Wow... I have to giggle on this one a little.
I mean... eighteen months ago you were delivered a well disguised bag of sh*t. In that eighteen months... you basically did a "Frame off" restoration,
to the likes that no one has seen before and would never try to begin with... and then I hear that the game plan has changed whilst in route to it's end game ?? Oh... and don't tell me... you are also running a business and he isn't your only customer ??
And... somehow, this is your fault ??
That's comedy. You should tell him that he's lucky it has only been eighteen months with a two man crew.
Especially considering what it is that you have actually accomplished.
Tell him he should check out Lateral-G.net, Pro-Touring.com and introduce himself... and then suggest that he educate himself to the logic and common sense involved with a project of this magnitude. And...
We'll take care of the rest.
Seriously. You need to make him aware that if this requires you to push some other work aside to meet his deadline of SEMA 2009... that you will need to adjust the rate at which you charge to do said work. Personally, I would adopt my theory for correcting the scale...
For example:
Normal rate: $75 an hour
You want it tomorrow: $100
You want it today: $150 an hour
You want it when !?!! : $!?!! an hour
If a client wants exclusivity... the client will have to pay the exclusivity tax.
BTW... nice work. The late model tunnel idea gets props. Kudos