It Was Waaaaaaaaaay Cool

[SMOKE]

I'm blown away from the responses in the affirmative and appoval.

Shame it goes on but to brag about it?????? Dumb!

I for one am glad he was fired. To have so little respect for someone else's property.

[Trans Am WS6 420]

Well, I read this saga, and I almost cried. I know I would go nuts if that was my car. So I tried to come up with the best way to help.

Oh my, lookie what I found:

http://nsford.com

Phone number: 1-800-525-9810

General Manager: Jim Thompson

Let's see how this plays out.........

Conversation:

Jim: This is Jim:

Me: Hello sir, are you the General Manager of Northside Ford in San Antonio, TX?

Jim: Yes.

Me: Are you aware of the incident today involving one of your technicians taking a customers car on a test drive of speeds of up to 140 MPH? And that when informed of this, your dealership had stated that they were not going to do anything about this out side of firing the technician.

Jim: No, I'm sorry, I'm not.

Me: Well, sir, the technician has bragged about it on a public message board, and the story has gotten around quite a bit today.

Jim: I'm sorry, you're catching me totally off guard with this.... What is the name of the person who's car it was?

Me: I don't have the name of the owner, but I can give you the plate number of the car.

<gives plate # as given on post from tech>

I'm sorry about catching you off guard here Jim. I just wanted to make sure you were aware that that this had happened, and that you were paying close attention to this. This story at this point has made it way across 15 -20 message boards, and has been read by over 100,000 people or more, quite a number of who make up your customer base in San Antonio.

Jim: ....

Me: It seems that this is getting a lot of publicity, and I just wanted to make sure you were aware of what was going on. Probably not a good idea for the internet to hear about your techs beating up on the cars in for service, and you folks not really trying to make things right with the customer.

Jim: And who are you?

Me: I'm just an SVT fan, and a concerned musclecar owner.

Jim: Well, I'm glad you brought this to my attention.

Me: Not a problem Jim, you have a good day.



Hopefully, he will now think twice before telling you they won't do anything..... Best of luck to you!

Remember, it doesn't always matter what you drive.....

- Matt

[ITR]

This is all over the internet now. Even the honda kids know about it. Talking about this dealership getting a bad rap...
http://www.honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=289875

I think this dealer should have their right to sell SVT cars taken away. If the mechanics do this all the time, managers have to know about it.

[CMT]

That we are horrified at this outrageous instance of abuse, and are thankful in the end that the miscreant was brought to justice. We also extend our best wishes to the 03 Cobra owner for an expedient and satisfactory resolution with the dealership in question.

Our thread:

http://www.dtmpower.net/forum/showth...threadid=63736


Chris

[wade73]

wow....over 6200 views to this post. whats amazing is that this thread has made its way to svtperformance.com, honda websites, DSM websites, even f-body websites!!!

i still can't believe i was the first to call this guy a moron, and whats worse is that still can't believe people approved of it, and then attacked me for letting this guy know what he did was wrong!!

oh well, c'iest la vie

[Unit 5302]

I wonder if I'm the only person who's read all 5 pages without bias and taking care to note the facts?

#1. If you took my new 2002GT out and beat the hell out of it, and I found out, you'd be canned, and I'd be looking for anything else I could do to you.

#2. The beating of the engine is a mute point. The car had already been on a dyno. Do you guys really think they putt putt cars on the rollers? LOL. It should have seen 150mph on those drums with WOT. I would never dyno a car I own before it has been broken in properly. The only thing I can say, is that the owner probably did just get himself a free tranny should anything go wrong with it because evil knievel here posted about beating the hell out of the car.

#3. He apparently took his joyride on an abandoned airfield runway. Meaning he endangered no other lives than his own, but obviously took chances with a $35,000 limited edition car that the owner loves dearly. The area driven in pretty much throws out reckless endangerment, unreasonable acceleration, speeding, and the rest of the traffic laws since it didn't take place on a public street, unless the private owners of the airfield decide to drum up some ridiculous charges.

