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I have a major gripe with Vintage Motor Cars...

A while ago I posted that I had been rear ended by a bubblegum snapping 25 year old who was texting and ran right into me. She was uninsured and I thought I was done. As it turned out Hagerty covered all of the damage to my car and were really super nice to deal with.

I called Roland at HB Aircooled at the time and asked what he thought I should do. I figured the motor was toast so he was the place to start. He said to take it to Greg at Vintage Motor Cars. I know a lot has been said about Greg on this forum and you would have thought that I would have listened but... I took my car to Greg anyway. Why? In or around 1998 or 99 I went over to Vintage to look at a Speedster. Greg's shop was right next door at the time. I walked around the corner and I saw what Greg was doing. There were Playboy magazines spread out across a table behind a fence. No that's not what he was doing... He was building Spyders on really well made hand-built chassis. I was very impressed. It impressed me enough that it halted me buying a speedster as I had to reassess what I really wanted in a replica car.

When I bought my car from Will P. I had to have the motor rebuilt and during that time I had discussions with Roland about Greg's Spyders and the subject of paint and finish came up more than once. Roland was impressed with the quality of finish on my car and said Greg's shop rivalled that.

I had my car towed to VMC the next morning. Greg and Alex took the car in and I had Hagerty contact them. After they assessed the damage I was very happy to hear that there was no frame damage or engine damage. They turned in the estimate, it was approved, and they began working on my car. I didn't go over there to look at the progress because, well, frankly I was sick about it. After a month I finally dropped by. I could not believe what I saw... there it was. Engine out, deck lid off, and the rear all patched up and sanded. It looked perfect. How in the hell did they do that?

During the process I had conversations with both Alex and Greg about cooling issues that I had with my car and that I felt it was bad enough I could not drive it in the summer months here. Alex made a couple of recommendations and I agreed. I posted some pics early on of the deck lid Carrera screen that Greg put in. Since the deck lid needed to be reworked anyway I thought it was a perfect time to put this screen in as I have always felt the engine needed more air flow from the top.

Greg runs a very busy shop over there and I had a lot of ideas while the car was apart like getting the gears ratios modified, getting a 1/2 inch lift to the rear of the engine to align the engine tin with the compartment for better sealing. Alex had to order a new Cal 56 custom license plate, and my fathers license plate frame was broken and had to be redone. I had put Euro tail light lenses over American wired tail lights so the brake and running lights were not correct. They came up with some very nice Euro lights and got them wired in correctly. Fact is I had a long punch list of things that I wanted done. These guys fixed everything and they put in a lot of extra effort and time in to complete the job so that I could attend the SLO meet. I put no pressure on these guys in fact I said I would rather put the SLO trip off to get the job done right and I am a stickler for done RIGHT.

So what does Greg do? He wants to get the car out of his shop and get payed so he rushed it. I know Alex was burning the midnight oil to get this done before SLO and you probably can all guess what the outcome was...

The car was, well, I went over there to pick it up. My first impression of the rear end of that car was that of total disbelief. It was like a magic wand had been waved and it all went away. It wasn't just the workmanship on the outside finish, when I raised the deck lid and looked inside at the workmanship there was not one sign of previous damage. It was perfect. In every way. Now... the gear ratio test. I had been looking at gear ratios for the last 2 years, had conversations with a few of you over it. I pretty much knew what I wanted and they got it done. Folks I cannot tell you how nice the right gear ratios make these cars drive.

So, in closing here are some pics of the car. The folks that attended SLO who knew I was in an accident can attest to what I am saying here. Greg, Alex, and crew were super attentive to my suggestions and many, many phone calls - even after hours! The cooling modifications, and I could not believe this, I checked and triple checked. We drove this car in 100 plus degree heat and the car ran at an unbelievable 200-205 degrees.

