When Credit is Due!

So i have had a few e-mails regarding the 55 Buick that's in the new Rod & Custom Nov 08. So I'm here to clear the air, sure more credit should have been given for the build but it happens. Who's fault is it, the writer of the story, the owner? Or the shop i was working for at the time, why would they take credit for something they didnt even do? sure they assmeblied and wired the car, finaled it, the work was more or less subbed to me. My sould job was to build this car for Andy.

Even last year when Rod & Custom contacted me about the car, i put the owner and them together, making sure the story would be correct on who did what. To me its important to give credit where credit is due, being I'm a one man shop owner and my builds is what brings work to me in future.

So as far as the design and fab work, I built and designed the following, the consul, Headers, the whole engine bay design, Air cleaner design, Making the speaker grill slide across the dash, Ac design, Gas Tank, Brake reservoir location. One off Tow hitch, machining the water pump for upper hose solid unit, one off air tanks, tyranny & Ac lines, "All" sheet metal and Tin work Basically designed and dry assembled the whole car, when completed my service was no longer needed. But it's good cause i sure wouldn't be where I'm at now.

I know there are some out there who can understand where im coming from, from builders to owners. I expercienced the same thing when i built Reeps 34 cover TRJ #26, the feeling gets old, its frustrating deep down. How is one suppose to get work from building something so different?

So remember don't ever beleive what you read! I don't need any neg Bullshit! remarks so this thread will get closed, I'm curious to hear what others have experienced with this happening to them on situations like this.

Thanks for your time ~S

 

It happens A LOT- but like you said it's hard for the writer to get the full scoop from the current owner.
I've had people tell me they built their car when I know someone else did and I wrote it as correct as I could tell it. That's why I personally usually wrote about owner built cars so I could get the story straight- plus it usually has a better story. I have been turned completely off a car and passed when the owner didn't know crap about his own car and needed help to open the hood. They just want to tell you how much they spent and I can't write about that.

Steve, people know you do great work- don't sweat it.

 

Many of us have been there. If I start mouthing off on this subject, I will just work myself into a frenzy,,,,,,, wasted effort.

 

Years ago I sold an alky dragster that I owned to a guy who turned it into an ice racer. Snowmobile track looking thing. The original car was built by Don Tuttle. I backhalfed the car, redid the interior and built a new body and front end. The guy calls and leaves a message for me saying that the car is in some magazine. I find a copy and it says" built by the owner" in his shop. I always snicker about that but my thought is, when he bought the car, he has the right to say whatever he wants about it. It won't be correct but it wasn't a big enough deal for me to care. The guys that are really good guys will make sure that doesn't happen. The guy that has his on ego to deal with will be the one that you're less than happy with. The only thing I'm sure of is the car world is really small. Someone will always know who did what on that car. It doesn't help you at all but we can't control others, only ourselves.

 

I was wondering about that. If it helps, when I saw the dash buttons I thought- "Hey, Sellers built that car, I saw it on his myspace page..." Later on when I read the full article I was curious as to why you weren't mentioned a little more prominently. I'm sure whoever they talked to about the car is responsible for "omitting" certain facts.

 

There is a thread on why there were show cards, or show boards used. I bet Sellers can tell ya why they are a good idea.

 

The 1st show the 55 went to Cow Palace, the car to cleaned house, yeah my name was there, but the night it was invited to Blackie's show, and others the my name disappeared. I knew in my heart the response the car would get from the public, and other critics, its a 4 door for one, 2nd a fine balance, the part i trip off of,, is how another shop could take credit,, when they can't even perform the task in the future by another customer walking in and looking for the same level of work? Just burns i guess

 

I can see how it can be frustrating....but people have an enormous amount of respect for you , and not just on the HAMB.....keep doing the amazing work you do, and the work will steadily come..

 

it's more than just magazines.. car owners just plain lie to people about who did what. I know a guy who's a painter, and he works with a guy who does all the body work. they did a 40 ford cabover truck, complete body and paint.

so I see the truck at my other buddies who is doing the uhpolstry. I mention that this is a cool truck and my buddy tells me that the guys son did the bodywork and paint when my other buddy was the guy that did it.

people are weird

 

Hopefully when a potential customer goes to the shop that stole the credit,
the shop will come to you and subcontract again.
If they paid you top dollar to do the work,
and they were able to mark up that price and make money on you,
then thats just business.
The hopeful thing is that they need to depend on you to get your quality of work in the future,
and it is there job to extract the most money out of the customers to make everyone happy.

I know it is hard to give up the credit,
but it is an art both to do your work and be the money schmoozer.
Most of us can't do both.

