Thursday I took a drive over and talked to the guy. I could tell he wasn't interested as soon as I told him I had an old Mustang but I cut him off at the pass and told him it was a California car and there is no rust to fix, just a few dents and some paint. He agreed to come look at the car but I could tell he had a "sssssure there's no rust..." attitude. There was another guy there, I'm not sure if he worked there or was just hanging out, but he was a Ford guy and took an interest in our conversation.

Later that night he stopped after he closed his shop and looked the car over. Right off the bat I could tell he was impressed and as I kept pointing out areas of the car to look at {"Look at the floors... ...inside the doors... ...look at the inside of the quarters..."} he kept saying "Holy sh*t!" and "Amazing!" and "Unreal!" After looking it over he said "I'm not a Ford guy, {he's a Vette man} but this is going to be one nice car when you are done!"

So now he is supposed to toss around in his head if he wants to take it on and come up with a price. I hope he does, because he seems like the type of guy that will care enough to do a real good job, I could tell, from the way he described the way he would handle different areas of my car. He wasn't suggesting the easy ways, he was suggesting the correct ways. {He kind of reminded me of Charlie from American Hot Rod} He's very busy, and the car wouldn't be going in until winter if he agrees to do it.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

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oddly obsessed with big scoops on little Mustangs

65 coupe 351w C4 Big Boss 429 hood scoop,8" 3.40 TracLoc.

Dave & Terri

oh....wait....you're talkin' about your Mach I...ummmmmmm......nevermind.......

that's great news, Steve. Hope it works out......

quote:

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Originally posted by SteveLaRiviere:
I'd rather have someone tell me one way or the other. Being left hanging is the pits.

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"I might have found a body, man...."

thank goodness no extra bodies were found laying around yer place!

sounds like you have a good find hunkie stevie!
keep us posted!

My heartrate is just starting to return to normal.

I took a ride to another body shop today and spoke to the guy that runs it, who is a guy I used to work with at a dealership many years ago and we shot the bull about old times and I told him about the Mach, and after him telling me "No!" many times he finally agreed to come take a look at it in the next couple weeks and tell me what he thinks, and whether he'd be willing to do it, and in the meantime he'll try to think up people in case he decided it wasn't something he wanted to tackle.

I'll just have to keep talking to people until I find a place that wants my business and who I want to do business with.

quote:

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Originally posted by kenseth17:
How the heck do I find people that realize what the cost of materials are and the time involved doing bodywork. I want to ask them how much they make in a 40 hour week. Too many people must think because maaco can do a total hack job for a few hundred bucks, everyone else should too. I've been doing stuff at home cheaply, and now that I've proved what I can do on a few jobs and start quoting more to do work, No one replies after I give a guestimate. I've been doing autobody for over 15 years and now that I've been unemployed, been payed poorly in shops I've worked in, and haven't found a decent job in the last few years, I've been trying to get my name out by doing some work at home, and hopefully get enough customers and referrals that I would feel somewhat confident that the bills would stay payed if I opened a small shop. Just frustrated because I've been working my butt off doing the work I've done, and I quote a little higher and no one wants to have work done. And none of my quotes were near 6k yet for ppg deltron base, remove moldings, strip paint, ppg dcu clear and wetsand and buff after. Most were around 2-3K, even stripping paint. Arghh. Then you hear all the shops that don't do completes or rust repair, and quote jobs at 10k. Materials for a complete with a top line of base clear are usually near $1000 or more depending on the amount of bodywork. Ohh well, who said life was easy. But I do understand them being sceptical of the no rust when you said that. People tend to not tell the truth about the true condition of their car, and there can be a lot hiding you don't realize until you get into the job. How do I find people who will spend the amount the materials cost on their car, as well as making enough that it even pays to flip the switch on the compressor, and raise the utility bill.

[This message has been edited by kenseth17 (edited 08-24-2005).]

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Welcome to M&M, kenseth17.

I just want a good job, and I'm willing to pay a fair price for it. I still haven't gotten anywhere with that. Next week I think I'll visit a shop in Portland that's well known for doing some nice work. There's a couple I can check out, as a matter of fact.

The guy I used to work with hasn't even bothered to call me back. It's just as well, I'm looking for a craftsman, not a parts changer.

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Victorylap.20fr.com
Autobody/ Paint

The first was a big body shop that advertises on tv about the quality of their work and even uses a classic Corvette in their ads. They want nothing to do with classic cars. The person I spoke with gave me the same line as everyone else, they make all their money doing crash work, they aren't into doing paintjobs for people to eyeball closely, they can't tie up their bay doing long term restoration work, blah, blah, blah.

