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EIGHT YEARS?  EIGHT??? YEARS? I tell you what... anybody ever working on any of my cars in the future had better realise they are signing up to providing me with regular check-ins if I'm paying them... even if only to declare to me "nothing has happened this week because...", I still want that check-in... but preferably the check-ins will assure me that things are happening. If they tell me things are happening then they'd damn well better be ready for me to drop in and review that progress at any point. If I ever ask for any work I always ask what the schedule will be and what the likely finish date will be, and I tell them I need to know if anything changes that schedule along the way. I'm insistant to the point of irritation. Even to the point of my trusty local backyard oil pit who recently did my brakes. They told me to take it on the Monday and it would take the day. Went back at the end of the day and they hadn't even started it. It was still parked outside. Not good enough. I insisted they brought the car in overnight but only if they were going to make it their priority the following morning, otherwise I'd take it away there and then. I just cant let a car sit and fester in somebody else's workshop, because it sits and festers in my brain if I do... especially if it's something I know damn well I could do myself for free given enough time and a good run of dry days. Eight years? Can you even remember what the car looked like at this point? |
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In relation to this Jowett though, the thing for me is... I do have to question how wise it was to leave a car with somebody for 18 months without checking in on progress. I am in a position to answer this for you - Firstly: the restorers in question had done several jobs on several different vehicles for members of the Jowett Car Club and came recommended Secondly: the owner resides some 100 + miles from the restorers workshop in question Thirdly: during the 18 months the owners wife became ill and much of his attention was directed into immediate family issues rather than a chasing progress on a car restoration (has any of us would that have our priorities correctly aligned) Fourthly: None the less the owner would make telephone contact with the restorer on a regular basis with the said restorer assuring the owner that things were being progressed (when in reality they weren't) Fifthly: It was only after another club member visited on a couple of occasions in relation to work on a separate vehicle that alarm bells started to clang and some of the club members became involved in recovering the vehicle from the restorer and returning it to the owner - bearing in mind that when the restorer realised that the car was being removed he started to demand money for services rendered - when in reality he ought to have been compensating the Javelin's owner for the amount of damage sustained to the vehicle / parts missing etc. It's all very well stating the obvious in hindsight but what's done is done and somehow I will attempt to reverse the situation to a good outcome - the main reason for posting of the thread in the first place is that hopefully we can all learn from it - however regardless of what we do the cowboys will still continue to exist and peddle their wares - you just have ensure that you don't end up their corral ! |
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8 years? I've been lucky to get 8 weeks. But then I'm generally only doing the painting part. Need to unbury the welder & get some practice in, cant afford someone fix avenger for me & would love to get in repro panels.... must be the scottish in me, short arms deep pockets.
Apart from my own cars i've really only done jobs for mates or people i know so...... i do a decent job even though i'm a sucker for punishment so long as they pay for materials/expenses then we're all good.
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Yeah true. Even if one's original intention wasn't to rip people off... how one subsequently deals with spiralling/bad situations is as much a gauge of your character. === Another optional anecdote... I just remembered another experience I had absolutely years ago when I first moved to Sussex and wanted to re-ignite my interest in cars after two decades away. I originally wanted a classic Mini. There was a bloke set up somewhere down here... can't recall where... and he was a well established and well known/ respected Mini geezer. He was one of the key Cooper people working for years with John Cooper's company. When that ended he was able to set up with various official blessings and some original assets from the company as he was quite a key figure. I went to see him as he was advertising a lovely Innocenti Mini Cooper. I didn't really know the difference at the time (for anyone else who doesn't know, an Austin Mini produced in Italy under license and had a few nice unique touches that made it a bit special). We went for a test drive, and it was lovely. He was keen to close and get me to hand over a deposit and he would make sure the car was properly recommissioned for me to collect. Fortunately I had deliberately not taken any means of placing a deposit down, knowing how easily I can be seduced by a car. But I had the money available. I think he wanted about £5k for it, maybe more. Might have been as much as £8k. Whatever it was, I had the money. I did also have two other cars to go and see although frankly the Innocenti with its cool Innocenti badge had seduced me completely. Anyway, I got vaguely cold feet. Something made me hesitate. I don't recall what, but I said I'd go back down thereto complete the transaction. he seemed quite desperate to get me to give him a deposit upfront. It didn't seem quite right. I didn't give him anything. Two weeks later he'd also done a runner, taken a bunch of people's money, run off with a load of people's car parts and cars that he'd actually sold. It turned out the Innocenti he was trying to sell me wasn't even his to sell! Lucky escape. But he'd been around for years and had a fine reputation before that. Interestingly enough i would not buy a classic bike in the Gloucestershire area . A certain dealer has gone bankrupt before taking a load of customers money , being banned from operating only for his son to start trading with a few hundred thousand of classic bikes from somewhere ..... |
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I am in a position to answer this for you Cheers, I did think it probably wasn't quite a simple as mere words on a screen can easily convey. I hope the work goes well on that rescue mission GN. |
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samta22
Club Retro Rides Member
Stuck in once more...
