever's fair in love and in war" or something like that.

I'd like to hear any other tricks of the trade in finding old cars. Mine at the time --in the '70s and 'early '80s--was to run fuzzy pictures in Auto Trader of the ar I wanted and say I'd take one with dents, rust, blown engine, etc. But now that there is the internet I am flumoxxed (sp?) by the speed you have to move.