Here's a short piece from a Houston area newspaper. Dude advertised late model engine swaps for cl***ics, complete and finished. Broke them down and sold parts off them then told owners he was "delayed" in getting parts, etc. plus other excuses. A former hot rod shop owner in Texas who defrauded customers under the guise of car restoration has learned his fate. Richard Thomas Finley was sentenced to 60 years in prison on Jan. 6, 2026, after a jury found him guilty of felony theft, according to a statement from the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office and the Gulf Coast Auto Crimes Task Force. Investigators said the case stemmed from a lengthy probe into Finley’s business practices at his shop — Cl***ic American Street Rods — which resulted in the recovery of 24 cl***ic vehicles and numerous vehicle parts equating to more than $2 million in stolen property. The court also ordered Finley to pay $495,000 in res***ution to victims, the statement read.
I get more than 1/4 of my work is from bad mechanics, doing ****ty jobs and ripping people off. But the people when they come in, don't want to mention who it is, I don't get it, people should know who these hacks are.
60 years? I have a buddy doing a fiver for a multimillion ponzi scheme. Not in the Lone Star state but seriously?
and then you have a guy like Harry from Harry's Rod Shop in Booton, NJ who is the most honest, sincere, person I met ever!! Doesn't try and **** you ,great work, and he's on the phone with you with any thing that he comes up with BEFORE proceeding + he loves with he's doing.. Wouldn't go anywhere else
It's a shame there's people who take advantage of another's vulnerabilities. I tried really hard during my 40 + years in the ch***is business to deliver what I agreed on for what I agreed to. I never wanted to be watching over my shoulder.
Back when I lived in Texas and worked at the Firestone store in down town Waco as the front end/brake mechanic in the 70's I could tell where a customer had been when he pulled up to the shop and go out of the car just by little things he did. A shop a few blocks away was famous for trying to oversell and one deal I got involved in was a jury trial over a Mopar car that was a few months old that the owner had taken to that shop and was told his ball joints were shot and it needed new ball joints. This was a car with about 3000 miles on it. Our store was a block from the courthouse and we did a lot of work for people who worked in the courthouse so we were pretty well known to them. Someone came to me and asked if I could put the car on the front end rack and show the people from the trial what condition the car was in on the John Beam Visualliner. They brought the car to me and I put it on the rack and adjusted everything and checked the ball joints and they were well within specs for Mopar ball joints even though they did have the normal Mopar slack in them. The Mopar factory rep had given me a print out of the specs on the ball joints when the car was broght to the shop. I explained to the group how the machine worked and how the proper way to measure the slack in that type of ball joint was done and proceded to check the slack for them and they could see it for themselves on the screen. It was so minimal that the judge said, case over, we are done here. The owner of the car was in a bit of a snit but he saw for himself that the ball joints were well within specs.
Great to see justice doled out for once. This kind of thing happens all too often, maybe not on this scale, and the perpetrator is never caught or prosecuted. I hate a fucxing thief.
Behaviour modification is directly proportional to the fear of punishment. Something we have forgotten lately.
I always wonder if these guys start off planning to commit crimes, or if they get into it out of desperation as their business starts losing money. I think there's a lot of them who are good mechanics or bodymen, but are terrible businessmen who can't manage the money side of the job.
...I would like to give them that benefit of doubt and you are right, many are quite skilled with abundant talent but, at some point a lack of honesty enters the picture.
When a car is brought in and dis***embled for changes and new parts bought, it's legit. When a single part is sold without owner's knowledge and approval, that is no longer poor business knowledge.
Nothing to wonder about. The ******* is a sick ( pick your fav vile word ) I like efyouseekay. A life in jail is just what the doctor ordered. He can spend the rest of his life doing laundry and steeling towels and sheets.
Well I sure hope the victims get their share of the $495,000 but I'm guessing he wont be paying until his 60 years is up. Maybe he's got some property or monies they can attach to help pay some of that?
Sad to say but there are a couple of guys right here in Oregon/Washington that should be sitting right next to that guy in Jail.....
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