#4. It is beneficial to take a car up to a decently high speed in a higher gear due to the longer pull and easier ability to diagnose poor running conditions indicated by the owner, but 140mph is extreme, unless the car is on the dyno. 4th gear is the best gear to dyno on most RWD manuals, due to it being 1:1, and same with high speed runs due to it generally being stronger than the overdrive gears.

All this thread has done for me is to show the lack of respect for other people's property which has become so rampant in today's society, and that we true car enthusiasts are sick and tired of the crap. We work our asses off to drive our cars, and we love them, even if we yell obscenities in their general direction while banging knuckles under the hood. To have somebody take our pride and joy that we don't even want to leave in their care, and to violate our trust when they are supposed to be professionals is sickening. You know it goes on, but you pray it's not to the extent this thread has illustrated.

stangman96, I don't believe you fully realize how stupid it was to post this information here, but I'm glad you did so the owner has some recourse. If I were the owner, I'd be emailing this thread to every dealer/mechanic in a 100mile radius to make sure you don't get another job. As harsh as it may be, you deserve it. I hope you grow from this experience and maybe think twice about being so childish with other people's possessions in the future. I also sincerely wish you good luck in a new career, as I don't think it will be easy to continue as a dealer mechanic. This is a pretty big blow to your career, I hope it isn't a fatal one to you being able to move on and enjoy your life. Everybody screws up, and sometimes we have to pay for it. I seriously don't wish you to be paying for it too brutally.

Poor Todd, be thankful your wife's car is back in once piece. I'm glad to see nothing truely problematic has surfaced from the joyride.

Not all the members of this board will defend the disrespect of a person's pride and joy, and those who do should leave. Let's be civilized, a little anyway. Those who have decided to join, I hope you stick around, and you contribute positively, instead of filling the board up with a bunch of swearing, and nast-o grams. I think a few of you may actually be able to take lessons on restraint from the person who has the biggest reason to be upset, the owner. I think he's been quite mature about the whole instance, all things considered.

[LSleeper]

Just saw this posted on Honda-Acura.net. This is totally messed up what this idiot did. I'm glad he got fired. Makes me scared to take my car into the shop to get fixed. I guess we just cant trust anyone anymore. Everyone one on HAN (Honda-Acura.net) sympathize with you. Glad this guy got what he deserved.

[Skyman]

THE CAR HAS BEEN THRASHED ON ON A DYNO.


DO YOU KNOW EVERYTIME I TAKE MY CAR SOMEWHERE THEY ABUSE IT.


BUT NOT AS BAD AS I DO. WHO CARES, But yeah, I would be pissed off if I saw this too.

How about the time I had my car at a body shop. Few weeks later Im at Wendys Drive-Thru, the guy tells me he used to work at the body shop. Then tells me how fast my car is! Ahh, Nice, but I dont care.

Skyler

[e46ernie]

I would like to say several things:
RaceRat, I want to express how badly the whole BMW community over at DTM Power.net feels for you and for what happened to you. Although we prefer different types of cars, we are all car enthusiasts and truly share your pain and empathize with you. I really hope that you are properly compensated for both the abuse that the careless mechanic inflicted on your car and also for the mental anguish that I am sure you have experienced as a result of this.

Most importantly however, is not that a trusted technician abused a customers car but the fact that fellow enthusiasts have rushed to support the tech and his deplorable actions. Its disturbing to think that there are those who feel that it is their "right" to abuse something that is not theirs, but even more so to realize that there are many people who feel that this his actions were perfectly acceptable or normal. To those who rushed to support and justify the actions of Stangman96: you disgust me, you are everything thats wrong with our society. You feel that you are owed something when you are really owed nothing. that was someone else's car, not yours, and you had absolutely no right to abuse it. you are representative of many people of my generation, and it sickens me.

i am appalled by the actions of a few, but most of all happy to see the many good and honest people and car enthusiasts' (of all different makes) willingness to offer advice and support for racerat in her experience. once again, i hope everything turns out well for you racerat, if you need any help you should post, im sure that there are many (including myself) who would be willing to provide any help we can.

