Cairo's (Michael) 6 - Part 2, 3.2 coming out and '95 3.6 going in... Options

[Cairo94507]

That is not good.... makes me sick to my stomach (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon8.gif) , actually.

Man, this is going to be lots of anxiety until Kent identifies and addresses all of the problems. I had hoped those days were in the rear view mirror after all of the work I had done.

[EdwardBlume]

It's inspiring to see you push forward. I'm looking forward to seeing this done!

[Larmo63]

At least we are here to talk you off of the ledge.

[scotty b]

Wow...... so let me step in to address a couple things here

Michael. I NEVER told you there were only 8-10 hours of metal work left. What I told you was that you had a credit on the books and I guessed ( I don't keep my Quickbooks data in my head ) that it was 8-10 hours of work I owed you and I needed to check on that. What I recall telling you as far as the metal work is that there was a week or two left on the metal work. The repairs to your drivers door alone that need to be done are close to that 8-10 hour mark, not to mention the other work it still needs.

Per the front end mess----- You and I had a very frank phone call over a year ago about this very situation. It was to stay between you and I, but now that these pics are being posted with no explanation I need to refresh your memory and let the cat out of the bag......... As I told you in that phone call, I had an employee that I let work on your car while I was trying to deal with my personal issues. IIRC I had the front end and rear cut off, I believe I had the trunk fitted and asked him if he could finish fitting, and weld it all together. He assured me he could. Once he was done and I looked it over, I realized that I had made a major mistake having him work on it. I told you ALL of this on the phone, I told you I was going to have to re-do what he did as soon as I was back on my feet, and that is where that was left. I had been spending time ( as little as it was ) when I had a few hours trying to iron out his mess. For this I have explained and apologized to you repeatedly. I COMPLETELY understand where you were with the project and wanting it done, but I can assure you had I finished it, it would NOT have been finalized in that condition.

Per the mess on the roll bar------ THAT was on the car when I first stripped it. It was an old repair that had not been dealt with and I am fairly certain I even posted pics of that very spot in the initial thread along with some of the other messes I uncovered. This car was taken out of my shop in partial condition on very short notice so no, I didn't finish things I had started on and am quite disheartened to find out from other friends and customers this morning that I was being thrown under the bus. There was, and is a lot left to be done. I in no way indicated I was done with any single aspect of this job. There are cuts left to be welded, welds left to be finished, hammer and dollying left to be done, panels need to be fitted etc.

[JmuRiz]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/thumb3d.gif)
I don't mean to thread jack, but glad you chimed in, now I feel like crap for not doing a build thread on my car and showing the excellent work you did on my car. I need to get off my duff and upload some info/timeline/pictures in a new thread.

Not many car shops I trust (that I've used) other than Scotty, WillsWerks, and Tim Berrardelli Racing ...aside from all the amazing suppliers here 914Rubber, Mb911, Rich Johnson, & various others I'll thank in my future thread)

[banananose914]

Helllooooo Scott! I don't harbor any hate toward you. I don't know you and you don't know me. I have seen your work though and although I don't necessarily have a dog in the race, per se, if someone says they're going to do something to a particular degree, they should do it. I know that in my line of work, that if something doesen't go right, or as I had planned, I'm expected to own up to my shortcomings. I don't have the luxury of putting the blame off to an employee or some outside ailment or force. It's your shop though. Your employees are an extension of your shop and vice versa.
I think you have to agree that five years there is a little too long. With or without an ailment, life challenge or a sub par employee(s). I understand things happen. But you have a business to run. Do it like it appears you once knew how, and move on.
I do hope things get better for you. If you ever make a wrong turn and end up in California, call me. I'll buy you a beer or ten. I mean that sincerely. We both have the same interest, that being 914's. I won't be posting any derogatory posts about you or Cairo's car any longer. I do look forward to any progress on the car. Jim.

[Cairo94507]

Hi Scotty - This "Part 2" was not intended as a "throw you under the bus thread". I explained to you I would be closing the old thread and starting a new thread documenting the remainder of the build.

You are right about the 8-10 hours. That was what you said you still owed me to balance the time sheet. That was my mistake. I also believe you said you had a week or two of metal work left before the car was ready for final body work, blocking and primer which was to have been done by the end of May (2017), so you could then paint it in July. I accept responsibility for those omissions.

You are also right about telling me about the employee who did less that proper work on the front end. I recall you told me you had to take it all apart to correct it. I then remember seeing photos of the front of the car with no fenders on it. I guess, absent additional information from you when I picked the car up, I assumed since the finders were on you had corrected that work.

You and I did speak, as you mentioned, about the fact someone other than you worked on my car- you told me from day one you would be the only one working on my car as you knew the level of work I was expecting and to guarantee my car was done correctly you would be the only one touching my car. Then your employee worked on it. To your credit, you did own up to all of that and I appreciated that then and still do now. You did apologize many times for that as well.

I have just posted photos of the car as it sits. I let the pictures pretty much do the talking. I have, other than expressing disappointment over the appearance of the work done, really not commented, other than to say that whatever needs to be corrected will be corrected and I am moving forward.

I will continue to post pictures as the car moves along. That has been the purpose of my entire build thread. To educate others about what happens when you take an old Porsche and decide to restore it. I see to many projects get started and die on the rotisserie when people realize they have fallen into the deep end of the pool because they never realized so much work and attention to detail is necessary on these builds.

I don't have time for negativity in my life so I choose not to go there. I can not, however, moderate the comments of others.

