Cheating The Reaper
- Thread starter DRIVEN
- Start date
Family or not, fire your painter....aaand 7 months later, there it sits.
I'm technically next in line. It's a small, busy collision shop and he normally doesn't do work like this. In fact, the one in front of me is an early Bronco that he's been working on for over a year. The customer is a neighboring business owner and there's been significant mission creep. The bill on the Bronco will be over $50k before it's done and it should be in paint within the next couple weeks. My brother has done all the work on it himself so far, most of which was done on weekends to avoid interruption. Sometimes it's hard to want to work 7 days a week on other people's junk. I feel like maybe Clutch could probably relate. He has another body tech and a painter there at that location. There's also another body tech and a painter at a 2nd location about 5 miles away. He jumps between the 2 shops to try to even the workload. Both shops are the only body shop in their respective towns and space is at a premium. It takes about an hour each afternoon just to Tetris all the cars away before closing.
Anyway, Thanksgiving will be 1 year. He should be on mine by then. The plan once it's painted is for me to trailer the chassis down and we'll mount the cab. Once I get it home, I'll fit and assemble the rest and make it drivable. Then it'll go back to him to be finished, either complete or more likely in pieces. If it's a driver by summer of '24, I'll be on schedule. That's only 25 years after being wrecked.
Anyway, Thanksgiving will be 1 year. He should be on mine by then. The plan once it's painted is for me to trailer the chassis down and we'll mount the cab. Once I get it home, I'll fit and assemble the rest and make it drivable. Then it'll go back to him to be finished, either complete or more likely in pieces. If it's a driver by summer of '24, I'll be on schedule. That's only 25 years after being wrecked.
I just hate body shop jail. If this is in line with your expectation, then it's fine. You mentioned your Dad's reaction a few months back so I was assuming this was not in line with the expectation. It sounds like your brother is busy and that's better than the alternative. It also speaks well for his work. I should butt out. I'm looking forward to seeing some progress on it.
Haha, no need to butt out. You know how the brother dynamic works. As time passes, this car just doesn't matter as much to me. Sure, I'd love to have it finished, and paint jail sucks worse than actual jail. I really only bumped the thread because it'd been months. Didn't want to forget and let it time out and auto-lock.
I'm not defending or condoning any action taken on ether part but I will say this. Judging by what I see in the background of those pictures you brought it to a collision shop. Not a restoration shop. Any shop focused on collision focuses on insurance jobs quick claims in and out. Even if their train wrecks they're still quick claims with quick pay and where the money is at in the industry. That's as opposed to a restoration shop that just Handel's long term big jobs on old vehicles. In my 38 years experience in auto body a collision shop that takes on a restoration type job is going to push it in a corner any chance they get to turn out insurance work. Most insurance work has a 30 day rental limit and needs to go ahead of any long term project. That's why the collision shop I work at turns them away. We may occasionally do some small repairs to an old car. For instance I recently put a radiator shroud and clutch fan in a 64 Buick because it had the wrong parts stuffed in it and the radiator was hitting the hood causing outward dents. He wanted the hood fixed but to do that we needed to remedy the issue that caused them. Even that car sat for quite some time before it got done but when it did come in it got done quickly
I did the mechanical side last week I think and today it's painted detailed and upfront for delivery. When it happens it can happen fast but the more work they have the longer you wait.
I did the mechanical side last week I think and today it's painted detailed and upfront for delivery. When it happens it can happen fast but the more work they have the longer you wait.
Yup, Clutch explained it perfectly. It'll get done...eventually. My brother does good work so I'm willing to wait. Can't say I've really been impressed much by the local talent since I've moved to this area. My brother's shops are 400+ miles away, I just happened to be in the area yesterday for work.
BTW Clutch, if you ever want to relocate to Oregon or Idaho, I'm sure he'd love to work with you. Bring a painter.
BTW Clutch, if you ever want to relocate to Oregon or Idaho, I'm sure he'd love to work with you. Bring a painter.
Well, here we are again with another no progress update. The only new news is that he finally finished the Bronco last weekend. I'm officially the only non-insurance job there. Does that mean it'll actually get worked on? A fella can dream.
