Dan Kahn Selling His Modified On Egay

you cant keep them all , was this his first build???? since it was a kit car it was probely a good first experience for him so now he is selling and moving on to something that is more complicated, he probley learned how things were supposed to work now he can make his own stuff, on a hand built hotrod, tastes change he might not be as in love with the car as when he started, i bet thats never happened to you guys??

if someone did give him parts and they are pleased with the exposure from the free parts, then i would say both parties were happy with the arrangement, and he now has the right to do whatever he wants to do with his car, although im nosey also and was wondering why he was selling so soon, when i saw it on ebay,but its still none of my bussiness unless im a bidder..

 

Not that my opinion matters to most of you, but the thought that was running through my head as I read each section of that build up was, "Must be nice to get all that stuff to build a car, get paid to build the car and document the whole process." If I was waking up every morning and goin to work there I would be happy as a clam. What is with all the "it's harder than you think to get free shit and build a car while being paid to do it" talk, seems like it would be pretty easy to me.

I am sure he is a nice guy and he did put in a great deal of time and effort into the car, but in my opinion, the parts used on it are far from traditional and are not my kind of style: brand new GM crate motor and tranny, wannabe 97 injection, glass body, and every other piece on the car is not more than 2 years old. It is a nice lookin car, but not my taste and im sure he wasn't complaining to get free parts and get paid to build it. Selling it is his own choice and I hope he does well doing it.
Mike

 

Oh shit...
When I worked at an Olds dealer in the 70s I bought a trade-in '55 Olds holiday for $75. Almost free in the eyes of most people since even then they could have got more for it. 12 years later I traded it for the '40 GMC I buit my blue truck from. Was that darn near a gift?
And I have a distributor, oil pump and carburetor on my Model A that Rocky GAVE ME.. Oh, am I in deep doo.
And mom-in-law gave us the down on our house and it's now worth several hundred thou more than we paid for it... Woe is me!

What about "The Donald" Trump?
A few years back he was dead broke, in the hole several million in fact, and people "gave" him credit to buy back in to the real estate game!

Did you get that kind of "gift"?

Did Dan get anything close to it even if he was given a few parts?

So on the grander scheme of things, just shut the fuck up about Dan's (rumored) good fortune!

 

only clueless morons would criticise the BFD... the peanut gallery is ever vigilant, that thing is bad ass.

imo - sweat equity plays a huge part in a build up, its not like the BFD crew or this dan dude sat on their ass while some fairy godmother waved a wand and made a car.

i think im preaching to the choir though... all but a few of us are on the same page.

and youre right sam... there are HATERS everywhere, jealous becuase of someone elses good fortune

 

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Some how this doesnt seem right, he uses his position at the magazine to get a bunch of free stuff done... or I am assuming "please let me know if im wrong" and then he is selling it on ebay as a magazine car and making hugh profits.... this just doesnt seem right? is it just me our are others feeling the same way??
Ebay listing # 2469066557

-Bigdaddy

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So what would have made you happy? Should he just GIVE the car away then, or keep it forever just to appease you?

 

Shit its his car - he can do with it as he pleases - this is America isn't it?

 

Getting parts from a buddy and getting parts from an advertiser as part of a business deal are two VERY different things.

I own a bar. My suppliers give me promotional items to give away to customers to promote my business and to promote their product. That's the deal. I get stuff "for free" (ain't nothing free, I can assure you) and in return I promote their business. Win-win.

If I turn around and SELL the stuff (beer signs, posters, shirts etc.) on eBay, or anywhere else I would take a shit-kicking from my suppliers. Rightly so.

I DO have a problem with someone taking advantage of their position and personally profiting from it. And so should the companies that supplied anything. Business ethics 101.

 

Big A - There's a difference in these two flavors of promotion, though. In your case, it sounds like the promotion your suppliers are buying requires giving the free merchandise to your customers.

In the magazine case, the promotional value is ink: Articles & publicity for the manufacturer's product. If the publicity a manufacturer receives from giving away one part results in sales of hundreds of parts, do you really think they care if the writer sells the freebie on eBay afterwards?

