My (Bob) Norwood Experience

som

Someone here tell me that that does NOT look like total ****. This is the part of the work you see, imagine the condition of what you cannot see.

Anyone

 

I know, it's hard to believe even now. It's the sort of photo that just gets worse and worse the more you look and examine it. You'll see more flaws reveal themselves as you spend time gazing at it. It's a true portal into the bleakness of automotive restoration hell.

If you need a summation of this whole thread, that picture is all you need to see.

 

That in no way has anything to do with auto restoration or the auto restoration business.

Id really like to make a bunch of comments but it would be actionable.


Just as a general comment though. As many bad stories as there are and as many bad people and shops as there are in general, in straight forward automotive repair, its nothing compared to the automotive modification business. That is a deep dark swamp.


I buy cars for what they are, not what I can make them into. But modifying...It's one thing if you can do it yourself. Its a very different situation to pay someone to do it and if the estimate is under six figures at the start, run away.

 

Haha, my comment was in context to this purgatorial thread, not the whole industry.

As far as making an actionable comment on the photo? You're right.

I would first take that whole gate out and install one that doesn't have a completely different 5th and 6th gear width and length from the rest of the gear channels, and doesn't have lumpy edges, and non symmetrical screw positions.

 

I am not talking about the picture.
I am talking about knowledge of people in this business. It really shocks me that so few do so little investigation prior to spending money.

 

Ah I see, my apologies.

Then if not the photo, you mean the situation? Okay, I would advise that he walk away from the project.

 

Hard to blame him. Some members, myself included, put things to him pretty directly (or harshly depending on your POV) in this thread...which I'm sure seemed very unsympathetic despite our intentions.

I still stand by my previous comments, but I also really feel for the guy (which is actually why I was so straight with him). I've often wondered how this whole thing turned out. It's one thing when something goes wrong with the process of getting your car worked on, and we've all been there. Things take too long, or the quality of the service/repair/restoration is sub par, or the price gets jacked without warning or consent. But usually it's only one at a time and the parties involved can sort it out amicably. When ALL of those things go wrong and the mechanic is contentious and refuses to return the car, the car owner is really in a bind and there is no good answer from my POV, just degrees of bad.

I hope it worked out in the best possible way for Russ.

 

Whatever ambiguities or 'other sides to the story' we're not privy to, that whole shifter console is a mess. No self respecting mechanic should ever present that to a client except to say "I'm very sorry and we're fixing it asap, for free." If it were me I'd just say something went wrong and not even show the client until it was fully sorted.

 

well said, my last advice about just walking away from 100K was a little facetious. My true advice is sign the legal document forgoing action. Forget about the 100K. Take the car and all parts. Part it as best you can and sell components on eBay. If he's lucky,maybe he can get 15-20K back?

Next time, buy a new or used car from a Ferrari dealership with a full warranty.

That's it.

 

Wait a sec, Paul.

That picture was not representative of the finished work. Russ posted it about halfway through his saga, although it was taken a long time before it was posted here.

Here are the actual "after" photos that Russ took, the last time he saw the car.

Matt

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Although on closer inspection, the car doesn't look that much better in those pictures!



Matt

 

The seats look good.

 

I think it's one of those cases where the phrase "Good from afar, but far from good" would apply

 

Show me a close up of the console as it is now before I decide

 

Even from the blurry side angle you can see they left the janky shifter gate, which in and of itself is a disqualifier for a job well done.

 

Was just signing off an option? It's been too long, but as I recall it was sign off AND pay more money. I think that's what made me say forget it. But I don't have the stamina to read through the thread again to find out.

 

oh wow - you're probably right. I think the happy medium is - I've paid you 100K already. I'll sign the doc and let's call it even. Not sure though.

 

There was a very long time when Russ had the option to pay up, sign a release, and move the car to anyone or anywhere else. He never exercised that option.

Matt

 

Ah I see, was it pay more then the 100K and get the car? Or was it just pay the 100K and get the car? Sorry for asking his posts are epic in length and I didn't read every detail.

 

This is unfortunately very much like home remodeling. Many contractors bid low, but once they have your home torn apart, they start talking more money. Like everything in life, it pays to carefully plan the work before beginning.

 

I have had great luck in that. You know how? I ask people in the business I know and trust who to go to.
The Ferrari business is a small club. We are a great source for that kind of information if asked privately.

 

No, not at all.

Russ started posting his complaints long after he experienced them. Which is a little unfair. He never took any action that he (rather clearly) should have taken. Instead, he waited until it was all over, the damage was done, and then started this, his second complaint thread against his own “288 GTO”.

There was definitely a phase early on when he knew he was unhappy, but still he continued on. He could have walked away for not much money lost but didn’t.

The funniest part was when he hired a lawyer that, by his own admission he didn’t properly vet, and then soon after hiring her he fired her. He didn’t properly vet anything.

Re-read the whole thing. I got downright persecuted for pointing out Russ’s faults. Which were many.

Matt

 

No worries Matt, I saw as well as many others the narrative you describe above. If anybody calls you out it's most likely because they have no context of his history. I and many others have experienced the self-loathing and gnashing of teeth. I sincerely think an element of masochism may part of his psyche.

 

So it's Russ's fault? He might have been sucked in and too trusting, but if we're to believe him, he was screwed by someone who's meant to be professional.

 

Russ finally got a court order for his car released by the crooked shop. I don't know who is working on it now.