Cherokee county perhaps? :dunno: (I just say that because these days everyone wants to be there.
When 10 years ago they all wanted to be in Alpharetta!) :laughing:
We'll just keep hanging around down here in Henry county. :xyxthumbs:
The stories about learning to drive a stick, drag racing (way back when), and 60's GTO's all sounds exactly like me and my wife!
She drove a 67 GTO when we started dating!
What brought us together was that we both were into drag racing and engine building.
My dad started teaching me to drive a 63 Econoline van, "three-on-the-tree" when I was 9. (
That was mid 60's.) Back then we had a place at the lake, all dirt roads, back country roads, you name it. I'd drive EVERY WHERE.... need bait, "I'll drive Daddy", need ice, "I'll drive Daddy", more gas for the boat.... yup, that was me driving that baby blue Dry Cleaning van (
with a box of tire chains sitting in the seat behind me so I could reach the pedals). Im the MAN
On your trunk; Being as they either do, (or you get the feeling that they will) damage your car (in some way or another) every time it goes back.....
Why not just take the trunk lid off and take ONLY it to them? Have them, demand in fact, take it down to bare metal again and start from scratch. Cost to repaint it (their cost) probably isn't a hundred bucks, labor included.
Addressing the 15 year old car and all the hullabaloo over wanting it slicker 'n greased owl snot.
We did one last week that FOR THE LIFE OF ME I can't figure out why they spent so much on it?!?! Had a referral through a body shop manager at Hennessy, to Geico, with a car at yet
another body shop. I was thinking AWESOME, (because they have 20 or so locations around Atlanta).
Turns out it was a 15 year old Jag Vanden Plas with 181,000 miles on it. Interior was FAR from nice, tears in the seats in a couple of places, headliner sagging in the back, veneer flaking off in the back on one of the "tray tables" but thank goodness I didn't have to do the interior! The outside though had just been painted, front, left side, roof blend, trunk blend. The owner (likely thinking it was just a way to get the insurance company to pay her more money) told them she wanted a "coating" on her Jaguar because IT HAD ONE ON IT when she bought it in Missouri. I'm here to tell ya', that car has NEVER had a coating on it, and the owner, based on the condition of the car, wouldn't know what to do with it, or how to maintain it if it did!
Most likely someone told her about "this fancy coating stuff" and she priced it at a local guy or two and figured it was a way to get a couple grand in her pocket.
None the less, they didn't fall for it and asked what I'd charge. I told the body shop manager my price, but ONLY if he had the car completely finished, ready to be delivered to the customer. From THERE we pick up and do what we do, then take it to the level needed for a coating (if it needed anything at all, as some shops will indeed do excellent finish work). At the very least it'd need to be stripped of all glazes, waxes, sealants etc. and prepped for a coating. We figured AT LEAST a complete buffing with 205 or Menz 2000/2500, plus the paint cleansing polish. It arrived on a rollback and the guy pulled it up to the garage, brought the keys and said "I put this car outside for you", then he was gone. When I got to look at it, I was like NOOOOOOOO.... it was HORRIBLE!
Right side hadn't been touched!
We were not hired however to do paint correction, but it DID have to be prepped for a coating. That's a fine line as to where you stop. I emailed them the second day, once we had taken a good look at it and were getting ready to tear into it letting them know it was an extra $250 just for compounding. Long story short, it looked better when it left here (again on a rollback) than it had looked in probably 14 of the last 15 years! Didn't run hardly at all, skipped and stuttered (needing a tune-up something FEIRCE), leaked oil like a screen door submarine, but
by God that sucker was slick-n-shiny! :laughing:
( After all, when she came home yesterday I had a brand new Rupes Duetto sitting on the counter waiting for her.) Yup... really nice guy.