seneca
Well-Known Member
I won't mention any names or locations in this story. It is about our hobby and how it can get out of hand in some cases and maybe ( I stress " maybe" ) even some shady practices on the part of some players.
This past May a good friend of my wife's ask her to help in planning a party for her husband's retirement from Chrysler, after 40 years on the line, in July. I had met the man several times but only a " Hi, how ya doin' " type of thing. Tragically, he had a heart attack in June and died.
In early September she called and asked if I would assist her with a problem she has with an old car that her husband had in a body shop being restored at the time of his death. We met at her house and she explained that he owned a 72 Plymouth Road Runner/ GTX that he bought new. The car had been setting in storage for many years when he decided to have it restored. She had called the shop where the work was being done and asked them to halt work till she could deal with it after the funeral. She started by explaining that her husband had picked this shop for reasons known only to him ( it is three states away from Michigan ). The shop had taken photos as the work progressed and she had them on her phone. As I looked at them, I noticed the car was in OK shape with some rust but nothing out of the ordinary for Michigan winters and salt. It appeared to be about 75% finished. It is a 440 with auto trans on the column. I noticed the date on the first picture was March of 2014. I asked if these dates were correct and she said they were. My first thought was " three and a half years in a professional restoration shop... and they're not done yet???". She handed me a stack of invoices about 3/4" thick with cancelled checks attached. I'm looking at checks for $10,000, $15,000, $20,000.... Do you have a total on all this, I asked. She handed me an adding machine tape for $391,000!!!!!!
She said the owner told her that there was another $40,000 owed for work already done and if she wanted the car finished it would be and additional $29,000. At this point I told her that if this car turned out PRISTINE it's market value is MAYBE $45,000. Unfortunately her husband is not here to tell us his thoughts on this. I advised her to seek legal advice but the constant flow of checks kind of points towards her husband's approval of what was going on. I hope we can work this out for her as it is an unfortunate burden.
This past May a good friend of my wife's ask her to help in planning a party for her husband's retirement from Chrysler, after 40 years on the line, in July. I had met the man several times but only a " Hi, how ya doin' " type of thing. Tragically, he had a heart attack in June and died.
In early September she called and asked if I would assist her with a problem she has with an old car that her husband had in a body shop being restored at the time of his death. We met at her house and she explained that he owned a 72 Plymouth Road Runner/ GTX that he bought new. The car had been setting in storage for many years when he decided to have it restored. She had called the shop where the work was being done and asked them to halt work till she could deal with it after the funeral. She started by explaining that her husband had picked this shop for reasons known only to him ( it is three states away from Michigan ). The shop had taken photos as the work progressed and she had them on her phone. As I looked at them, I noticed the car was in OK shape with some rust but nothing out of the ordinary for Michigan winters and salt. It appeared to be about 75% finished. It is a 440 with auto trans on the column. I noticed the date on the first picture was March of 2014. I asked if these dates were correct and she said they were. My first thought was " three and a half years in a professional restoration shop... and they're not done yet???". She handed me a stack of invoices about 3/4" thick with cancelled checks attached. I'm looking at checks for $10,000, $15,000, $20,000.... Do you have a total on all this, I asked. She handed me an adding machine tape for $391,000!!!!!!
She said the owner told her that there was another $40,000 owed for work already done and if she wanted the car finished it would be and additional $29,000. At this point I told her that if this car turned out PRISTINE it's market value is MAYBE $45,000. Unfortunately her husband is not here to tell us his thoughts on this. I advised her to seek legal advice but the constant flow of checks kind of points towards her husband's approval of what was going on. I hope we can work this out for her as it is an unfortunate burden.