That company that "boyds" would go to to do all the custom metalwork, Marcel's,
didn't really get any huge publicity until after boyd's went down and up again,
but they still had alot of business and just got more work since they were dependable.

TP

 

I completely agree that credit must be given where credit is due BUT sometimes due to space limitations in the article it is just impossible to list everysingle thing that was done and who did it.

Sometimes, like in my case, certain things were done by certain people on the car then the exact same thing was redone by my body/paint guy because his "name" was going on the work and he wanted to make sure it was done right and without him redoing it he would know how it was done the first time. So who do you list as doing what?

I filled out the main players on the tech sheet that I filled out for Big Olds feature in Rodder's Digest. I also sent the editor all the links to the threads on the HAMB of the build process. The threads go into all the details of exactly who did what on what pieces. We'll see how it's written up.

 

I am in the architecture business and it is the same thing. Like designing and making buildings, building hot rods is usually not a product of just one person's work, but team work over a period of time. And unfortunately, when it comes time to tell the story, not everybody gets as much credit as they might deserve in a lot of situations for various reasons good and bad. I do specialty work and find myself not getting credit all the time. A lot of the times it is just not important to the writer who did all the subwork stuff and they just give credit to the Architect as if they did everything themselves. I have just learned to not worry about it and always just try to do the best I can. Since the Architects hired me, they are really my clients anyway, not the building owners, and it is my job to make them happy and make them look good. By doing good work, I get more work and that is what is important to me. But, from my perspective, I would find it pretty hard to not be completely honest and just tell people who did what. I know I can't do everything myself and have no problem with that or telling someone else that either.

 

Funny enough, I was flipping through that issue last night at the Library...I mean Barnes & Noble....and said to the wife...Hey, look, there's that Buick that Steve built...then looked real hard till I found the 1 line mention of you!

WE know you do exceptional work Steve, and it does suck that you were not really credited for the work you did on that one.

 

I've sold a few cars that kinda came back & bit me. One was a 55 I built from the ground up. Sold it to a guy in Arizona- he then sold it to a guy back in California. Then sold to another guy. Saw it at a show & he has a show board up in front of it. Says he built the car in 8 months- all himself.

Imagine that. Looks exactly like the one I built. Right down to the trim tag & VIN.

 

Sellers Equipped

I don't know you...and I'm not in the car building business.......

(I do love cars and motorcycles)

But..............I do feel the Passion you have for the art of building a nice piece of rolling art / history.....

AND other people can and will feel and see it,

they already do.......


You can hold your head up with pride ,

AND know that people that take credit, thats not theirs will pay for it in the long run

with the lack of ability and finished product that the public will easily see.....

I hope this relays the feeling that its meant too.

 

To paraphrase Hillary Clinton:
It takes a village to build a Hot Rod. Seems like this stuff happens all the time....We sure see it here in Austin.
DP

 

I wont argue with the overall theme of this thread... If someone takes credit for someone elses work, that's just plain wrong....... But...

There's a point where you have to draw a line.

If Joe-Blow wants a particular car built a particular way, and he has no skills but he does have money... And he has Fred the frame guy build the chassis, Bill's body shop do the sheetmetal, and Art's interiors do the leather work..... Who built the car?

Donald Trump has 50 buildings named after him because he put up the $$$ to build them... Jose, Bill, and Larry were the ones there every day hanging iron, laying concrete, and swinging hammers, but you dont see those guys name on the sign out front... Donald Trump never did so much as put a single nail in a wall, but everyone agrees it's "Donalds building".

And if some guy buys your project, then he paints it and puts a different engine in it... To a certain extent, he has the right to claim that he is responsible for the car as it now appears.

Now like I said, taking credit for someone elses work is just plain wrong, and an outright lie is, well, just a plain old lie... But there is a certain point where one can take the credit for the car they own being in it's current condition.

 

Steve is bullshitting you all. I built that car 30 years ago with nothing but a ball peen hammer and a soldering iron. I was walking to the shop every day 10 miles uphill in the snow barefoot and on crutches too. I cant beleive he's trying to take credit. Shame on you.


Oh dammit....hold on a second....another monkey just flew out of my butt.

 

I KNOW THIS WILL BE READ WRONG BUT HERE IT GOES..................

People should not tell people they did the paint if they did not do the paint it!

If people ask me who did something and I don't want people to go to that person I just tell them a local painter painted it.

I did not get a discount when I paid to get work done so I don't think I HAVE to advertise for them.

I tell people DeRosa and Son, A&A Auto, Willies Place help me build my car because they were all overly good to me either in price or service. They are on my show sign.

Also people are stupid not to tell other shops or people helped or built it. The value of the car is more if they say that you (Steve or Sellers) built or helped with the certain things. Frank DeRosa told me a few weeks ago he found out a car they entirely built for a guy was now magically built by the guy. The guy is stupid because of the DeRosa name, just like the 'Sellers' name.