Ernie

[glowrider]

Well, as an avid sports car fan (2002 m3 and 2001 911) I am apalled by what I read here. I stumbled upon this link from www.bmwm5.com and have posted a link on roadfly.com. Abuse by techies is totally uncalled for, especially by someone claiming to be an "enthusiast". I hope this guy learned his lesson and at least nobody got hurt in the process. If you want to hit 140, take your car to the track, and make sure it's yours, or you at least have the permission of the owner to beat the hell out of it. If any lame technician ever took a joyride in my car I would flip. For that reason I lock a Magellan GPS in my trunk out of site to record what goes on. Apparently the techs have heard about this and don't **** around with me. I'm just sorry to hear they do it to others.

[SteveH25]

On a personal level of someone who used to own an 88 Mustang 5.0 , and on behalf of my current car-club members and peers, the people of J-Body.org would also like to sned out our condolences on this matter and hope that justice is served. There is no excuse for what was done and the kid is a straight up punk.

[boostedfuzion]

not a mustang owner but when i saw this, it pissed the hell outta me.
How could one have the mindset to take a vehicle that has been put into your trust to be worked on and go and beat the hell outta it.

im glad the ****** got canned!
he deserves it.

The guys over here at www.jbody.org sympathize with ya racerat.

http://www.j-body.org/forums/read.ph...53814&t=153814

[Black RSX]

Originally posted by stangman96
MAN IT WAS WAY COOL, DROVE A '03 COBRA VERT TODAY THAT WAS IN THE SHOP, ME AND ANOTHER TECH TOOK IT OUT AND DROVE IT, DROVE HER HARD, 6 SPEED TRANNY, WE HIT 140 MPH REAL QUICK, TALK ABOUT POWER. NOT THAT WE DO IT HERE ALL THE TIME, BUT I JUST HAD TO RUN IT, IT WAS CALLING MY NAME... THE POWER IT HAS IN UNREAL, YOU JUST NEED TO GET OUT AND TEST DRIVE ONE TODAY, BY THE WAY, THE CUSTOMER'S COMPLAINT WAS LACK OF POWER AND POOR GAS MILEAGE, WHAT A CROCK... NEEDLESS TO SAY, IT IS OWNED BY A FEMALE, SHE EVEN SAID IT WAS DYNOED AT A SHOP AND THEY TOLD HER THAT THE CONVERTORS WERE TOO HOT AND THE FUEL TRIM WAS WAY OFF. I HOOKED IT UP TO THE COMPUTER, FUEL TRIM WAS NORMAL, CAT TEMP WAS OK, NO CODES, AND IT RAN GREAT. GO FIGURE.. OH YEAH, SHE EVEN TOLD THE SERVICE WRITER TO MAKE SURE THAT NO "PUNK" DRIVES HER CAR, WELL SINCE I AM THE MUSTANG SPECIALIST HERE AT THE DEALER, I GUESS I AM "THE PUNK", ALL THE MORE TO DRIVE HER '03 COBRA VERT AND SEE WHAT ITS GOT.. HEHE HOPE SHE DIDNT HAVE A HIDDEN CAMERA IN THAT CAR...... GET THIS, HER PLATES SAY "VNMS 03"

This guy is a little f@g But thats what you get when you own a 03 Cobra!!!!Some little service punk jerking off on top of your engine Thats why I own a honda No joy in this ride!!!

[MagDump]

I noticed this link from AR15.com.

I put forth the effort to register with this site in order to express my support for the abused customer.

I would also like to voice my reprimand for the dealership and the tech who carried out the deplorable act.

The tech, according to the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, can be charged for theft of an automobile (grand larceny). He didn't have to retain custody of the vehicle for the theft definition to apply. He merely needed to take someone else's property without their expressed permission.

I'm not satisfied with the tech losing his position with the dealership - I would appreciate the dealership overly compensating the victim... for dual puposes.

1. For good faith to the community for which they conduct their business, and...

2. To alleviate the stresses impacted upon the the vehicle owner.

Good day.

[Wooders]

Congratulations stangman96 you are offically the WORLDS dumbest person.

This was referred on a Jeep board in Australia and as a fellow motoring enthusist I'm appalled and I hope they nail your pimped *** to the wall.

To the Stealership - I hope you compensate the ower somehow!! If nothing else so your arse doesn't get dragged into court too.

