Mechanic horror story

[66MSTNG]

Hi everyone. This is my first post here. Hope to stick around and get to know some of you.

Since I was in high school (20 years ago!) my dream car was a '66 Mustang convertible. After all those years of dreaming, I found one for sale local, and fell in love with it. I planned on buying it, but first wanted a mechanic to look it over. I finally found a place that specialized in "muscle cars" and wanted to set up an appointment to bring the car in to be looked at. By, what I considered a stroke of luck at the time, the shop was the very same one that did all the full restoration on the car. The shop owner told me he knew the car better than the owner, and that he guaranteed me it was a daily driver, and that it was in excellent condition. We talked a while longer, and from his enthusiasm toward the quality of the car, I decided to buy it. There were a few things I could tell the car needed, so I made an appointment with the shop to have them done--little stuff like the top needed realligning, and I wanted a new gas cap put on because the paint was worn off... a few other small things. They told me there would be two days of work, and they took the full cost of the work up front. Okay, I should have seen a con coming a mile away, huh?

Two months later, they still had my car, and my money, and no work had been done. A little investigation on the shop taught me that they do this to every customer. I finally pulled my car out of there (after having to threaten to bring the cops in when they refused to give it back to me!) and they still have my money. I'm suing the shop, and I'm not the first. It turns out they were run out of Florida already, and the shop owner has a criminal record, and also has a habit of not paying the mechanics... just putting them to work and getting as much free work out of them as they can get until they finally realize they won't be paid, and then quit. Well, the shop gets all that free labor out of them, and the cars sit for months, and what do they care when they get paid for the repairs in advance?!

The car was far from a "daily driver". I got the car out of their shop in May, and it's been in and out of legitimate shops ever since. After putting about $5,000 more into it, I think it might finally be able to be driven around town--though I'm told the front frame needs work because it's rusted out and will continue to disintegrate. "Fully restored" my ass.

But, the car is a beauty... and despite all my whining about the con-artist mechanic and all the time it's sat in shops since I bought it, I love it. Hope to post some pictures someday, and I hope to be able to drive it now enough to get to know it better!

Word to the wise... if anyone is in the Nashville area and needs their classic looked at--stay far away from Classic Muscle. The owner belongs back in jail... and if you give him your car, be surprised if you ever get it back. As for your money... you'll wind up fighting it out in court before you ever get it back.

[DeltaMustang65]

Man, that really sucks hard. I bet you learned a few very important lessons, though I'm sorry you had to learn them like that. Sorry to hear about the rust, is it really in the frame???

[66MSTNG]

Yeah, I learned the hard way.

As you can tell, I'm no mechanic (I'm a girl) and have to rely on shops to do the smallest thing. Fortunately, I did find a great shop that I can trust, and they've done a good job getting the car running. They raised the car and showed me holes in the frame underneath. Here's a couple of pictures:





They told me if I put another $5,000 into it, they'll fix it... but that I can wait a little while to do the work.

For now, it's running and it looks gorgeous (as long as you're not looking under it!)

[DeltaMustang65]

Oh crap. I can't quite tell what the first picture is showing, but the bottom one is bad news. I'd go very easy on the car or that leaf spring may pop right out. I honestly don't know how they'd fix that kind of rust damage, even for 5K, so I'd be very skeptical if I were you. Hopefully someone else here can give you more of an idea about what to do with the car, since I've never had a problem like yours before.

Almost forgot, welcome to MustangWorks. If you've got pictures of the car, you should make a user ride page and put the link in your signature like some of us do.

[goodyear1984]

damm that frame rail is gone

[Rev]

My bet is that the shop is planning on replacing those rusted out frame rails, which would be the only way to fix it. It is a pretty big job to do correctly, therefore the $5000.

Rev

[Stang_Gang]

who ever said money cant buy you happiness never owned a classic mustang. i know the feeling i got 3000 grand in my 68 fastbacks new motor and still cant drive it but she getting real close!!!!! just need a little more time and a little more money.lol

[Stang_Gang]

also there was a place near where i live that was taking coupes cutting off the roofs and putting on fastback and passing them off as originals, and this was a "mustang restoration place" there are some real bad people out there, but hopefully you found a good place but due a bunch of research word of mouth is the best way to find a good shop. good luck.