1972 Maverick Grabber Resto/Mod for my Dad

I know it can be frustrating. Keep your patience, it will get done and from what I see it will be awesome!

Even doing my own car I deal with the same issues. I was hoping to have the car painted within a certain timeline. Not even close. I am no just hoping to have paint on it before winter, and I am the one doing it. Quality takes time.

Good luck....

 

Good rules of thumb when it comes to restoration work:

Whatever price they give you: Double it.

Whatever time period they give you: Triple it.

On my car I was told it would be done in 2 to 3 weeks. Took 2 1/2 years. That was just for paint only.

 

my first one...over a year at the body shop and over $10K spent on it. I gave that car away (free), bought another and am driving it today with...NO PAINT!!!

good luck...

 

Just don't ever say " take your time"....

 

do you have a spot in line? are there other projects inline ahead of yours? ask these questions firmly if you have a spot in line wheres your place? after what project are they going to start work on your car?
tell them if you have a spot in line and you get skipped youre taking your car somewhere else.

if they keep bringing in new projects and not working on your car tell them about it. just make sure youre watching closely so you dont accuse them of something theyre not doing. I asked a small shop close to home about a paint job alone and he said 6 months to a year

you could give the painter a time frame that you both can agree on and tell them to have it done by then.

ask him to give you a time frame down to the month of whatever year and tell him to sign a contract that says he wont get paid if its not done in time or there will be a substantial discount for every month hes late that would be motivation to get it done

I went through this with my upholstery guy. we had a time line and it kept getting pushed further and further back due to him taking in more high dollar projects in and finishing them first and putting mine on the back burner.
I had to ask these questions and let him know that I KNOW hes been putting me on the back burner and it WASNT cool when I threatened to take my project back he got on it and finished it up within the week with exceptional skill and quality

 

I don't get it.. I worked at one of the best shops in town back in the 80's we never had a car longer than 30 days.. That same shop is still doing amazing work and still sticking to the 30 day rule, even tho the shop has been sold twice... I find that people are lazy, if there that busy then put another person to work... If we put off our customers at our Billiard store we would be out of business,there is just to much competition out there... Accepting more work than you can get done in a reasonable amount of time is just bad business...

 

I have a friend with a body shop and its pretty much way more money and a lot less time in collision repair than restorations.

 

that's the way it is around here also.
I think a lot of that is because people want a $75K resto job for $8-$10K.

 

Awesome photos and I can relate to the effort and time spent on the resto! Keep up the great work and can't wait to see it done. Beautiful!!

 

I thought I would give everyone an update. I went to see the car today and there is now a very specific schedule in place. The car is going to be completed by the July 18th.

Part of me is very excited and part of me is nervous because to me it seems like there is a lot of work to do in a short amount of time.

I brought down the hardware for to install the fenders and hood, billet door strikers, and billet hood bumpers.

The car is at the point were he is going to be wet sanded, sealed, and the final paint started.

I also want to post up the pictures of the installation of the suspension, brakes and the wheels.

First we started with the install of the rear suspension. I wanted to install the caltrac's set up at the same time as the rear leaf springs to assure that there is clearance with the welded in subframe connectors. The leaf springs were ordered from a company recommended from the site and I also ordered the 3 leaf set up versus the stiffer 4 leaf. The sad part is after installing them and sticking 200 lbs in the trunk and the height of the rear did not drop, I do not think I will be able to use them. The pictures that I will post up has a 245/45/17 tire and there is still 6 inches between the top of the tire and the bottom of the rear wheel well.

The rearend is a narrowed 9 inch. It was narrowed to the same width as the stock 8 inch. The gear ratio in the positrac rearend is 3.89.

 

It's looking good..... Hopefully they will meet the date they have given you this time.....

 

Are the Cal Tracs loose? Or are they holding the rear up like that? I can't see how you could adjust them without the car being complete.

 

They are loose. That is why I think the leafs are wrong in some way. I will post up pictures shortly of the car on the ground.

 

Take the bar out, and see if anything changes. They will actually hold the rear of the car up, in the instructions,they warn about this.

 

I know all springs settle after a while of full weight sitting on them - do you think you might be OK after everything settles?