Hey AWR68 Tell us about what happened! - Page 5 - Lateral-g Forums

**DOOM** · #41 08-21-2008, 07:32 AM

Wow this is horrible!! And being in this buisness it kills me to see this happen! I wish you were in my area I would be more than happy to help you out of this. Tony if you need any materials (primers paint paper..etc) please let me no man I'll be happy to send it to ya on me. Anything to help you get this thing done!!!!!! Please PM me if you need anything.
Mario

**Autokraft** · #42 08-21-2008, 07:36 AM

Anthony, sorry to hear about this. I too was wondering why no updates and now I know why. Sure wish you were closer, I would love to help out here.
Hang in there bud

MarkM66 · #43 08-21-2008, 07:59 AM

Race Rodz, give him a refund!!!!!!!!!!!

**Steve1968LS2** · #44 08-21-2008, 08:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by awr68

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!!

Shoot me a call...

Good shops are HARD to find.. I guess that's why I drive 80 miles each way to BOS for all my paint stuff and stories.

Blake Foster · #45 08-21-2008, 09:00 AM

check your PM
this all sucks

ItDoRun · #46 08-21-2008, 09:01 AM

Tony,
Man, after hearing the entire story, it makes me want to fly up there and add some drama to Scott's site!

And to leave the car in your driveway with parts piled up inside! I still can't believe he did that. Does he not realize that these are not just cars, they're investments! Look at the time and money we dump into these things.

I've got to go cool off. My blood is boiling right now!

Keep us posted.

Chris

**tones2SS** · #47 08-21-2008, 09:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DOOM

Wow this is horrible!! And being in this buisness it kills me to see this happen! I wish you were in my area I would be more than happy to help you out of this. Tony if you need any materials (primers paint paper..etc) please let me no man I'll be happy to send it to ya on me. Anything to help you get this thing done!!!!!! Please PM me if you need anything.
Mario

Now that's a class act right there!!!
Good man Mario!

rich-allen · #48 08-21-2008, 09:38 AM

With all the trouble, time, money and wait; I have a feeling this is going to work out for you. Karma always seems to help the good guys when their down and out.
Loads of great people on this site.

Keep the faith brother,

Rich

Jr · #49 08-21-2008, 09:43 AM

Tony,
You are one hell of a guy. Keep your head up...

DRJDVM's '69 · #50 08-21-2008, 09:44 AM

Hey Guys...

Yes that was my car at Race Rodz too.....

Tony and I both got screwed, but I think Tony got the worst of it. At least my car is still in metal and so far all the stuff I've found can be fixed. Its just gonna be more time and more $$, but its all fixable. Having the car in paint really makes it alot harder....alos who knows whats hiding under it.

Back in Nov last year I was looking for a shop to do some metal work and made a post on here. Got a few replies and started doing some inquiries. Alot of the shops were pretty far away and basically couldnt give me a reasonable estimate without seeing the car or their price was just too high for my budget or their shop was full and they werent taking anymore projects etc.

So Tony contacted me about Race Rodz. He was very happy with Chris at that time and we talked on the phone for quite awhile. At the time he had nothing but good things to say about how is project was going. At the time Jody was also looking at having Chris paint Malitude. Chris was also making a spoiler for Penny. I gave him a call and we talked about the project and he was going to be coming through my area soon, so he could look at the car in person and give me a quote. He stopped by Jody's also....

When he came over he seemed like a nice guy and I asked alot of questions....he seemed like he had alot of metal fab knowledge and seemed like he was really motivated to make a name for himself on the west coast.

We talked alot about getting the car alot of exposure and helping build his reputation. Just like Tony, it seemed like we could both benefit from working together.

After talking with some other shops and Chris some more, I decided to give him a chance. I took the car up in Dec and was hoping to see Tony car all done. When we got there it was still being wet-sanded and was covered in compound etc, so it was pretty hard to evaluate. The sheetmetal looked pretty straight and well aligned etc.

So my car was supposed to be about 2 months.... I figured at least 3-4, so the saga began. At first he made some good progress and I got alot of updates. He hand fabbed the tubs and they looked pretty good, so I felt like I was in the hands of a good metal fab guy. Felt comfortable early on......

Then about 3 months in, the updates slowed and the progress slowed.....many many promises of the "finnish date" came and went. Every time I talked to him, I felt really comfortable that he was commited to everything.

Then in April/May I find out he's going back to school to be a CNC operator. He's struggling to pay the bills and support a new family. That was a really kick in the gut. I felt really uneasy at that point. His reasoning was that he was having a hard time keeping the cash flow going since he was commited to doing quality work. He couldnt get himself to rush stuff and do crap work so things took alot of time and when projects arent leaving in a timely fashion, theres no cash flow. He assured me that he was still doing his best work on my car and we were about 80% done at that point, so I didnt pull the car......

Well I picked up the car about a month ago and you can read my other post....its real rough but fixable. Not happy but not devasted either....its metal and it can be fixed. More $$ and more time, but it can be fixed

So, to sum it up , both Tony and I got sucked into the enthusiasm of a young builder that wanted to build a reputation for himself. He seemed very commited and appeared to have the skills. We took a chance and lost......

I didnt feel the need to get on here and rip Chris apart... theres no point......his shop is now closed up, he's back in school and wont be a pro car builder again........ so trashing his reputation wont spare anyone the grief Tony and I are feeling. Dont get me wrong... I'm pissed, but ranting and raving isnt gonna fix my car.

To all the shops I talked to that post on this board...... you we're right...... there may be lower price shops, but you get what you pay for........

Places like IronWorks, Fesler, Bruning etc are worth every penny....its just that some of us dont have that many pennies and need to try and work on a smaller budget.

So my plans.....fix what I can myself, and then I've been talking to TJ at Bruning to see about bringing my car to them to finnsih and improve the metal work...as for paint.....Best in Show is my choice right now, but thats a good year away....

My car will be top notch if it kills me.....