The second was a place that is known for doing high end work, lots of show cars, and they did a '70 Chevelle SS belonging to a coffee salesman I knew and it came out perfect. The shop was full of cars being worked on, all kinds of street rods, a '72 Chevelle getting rear quarters, some other cars in various states of undress. The owner was a nice guy, he seem very interested in my project, he immediately was spelling out a strategy of attack for my car that sounded real efficient. His ballpark estimate? $10,000. He'll come and look at it next Wednesday to give me a more accurate estimate. He says he'd make it look perfect, and from work of his I've seen before, I believe it. But Holy Crap, $10,000?

The third place was the body shop I spoke to a while ago that gave me an estimate of $8500. He's swamped. The VW he was working on when I spoke with him a while ago is in the same condition as when I last saw it. Plus he has been getting a ton of work from the Toyota dealer he subcontracts for. {get this, the way the new Toyota Highlander is designed, the tailpipes quite often get bent when they are offloaded from the carriers, and if nobody notices it, after a few miles of driving the exhaust melts the rear bumper! Yup, that's Toyota quality, $38,000 worth! } He told me he can't see himself being free to do my car.

Bummed, I went to a cruise a local pizza place has every Thursday, and a guy I know there told me about an old body man that does excellent work at very low prices at his home. The only thing about this guy is he usually doesn't want new business, I was told to keep bugging him until he agreed to do it, and I won't regret it. Ah, ok... I'll go talk to him anyway.

So tomorrow I have three more body men to talk to, this 'Mr Reluctant' guy, another body shop that sells muscle cars http://www.wymansauto.com/pages/1/index.htm and a body man that did my friend's Camaro but I couldn't contact because he got thrown out by his wife. He has since built a shop on his father's land and is back in business.

I have never worked so hard to have someone agree to do work for me.

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'70 Mustang Mach 1 351C 4V/FMX/3.25 Open
'70 Mustang Convertible 250 I6/3 speed/2.79 Open
'72 Mustang Sprint Hardtop 351C 4V/FMX/4.30 Trac Loc
'94 F-150 XL 5.8L/E4OD/3.55 Limited Slip
'05 Mercury Sable LS 3.0L DOHC 24V Duratech V6

I spoke with a couple more body men today.

First was the guy I was told was 'Mr Reluctant,' whom I found wasn't reluctant at all. He did say he was very busy and he wasn't sure how soon he could take it in, but he is more than willing to come look it over, so he'll be coming over next week.

The second was the guy that did my friend's Camaro. He's getting his new shop going and he seems to be happy to take on some work. In fact, he even wanted to come over today to look at it, but I couldn't be here so he's coming over tomorrow. Coincidence, but he told me he just finished a '70 Mach 1 in which he hung on rear quarters and wheel tubs.

Both of these guys are supposed to be more reasonable pricewise, we'll see.

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oddly obsessed with big scoops on little Mustangs

65 coupe 351w C4 Big Boss 429 hood scoop,8" 3.40 TracLoc.

I was in business for many years and I'll never understand a businessman, especially a self employed businessman, that leaves a paying customer hanging. Although I guess that's one of the reasons I'm comfortably retired and he's still sucking paint fumes.

Frustrating.

I had another appointment with a different body man set for tonight. One of the 'reasonable rates' guys. He blew me off, no show, no call.

I don't even care, I think I decided on the shop today anyway.

http://www.extremerodandcustom.com/

I have some metal in my shop I've stripped a couple of years ago and they haven't developed any rust yet.

I also have PPG metal conditioner on hand I may use, if he's not opposed to it.

As long as he doesn't 'Foose-up' my Mach I'll be happy.

quote:

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Originally posted by kenseth17:
Sounds like an exhausting search. I am still looking for work myself on the other end of things.

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Good luck on that, by the way. You really should consider going out on your own, there are plenty of guys out there that are willing to pay for quality work. You should of heard the guys I spoke to here at a local cruise-in. Good body men are hard to come by.

quote:

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Originally posted by kenseth17: Trying to do some things at home and build slowly.

[/B]

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Good advice, Ken. Overhead in shops is staggering. Finding techs who will work on old cars is hard. Not so sure I'd want to do it if I were a tech working commission. The more the owner can do the better. What better place to learn than on your own car. As an older person, do my own work, save paint and cv tops. Am largely self taught though I did work in a couple shops while going through school. Graduating school, went into a different career but always gravitated to cars. With patience, basic welding skills, common sense, one can do most anything, bodywise, on a Mustang. They are the easiest of the "bunch" to work on. opinion.

"Trying to do some things at home and build slowly."

quote:

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Originally posted by mellowyellow:
Steve: Watch your door handles!!! Where TF did they go!!!! LMAO!

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You better believe I will!

You know the Stude pickup on their web site? I saw that a couple of years ago at a car show and it was simply amazing. I would put it up against anybody's work.

Dave & Terri