I have literally been there. I had a firm budget of $20K and told him (on film) that I couldn't go any farther. Two days before the final reveal, Dan Short calls me into the office. My car is still apart, engine on engine stand, chassis in another place not wired and body in another. He said that the studio will not film unless car is put together, so I can either pay him another $4K to complete the car for the show or take my pieces with me as is and give him his $20K. What am I to do, I could possibility put the rest together, but I had no guarantees the car would even run after paying $20K. I paid the $4k and on the day of the reveal he told me he needed another $650 more. He was paid in full and when I was ready to pick the car up he made me sign a paper listing ALL the things still remaining for the car to be legal and safe for driving on the street. When I got the car home, not one nut, bolt or screw was more than hand tight. Even the transmission mounts I could turn with my fingers. It took 3 more months and $5K more to get the car legal and safe for the road. Why didn't I do something about it before it got out of hand? I trusted him, when he said that the engine my dad just had rebuilt three years before that the block was bad. To completely replace the engine with a newer, better complete engine delivered to his shop would cost about $4K, he charged me $7K to "rebuild" my old one. Having a chassis built and delivered by another place would cost approximately $4500 and be safer as a boxed frame (mine was a "C" frame). I hope I have learned from my mistake. I was not in any hurry to get the car done. I just wanted it done right. I could tell you more about the horrors I went through with that build, but that is for another time. I believe in Karma, but for this show to actually be going for another season is just proof that our society thrives off others miseries.
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parillamilt
9 years ago
Holy cow, what a story. Seems like restoration shops are just spinning plates trying to keep the income flowing in. I had a VW van that needed a lot of mechanical work done. The shop owner told me $3k tops. I gave him an advance and he got on it right away. He then found a problem that he didn't expect and the project came to a screeching halt. After the problem was fixed by a specialty shop (transmission and extra costs), the van got put on the back burner. He had spent the money and needed other projects to generate cash flow. As far as he was concerned, working on my van now meant lots of his time spent with no money coming in. So, week after week of "I'll get on it tomorrow" and "it should be done soon", it became apparent he wasn't going to finish. I had to pull my van out of there. I then hauled the mess to a well known VW shop and within a week, they had it done for another $2k out of my pocket.
What I do now is have shops do one project at a time and not multiple projects in one visit. I get my van back in a day or two and I don't end up having it held hostage for weeks.
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russrobson
9 years ago
Sad to hear your misfortune dude :( Can't say I'm at all surprised though.
I thought the show sounded great and so I gave it a go but within moments it was clear this guy was a douche and I gave up on the show completely.
I couldn't stand all the petty drama and his argumentative 'can't do' attitude.
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