Hodge Restoration?

He restored the Akron Arlen Vanke 68 Hemi Super Stock Barracuda and it looks great! I know some of the guys that work with him and met him several years ago at Carlisle. Every indication is that he is a stand-up guy!

First let me say up front I have had no direct dealings with Hodge Restorations. However, there are two members of our local Mopar Club in Columbia, SC, that have had problems. One with buying a misrepresented car and the other got part way thru a concours resto on a 69 Superbee and had to pull the car minus some original parts. Buyer beware...

I bought my Cuda from a dealer near them, and the previous owner had like $50K in it upon trade in and it had been "restored" by Hodge Restorations very recently (this was back in '03) - cloned to an AAR. I bought it based off of the pics and the conversations I had with Lee. Everything he told me about the car was true, and he was very helpful.

BUT.... I spent a few years and THOUSANDS of dollars chasing gremlins around on the car. The car was never represented as a show car... but it was just painted by what appeared to be a shop that knew what they were doing, so I expected that I wouldn't have to worry about the paint.

The problems I had were prep issues, lifting and corrosion under the paint. But for the most part the car appeared nice and everything I was told was correct. And if I had to do it again, I would have still bought the car for the deal that I got on it... I just would have stripped the car and repainted it sooner.

Now its black and beautiful, and its all good.

And when I asked someone about a car they had they thought I was a scammer. Yep, but it relates to one who is speaking not-so-nicely here.
I can't wait to see where this thread goes. Lots of this going on lately...

Has anyone had their car restored by this shop? I am interested in the price as well as the quality of the work.

I sold him some parts a few months ago, he was very easy to deal with and paid prompty.

I have some friends over in that area, and they don't have anything good to say. Some have had bad experiences directly with him.

I would say to tread lightly.

thx everyone for the opinions

70RT, Do you know the reason that the guy had to pull the Superbee from the shop?

I will try and put you in touch with the source and let him provide the details. That way the information posted is factual and accurate. Another Central Carolina Mopar club member purchased a 69 Dart from Hodge. The car was misrepresented during the sale and attempts to rectify some of the issues we not handled well.

Ive been dealing with Le Hodge for at least 10 years and never have had a problem, he always pays promplty and has been straight forward in all of our dealings.

I personally havent had any resto work done by him but I have seen a few of the cars he has finished and was impressed with the work and the fast turn around time in completing them. I also have a friend who has had a few cars done by him and was pleased, and I have a customer who buys and sells cars and has used Hodge a few times to restore cars for him.

Tony

Le restored my AAR in 04 and is currently working on my 69 charger RT.

Honest, straightforward, non-pretentious.

During the AAR resto i'm in the typical situation. House, wife ,three small kids and money slowly coming in.

We carefully discussed every aspect of the project so I understood the direction, cost, and final product expectations.

Very happy with the result.

Hodge Restorations is a class act. Le restored my 1970 T/A Challenger a couple years ago. The process was smooth and easy. Le constantly kept me updated through the process and I received many, many, many email photos as the car progressed. I was very happy with the restoration as the car wins Best of show and peoples choice every time I take it out. .
Immediately after my Challenger came back to me I called Le and told him my father was going down hill fast from Leukemia. My dad owned a 1974 Charger USAC Stock carthat was in desperate need of restoration. Le immediately sent a carrier to pick this car up to begin the restoration. This race car was my dads ultimate dream. Le sent my father pictures daily of the progress on his race car. Unfortunately he only lived 6 weeks from the time Le got the car and never saw the end result. But the joy my dad had the last weeks of his life seeing his race car come together was priceless. Le Hodge sent my dad photos several times a day showing each and every step, and for a dying man this was the greatest thing. .
At this time Le is restoring my FJ6 1971 Charger RT. I eagerly await its completion. .
Hodge restorations does an excellent job. If you have any questions about his shop you can call me directly 804 523 0019. I have had enough experience with his shop to say that you will not be disappointed. .

