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
