I waited for 6 years to
save for the chance to fully restore my 1968 SS Chevelle I have owned for 26
years. In that 6 yrs., I scouted body shops to find the best to fit my
requirements. I was met with statements that the shop only did
insurance work, or they will never do another restoration again! But I
was able to find 3 shops in the region who wanted to tackle a full
restoration.
I chose a guy
who had a large shop and did mostly restorations. The owner had a
day job and had mechanics working the shop in the day and he worked at
night. I had 3 yrs. to check out the guys work and he always seemed to
know about restoration work and the problems associated with overhauling an
entire classic car.
I had an estimate of
about $6000 for the basic work, excluding any hidden problems uncovered.
He said it would take about 6 month to complete, starting in Nov
1999.
To make a long story
shorter, it took over a year, I had trouble finding the owner at the shop when
he said he would be there, the cost ended up at over $11,000. (I had him do
the interior at an interior shop, so that added about
$1500.)
After I finally got him
to deliver the car to me, I found the quarters were original, with 1/2 inch
thick bondo over the rustout areas. The agreement was to replace them
with full quarters, which he charged me 12 hrs labor plus parts for each
side. There was still fist-size holes in the backside of the
quarters, allowing exhaust to get in. The trim was falling off and the
new windshield was loose! Some of the rubber/felt seals I had waited so
long to have put in were in the back seat, still in the bag! I wrote up a list
of complaints and gave the guy a chance to correct the problems I had found
but it was then that several people told me to get the car back because the
guy was known to remove SS emblems and such to sell, or not even give your
original car back!
I had to find another
shop fast to determine what was done/not done in order to sue the 1st
guy. I was lucky to find a shop up the road from the 1st shop who was
familiar with his ways and had in fact redone several classic cars for the
same reason as me! One guy who got ripped off was a judge! The
second shop (Reflections Automotive, Belleville, IL) was great
in assisting me and even sent a mechanic with me to small claims court as an
expert witness. They did 1 or 2 classic cars at a time and they were
only fill-in work between insurance stuff.
These guys took my 68
apart down to the frame and repaired areas that I wouldn't have thought
of. Plus, they took digital pictures of the restoration as proof, and I
was invited to review my car at any time! In the end, I had more things
repaired/corrected than the 1st guy ever would have done. Door windows
roll like new, no leaks, trunk like new, etc. Paint looks like factory
and all the trim lines up and is secured and tight. There is no place I
have found that was missed.
So there are a few shops
in my area still accepting certain types of classic restoration work, but on
their terms and cost will be up there. But if you don't get the right
person or shop on your classic, read the above again. You will end up in
some kind of mess like I did.
Steve
ACES #
5494