Top Notch!! Awesome facility and good guys. Le is the man when it comes to mopars. I own a Mopar engine and machine shop in Louisiana and we've been dealing with those boys for years.
Le is a hard worker and knows these cars inside and out. There are probably about 20 Hodge restored cars in my surounding area and I've never heard one bad thing about Le. I'll go out on a limb and say he's restored more Mopars than anyone else in the US. I could be wrong, but I doubt it. Le has done everything for us from a freshin up engine swap on a survivor car to a 100point show car.

Hodge Restorations is a Very Professional & Reputable Shop. Le is a Very honest stand-up guy. He restored my 70 cuda & I'm 110% happy with the whole process. The car looks like glass top & Bottom. Tons of pics & phone calls through out the restoration, I also went to there shops many times through out process, he's never to busy to talk. The quality of work, Paint, fitment Mechanical, 100 % they perform are outstanding. No BS there they are upfront honest bunch of guys & there prices are cheaper$$$$ than the other mopar shops around and I couldn't find that kind of quality work done @ other shops. They don't half do anything they will do it right & let you see whets gone & whets going bad ,they keep you very aware of the whole process. Also there shop is very clean basically you could eat off the floor in that place spit shined floors, they have 2 buildings one for paint bodywork & one for final assembly every time I went there it was super clean very organized. My challenger is heading there next to be brought back to life. If your uncertain go check them out you will be amazed at the quality, and how slick they make those cars. !!!!! ! 100 %%% CLASS ACT.

I have dealt with Le on a couple parts deals with no problem at all.

Bought a project GTX recently and found a shipper heading up and Le let him grab the car before payment cleared. Was concerned about the frame rails and was sent plenty of good pics to confirm.

I think if you are into cars long enough, there will be a few questionable situations, but I feel you really have to look at the whole body of work with a person to get a good feel about how they operate.

Rick.

I've dealt with Le on several rebuilds of wiper motors. Smooth sailing and
straight forward . No issues.
Jules

I have purchased 2 cars from Le and he and his professional staff have restored 3 of my cars.... '67 Charger, '69 GTX convertible, '70 GTX. My brother has also purchased 2 cars from Le and has had a '70 GTX restored there as well. My brother's '70 GTX was featured in MCG! Most of these cars were purchased sight unseen. All purchases were accurately represented. His restorations are based on the customers wishes and are flawless. I agree with every word posted by 'track pack'. You will not get a more honest person to deal with than Le Hodge! I trailer my cars 1200 miles (each way) to his shop to obtain the quality I expect. As a 'purist' collector of GTX's, Hodge Restorations is my sole provider of restoration services.
For those who question Le's integrity, remember..... there are two sides to every story.

Three "one hit wonders"......

I took my 68 RoadRunner to Le awhile ago to get some exhaust manifold, radiator, and steering-gear work done. He did a great job, and he is a professional, straight up guy. As someone else said, he always had time to stop his busy schedule and interact with me about my car and the many interesting Mopar projects he had going on.

If I can just quit procrastinating, I have a few more things I need to get done on my car, so his team will be my first choice for that and any future Mopar work I need.

I've always been impressed the way Le has conducted himself over the years. I like following his resto's.

These are the first negitive comments that I have heard.

Dave

I saw this thread pop back up after all this time and re-read my post... I don't want anyone to have the impression that I am trashing Hodge. I just wanted to relay my experience with the paint issues I had. I didn't pay them to paint the car. I just bought a car which had recently been painted by them. I'm sure if I had paid them to paint it and had the issues I had, they would have handled it right with a repaint. Again, Le represented the car 100% correctly and actually did more than he had to by even talking to me while I considered buying the car from that dealer. The truth is... Le COULD have gone to the dealer and bought that car from under me and sold it himself for as cheap as I got i... But he didn't. That at least says something about his character in my book.