Weird phone number, ,trying to purchase a vehicle in California, ,and asking me to email info ..weird  weird! !

Craigslist, Kiiji, AutoTrader, Etc. Scam:

The scam works like this.  They think your item as described is perfect.  They might ask a few questions about it, and then will pay your asking price, sight unseen, because they are never around close by to come look at it (they use the stationed somewhere in the military a whole lot).  They will give you an extra $40 or $50 to old it for them.  Then they tell you they will send a cashier’s check or money order for that amount plus extra for the “shipper”.  They ask you to wire that extra money by untraceable means such as Western Union or Moneygram.  The check or money order turns out to be bogus and you end up out the money you sent plus the bank fees.  Also, if the check is big enough you may end up being charged criminally.  Take the check and the envelope it came in to the post office and have them forward it to the postal inspectors.
In the case of them using PayPal, the same thing happens.  They send a fake email looking like it came from PayPal, get you to pay the shipper, and then find out that the e mail was fake and no money is available.

I am getting the same scam artist interested in my sofa and love seat and what you are describing is exactly how it's turning out.

This is the text message I received from this person:

Payment has been issued out to you and sent to you via UPS SERVICE, I instructed my financial to send your check and Shipping payment Separate but he started that he did not clearly get my instruction very well. I will also like to let you know that shipping company funds was included with your payment & Also i might not be around once the payment arrive to you because am going out of state for my honeymoon Once the payment arrive you will go ahead and have the check cash then you deduct the money for your item with additional $50 for your Gas and running around then you have the rest of the money send to my shipper via money gram then i will contact shipper to get ready to come over for pick up immediately..Please Hope I can trust you with shipping funds ??.. Pls do not let me down.. Thanks

Yeah, they seem to have a script that they use.  I think when one finds something that works, they all start to use it.  There are usually only minor variations, such as why they can't talk to you on the phone, or why they can't come to see it in person and pay you directly.