It's only an ethics issue if the manufacturers expected (and paid for) a different outcome, and I don't think that's the case here. Maybe the magazine guys could chime in and confirm or deny this...

 

Any manufacturers,or retailers,that gave him parts or services did so for their own selfish reasons.
They worked out a deal they were happy with,
and as long as the terms of the deal were honored,
WTF ?
The parts were shown and mentioned in a series of articles in a national magazine,
the finished car probably went to some shows,whatever.
That exposure is worth money to most companies.
When the guys handing out free parts decide they are not getting their moneys worth,
the parts will dry up.
Which might not be a bad thing,but that is another story.

 

Sounds like a bunch grade school pansies yapping to me!! I've seen HAMEBERS turn a buck on other HAMBERS cars right on this board.
Bottom line, if his name is on the title, he can sell as he pleases.
Vendors do give freebies in return for tech articles.

 

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Grow up, this is big boy stuff.



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'nuff said

 

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I own a bar. My suppliers give me promotional items to give away to customers to promote my business and to promote their product. That's the deal. I get stuff "for free" (ain't nothing free, I can assure you) and in return I promote their business. Win-win.

If I turn around and SELL the stuff (beer signs, posters, shirts etc.) on eBay, or anywhere else I would take a shit-kicking from my suppliers. ...

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This isn't a case of the bar owner getting the freebie though.
It's as if your distributor ccame in and gave you a case of "Drink PBR" T shirts to give away with a sign that says "Free Tshirt with every pitcher of PBR, while supply lasts" Well, on the way out the door after his dealing with you, he also gave a free shirt to each of your waitresses and bar tenders who were on duty. Now it would be unethical for you to sell the shirts as you said but after the promotion is done what those employees did with the shirts that were given to them to own, with no apparent strings attached, would be their own business. That's the case that is (rumored to be) here.

Besides, unless something's changed Dan doesn't even work for R & C anymore. According to this anyway http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=251381&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1

 

Yeah, who is Scribe writing for now? I really enjoyed the articles on the build up of the mod.

R&C didn't pay for the whole car to be built did they? Scribe did, as I think I recall... R&C just agreed to it and then the venders started to donate or hugely discount parts. It's sad that he has to sell it, but the mags are way behind reality. It's been done for several months. Maybe he should add "controversial" to his description. Maybe it will go up and extra $2k or $3k.

 

Hey Everybody,

I figured this would end up on the HAMB sooner or later, but to be honest I'm really surprised at the overall positive tone of this thread. To all my friends, thanks for your kind words. I haven't been active on the HAMB for about six months because I grew tired of the constant mag and mag writer bashing, so this thread actually made me smile.

Here's the deal. Am I committed to selling my car? Nope, not really. I love that little roadster, but sometimes real life gets in the way. As many of you so-cal folks know, buying a house in this area has become damn near impossible, especially on a writer's meager income. I put the car on ebay to see what happenes, because living in an apartment and borrowing space in your parents garage 20 miles away makes working on projects pretty hard. Luckily my folks are very understanding people. If it sells, great. If not, that means I get to drive it all summer, which isn't a bad thing either.

As for what I did or did not get through the mag, that really isn't anyone's business. I built that car in less than two months start to finish, and invested about 800 hours and a lot of money doing it. I've got five figures invested in it, and coming up with that kind of cash in that short a time span basically busted me.

Hopefully the readers of the magazine enjoyed the buildup stories, the whole point was to see what it takes to build a little car solely out of aftermarket parts in a short time span. I tried to be as honest as I could, documenting the positves and negatives of the parts I worked with, as well as my own shortcomings as a novice builder. If you enjoyed the articles, then I did my job right. What I do with the car afterwards really isn't anyone's concern but mine. If for some reason you're bothered by it being on ebay, don't bid on it!

Thanks again to all of you had kind words to say. I'm sure I'll see y'all around at a show this summer, either in the roadster or my next project.

Dan

 

I think he's still with R&C. He has several articles in the newest issue.

 

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If you can't see the difference, you'll never be able to achieve the calibur of car that Dan's is. Stance, tire selection, paint color choice, use of chrome... stance, proportions... stance.


