Giveaway car project... remember?

I guess I should step up on this one since I was the person who initially invited Joe Wallace over here from 1320x.com. He wasn't getting much support from those racer guys -- not many Mopar owners on 1320x -- so I suggested he post his build info here on FABO.

He DID get quite a bit of support from our membership, and Billy and I knocked ourselves out for several months making literally hundreds of phone calls trying to drum up interest and get manufacturers to donate items for the Scamp build. We were somewhat successful too (take a look at the list of donations on the thread Inkjunkie posted).

The car was supposed to be built and auctioned off to benefit the Shriner's Children's Hospital in Massachusetts last August when they were having extreme financial difficulty and trying to keep their hospital open. The donated '73 Scamp turned out to be far worse than anticipated, and one of our members (I think Jason Renda) even donated a nice Dart body so all the parts for the Scamp could be converted over to it.

Although we couldn't afford it, we also bought and built up a big block 400 to donate to the cause since Joe encountered several problems with the guy who was supposedly building the engine.

The sad part is that August 16, the reveal date in conjunction with some car show that weekend in Massachusetts, came and went and the car was not ready. The last time I spoke with Joe (in late August), he told me he was going to have the car finished and debut it at the SEMA show in Las Vegas.

All of the parts I was supposed to powder coat for the build never showed up.

I haven't heard a word from him since, and the whole experience has left a very bitter taste.

I really realllllly hate to use the word "scam," but I'm afraid that's what the whole thing turned out to be even though Joe's intentions seemed to be of the highest integrity. Mostly out of embarrassment, I haven't followed up with any of the manufacturers I recruited to see if the parts they donated were returned (I suspect not), but I've regretted exposing FABO to the guy ever since.

I don't know what else to say except I'm very sorry. I think we all got burned on this deal, and the Shriner's kids are unfortunately the ones who will suffer the most.

In almost five years of FABO membership, clicking on "Post Quick Reply" right now is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I hope to God I'm wrong in my assessment of the situation, but have a really sick feeling I'm not. I hope ya'll understand and don't hold it against me personally.