It's true, I probably posted more yesterday than any one single year of my 21 years as a Ferrari Chat member. I love the community. Especially, the businesses that keep this incredible passion alive. I have spent over the years arguably obscene money with Dan at Bradan. Gary at Bobileff. Chris at Dugan. Ludwig at OMAG. And of course more recently, EAG. They all will tell you, this can be a tough, tough business. You know. There are great customers. There are difficult customers. It's not easy. To answer your question, why am I here in this conversation? Because it seems like there is a victim, and there is criminal. If Art is guilty, sorry Art, consequences are tough. When justified. That's why I keep asking, what's the real reason? What is the evidence? You have it? Bury him. You don't? Well. That's a different story all together. Either way, people are suffering. Dragging out a partner who can't afford lawyers... in order sink him.. that's an American business story we all know too well. I'm waiting, like many others, to see what justified your actions. Until then, if I were in Art's shoes, I'd fight like hell too. You said it best. Ridiculous evidence. Such as, you guys admitting in writing, you did this. So, what is the ridiculous evidence that this was justified? It's none of our business, you don't have to answer. But since we're talking, and you asked, that's why I'm here.
I wanted to share my experience with EAG, where I sent my F1 575m for conversion in April 2021. Initially, I was informed that the process would take about four months. However, it turned out to be a journey of over two years before I finally received my converted car. The car still is not set up perfectly, so I do have a preference of who I would choose to work with going forward for support. Throughout this period, I exercised patience and understanding, but it was challenging as I often felt misled due to the constant delays. It was only after seeking assistance from members of this community that progress seemed to be made. @360trev & @ttforcefed … thank you both. Trev helped me multiple times over the last couple years and was integral in helping get my car out of Austin. @ttforcefed has made efforts over the years in resolving multiple issues between EAG and enthusiasts. He was instrumental in connecting me with John Henkel, who has been a beacon of honesty and transparency. John's straightforward approach and dedication to resolving issues have been a breath of fresh air. I genuinely believe that without John’s involvement, my car might still be in disarray at the Austin shop. While my car is not yet perfect, John and one of the technicians, mentioned by Art in one of his videos, have been collaborating with my local shop to fine-tune everything. The communication and support from John and the technicians have been excellent. As this saga unfolds, I am curious to see the outcome. Moving forward, I would prefer to deal with John for any future conversion work or warranty-related matters on my converted car.
I bought one of their kits for my 360. It was a horrible experience and it kept breaking the cables inside that move the shifter was just made cheap. I think to some they sold cheaper parts than others oh and it also took 3 months to get the kit vs 4 weeks. It was the worst decision ever for me. Wish I never did it. Couldn’t even enjoy the car. The whole kit you can find online for 10k but they sold them for 25k. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
It's important to consider various factors when evaluating any conversion kit, beyond just the components themselves. Proper installation and software calibration tailored to individual preferences and vehicle specifications are crucial for a successful outcome. Additionally, it's essential to understand any potential compromises made in terms of omitting critical options that could impact performance or safety. Different conversion companies offer varying approaches and continuously refine their products over time. It's important to carefully research and compare options before making a decision. I commented on it in this post here; New gated conversion kit - Modena Lucerna
All I could say is that a business partner and an investor do not just come in over the weekend and take all the assets of the business... there is more to the story that we do not know about. He put out a video with 3 options which all seem kind of arrogant and quite frankly if you need to use social media to get a hold of your partners who have gone radio silent on you, then you have troubles in River City. I could also say is that Art allegedly has a history of felonies, bad business practices, garbage customer service, angry customers, poor product delivery, possible fraud and/or embezzlement, and has openly lived the big fat life with everything that he has bought or owned. I think that John Henkel and Jon Yi have chosen option 4: none of the above and have taken the liberty of cutting their losses. Let's face it, Jon isn't a billionaire because he makes stupid business decisions. I could tell you all that I know for a fact that he massively ripped off a very close friend of mine who did NOT deserve it, and I am sure that you could all guess who that is. Here is a nice article about Art that you all could enjoy: https://www.thetruthabouteverything.com/p/eag-and-me
Dr. S is actually pretty good. They are now called Cambio Manuale and NG Supercars could install them.
Very interesting... And not surprising. They do say 9 out of 10 small business fail and of those failed ones I bet most are because the "owner" used company money like it was their own. When I invest in a new business besides reviewing the business plan, I make sure that the other partners do not need the money from the business to "live" on and have an agreement on what the company will "buy" and "fund" like company cars. Most importantly, we all agree what are the thresholds and criteria for the business providing income to the partners so that the business is self-sustaining? I know this can be overly conservative, but I watched many friends who did not heed this advice invest in things that should have been slam dunks only to have one partner buy a company SUV, spend on conference travel to places like Hawaii, and expensive dinners with "clients" that drain the business to the point the rent and utilities weren't being paid. @fred, did you buy the 360 to convert and sell as an investment... One more rule... Never buy a car as an investment. Oh, you might say what about buying a 1960's Ferrari 250. They ceased being cars and became more like pieces of collectible artwork when that specific market changed to mimic the art world.
At what point does this thread no longer belong in 360 430 forum…. They worked on all sorts of platforms. This one is going the route of pr?
If Jon Yi is a billionaire and guilty of the crooked conduct you say, then small fish Art likely never had a chance. The current situation was predictable.
If you are in the market for a gated conversion, you will need to understand which shop and what parts were used in the conversion. My feeling is that the OEM gated will go further up in prices, the F1 will maintain their values and converted gated will either drop closer to the F1 or possibly lower. Right in this thread you have people who had amazing conversion experiences whereas others fell into Dante's Inferno from the SAME shop. How is a person to determine which car they would be getting? I would also concur with the comment that this is a hard business where there are humble/decent customers and the ugly/cheap customers that add unnecessary stress on the shops.
It´s easy really, just ask for documentation on who did the conversion and how the software was programmed. 360trev have written several posts on the subject. Mine was done early in 2020 by a reputable shop in Sweden in close cooperation with EAG. Has been working flawlessly and everything is photo documented with receipts.
i suspect many of the lower quality conversions have less to do with the conversion and the quality of the car before it was converted. Art has sent me pics of cars that have shown up to EAG and i can assure they were not cars anyone wld buy with good expectations. There was also this thing called COVID a few years ago and it caused wide spread issues with quality of production/parts etc. Maybe there are covid kits out there that may need updates? and fwiw there absolutely are factory cars (not conversions) that shift like ****.
I have no personal experience with EAG, but my tech and others I know of that have had to trouble shoot EAG converted cars have all told me most of the time as soon as they swapped the outer shift controller for a factory unit (or Dr S) many of the issues went away. I'm very happy I went with factory parts on my CS even with the added time and money. Having said that, I also know people with EAG converted cars who couldn't be any happier and rave about them. Seems to be a luck of the draw type thing. Tough situation for sure.
I think the nails were being driven into the EAG coffin when Art was buying up junky 360's at 70k+ a pop on BAT. Cars that should have gone for $50k were being snapped up for way over their value. These cars had no chance of ever making a profit. They started out as boat anchors and probably, a lot of them are sitting in a lot somewhere rotting. I think the basic issue is Art's reach was far greater than his grasp. He had to take on partners to continue such reach and they had a different idea of how the business should be run and evolve than Art. If Art had done the conservative thing and grown only as fast as the business could support, he would likely have fewer customers but those customers would ALL be happy and his business would have been 100% his. His to fail, his to succeed, his to own. Take this as a good example of a way to NOT start and run a business. If you can't organically grow, then you certainly can fail spectacularly.