Posts: 1,276 
Club RR Member Number: 32
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8 years does sound long doesn't it?  As Chris has basically outlined above, and without going into too much detail, life has essentially played it's part. It's my brothers vehicle that I got hold of for him while he was still at uni. Anyhow circumstances change etc and all the while the vehicle has been sat awaiting it's turn for, as previously mentioned, the supposed best in the business. As you can imagine, brother has become disillusioned by the whole thing and is almost refusing to do anything about it, he's lost his mojo big time and will no longer pick up the phone. Hence it has fallen to the slightly more stubborn older brother to get involved again. This year is the year something gets done - in fact they may be getting another call today... On the flip side, me being one to always try and look for a positive, you could say it's been worth it for storage and the fact that this vehicle has risen in value considerably since it was bought. Would be nice to use it though... |
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'37 Austin 7 '56 Austin A35 '58 Austin A35 '65 Triumph Herald 12/50 '69 MGB GT '74 MGB GT V8'73 TA22 Toyota Celica restoration'95 Mercedes SL320 '04 MGTF 135 'Cool Blue' (Mrs' Baby) '05 Land Rover Discovery 3 V8 '67 Abarth 595 (Mrs' runabout) '18 Disco V |
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8 years does sound long doesn't it? As Chris has basically outlined above, and without going into too much detail, life has essentially played it's part. It's my brothers vehicle that I got hold of for him while he was still at uni. Anyhow circumstances change etc and all the while the vehicle has been sat awaiting it's turn for, as previously mentioned, the supposed best in the business. As you can imagine, brother has become disillusioned by the whole thing and is almost refusing to do anything about it, he's lost his mojo big time and will no longer pick up the phone. Hence it has fallen to the slightly more stubborn older brother to get involved again. This year is the year something gets done - in fact they may be getting another call today... On the flip side, me being one to always try and look for a positive, you could say it's been worth it for storage and the fact that this vehicle has risen in value considerably since it was bought. Would be nice to use it though... One way of looking at it - however more than anything you make a very valid & in my book critical point about looking for the positive. I personally cannot recall a time regardless of the situation where I have dwelled on the negatives - I have not ignored them either but I always look for driving the positive out of the situation hence converting or neutralising the negative - yeh - I know it sounds like geek speak form the worlds most boring team working conference - but it works - run round with a head full of negatives and it becomes more negative - put a boot in the positive camp and achieve a bit of something and watch the smile on your face appear  right then back to the Bradford restoration in the workshop. |
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Last Edit: Jan 9, 2018 20:26:25 GMT by Deleted
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samta22
Club Retro Rides Member
Stuck in once more...
Posts: 1,276
Club RR Member Number: 32
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^^^^^^^^^^^ couldn't have put it better myself. Best of luck with this afternoons efforts, although having watched the rest come together you most certainly don't need it. I however am working from home today and so having already fixed the roof it'll be on to a spot of plumbing in my lunch break before back to the mundane until this evening where the interesting stuff will continue. I just wish it was on one of my cars rather than the house!  |
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'37 Austin 7 '56 Austin A35 '58 Austin A35 '65 Triumph Herald 12/50 '69 MGB GT '74 MGB GT V8'73 TA22 Toyota Celica restoration'95 Mercedes SL320 '04 MGTF 135 'Cool Blue' (Mrs' Baby) '05 Land Rover Discovery 3 V8 '67 Abarth 595 (Mrs' runabout) '18 Disco V |
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The Javelin is in good hands now, I'm looking forward to reading the build thread on it.
Regarding bodges, I've owned the same Beetle since 1995, barring a period when my brother owned it - he had it off me in '97 and I had it back in the mid noughties. While my brother had it, we did a full body off resto, including redoing some of the work we did when we first bought it. It tends to get driven for a few months, then sit for a couple of years, get some time and money thrown at it and back on the road again. When I was doing some work on it back in June I found some really crappy looking repairs. I was obviously happy enough with them back in the late '90s but really quite embarrassed by them now! My OCD meant they got fixed even though they didn't really need it...
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1968 Cal Look Beetle - 2007cc motor - 14.45@93mph in full street trim
1970-ish Karmann Beetle cabriolet - project soon to be re-started.
1986 Scirocco - big plans, one day!
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Some customers are just as bad, The Austin I've been working has got to the point it is ready for paint (well that actually happened several months ago) and now we have agreed on the colour which is the nearest match I could get to the colour I said I would paint a panel and the owner could come over in daylight hours to see it. panel was painted and yesterday he said he will come today to have a look, he didn't turn up, by the time I'd realised it was already dark so that's set things back but at least three weeks due to my real jobs commitments.
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One way of looking at it - however more than anything you make a very valid & in my book critical point about looking for the positive. I personally cannot recall a time regardless of the situation where I have dwelled on the negatives - I have not ignored them either but I always look for driving the positive out of the situation hence converting or neutralising the negative - yeh - I know it sounds like geek speak form the worlds most boring team working conference - but it works - run round with a head full of negatives and it becomes more negative - put a boot in the positive camp and achieve a bit of something and watch the smile on your face appear I completely agree with all of this. At the same time though... I really would be struggling to find the positive upside of waiting eight years hahahaha. Sure it's been stored for free for eight years (let's hope it's been stored well) and arguably the value might have risen in that time, but I would not personally be able to escape the thought that it was purchased to be enjoyed, driven, and for that somewhat intimate relationship/bond to develop between owner and vehicle. The details really define the story though, and it's easy to react to the short summary. I'm sure there are mitigating circumstances just as with your client's vehicle. |
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right then back to the Bradford restoration in the workshop. 