So what is my major gripe with Vintage Motor Cars? Well here it is... Greg let me test drive a Spyder that had similar gear ratios as the ones that I wanted for my car so I would know what I was getting myself into with the transaxle mod. The Spyder had a type 4 engine in it, it was beyond fast and it felt like a race car and now want a Spyder but I cannot afford one and I think he knew that would happen to me. It's cruel and it was down right mean given my personality type.

That aside - Thank you to all of you at Vintage Motor Cars. Job very well done.

 

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Last edited by Rusty S
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Sacto Mitch posted:

 

Rusty, congrats on the great repair.

You mention cooling mods. Did they do stuff beyond cutting away the center of the lid and putting in the grill?

Where's your oil cooler mounted?

 

Mitch the oil filter, and this was most likely the biggest culprit, was mounted to the exhaust port. I was using a Jay Cee all metal filter so I may as well have had the filter on a burner. The person who's idea that was is so well respected in the industry I didn't dare say anything.

The oil cooler started out on this car as a 72 plate and I went to a 96 plate cooler mounted in the driver side fender well. The larger cooler dropped about 1/2 of it below the frame exposing the fan which was pulling and getting the hot air off the cylinders as well as the hot air off the exhaust right through the cooler. I reversed the fan to push cool air from the fender well to the engine side. I think that made a difference as well.

art posted:

Rusty,

Who's exhaust system?  Do you like the sound?

Art it's a 1 5/8 A-1 exhaust with a custom 4 cam sebring tip that Tiger at A-1 made for me. It has a very nice sound to it and blended nicely when all of those real 356's began leaving. A stock 356 exhaust has that unique sound because of the large can at the back of it and it produces a deep echoey sound that resonates in the can. Vintage Speed of Taiwan offers a very similar exhaust that I bet reproduces the 356 sound.

Great story and a wonderful ending.  Your car looks fabulous, and so happy to hear that the gears work better and the cooling thing was fixed.  Thge actual collision damage looks  to me to be -- meh . . .  The not-cooling right thing would be a real bummer.  All that is needed now is more situational awareness by the driver so he can get the f--- out of the way of texting dimwit twits.  If only it were possible . . .

El Frazoo posted:

All that is needed now is more situational awareness by the driver so he can get the f--- out of the way of texting dimwit twits.  If only it were possible . . .

I can remember all of it so clearly. It's strange how things seem to happen in slow motion. I had just passed a group of cyclists on my right. As I was approaching the stopped traffic ahead I looked in the rear view and saw her barreling down on me and looking down at her phone. I remember thinking all of these thoughts... and I'm not sure of the order... "Go right you have the room" "No wait you'll hit the cyclists" "Who will do more damage to the rear of the car, some dude on a 12lb bike, the 180lb dude on the bike or that fricken Jeep Cherokee?" "Hey you can't think like that" "I know. The cyclists would sue me" "That's not what I meant" "Who is that talking to me?" "I don't know but a cheeseburger sounds really good right now"

...then bamm!! the Cherokee hits me.

Bob: IM S6 posted:

Rusty:

I can't remember - did the dumb b*tch get charged?

She wasn't cited at the scene but an officer later told me that they usually don't cite at the scene and that the city reviews the incident report and determines if a citation is appropriate then. If Robert M happens to see this post perhaps he can chime in.

Rusty S posted:
Bob: IM S6 posted:

Rusty:

I can't remember - did the dumb b*tch get charged?

She wasn't cited at the scene but an officer later told me that they usually don't cite at the scene and that the city reviews the incident report and determines if a citation is appropriate then. If Robert M happens to see this post perhaps he can chime in.

The officer on scene can't cite her for the INFRACTION because it did not occur in his presence. Once the accident report is completed it is sent to the DA's office and a citation can be issued by the courts. All of that requires that an accident report be completed. The only caveat here though is that due to budget restraints not all law enforcement agencies write traffic accident reports unless someone is injured. Many times the involved parties merely contact their respective insurance agencies who hash out the specifics and no citations are ever issued.

