1952-59 Ford More Rude Awakenings

I recently decided to have some additional floorpan repairs done on my 1955 Ford Country Sedan wagon. (Front left toeboard and rear drivers-side floorboard.) On March 19th of this year, I had posted a rant concerning a Cleveland restoration shop which had previously worked on my car. I later discovered they had blatantly ignored the above-mentioned areas which were in need of replacement or repair. At that time, I did not mention their name.
I found another shop which had earlier repaired the door on my 2006 Scion xB. The owner, Dominic Miller, was also experienced in cl***ic car restoration work. We set a date to bring my car in and put it up on a lift so as to inspect further repairs needed.
Keep in mind, I had not had an opportunity up to this time to closely inspect the underside of my car where the original restoration firm had allegedly done work. I was quite shocked by what I saw. Rusty bare metal with no primer on it, metal panels sheet-metal screwed instead of spot-welded, and new replacement panels laid directly on top of rusted pieces instead of cutting them away. In essence, sub-standard, amateur work. Definitely not worth the exorbitant rate I was charged. (I was so irate, I actually considered legal action.)
At that point, I thanked Dominic for his time, and decided I did not want to go down that "rabbit hole". "Take 'er down, Virgil!" I'll just keep the car running as-is.
No more Mister Nice Guy. The name of the poor excuse for a restoration shop is ""Old School Kustoms". Do not do business with them.

 

Sorry dude, crying shame! I mean real tears crying shame.

 

Very definetly an old old school way of "fixin" things back in the 60's just to keep 'em on the road. Very definetly not restoration work by an stretch of the imagination. Did they do that work prior to them painting it?

 

Yes.

 

Sooo many things wrong there, they needed to be exposed and probably to a degree higher than just doing it here. Tell them you're going to have a poster board made up with photographs and start doing ALL the local car shows with it on display. Just don't get hurt doing it. In Texas we have open carry.
Anything in writing as far as what they were to do and what they charged you for?
It would be very interesting to hear their side of the story and how they explaind doing shoddy work is excusable.
A Cleveland business?
are they Hamb members?

 

BTW, my "Texas has open carry" comment was definetly not a suggestion of aggression, but a defensive move in case they try to do some thumpin' in response to your exposing them. I would also be kinda subtle with the wording on the suggested poster.........like "LOOK at the work I paid to have done to my car...". Let the observers decide how bad it is, without opening yourself to legal stuff, and without getting the car clubs putting on the events caught in the middle.. Let the pics do the talking.

 

Also, I would not try and get them to redo it.....no telling how long they'd keep it just to keep you quiet, and no telling what would happen to it while it's there. Even the money paid for paint that might be good, is actually wasted because it's gotta be repainted after it's repaired correctly. I'd be talking strictly ALL the money back.
Once again, with all that said, we will only ever hear one side of the story. No offense meant, but for all we know they were told to patch it together as cheaply as possible.
Rich

 

I hate to say this but checking on the progress occasionally may have prevented this.this applies to cases where they are slow in completing the work especially.asking to see how the work is progressing and have it explained to you what is involved.re-rust etc as most do not realize the extra work involved in rust repair compare to dent-collision repair.that in my opinion should have been done on a rotisserie a little late now but still needed to repair the outriggers etc.needless to say the paint will not survive. posting this will maybe make others aware of the dangers involved in leaving the repair shop unsupervised.in life lessons are learned in most cases the hard way.good luck moving forward

 

What he said, and the dollars charged may have been an indication of what was to come. If you went to 3 or 4 shops for estimates, and this guy was 1/2 of the other shops, well.....
We just get to darn trusting sometimes.

 

There's a member here that does great work. He's in North Ridgeville.

 

My brother-in-law works for these guys, so I ***umed (don't say it) I would be treated fairly. Shame on me for trusting them. I did stop in once, but the car was not up on a lift at that point.

 

Thanks. I appreciate the offer, but I just don't think I want to spend any more money on restoration work. Where does it end? I will just maintain it mechanically.

 

PS: I did file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Not sure how much good it will do, but, at least it's something. Probably too late to take any legal action against these clowns. Live and learn...

 

filing with them is good if you need the typing practice.if the party does not belong they just ignore and the bbb slinks away.they do not want or need to be involved in legal battle