Too Todd - From not only a different brand, and a different style of motoring enthusist, even located on the other side of the planet - I feel your pain & I urge you to pursue this to the full extent of the law.

[renault5]

Found this thread on the Yamaha R1 forum
http://www.r1-forum.com/forums/showt...threadid=14919

Even bikers have heard of this idiot with no excuse (and no job)

'Mr & Mrs Todd' sorry to hear your car and trust has been abused and you are fully compensated for this. I wonder where this 'disused airstrip' is , I imagine it was actually a freeway.

[Inky]

Congratulations stangman96 you are offically the WORLDS dumbest person.

I couldn't agree more.......it's people like you that ruin this world....and ruin good things for everyone else. Good luck finding a job after this ya DA coz with as many people and as many car boards that are seeing this you'll be lucky if you can get a job at a McDonalds in east bumfuck egypt (no offense to anyone).

I found this thru the thread over at J-body.org and although we all choose different cars to modify and what not we are all enthusiast<sp? >who love our cars and work to take them to the next level beyond stock.

I took the time to register here to post my .02 cents and I might stop by to say hi.

<Racerat> We all send our condolences and hope that you are properly compensated for this. By no means would I stop with this guy being fired I would tell the media regardless of what the dealership does (Just don't tell the dealership that you're gonna report this to the media even if they compensate you) b/c this needs to be spread to everyone, even the people who don't do anything to thier cars or visit the internet.

This is something I feel needs to be reported world wide so that dealerships everywhere fix these problems and reduce the risk of this happening to anyone ever again. I know for sure that I will be contacting my local News Station, Newspaper and Radio station via e-mail with links to the threads on both this board, The SVT board and the J-body board to get the word out.

[darksands]

Well, hello. I own a Maxima...
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....hreadid=154286

I believe all of us here at Maxima.org feel the pain of you and your car. Hope everything works out.

[Dragstang83]

I ran upon this post on www.feoa.net the Ford Escort Owners Association. I am amazed at how well traveld this post has become. It has to be one of the worst/funniest things I've ever seen. Worst because, well DUH, if anyone did that with My Stang, or my Escort for that matter I'd be pissed. There is no diff between a $35k 03 Cobra and a Beat *** Escort I bought for $400 when it comes to respect from a tech. The funniest thing was the fact that reps from Honda, BMW, Acura, Chevy, and even Yamaha and now Nissan have posted replies. I don't know where this Tech got his training from, but I graduated from UTI, and I took their Ford FACT program while I was there, and I don't remember there being a class in their curriculum about Beating the hell out of a car. Even when I was in Hot Rod U and we dynoed the cars, we were taught to repect them, and to be very carful at all times Anyone even reving a car before a dyno pull got docked points from their grade at the least. People even got suspened or expelled from the school if they were caught F*ing around even if it was their own car they were putting on the dyno. I truly think mechanics need more regulations. I also think they need more pay, and more recognition for the awsome work that most of them do, but it is people like this guy who gives mechanics bad reps. I know If I were that guys supervisor, or even a co-worker with that guy, I would be very dissapointed in him. I might even go as far as finding a new dealership to work at because I wouldn't want to work at a place with a bad reputation. Who in their right mind is going to get their SVT serviced there. If I lived in San Antonio and that was the only SVT dealership, I'd be renting a uhaul and towing my car to Austin, or Houston, or even Dallas or El Paso if I had to to find someone who would treat my car right. Hell I'd trailer the damn thing back to Detroit if I had too. One person went as far as saying the guy had no respect for the hand built engine. When it comes to my Mustang there is no fooling around with it because I built the engine with My OWN hands. Let me hear about a mechanic or a parking attendant so much as getting my car over 5 mph without me being in the car. Then let me get ahold of his car, or his neck. I hope it is true that that guy got fired, I wish there was an Americas Most (un)Wanted list for mechanics. He would be Public Enemy #1. With all the training I've had and all the jobs I was denied because of a not so clean driving record, then to read that guys like this get positions as SVT techs, just makes me so upset.

[Veeb0rg]

http://www.dodgeintrepid.net/forums/...threadid=10990

Go Get'em..

Just a post to show support..