Technical Botched dangerous suspension 34 ford axle/coilovers

Most shop owners that I know get constant complaints about labor rates.

Imagine what will happen when those rates need to be much higher, for certifiable work.

There is no entity or agency capable of performing this certification work in the US. It would need to be independently created in all 50-states, from scratch.

The cost would be enormous, and the prospect of simply banning future modified vehicles would look cheaper and easier.

 

Well the name of the shop is accurate as far as what will happen after one of their jobs gets driven and causes an accident! Too much trying to emulate some of the “ole” time shitty work! Sue for your payment, your parts, and the cost to correct the situation...

 

Ive never tried to register a street rod using the unified ASRF process, only modified monocoque (yet HAMB friendly) cars in New South Wales under the National Code of Practice (NCOP).

It is a crap fight getting to the “What kind of plates would you like?” point. Rules VERY open to interpretation, mandatory collapsible column/2-speed wipers/turn signals/demister/…, two engineers inspections then certificate issue, brake testing, another inspection by a separate mechanic (blue slip), two insurances (mandatory third party and some to protect me) and then off to the government office for paperwork and plates. All this for a simple unblown small block. I don’t condone it, but understand why some people bypass the rules.

cheers,
Harv

 

Hopefully you get this resolved quicky and the "fixing it" thread starts.

 

You have demonstrated exactly what I mean when I frequently say that each state does things differently. I have been aware for years about the NSW debacle. And I did live there for 20 years and had fellow club members on the TAC that liaised with the RTA (or whatever it's called now.) Constant banging of heads against a brick wall. Then it got worse.

QLD is much easier, smoother and cheaper.

 

This ! Unfortunately it’s move on and move forward , the fact the guy made threats against you shows his character.

as far as the work goes , he knew exactly what he was doing , I’d be surprised if you car was on the hoist more then 4 hours for him to do that “ cough cough mubble mubble cough cough “ work .

you don’t even need to know anything about cars or fabrication to know what he did is complete and utter garbage.

it sucks it happened. Move on move forward . Fix it ( again ) properly and enjoy your ride .

hope to see a build thread and some happy faces of you and your family enjoying this cool ride .

as far as the guy who did the work , well fu!k him and the horse he rode in on. ( nothing against the horse , but he doesn’t even deserve that !)

just want to add , now that the law is involved, hopefully he gets what’s coming to him and you get your parts and money back ( at least something )

 

Let's try to keep this on track with the OP's problem of a hack job on his family collector car. Not a discussion about licensing laws around the world.

 

I once walked into a TMR office to change rego into my name on a car I had bought (HR Prem wagon). It needed to be transferred from the previous owner to my name, club plates swapped for normal plates, and I did not live in Queensland. I was out of there in 15 minutes. The most pleasant interaction I have ever had with a government agency. It would have taken a week in Sydney.

Cheers,
Harv

 

There are a lot of good points here.

Also, the term you're looking for is "ex post facto", ie a retroactive law. However, what you're saying isn't entirely correct. Conduct cannot be deemed retroactively illegal. However, there is no such prohibition on the ban/regulation of items going forward, and the possession of same can absolutely be illegal, especially following a necessary grace period to come into compliance.

Again, not to be political, but NJ did this to us which firearm magazine capacity. For years, semiautomatic pistol and rifle magazines were capped at 15 rounds. The current administration changed that law and reduced the capacity to 10 rounds, and gave citizens of the State 6 months to either destroy, pin and weld, or turn into the State Police, all magazines over 10 rounds. After the expiration of the grace period, possession of a "high capacity magazine" is a 4th degree felony.

If they can do this with items where the ownership of same is literally an enumerated Constitutional right, they can sure as hell do it with cars or modifications to them, where the ownership of it is deemed a mere privilege.

 

I know the term.

I am often accused of being an insufferable prick for writing in Latin here.

 

Me too, I just relish in the distinction

 

Hahahahaha... .
Kudos to you both... .
Marcus...

