Alright, So I just got off the phone with the shop on this one, and Hoping to warn others of my experience or hopefully find my motor.
I've had my Cruiser since I was 16 it is my first project car and I've been working on it with my dad for the better part of a decade. When the pandemic hit I decided to do the Full Restoration I've been putting off for about 3 years. Anyways I got the whole thing apart and I hit the limits of what I was willing to risk with my novice skill set. I had a vin-matching 2F that ran alright, but was at 300K miles and could use an update. So I found this shop that I heard did good work from a guy at work (he builds big block fords and said these guys did great work) USA Performance Engines In Dever, CO. Anyways the guy and I did the usual phone things, he got my contact, did some research and came back to me with a quote. 4K and 45days after he got the parts. I told him I'm moving slowly so the speedy turnaround wasn't necessary but appreciated. Fast forward a couple of weeks, I drop off the motor, we get an agreement in paper, I give em 1K and my Motor. We talk a couple more times that month about parts that I left on the motor (its my first rebuild so i didn't know I needed to take the bell housing and pumps off) I go pick those up, talk one week after that where he says "I'll call you with next steps". Life in the pandemic continues to happen, I shatter my right arm, get a dog, blah blah blah. I think about the motor frequently but think "Eh he said he'd call me, and I'm sure the parts are just hard to find right now". I've waited much longer for smaller jobs, my record was 8 months to get old man Emus installed, so I was 0% stressed. Call the guy last week "Hey Rick! this is Chris with the 76 2F what's going on with the motor- I'm sure I owe you...." Cuts me off and he lights into me saying I abandoned my motor and that he sold it out from under me to cover my tab which should have been about 3k (for between 5-6 Cash). I exclaim What?! you never called me this is the first I'm hearing about the last time we talked you hadn't even ordered parts. He goes- "The motor was done 2 months ago and I sold it last month because you never texted or called me back!". I'm now in shell shock, and literally numb because I saved for this cruiser from when I was 10, this project has been a dream for me for 40% of my life. He reads back my number it's one digit off from my cell. The man had written down my phone number wrong on the purchase order and never bothered to check the quote (which he already had) to make sure he got it right. Anyways fast forward a bunch of calls (which I recorded *legal in my state) he changed the dates around a bit, and told me he did everything right under the Colorado Repair Act; I keep quiet and play nice because he might have the number for the guy he sold it to; and I want my vin-matching motor back. I call him 4 times after that looking for details, Today he finally told me "I went through my phone logs and couldn't find the guy's info; didn't think I'd ever be dealing with this mess so I never wrote it down". I pull up phone logs, the contract, everything I can find;
1) I called him 6 times the month surrounding the motor, He called me 2 times, so had my phone number. He said he can look through phone logs to find that guy he could have done that for my number. I'm from mass, and live in Denver: my cell sticks out as very different a 781 number in a 303 state, to find our entire history of call logs took me 10 minutes from clicking the Power button on my computer to find.
2) The contract did have the typo and I missed that but he obviously had it right in the quote
3) He was generally very unpleasant the first time he talked to me. and made what feels like zero effort to make things right. He only said sorry when he couldn't get the guy's number. but again admitted that he came out clean from this whole situation.
What I hope from you guys:
1) You don't get screwed over by honest mistakes, his typing my number wrong. me trusting a shop too much.
2) Don't trust a shop unless you're calling them monthly: annoying but after 30 days from the last contact they can sell your assets to cover the cost of the repair.
3) If you bought my motor or know who did Please, Please, Please let me buy it back. It's 10 years of love and work with my dad and that motor means more to me than you may ever know. VIN: F40220332 it was built not for power but reliability and the block was painted blue. Here is the last photo I have of it
4) If you could help me spread this so I have a better chance to get my motor back.