I believe I gave you 2 weeks notice I was coming to get my Six and all of the parts- I thought that was plenty of time to get ready. I apologize if that put you in a bind.

You specifically called out Jim and Mark. All I can tell you is Jim, aside from being one of the nicest and most gracious guys I have ever met, owns 2 sixes. I have seen both of Jim's cars and his Tangerine Six is 99% finished and completely done to concours standards. His other Six, his "driver", is in better condition than most Sixes on the road today. Jim's Tangerine Six is the bench mark for all to aspire to and the standard I hope and pray my car reaches.

Jim has been to Kent's shop and seen my car in person. I believe he is commenting based upon his personal knowledge and experience after seeing Kent do the metal, body and finish work on his Six. Additionally, he has of course followed my thread from day one to see the photos of the work done. Jim has offered, with no personal motivation of which I am aware, other than to help out another Six owner, to help me finish my car in any way he can. I am absolutely blown away by his generosity, sincerity and integrity. It is people like him who make this Site and 914 ownership a pleasure.

Mark is just another terrific guy who has helped me out on my build several times. No motive other than to help a fellow 914 owner out. I do not know anything about his build other than seeing his car when I was at your shop about 2 years ago and then it leaving your shop unfinished maybe a year ago or so. Mark will comment if he feels it appropriate, but I don't have a horse in that race.

We parted as friends and I hope to remain that way.

[Blue6]

Cairo,
None of us know what your contract with Scotty was, or how much money was paid. Seeing the pics of the car, if you paid $1,000, you did all right. If you paid him $10,000, you didn't do so good.
Keeping it positive from here on out, I was at Jim's Sunday assembly party today. Watching the re-assembly, fitting and adjustment of parts was amazing. Your car is in very capable hands. These guys are experts. You will be all smiles from here on.... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Cairo94507]

Thanks. That is my goal. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[BENBRO02]

Hi Everyone (IMG:style_emoticons/default/bye1.gif) - Thanks for checking in on my Six. If you caught my other thread, Cairo's Six, http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=188776 you may have noticed my Six has been at ScottyB's shop in VA for a while and Scotty did a lot of work. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sawzall-smiley.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/welder.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smash.gif)

I am happy to report I picked up my car on the 22nd and it is now in Torrance, CA in the capable hands of Kent Simmons (914350). If you saw Andy's (Socalandy) and Jim's (banananose914) Six build threads, you are already familiar with Kent's work. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/pray.gif)

Kent accepted the challenge of finishing all of the metal work, body work and then painting my car. Kent will be assessing the condition of the car (IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif) as received and getting to work. It is important at this point he knows what he is dealing with and everything is rock solid before the next evolution begins.

So stay tuned as my Six gathers speed. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/popcorn[1].gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/piratenanner.gif)

So, for those that don't know, I am the guy in the gray T-shirt.

I live in Virginia and see that your car was "at ScottyB's" in VA. What is the shop name and his last name? Have fun with the six!

[scotty b]

Michael, I want to thank you for helping to clear things up. We parted ways on Saturday as friends and as far as I am concerned still are. My commitment to making sure the car gets done still stands if there is any way I can help. I was concerned about where the car may end up, but when you told me where it was going I had no worries. I know the car is now in very capable hands.

Brian had been a good friend of mine for years prior to my hiring him, and after all of this, a close friend became a distant acquaintance because of this issue and some others he caused. This past weekend was the first weekend I have taken off in 3 months, and to be alerted in the middle of it by several customers and friends as to what was going on in this thread put me in a bad way. This whole issue with the front end and the trunk sickened me when it happened, and this just brought all of that back up. The fact that the car left my shop in that state, and then went to another is hard to handle as my reputation and business were not built on that quality level. I would hope that anyone that goes through the original build thread we had, would look at the other work I was doing and could tell a vast difference in the quality. But I also realize most commenting here are only looking at the problem areas that we are now addressing, and are completely ignoring the other areas that were done properly and are NOT issues.

As far as the mess that needs to be cleaned up, I will say that the outer dimensions of the hood, headlights and bumper are all in spec. as is the rear trunk. The original thread has pics of the hood and bumper bolted and rough lined up so you can see there, that the gaps are all good. It's not my job anymore, but my plan was a lot of heating, hammering and dollying, and some reworking to clean things up as it is all pretty much cosmetic, and I don't see any need to remove the panel and redo it all. But that is not my decision to make at this point.

Again Michael, I am here for whatever I can do to help this move forward, and hopefully this thread will move forward in a positive manner now

[Cairo94507]

Great. I appreciate that Scotty.

[r_towle]

Well, glad to see you making progress. I wish you the best luck on the journey and I really admire your positive attitude, it's refreshing.

[Cairo94507]

Thanks - I appreciate that. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[Cairo94507]

So in Jim's spare time....he wrapped my engine to prevent any issues from sitting around - nice!




Then he took this horrible looking headlight surround-

[Cairo94507]

And turned them into this:

[mb911]

Looks great. Did he just paint them or plastic blast them?

[Cairo94507]

I do not know. I am sure Jim will answer that when he gets a chance.
He did these turn signal buckets too:

[Mike Bellis]

Glad to see this thread is back on track. Get-r-done!

[Cairo94507]

I will do all I can to get my Six done as quickly as possible. I want to drive it while I am still able. I know Kent is committed to getting my Six squared away like it deserves and shot in a color I can't wait to see.

But tonight it is all about Jim's car firing up and driving for the first time in over 2 decades. I am so happy for him. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)