 

All of these types of laws are currently being declared unconstitutional due to recent SCOTUS decisions, particularly the Bruen decision. But I agree with the others that have asked that we please keep the discussion off politics and on the topic of this specific issue, before the thread gets closed down.

 

To the O/P i feal your pain. My dad over paid (drasticly) for a Chicago area shop to build the chassis for his Dodge. This thing looked state of the art, but is a total piece of shit. The first major failure happened during shakedown runs with a panhard bar bracket breaking off the frame on she second time the car drove. I wont go into it further other then to say the shop not only didnt stand behind the work, but charged almost 5K to fix it. I will tell you who it is in a PM so you can avoid this shop. This place was a Alliance Vendor!

 

It really doesn't help all that much, if shops n owners are *not* outed. Good -or- bad. If you have the proof - save a lot of other folks expensive misery.
I really don't get the"keep it a secret" deal...
Marcus...

 

Yeah, but you are OUR insufferable prick...

 

Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?

 

All of it, obviously.

 

You funny

 

Update

As I stated in my previous post, I filed a complaint with several state regulatory agencies

I'm going to share to you Some of the owners responses to the state agency
My attorney advised me not to say too much. But It speaks to the type of individual that he is And there lack of creditials to perform that type of work.



Statement 1

"we told Mr B**** how this car would have to be repaired properly and be taken apart completely to be repaired properly. But instead, HE CHOSE TO HAVE IT PATCHED TOGETHER"


"The day before and the day of pickup, the rear coil overs where approved by Mr Britton, He inspected them, looked at them and said they looked good, to both Lee and Myself, But not until a couple of hours AFTER the Genoa city Police dept called him. , I called the Police Dept for theft of services, The rear coil springs where taken apart and pictured, That he responded with pictures to the Police officer. This was staged,"

The customers complained about the shock tower... The drivers front shock tower is holding the fender in place

I will listen and read the comments from you guys

But, My Grandpa used to say stupid is as stupid does.

That car ran and drove when it got to his shop


Several members Of this forum have chimed in. Not a single person has stated the car needs to come completely apart
Even after it has been butchered by this shop Many people have said you can replace or potentially repair the crossmember And that the wiring can be moved to a safer location

The same pictures I posted here are the pictures I sent in with my complaint

Now he says those coil overs were taken apart!!!!!!!!!

But people here looked at the pictures and saw they broke And even make comments on why they broke

Take a good look at the end of that shock He's stating I broke that well I am not a superhero so...................

The man has absolutely no credentials To perform this task he is completely overwhelmed and unqualified

I am not in attorney however, it is illegal in a state of wisconsin to have a service performed and skip out on the bill

There's a statue called theft of service

When the police arrived at my house and I showed them what the shop had done, the officer stated

I don't know anything about cars but I know I would not pay for something
That literally is falling apart in my driveway And fluid its running all over
This is a civil matter per state statute bla bla bla

Additionally, I stopped by the shop and spoke to them before I came to your house. They admitted they left your car outside.

I don't think I would give them another opportunity If I were you having a nice day

 

Too much he said she said , an open forum is NO place for a court proceeding. Too reminiscent of a lynch mob ! Find somewhere else to air your dirty laundry !

 

The pictures speak a thousand words .

Don’t have @gimpyshotrods say those words those ( dang Latin Tom foolery )

I hope it all works out for you . I see no reason why it would not .

like I said in my last post , anyone can see the work was complete butchery . Even IF you did take the shock apart , who hacked the frame apart and booger welded mounts on and mounted everything 1/2 assed ? Not you !

there is top notch quality showmanship work .

there is good quality work that a craftsman or simply a guy who takes pride in his work performs.

then , unfortunately there’s the crap that was done to your car .

 

Im confused,

Did you choose a lower cost path to do the work, than what he recommended?

Did you take the car from his shop without paying the bill or stop payment on a check or chargeback on a credit card? Those could be considered "theft of services".

