Beware of Robert Edward Ball / Supercars International Inc Exposed Regretfully I feel compelled to post this here as I do not wish this to happen to anyone else. Robert Edward Ball owner of Supercars International Inc did a COMPLETE engine rebuild on my 1984 Lamborghini Countach along with replacing the clutch assembly, hoses and belts. After I paid him in full and received the car back from him the engine showed insufficient oil pressure after 20 miles of driving. Upon reviewing this problem with Robert Ball and insisting upon an unconditional warranty of the engine rebuild which was refused I took Robert Ball to small claims court on September 25, 2007. I made it perfectly clear to him, his attorney and the mediator that I did not want to sue him however I wanted to have my engine fixed properly. Again Robert Ball refused to agree to an unconditional warranty on reworking my engine sight unseen. I stated it was my feeling that it was not a case of if Robert Ball did something wrong in the rebuild but rather what he did wrong as the engine did not have any problems with oil pressure prior to the rebuild. At this point we were at a stalemate and I could understand why as if I were asked to honor an unconditional warranty of an engine rebuild without the opportunity to evaluate it myself I would more than likely decline as well. This being said I put myself in his position and tried to break the stalemate by offering to have the engine removed and disassembled by an agreed upon third party at my expense. I was will to do this with the understanding that if the cause of the low oil pressure condition was directly attributed to Robert Balls work he would unconditionally warranty his work at no further cost to me. Unfortunately this was not acceptable with Robert Ball and we went before the judge and I lost my case against him in small claims court due to lack of evidence. At this point I had a month to make a choice either lick my wounds and move on, or hire an attorney and the best mechanic I could find and appeal. I chose the latter and contacted Mr. George Evans owner of Evans Automotive repair and explained my situation to him putting all my cards on the table so as he knew what he was getting into. I would now like to formally thank Mr. Evans and his shop for the exceptional job that they did in evaluating, documenting and rebuilding the disaster of an engine job that was done at the hands of Robert E Ball. Mr. Evans determined that the cause of the low oil pressure was due to the fact that the crankshaft was turned 0.010 undersized, however 0.005 oversized bearings were installed resulting in way to excessive clearances. Furthermore Mr. Evans found several other items that were wrong with the engine. They were but are not limited to: All 24 valves on the cylinder heads were excessively ground and shortened in length to the point that they were no longer any good. The heads did not have a five angle cut, oil restrictors in the block were installed upside down, piston to wall clearance was way too tight after the pistons skirts coated but cylinder liners were not honed or re-sized. All six carburetors were leaking gasoline and the floats were set too high. The original Magneti Marelli ignition unit tested OK. Lock washers were installed on the studs of the cylinder heads causing the head gaskets to weep. Mr. Evans and his shop completely rebuilt my engine in a period of seven months keeping me informed in his findings and recommendations every step of the way. He submitted over three hundred photos of the teardown and rebuild process. Furthermore when no settlement or restitution was offered by Robert Ball for the poor engine job, Mr. Evans agreed to a formal deposition by both attorneys. When I told Mr. Evans to keep track of his time and expenses associated with the deposition, he told me not to worry about it that he felt it was and I quote Its the right thing to do. Mr. Evans, myself and my attorneys worked preparing my case against Robert E Ball and Supercars International Inc for 18 months. We collected evidence, documentation and formal depositions of all parties involved to provide a rock solid case against Supercars International Inc. Conveniently Robert Edward Ball filed for bankruptcy protect on April 1, 2009 just twenty days before the week of the trail. According to state law we are no longer allowed to pursue him until being notified by federal bankruptcy court. I have nothing to gain from this as I have paid to have a job done twice and I have paid to see thing through in the most civilized and legal manor possible. This message is just meant to inform fellow Lamborghini and Ferrari enthusiasts of the good, the bad, and the ugly. I have attached backup of the evaluation performed by Mr. George Evans to validate my claims. Regretfully, Victor Woloschinow PS: I would like to thank the following people for all their help Mr. George Evans / Evans Automotive Inc Mike / Evans Automotive Inc Chad Bolles Tony Ierardi / Delorean Motor Company Florida Andrew Romanowski Joe Sackey The guys at Motorcars of Georgia Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
The sad thing is alot of people like this will file bankruptcy and blame the economy, not their shoddy work ethics.
I recently bought my first Lambo, a 1985 Jalpa, from George Evans, based largely on the recommendation of Andrew Romanowski of Lamborghini Club America. I flew to Columbus, OH and saw the operation. It is, without question, nicest, most professional shop I have ever seen. Andrew was right. George and his staff impressed me as both knowledgeable and experienced. George is waiting for me to give him the green light to send me the car, as I have some matters to take care of before I take delivery. I feel terrible that anyone has to go through bad experiences with disreputable shops. I am an attorney in NY and I understand the legal hurdles and expense. While I am glad your car car is running again, I am sorry you had to experience such a headache. Kevin
Sorry about all this. As nice as his shop was, you would think doing it right would have been very easy for him
Why would bankruptcy be cheaper than simply doing the right thing for your customers? Seriously, who really gets the worst end of this deal in the end? Just seems to me Ball is screwing himself far worse than eating a repair bill - in the long run anyway.
