Hot Rods The damb painter won't paint

What in the hell can I do? I have a 29 model a roadster that I have mocked up an drove several hundred miles the summer before last. Last spring I blew the car apart and began inviting local painters over to check out the car and provide me with an estimate. All the rust repair had already been done, patch panels, replacement panels and such, and for the most part it was bare metal. Nothing to hide, I had shot etching primer on the new replacement panels, and there was primer on some of the older panels to prevent rust. Several guys came over and checked it out, none were cheap. The guy that I eventually picked spent about 3 hours going over the car. Nothing hidden, it was all there in plane sight.

One reason I picked this guy is that he has a dustless blasting system, and the whole car was going to be blasted. One less step for me, and he said he had time and could get started on it right away. So this was early June and it took a week or two before the project was delivered to his shop. I was supposed to get frame bagk right away, as it was new after market bare metal and basically ready to paint. It took about a month but I got it back and it looked pretty good. So that was about the middle of July, and for one reason or another he seems to have done about 3 or 4 days of work to the body since then. I have called him till he won't answer my calls, I've text him till my fingers are sore. I've drove round trip of about 35 miles a hundred times. I very seldom find him there when I arrive. I have never caught him working on my car. It was too hot, his grandmother was sick, blah blah blah!

I finally became so sick of this shit I decided that even though I had given him 2 grand up front, and another grand in materials I told him I wanted my shit back and I would just cut my losses and go some place else. That caused a week long text war that resulted in him telling me that he promised it would be done by the end of October. So I left him alone throughout October, and he sent me a text on the last day of the month saying the car was not done (big surprise) but that everything else in his shop was done and all he had to work on was my car. Again, ok just finish the dam car.
OK, so it almost the end of November, and now I get a text that his grandmother has been placed in hospice care at his home. I guess this means he is still not working on my car.

What the hell can I do?

There was no written estimate, and not even a receipt for my up front money, dumb on my part. I haven't seen anything that would lead me to believe he will have it done this time next year. I'll soon be 65, how many summers do I have left?

 

find out when hes going to be there, turn up with a trailer and take all your stuff back and drive away.

 

Paint jail. Been there, done that too many times. Just last year dropped one off to a shop 1st of May, he said 3/4 weeks. Picked it up unfinished end of November. The guy had painted 2 cars for me before, always had them done on time so ???
Sometimes you just gotta say enough is enough, cut your losses and pick it up. I find once a guy gets that far behind even if he gets back on it it will be a half as- rush job.

 

If his grandma was placed in hospice care at his house, he should be there more often than not. I would then set up a meeting with him and show up 2 hours early, just so he will be there. If none of that works, get cops involved and get your car back. Somethings shouldn't be this hard.
Tony

 

What metalman said- been there as well. Cut your losses and go get it.

 

As Wemark says stop talking and go get your car, I assume your location may have something to do with finding a lot of willing body shops to do your car.
Good luck!

 

I was held up for 3, yes three damn years by my painter and one day a friend ask me how the paint work was going and I finally erupted in a fit of rage and jumped in my truck and went straight to his shop,naturally he wasn't there,he was at home sleeping off a night before.

I wrote notes and stuck them on his windshield,on the front,side and back door of his house and shop.

I put a note in the mail box of the shop and his house and was getting
more irate by the minute.

Getting pissed was the best thing,I got my car back the next day and within the next 2 months my car was painted.

Go get your car and find another painter,he ain't the only one out there. HRP

 

Do it yourself. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...home-in-the-driveway-or-garage-thread.943236/

 

Looks like a good opportunity to learn how to do body and paint work, yourself.

Oh...Blue One beat me to it.

Hopefully, you also learned about paying for work before it's done.

 

start visiting the grandmother everyday until you're able to seduce her. Get her to change the will. Hold the estate over his head until he paints your car.

 

Having a shop that only works on old cars and trucks,I can understand your frustration.
What do you want done other than block out your car and paint it ?
It should have been done in a month. If my shop was not all the way down in Florida I would help you out.

