I haven't been watching the thread because I thought the owner had taken it over. I didn't realize that he had opted out. No problem, I'm going to give the long and the short of this job. I'm sure I won't remember everything in this posting and I'll add more later when I do.
We learned a lot on this job, good and bad. We learned what we are good at, what we are bad at and just about everything in between. For those wondering about the bottom line on cost, we have no idea how much the owner spent on parts and restorations of parts that we didn't do.
We had communications issues on this job that will never happen again. We started with a slick show and go quality driver with correct colors and markings that evolved into as much an OEM resto as we were capable of doing. There was no change in cost to the customer.
The most frustrating problems we had were with aftermarket parts that were either incorrect or just plain didn't fit. We spent an obsurd amount of time re-engineering and/or repeatedly replacing parts until we got the correct ones, all at no charge to the customer. This was an expensive lesson for us as the customer provided all parts. If anyone ever tries to give me another YearOne wiring harness, I pledge to choke them with it.
The owner came to inspect the car some time ago and gave us a punch list most of which is done. The door and hood hinges are currently out being rebuilt. After we repaint them and reinstall them, we will redo the overspray on the underside of the tops of the quarter panels inside of the trunk to the owner's taste and be finished.
People change their minds and we do our best to work with them. I would have to say that this car required more than the average amount of changes.
The car is being picked up with some problems with the parts we had no responsibility to purchase or rebuild. We just don't have the ability to fix everything.
What are we going to offer in the future? We don't know for sure. Our ideal scenario would be if we had someone like Alan to work with so we could do nothing but body and paint. We can fix anything in the way of metal work and make it look like it's never been touched. We can paint as well as anyone and still keep the prices fair. We also enjoy engines and suspensions.
If you go back in this thread and look at the pace we kept for body and paint, you'll see that is where we soar.
We're not going away but we are taking a look at what services we offer.
