Dave Terrick wrote:
>
> First, the moral of the story or stories... if you want it done right, do
> it yourself! Now, to find sufficient cash on hand to be "idly rich" so we
> can be working on our cars all the time......
>
> In the spring of 1990 I took my beloved TR4a (now re-restoring) to a high
> school auto body shop. Ya, I know, first mistake. The story is, though,
> my cousin was in autoshop then and she said they "had done a TR4 the year
> before". I beleived her and the instructor when he said "they worked on
> all kinds of these over the years" and then expounded on 30 years of
> autobody.... bla bla bla.
>
> I specifically asked for rockers to be done, pass. floor, and rust repair
> and respray. I also TOLD him I wanted the fender beading saved as it was
> integral to the look of the car. Ie: I didn't want a Sunberam Alpine job
> done to it! Guess what they did, after having the car for a year? Yup.
I think this is somewhat instructive of technical trade education these
days. For comparison, here's a story on the automotive technology
department of the local two-year extension of a _state college_:
My next door neighbor had a `69 TR6, which he'd apparently not had much
luck with, and since he had almost no mechanical skills (lots of energy
and enthusiasm, but no skill, so most of what he touched was damaged in
the process), and had already put a ton of money into the car to have
the frame straightened (it was crated for boat shipment from Turkey
after he left the Air Force, and the crate was dropped off the ship when
it arrived in the US...).
Anyway, he knew the fellow running the AT department at the local
college, had heard his father talk about the guy's body work when the
man ran his own shop, etc. So, he put his TR6 in their hands, with
assurances that they would straighten everything, weld in new metal
where required and paint the car over the course of the coming semester.
When the semester was over, very little on the car had been done.
Periodic checks through the second semester showed very little being
done. Anxious to get the car back, he asked could the job be finished by
the end of the school year.... "we're a little behind on it, but we'll
finish it."
The end result? The large dent in the rear valence had not been touched.
A large slab of metal had been MIG-welded into the corner of the
driver's door b-post and then ground to fit, left jagged and unpainted.
A large dent in the driver's door had been filled with bondo
approximately 1-1/2" thick, finished with a cheese grater and then
painted. They'd lost the bolts for the all the fenders, so all fenders
were tacked in place with the MIG welder. The rear fender seams were
raggedly filled with MIG-weld and bondo. The bonnet had simply been set
on the car before painting, because they'd apparently lost the bolts for
it, too.
To add insult to injury, he'd paid $600 for white and red pearl paint,
and they'd painted the car with it "as repaired" instead of telling him
they'd botched the job, and maybe he should save the paint until the
work could be completed properly. And, further, did not clearcoat it, so
the finished paint felt like sandpaper.
> PS don't even start me on the exploding TR6 engine "professional shop" story.
The other part of this story is that the fellow had the engine redone at
one of the local repair shops, had barely been able to get the car home,
because, the shop said, they'd had trouble adjusting the valves. Judging
by the amount of oil smoke coming from the exhaust and the decided
rod-knock in the engine, they had more trouble than that....
He ended up selling it to someone with a backyard body shop, and they
are currently trying to sell it for $1500. Apparently, they have cleaned
it up some, but have done no real body work or engine work, and from
accounts from people who have seen the car, are advertising it as having
dual sidedraft Webers... I guess not too many people in cowboy country
know the difference between a Weber and a Z-S. (!)
Cheers, Dave... you're not alone.
--
My other Triumph runs, but....
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