The flip side is I have heard shops take full credit for my car. I have had help from 10 different shops or people from the begining and I heard people tell me the shop said they "DID" or "BUILT" my Caddy. One shop did electrical, one did startup mech, one did air bags, one did body work, one did paint, one did scallops and detailing fab, one did stripping, etc

Definately give the credit if you want, BUT DON"T LIE ABOUT IT!!!!!!!!!!!

Brian

 

BTW, ask OZ about credit. He has built more show winning cars (and rarely gets credit) than we dream of building.

Brian

 

I had it happen to me on a '65 GTO tri-power. I did a frame off smack down resto including building the engine, trans, rear, brakes, suspension, the electronics, gauges.

I did everything but the outer body work and paint, and it looked like shit when it was done, and I spent another week re aligning the the panels and doors so it looked the best it could. I saw it for sale later, and guess what shop got the credit for it? The guy that did the half assed $10,000 body and paint work. Our shop didn't even get a mention, seems it was a "survivor car" that had been repainted.

I quit after that. It happened before on a '55 Chevy Bel-Air that I did from the frame up all but the paint. It is wrong,

 

A friend built a 68 dart Hemi clone ragtop it was correct to a tee. except the 671 blower, and two shot, anyway he sold it to a guy in new york, a few months latter it is shown in mopar action, the new owner claimed he did all the work and the car was in poor shape when he bought it, he said he walked away from the trans port crying. Mike spent five years on this car. We all e-mailed the rag and tryed to clear this up, there view was he owns the car its his story, I dont but the rag anymore.
Galin even tryed to clear this up as he had rode in the car when Mike had it.

 

i will be honest if my two cents is worth anything. i picked up that maga zine flipped threw it ,saw the car and new you where very involved in the build ,never read a word but i just assumed you were mentioned all threw the article ,first thing that came to mind when i saw it was your name steve. your work did not need words in my case great job on the build ,your talent blows me away

 

It,s just small penis syndrome.People think they need to brag about what they did or didn,t do just to get respect.
The funny thing is that most respected builders don,t sprout off about what they did.
You know what you have done and that is all that matters.
PS I,ve had people tell others that they own and built one of my cars while I was in the car at an event.

 

This kinda like the time I had my own engine building shop. Guys would come in looking for a build. They would ask "how much if I put your name on the car?" My answer was "same as I just quoted you", followed by a puzzeled look and the statement "You'll get some good advertising if the car runs great". To which I'd reply, "I know how the car is going to run if I build the engine, tell everyone you built it. If indeed it does run good and you tell them you did the work, better be prepared to back it up if the guy your talking to wants one just like it. I've built enough engines around here that word will get out who actually did the work, besides if you do something stupid with it and it blows up I don't want my name associated with it. My name on the side of your car won't feed my kids or pay my house payment, I do this for a living I've already got the reputation I need or you wouldn't be here."

Frank

 

One other thing Steve. It's coming to a point that when someone looks at something you did it will be apparent who did the work. Your carving out your own nitch in this business so the advertising will shortly become very unnecessary. When it starts to be said "Is that Sellers work" you know it won't be associated with anything but the best.

Frank

 

Thanks man,, actually thanks to everyone of who who understand. ~S

 

I can understand your frustration. When HotRod Deluxe ran the story on the Altered Wheelbase Dart I built, the phone for about three month's at the shop never stopped ringing for people that wanted to talk to Steve Magnante about how he built this or welded that. I laughed every time. Steve is awesome when he puts pen to paper, or put the camera in front of his face and he can turn a turd into a pot of gold! Give him a grinder or a mig welder??? Watch out, bruthas!!! He'll cut a wide and bloddy path through whatever he touches!! We often joked about his axe swinging precision. In the end, we all get it. The people that REALLY need and want to know who did the ACTUAL work eventually find out, and they respect you that much more for not trying to steal the limelight! In the end, it all works out. Don't let it eat you up, okay?

 

This is why i don't care for John D'agistino and it bothers me when people talk about the cars he 'builds.' To his credit he has good taste and a good eye, but whenever i read an article about one of his cars it seems like there's a quick mention of the builder, but then the article continues to praise him. Without the builders there wouldn't be cars for a lot of people. I don't care who puts up the money for something, i care about the guy with the talent and the drive to pull it off.

Sellers, hopefully you can take some comfort in the thought that you have a great reputation and it's a well deserved one.

As it has been put over on another great board, ''Its all about the build.''

 

Steve we talked about shit like this before ...... Fuck'um, just keep doing what you do . Had any GOOD Shit lately ??