Why would any business owner allow you to take the car, without paying the bill?
Unless maybe you were a long time established customer, I cant see paying the bill later as being an option, and him releasing the car to you, without getting paid.

Did you approve the work, before taking the car or not?

Even if you did approve the work, maybe not having the knowledge of what would be right or wrong, he would still have to stand by his work if done in an negligent manner, which appears to be done that way, based on the photos, unless you told him to booger it together as he claimed, and then he should have signed by you paperwork, stating you wanted it repaired in a manner that was not recommended, on his end to cover his butt, if someone was to claim negligence, on his part afterwards.

Bill

 

When push comes to shove, if you are going to pursue this in court, you are going to need a report from an expert to opine on what should have been done and how this work is negligent. We as car people, with a basis of knowledge in this area, know what is right and wrong here. A judge does not, and will be reliant on the report and opinion of a credentialed expert, who will be hired on your dime, in formulating an opinion on the merits of your case.

I'm not admitted in your State, AND I'M NOT GIVING YOU LEGAL ADVICE, but in NJ, expert testimony is governed by Rule 702, which states;

"If scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education may testify in the form of an opinion or otherwise."

The well-established test to determine whether expert testimony is required turns on “whether the matter to be dealt with is so esoteric that jurors of common judgment and experience cannot form a valid judgment as to whether the conduct of the party was reasonable.” Scully v. Fitzgerald, 179 N.J. 114, 127 (2004) (quoting Butler v. Acme Markets, Inc., 89 N.J. 270, 283 (1982))

I'd imagine the great state of Illinois has rules that are somewhat similar. The problem with expert testimony is that experts in a given field are expensive. A typical report I get is between $2200 and $5000. But they go up from there.

This is where you need to make a business decision. The O/P said in post #57 that total amount in controversy was $4,200. Respectfully, that's small potatoes in the grand scheme of things. In order to recoup that, by going through the proper civil channels, you'd likely spend at least half of that. At that point you're throwing good money after bad while the project sits. You could try your hand in a small claims court and see if the judge goes for the argument that the car was running and driving when it came in and left broken, and see if the judge has some common sense. But there's no guarantee there.

FWIW, I'd take this issue as far up the chain as you can with administrative remedies and call it an expensive lesson learned. Make some calls, vet some shops better, and get the car into the hands of someone who knows what they're doing. This will be a painful but distant memory when you're out enjoying the car again.

 

I've posted a more detailed response to your question privately

He was trying to talk me into a frame off restoration I told him I had no interest in
that

At no time did I instruct him to perform lower quality work

Additionally, a professional would not perform work in a sub standard. Fashion that would put someone's safety in peril

As to how the car was removed from the premises

I took the car from the lot where it was sitting outside getting rained in and ruined

I hope this situation was ever to repeat itself however, I would absolutely do the same thing again

I had every right both morally and legally to remove my car from that situation

And I honestly feel fortunate I was able to do so

So many people in that situation are just helpless

 

The workmanship on this project is beyond total crap. Rest assure the legal process will be long and slow. The sad part is a single call to Jason at Pete and Jakes would have provide everything your car would have needed to ride and handle like a slot car and most of it would have been a bolt in. But in reality, I see everything from rat rods to high caliber show cars that may have great welding, but the design and engineering is a nightmare. The insane attitude of the last 25 years or so that everything needs to lay frame on the ground is just as dangerous as this cobble job. As previously posted call Bob Bleed. your car is exactly what he is all about. best of luck. Larry

 

Uh-oh....... trespass.......

 

What do you have in WRITING that backs up either side? Hearsay is one thing that holds little legal weight.

 

I don’t think so, he said “getting rained in…”
I wonder if it was after hours and the shop was closed, or were they open and didn’t notice the vehicle being driven off?

 

Regardless .


The laws up here ( probably different where you are )

the owner of the vehicle can remove the vehicle from the shop premises and it’s up to the shop owner to either put a mechanics lean on it or pursue the owner in civil court .


The owner of the vehicle has all the rights in this matter .