I'm talking with a Consumer Advocacy Lawyer at this point to see my rights because his mistake and lack of effort cost me 4k of assets and a lot of emotional distress. I'm also hoping to get on a Mechanics radio show later this week to keep looking for the motor and finding out more options I have to recover my lost assets. If you have any advice, I will gladly take it on how to proceed. Thanks for your support I appreciate anything I can get
Chris
I've had my Cruiser since I was 16 it is my first project car and I've been working on it with my dad for the better part of a decade. When the pandemic hit I decided to do the Full Restoration I've been putting off for about 3 years. Anyways I got the whole thing apart and I hit the limits of what I was willing to risk with my novice skill set. I had a vin-matching 2F that ran alright, but was at 300K miles and could use an update. So I found this shop that I heard did good work from a guy at work (he builds big block fords and said these guys did great work) USA Performance Engines In Dever, CO. Anyways the guy and I did the usual phone things, he got my contact, did some research and came back to me with a quote. 4K and 45days after he got the parts. I told him I'm moving slowly so the speedy turnaround wasn't necessary but appreciated. Fast forward a couple of weeks, I drop off the motor, we get an agreement in paper, I give em 1K and my Motor. We talk a couple more times that month about parts that I left on the motor (its my first rebuild so i didn't know I needed to take the bell housing and pumps off) I go pick those up, talk one week after that where he says "I'll call you with next steps". Life in the pandemic continues to happen, I shatter my right arm, get a dog, blah blah blah. I think about the motor frequently but think "Eh he said he'd call me, and I'm sure the parts are just hard to find right now". I've waited much longer for smaller jobs, my record was 8 months to get old man Emus installed, so I was 0% stressed. Call the guy last week "Hey Rick! this is Chris with the 76 2F what's going on with the motor- I'm sure I owe you...." Cuts me off and he lights into me saying I abandoned my motor and that he sold it out from under me to cover my tab which should have been about 3k (for between 5-6 Cash). I exclaim What?! you never called me this is the first I'm hearing about the last time we talked you hadn't even ordered parts. He goes- "The motor was done 2 months ago and I sold it last month because you never texted or called me back!". I'm now in shell shock, and literally numb because I saved for this cruiser from when I was 10, this project has been a dream for me for 40% of my life. He reads back my number it's one digit off from my cell. The man had written down my phone number wrong on the purchase order and never bothered to check the quote (which he already had) to make sure he got it right. Anyways fast forward a bunch of calls (which I recorded *legal in my state) he changed the dates around a bit, and told me he did everything right under the Colorado Repair Act; I keep quiet and play nice because he might have the number for the guy he sold it to; and I want my vin-matching motor back. I call him 4 times after that looking for details, Today he finally told me "I went through my phone logs and couldn't find the guy's info; didn't think I'd ever be dealing with this mess so I never wrote it down". I pull up phone logs, the contract, everything I can find;
1) I called him 6 times the month surrounding the motor, He called me 2 times, so had my phone number. He said he can look through phone logs to find that guy he could have done that for my number. I'm from mass, and live in Denver: my cell sticks out as very different a 781 number in a 303 state, to find our entire history of call logs took me 10 minutes from clicking the Power button on my computer to find.
2) The contract did have the typo and I missed that but he obviously had it right in the quote
3) He was generally very unpleasant the first time he talked to me. and made what feels like zero effort to make things right. He only said sorry when he couldn't get the guy's number. but again admitted that he came out clean from this whole situation.
What I hope from you guys:
1) You don't get screwed over by honest mistakes, his typing my number wrong. me trusting a shop too much.
2) Don't trust a shop unless you're calling them monthly: annoying but after 30 days from the last contact they can sell your assets to cover the cost of the repair.
3) If you bought my motor or know who did Please, Please, Please let me buy it back. It's 10 years of love and work with my dad and that motor means more to me than you may ever know. VIN: F40220332 it was built not for power but reliability and the block was painted blue. Here is the last photo I have of it
4) If you could help me spread this so I have a better chance to get my motor back.
I'm talking with a Consumer Advocacy Lawyer at this point to see my rights because his mistake and lack of effort cost me 4k of assets and a lot of emotional distress. I'm also hoping to get on a Mechanics radio show later this week to keep looking for the motor and finding out more options I have to recover my lost assets. If you have any advice, I will gladly take it on how to proceed. Thanks for your support I appreciate anything I can get
Chris
