Ok guys it's been just over two weeks since the car made it home and I have wanted to let you all know what happened, but didn't quite know how to do it really. It's good I didn't post the first night as I was REAL fired up! I didn't want to add drama or negative talk to the site, or make me sound like a winer at the same time. But here's the story, I will try to keep it short as some of you know I like to talk!
Chris looked the car over a couple Novembers ago as it was mocked up and thought about the job for a few weeks before giving me a price....not estimate, price to do the work. So he knew what was to be done. What was to be done you ask? Good question! Since I painted the bottom of the car and frame those areas were finished. He needed to do final fitment of sheetmetal, gap the car, align everything and drill 1/8" holes to make rehanging easier if I ever needed to, do body work, paint and polish all exterior surfaces, paint interior and engine bay factory black, paint trunk grey/black splatter, detail the car, assemble grill, and finally deliver me the car. All work to be done in 2-4 months to show the world that a car/paint job like this doesn't need to sit in paint jail for a year or more. Also, I should add that Race Rodz was a new business that needed press and cars at shows to promote the shop. Since we are both in Oregon we thought we could help eachother out and he gave me a good price for the type of quality I was to get..."highly detailed street rod type job...not Riddler quality, but nice".
So I took the car down 8/11/07 as he asked and work began! He worked on it steadily for a couple months then work slowed down as he had to do other jobs to pay the bills. I didn't have a problem with this as he always led me to believe the car would be done as planned and I knew he was a struggling new business. He finally got the car painted in Nov. and it looked good in the pics, but I wasn't digging the tri-color splattered blue trunk when I ordered grey/black like DSE does. I expected to have the car early Dec. and certainly by Christmas...didn't happen! I finally received the car just after New Years. At first I thought it looked good (keep in mind it was a dark rainy night)untill I noticed all the polishing compound everywhere and all the scratches that weren't sanded out, and the orange peel texture that was everywhere! Then Chris pointed out the multiple areas that he burnt while polishing, the wavy door, and that he forgot to bring all the parts and the grill still wasn't even painted....but that was all suppose to not matter since I have a cool one off spoiler...which I still like and he needed rent money! When I asked why he would drive 300 miles (one way) to deliver such a job he said that everything could be fixed right before we took it to SEMA. I'm no painter and had my doubts, but I took his word, paid him in full with a tip, filled his truck's tank and sent him on his way.
A couple-few days later I called him and said that my wife and I had been looking over the car, made a list of all the issues, and thought the job needed to be redone...there simply was just too much wrong with the car...he agreed and said he wasn't happy with it either. But said that he need to do Ned's Cuda before he could redo my car, but that would be good as the weather would be wormer and the paint would be cured, and this time I would be happy with the job! I knew Ned needed to get his car back home asap and didn't want to postpone that so I agreed and delivered my car 3/15/08 for the "2-3 week repaint/polish". I thought Chris was going to fix the car and all would be well so I didn't go public with all this.
Well, Ned's car didn't get done on time and Chris worked on mine some but not a lot as he wasn't getting paid this time and the material bill was coming out of his pocket...no real drive anymore. He did a lot of other jobs over the next few months to pay bills...meanwhile Ned and I wait! Finally we had enough and made him commit to dates that our cars would be finished...he didn't make either date!
I actually agreed when asked if I could wait an extra few days so Ned would get his done on time...still didn't get it done! Ned finally got his car and you all know how well that went! Trust me Ned has every reason to be pissed!
So now life sucks for Chris and it has been a bad time since he started his business so he decided to look into CNC machine school and plans to start in the fall! Now he has no drive for his business, gets out of his lease and closes shop! Yep I get to wait while he moves out of his shop...there goes another week or so! All the time being told that the car is looking good and it will just be a couple more days before it's finished. My hands are tied as I don't want to just go pick it up and take it to another shop if he can get it done right in just another two days...so I wait. I tell him I am emotionally fried, lost just about all interest in this project, and just need to have it home. He tells me I will have it by the end of the weekend...this was on Thursday and that sounded doable since he "just had a couple days work left". Well at 8pm Sunday I called him and he was still at home! 300 miles away! I don't need a visitor at 1am so I told him to get some rest and be at my house Monday 3:30pm when I get home from work, he thanked me said the car was looking good this time and that he would be at my house when I got there.
So I'm on my way home from work and give him a call to see where he's at and he doesn't answer, nor has he ever returned the missed call! I round the corner of my street to see my car sitting in the driveway and all the parts just sitting inside! No one is home and he just left the car! WTF!!!!! A car of that value and you just leave it!? So I get out and look the car over, now I know why he didn't answer the call...he dropped the ball again big time! He drove 300 miles with painted parts only wrapped in painters film bouncing on the floor....can you say chipped paint! He never finished the grill paint work! The car's seam sealer is way heavy, it litterly fills the joints and looks terrible and this could have been redone before paint!! The car has sand scratches all over it. Fish eyes. He didn't repaint the spoiler and it was burnt last time and looks like hell and the color doesn't even match! The hood isn't aligned, no alignment holes and I'm not sure it even fits like it should...both times it came home the hood never was really 'installed'. The trunk was reshot in black this time, still not the finish I wanted, and is pealing off! And there are easily half a dozen things I asked to fix that he never even worked on! All in all He spent 5 months storing my car, paying for materials, and putting in hours....just to deliver less than exceptable results! And never has tried to call or email to see if all is good.
So now after a year of dealing with a want-a-be that clearly over sold himself and abilities, I'm left with a blown paint budget, lost time, and I'm pretty sure the car needs to be repainted...again! From what I have been told it will cost a grand to wet block the car to prep for paint, and then I get to pay for the paint job! Oh yeah...good times over here!!
If there is anything good it's the front sheetmetal alignment (not sure about the hood), and the bodywork in general looks good...the car is actually real straight...other than the PS door that still is wavy! The trunk is going to be a bitch to fix, but I think other than lots of money and more time to invest the new paint job will go well.
Right now I'm talking with a few shops trying to weigh out my options and I will go from there! Don't really have a choice....just have to move on! The crappy thing is that it's been 6.5 years now on this project and I was so looking forward to final assembly!
I want to thank all L-g members for being such good friends of mine and I will keep you all up to date with the progress! I guess that turned into the looooong version....sorry!!
Brian Hobaugh SCCA National Tour June 2014
First Hemi 'Cuda Convertible Ever Built
Short clips: Goodguys Pleasanton autocross and pit videos
Hybrid Mode