Bob: IM S6 posted:

In Ontario, someone is always found at fault for every collision, and you are cited right at the scene.  If the police are called to a collision, a ticket can/will be given right then.  More charges can be brought later.

What's with California? 

Isn't there a maximum number of characters allowed in these posts?

Robert M (Not a Poopiehead) posted:
Rusty S posted:
Bob: IM S6 posted:

Rusty:

I can't remember - did the dumb b*tch get charged?

She wasn't cited at the scene but an officer later told me that they usually don't cite at the scene and that the city reviews the incident report and determines if a citation is appropriate then. If Robert M happens to see this post perhaps he can chime in.

The officer on scene can't cite her for the INFRACTION because it did not occur in his presence. Once the accident report is completed it is sent to the DA's office and a citation can be issued by the courts. All of that requires that an accident report be completed. The only caveat here though is that due to budget restraints not all law enforcement agencies write traffic accident reports unless someone is injured. Many times the involved parties merely contact their respective insurance agencies who hash out the specifics and no citations are ever issued.

In a way that is too bad. She should have been cited for no insurance and texting while driving. Add to that reckless driving. What's to stop her from doing the same thing?

Also, because I stated to the officer that I wasn't injured an accident report wasn't written up but he said he would be writing an incident report which he said is a report with a lot less information in it. He gave me an incident report number.

Man, you totally had me Rusty... I went in reading this thread thinking... there's NO way he has a beef with Greg, Alex, and Team at VMC. I saw your Speedster with damage, my heart stopped, and saw it when you were picking it up and it was a HUGE difference. I never saw it before the accident, but it look damn good after they fixed it

I've already told Greg once I'm done with my Soeedster build, I'm going to him for a coupe (my wifey loves the coupe). 

Actually, in Ontario you can be in an accident and due to circumstances say beyond your control like ice or whatever an accident could happen and you may not be charged for it but the insurance could judge that you are the one who carreened into the other car so you pay for their car repairs etc.  

So the insurance determines who paid by slightly different rules.

*LongFella posted:

Man, you totally had me Rusty... I went in reading this thread thinking... there's NO way he has a beef with Greg, Alex, and Team at VMC. I saw your Speedster with damage, my heart stopped, and saw it when you were picking it up and it was a HUGE difference. I never saw it before the accident, but it look damn good after they fixed it

I've already told Greg once I'm done with my Soeedster build, I'm going to him for a coupe (my wifey loves the coupe). 

I can't help myself. I always have to clown around with posts. Greg & Company did an amazing job period. With all the negative stuff said by that one guy not too long ago I had to spoof a little else it just wouldn't be me!

What are you going to do with the speedster then? You put a lot of time into it. If I had the money for a spyder and a coupe... I was thinking about that the other day and I know it would cost me a small fortune in modifications in either car because I'm a detail guy! You seem like one too.

Rusty S posted:
*LongFella posted:

Man, you totally had me Rusty... I went in reading this thread thinking... there's NO way he has a beef with Greg, Alex, and Team at VMC. I saw your Speedster with damage, my heart stopped, and saw it when you were picking it up and it was a HUGE difference. I never saw it before the accident, but it look damn good after they fixed it

I've already told Greg once I'm done with my Soeedster build, I'm going to him for a coupe (my wifey loves the coupe). 

I can't help myself. I always have to clown around with posts. Greg & Company did an amazing job period. With all the negative stuff said by that one guy not too long ago I had to spoof a little else it just wouldn't be me!

What are you going to do with the speedster then? You put a lot of time into it. If I had the money for a spyder and a coupe... I was thinking about that the other day and I know it would cost me a small fortune in modifications in either car because I'm a detail guy! You seem like one too.

I'll keep the Speedster. I've got a decent size two car garage, so there will be space next to the speedster It's the madness man, the madness...

But for now, I'm enjoying a low cost six pack of beer here in the CZ... all for $7

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