> Scott, go pick up the car and do the work yourself; it's much more fun,
> cheaper and you don't have to deal with an asshole mechanic. By jeez,
> Scott, how do you put up with this. I know Memphis and Chicago are worlds
> apart, but my local mechanic charges $35/hour and he's a great guy like
> almost all other british cars mechanics. I can go into a shop and talk to
> him and he's more than happy to help me out knowing that I'll bring him my
> expensive tranny rebuild job. Give and take relationship. Sounds like Ed
> is more interested in making money than doing a job and helping to put
> another car on the road.
>
> Sorry to hear this, and yes, 14 months is too long to wait unless you made
> an agreement to allow the restoration to go on for an extended period.
> Good luck to you and hope your mechanic is better to live with.
>
> Jay
>
Jay,
Sorry if my comments are confusing, but MY car isn't the one in
repair limbo. Somebody else was commenting that he just got his car
back about 6 months in a paint shop, and that's when I started
ranting. Mine's coming back to me after about only 2 weeks in
the shop for a full engine rebuild. This is fair, considering he
has to order the parts and send stuff to the machine shop. All told,
he will have only had the car ten working days. He's a great guy,
answers my questions, the whole shooting match. The beef I have is
with mechanics that charge $30 to $60 an hour and then try to limit
themselves to brainless "in-and-out-in-fifteen-minutes" types of jobs
that don't really justify the labor rates they are charging. $50
an hour is fair if most of your work makes use of specialized
tools, skills, and training, and if you still charge $50 an hour for
the occasional flat repair or carb tune, that's okay by me. But to
concentrate on easy work at the expense of more challenging jobs and
then justify your rates by saying "Well, I'm cheaper than average" is
despicable, to be generous.
Scott
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