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The thing is, SAM, I do see the difference in the cars. I'm talking about the sum of the parts and the labor to build it.
That 12K difference would buy a fuck-load of "stance", and it's my guess, the guy with the T wasn't building with donated parts. (Which I don't know the extent of the donated stuff SCRIBE got). I, already, said, that it's his car, and he's the one with all the choices. Hell, if a guy can make $$$, he shoud go for it. I buy junkyard parts, and make money off 'em all the time. That's the way a monitary society works.
Did you look at the auction page? That T, aside from needing a little body work, is a really nicely done car.
Just like I'm happy to see someone make out good on a deal, I hate seeing a guy take a bath, too.

To be quite honest, SAM, you don't know what I'm able to achieve. I've been living "check to check" for two+ years, and I'm here, alone. Give me all them parts and see. Until then, I'd appreciate it, if you wouldn't assume you know me, or my abilities, based on the fact that I like a T-Touring that didn't go for enough on EBAY... Okay?

JOE

 

Good response to sam's post, I think he is a bit out of line on his words. I think that the black one looks quite a bit better than the R&C one, but that is just my opinion, which will obviously be different than others. But for him to say you could never be on the same level as "Dan's car" is very disrespectful and you can bet if he said that to my face, I would do more than say something back, no matter how many people were standing with him.

This post has gotten out of control, emotions are now involved and that means that the discussion is falling apart and cannot reach a reasonable outcome. Dan put in the hours building the car, so he deserves to make whatever money he wants off of it.
Mike

 

Samiyam is my hero, he speaks the Gospel, like it or get bent.

 

You just proved my point completely, emotions are involved and so people get uptight and angry over stupid shit. No matter what you want to call it, what he said to Junkyard Dog was disrespectful and uncalled for. This whole post has become pointless.
Mike

 

Scribe, dan if you will, I have never meet you and probably will sometime in my life, i like the mag you work for and read it.... didnt mean to stir up any trouble i was my opnion take it for what its worth... im sure you put in long hours and good luck on the house buying process.... as for RF i dont know if you remeber me ive meet you a dozen or so times thru lee and marty and the Jacks and when i was at my shop we were going to chop that buick for one of the guys at the mag and he wanted it done for free scott i think... Yes i did just get that free scoop, and if i decided not to run it, i would pass the good fortune onto another person... Without making a killing... as in i would give it to them for free also....

 

I agree SCRIBE. again it yours you do with it as you please. Keep up the good articles. I assume Kieth was good to work with at "Real Hot Rods" hes a great guy.

 

Damn right Killer. Killer has had a lot of hands on experience with doing magazine tech articles. Killer actually helped me build an entire truck for the SEMA show in Las Vegas this past year and a lot of the products you see on that truck were donated by advertisers. But as Killer can tell you building anything for free is the most expensive kind of experience.

He can tell you about the weekends that we spent locked in the shop from Friday Night through Sunday. He can tell you exactly how hard it is to do.

Then there is the little matter of the publishing company Dan and RF work for (that JimA, Shortbus and I all used to work for). They don't pay shit. My first year working for Truckin' Magazine (1992) I made less than $18,000 and lived on my own in Orange County. Rent for a 1-bedroom apartment in the ghetto was $600 a month. Do the math. Editors at Primedia don't make crap for money. So if Dan wants to sell a car that he owns to be able to afford getting into a house. More power to him. In fact it is probably the smartest thing that dan could do!

And EVERYONE involved with the project is happy. Here is why.

Advertising in a magazine is around $4,500 a page (rate card).

A company supplies a $5,000 starter kit to build a hot rod and they get 20 pages of editorial over the course of a year.

That means that if they had to buy those pages it would have cost them $18,000.

They got it for way less than that. And then Dan and all of his buddies did all of the work to make the car bitchin. The car is "famous" for a while giving everybody involved (shops and mfgrs.) more credability. In the end, Dan works his ass off, is able to sell the car and start his own version of the Waltons right here in the greater LA area. Almost sounds like the plot for a great movie, doesn't it.

Stuff like this is beautiful. Dan if we run into each other at a show this year I'll buy you a beer!