 

One plan would be to get it back and do the prep work your self, then get a pro to shoot it for you

Then get back on it and do the color sanding & rub out too, plus saving a ton of bucks also

DND

 

Go get it. The money is long gone, but as you say, how many more summers do you(we) have ? I have seen/heard this same scenario a hundred times. Usually money is one of the biggest problems. Most people can not afford to be spending $2000.00 a week for labor ,plus materials( and that is at $50.00 per hr). Second is once they get the car into their body shop, on closer examination, they realize it needs more work than they thought. And they won't do body work over any areas that may cause a problem later on and than they are the one's held responsible. Now, they either have to fix it/paint it for nothing, or they get blamed for the lousy job they did and bad mouthed to other prospective customers.
You have done nothing wrong ,but I would certainly want all good references for the next shop I took it to. I do all my own body work and paint just for the reasons above. I had a 5W coupe that I chopped and did all the patch panels and just wanted to get the body "ironed out". Sat in the same spot I dropped it off 6 months later. So, I picked it up, brought it back to my shop and spent a week on the body getting it where I wanted it to be. I paid no money up front and really wound up with free storage of the body for 6 months. You have all winter to get it done. Good luck and hang in there !

 

no simple answer - but, just set a deadline in writing - go over on that day and get your car if not done - do not accept any excuses - have a friend that has a '41 Willys pu that has been in two different "paint jails" run by "friends" for close to 15 years (beat that one) -

 

Yes, been down that road. Life does get in everybody's way and plans do go south.
You never should have fronted him money initially.
Last time around it took me over a year and a half for an actual 5 months of work.
Don't pay a dime up front!


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Life at times does get in the way but you've been patient enough. Get it out of there.

 

There is a simple answer, what they said.....just go get it. It's a tuff bullet to bite, but you'll be better off the second it returns to your possession. Driver (or better) quality paint work is doable, even at home. With the resources available now days, why not give it a shot.

 

Go get it!! I never give money up front - it's usually used for the other guys car that he spent on vacation. Learned the hard way. Take it to the guy that bills U after time & material. He has an incentive to finish on time. Estimates are usually lower than reality.

 

This paint jail deal is becoming too common. No bigger than that car is you could have done the bodywork , paint ect... yourself and been done long ago and saved a ton of money as others have said. I personally know of a certain 68 GTO that has been in a local jail for 13 years. The owner complains to me about it all the time. He wants me to do the car, I hesitate to do it because it has been apart so long and is scattered all over this guys bodyshop. This certain shop now has a monte carlo ss also been there 4 years now. I do one car at a time and my customers leave happy. I take pride in knowing the cars I do are done in a timely fashion. But us old farts I fear are becoming a dying bunch. Good luck no matter. Lippy

 

I'll add to the chorus here. Sadly your money is gone. Pick up the car before the snow gets too deep up there. Find another painter that will accept a pay as you go, no money up front plan.

 

I once had a wise man tell me" The first qualificatation to be a body and paint man is to be able to look a man in the face and lie like a son-0f- a-bitch" So far I see no reason to doubt him.
I know that all body men are not like that, I have just never met one. Must have something to do with all tha paint fumes and booze in their systems.

 

Agree, sadly. I lost a rare car that way, and got back a senond a mess half done. Upside: I learne to paint, and paint well.

 

Go get it out of body shop jail.
Bring the car here and I'll do it for you.

 

Never pay up front! Geez, how hard is that to understand? Buy materials, yes, but never pay for labor until the job is done.

 

There's more honest guys than not. The problem is you hardly hear stories about the good guys and you can't find them out soliciting work. They are too busy.

 

I'm not too lazy to paint, but over the last 10 years or so I have become very sensitive to the fumes. Can't seem to be around it at all. Has anyone ever actually gone through this where the police or a lawyer was used to get your stuff back? Also, I didn't give him all the money, he wanted half to start.

 

Well I suspect you are going to have to have a numbers matching title to get the police involved and attorney is going to cost you as much as the other half of the paint job. If you have a valid title than having the Sheriff with you when you pick it up will make it go easier.

 

Sorry to hear of this common problem with getting paint on anything these days. My 56 in the avatar is also one of those victim's. All I can say is this. I didn't stand for it very long and I pulled it away from the shop dispute their plea not to. One of the better days in my life. Sure, the car wasn't painted. But I took control of my situation and you can to.

 

Become friends with the local sheriff and pay him a visit be sure to have your trailer with you , good luck


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It took me about 7 months to get my 55' stude prepped for paint, was going to paint it myself. Wound up taking it to a local shop, dropped it off on a Tuesday evening, was going to help with final sanding and taping and such the next day. Showed up at 10 am the next morning and the car is outside, PAINTED. Shop owners son thought the car was cool and worked all night on it. Guess I got early parole for time served.