I used George Evans on my first Diablo, and he was incredibly talented, always a great reputation. I am in shock that Robert Ball did this to you after claiming he was one of the best in the "Lambo" business (I have the DVD), what a scam artist. I am sure you will eventually be able to re-open your case if he re-opens his business. That guy will never touch any of my cars.
Sounds like a dou¢he bag. Looks like he got what he deserved.....hopefully u can sue the pants off his ass if he ever comes back into business again. Sorry to hear your loss, but in the end you got ur car fixed the right way and an a&&hole got screwed.
I hate to hear this, I've known Robert since he worked at Formula 1 Imports. He was always cool with me, but this is not acceptable. I hope he takes care of this.
He was always nice to me too. I even spent about 2 hours sitting with him at his shop last year at the Mitty. However, I couldn't shake the feeling something wasn't quite right. He had the same cars in there for several months (I saw pictures here on Fchat earlier in the year of his shop - same cars when I was there). How can you make enough money to run that type of business, with that much high end equipment with so few cars in and out? I just didn't get it. I suppose you can't, which is why the bankruptcy... The important thing is your car is right now. Better than new.
Robert is a very personable individual, as he speaks well and comes across as quite knowledgeable. I would like to make this clear this is not an I HATE ROBERT BALL thread. Although I will be the first to also say I am not thrilled with him at all either as I paid to have a job done right and it was not. Even though Robert did certain things without my consent IE: reworking my cylinder heads which resulted in the need for Evans Automotive to replace all the valves. Had he done the job correctly as he claimed to be quite capable of doing and the engine had sufficient oil pressure, I would not be posting here. However he did not do the job correctly, then instead of being up and up, he challenged my own knowledge in regard to engine building. Well I know a few things about engine building as I majored in mechanical engineering. My father was a mechanic of 13 years and went on to run three industrial truck repair facilities (2) of which he acted as vice president and the last president. Consequently I had been surrounded by highly qualified mechanics since the age of 14, I am now 44. I have been restoring cars for over 25 years, I rebuilt my first engine at 16, I have build many engines, some stock, some race (nitrous, supercharged) Later after college I went on to start a partnership in an industrial truck repair facility. For ten years I worked conveying to my customers what mechanical issues their equipment had and what it would take and cost to fix it. In the early 1990's I hire a friend named Jim Janis and move his speed shop into my building after he went through his divorce. For two years I housed his entire speed shop in my building on the eastside of Buffalo New York. Jimmy taught me machining and building race engines as I was an apprentice to him. We bored and honed blocks, align bored them, reconditioned and resized rods, fly cut piston, balanced assemblies, micro polished crankshafts, ported and polished heads. I have already posted a link showing Jimmys brother in this thread, he and his family were not the eastside of Buffalo donut shop engine builders they were and still are professional engine builders and drag racers. Had I lacked the knowledge and thorough understandings of engine building practices I would have not gotten this far as my lawyer no matter how good he is was not and will never be an engine builder. In a nut shell all technical questioning for the depositions came from me and George Evans and it was looking quite favorable in my case against Robert Ball. I wished that Robert had made a settlement offer, hell 0.75 / 0.50 on the dollar, I would have considered and more than likely accepted it as suing someone is a giant pain in the ass. Unfortunately NO offer was ever made, I am sorry but that just does not and will not sit well with me period. Vic
Be very careful with that sort of mind set. The biggest con men are also the best showmen. It goes hand in hand. I have been to many shops through Ferrari Club events etc and having spent most of my life in auto shops you get to the point where you can see it. Trust me there are lots of them out there. Some try very hard to impress via a pretty shop. It is very easy if that is your motive.
Upon review I see that I actually posted the link to my friend Jimmy and Mike Janis under the LamborghiniChat section, my apologies. The links are listed below. Sincerely Vic http://www.competitionplus.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5541&Itemid=6 http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=187806&page=2
Just an update here as a few have asked about the May 11 bankruptcy hearing for Robert Ball. The hearing was postponed until June 10 at 1:30 pm and moved to the Federal Building in Rome GA. 3rd floor, Courtroom #342 600 East First St. Rome, GA 30161 If you have a claim or have suffered losses at the hands of Robert Ball I would encourage you to become vocal about it, as I believe my problem was not an isolated incident. Sincerely Vic
Sorry to hear about this. Is this your Countach at 0:42? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYyIsWetQOA&feature=channel_page The engine might also be in this video. Again sorry to hear about this and good luck. -kevin
No that is not mine, as mine is a red 1984 2 valve Countach, seen in the video below. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aj-2frOWmYc This was filmed back in October of 2003 just 300 miles and seven months prior to my clutch T/O bearing failure. Sincerely Vic
I personally do not like Robert Ball and this is in no way taking up for him but I will say. Vic, You are NOT telling both sides of the story. Before you get on here and trash someone, You need to think about it first. You need to be very carefull on posting stuff.
I have been 100% accurate in my postings. If you have some information that speaks otherwise I suggest you share it with all of us as I have nothing to hide here. Vic PS: I see you just joined today, welcome to Ferrarichat
He posted both sides quite well, and very detailed at that. I don't see why he needs to "be very carefull" as quoted from your very first post on this forum. THAT seems odd to me.
Reading the post about Flashback made me wonder how this particular pending court case was resolved. Anyone know?