The 70 Duster......

Got a chance to go up and stop by the shop a week or so ago. The Duster is still holding down its spot in the back of the shop. The "simple repaint" project has seen a little work. According to the body man back in November of 2010, it was "going to be a simple repaint". So we agreed on a price and I paid that in back in November 2010. It was suppose to be completed in Feb. Well as you see it is not even close to done and we are getting closer to a year over due. I explained to the bodyman that I really would prefer not to make this a legal matter. He agreed that he would get the cars done. The "simple repaint" project he hopes to have done by the end of the year.


Disclaimer.. the Charger project got started back in Nov 2010 when the bodyman (which I thought had been getting a little work done back then), was short on cash and wanted some more money on the balance of the Duster. Paying him that amount he needed, would have made up about 90-95% of the total bill with only about 20-30% of the work complete. I was not comfortable with that so he asked if I had any other "small job" work he could do for some extra cash, quick. I had this Charger so he looked it over and said he could get it done in about 10-12 weeks (3 months). If I would have known that it was going to turn into a year and he was not going to work on the Duster at all this entire time.....no dice.
if he needed extra money he should have finished the duster, you would have paid him the balance and he could have started on the charger and gotten a 1st installment payment. now unfortunatley you have 2 unfinished cars. i hope this guy does the right thing by you. i also do restorations on the side, my brother does all the body,paint,panels etc. and i do all the mechanical. if theres one thing that i have never done and will never do is ask for money for a project im doing to pay my own bills! we both have regular jobs and families, he works in a body shop and puts in between 50/60 hrs a week, i work as a truck /heavy eqip.mechanic. So the people we do work for understand that full resto's take time and the car might not be getting worked on everyday. we work out of my 25x35 garage in the back of my house so i'm out there almost everyday, but my brother lives about 20 min. away and he only comes over about 2-3 days a week maybe 4hrs a night. we are actually restoring a 70 duster right now that ive had for 27 months and should be finished by april (that is my goal) i do all the research for the parts, phone calls, dealing with vendors etc. its very time consuming but i enjoy it. i also have alot of parts for a dusters because ive had a bunch of them. anyway like i said i hope this guy does the right thing. put a little more pressure on him, maybe you'll light a fire under his ***. i might post some pics of the resto before and after. i have over 250 pics. good luck.MARK.