God hates me

[Shvegel]

Yesterday morning I got an email from the man who is working on the body of my car. He had been off the car for a few weeks because he writes insurance estimates after bad storms and there was hail in Minnesota a few weeks back. He said "the hail work is over and it is time to clean out the garage and get back to work on your car"

Major hail and tornadoes in Wisconsin...Crap.

[bpossel]

Sorry for your issues, but please leave the man upstairs out of this.  I am sure that he has more important things to do...
B.

bpossel  (Memphis, TN.)
'71 280SL  /  '97 E320

[mdsalemi]

Shvegel,

What kind of body man does insurance work?  What is he, a body man or an adjuster?

Be thankful that YOUR CAR didn't get the hail damage.

Body work on 113's or any old Benz or old car for that matter, never seems to fit in the same category as fixing a fender bender from a parking lot or a crash in your C280.  NOBODY works on this old stuff fast.  Criminy, when my car was being restored there were a few 190SL's that hadn't been worked on in some time in the same shop...in fact it looked like nothing ever left the place!  Yesterday I went to a modern shop where I had the transmission fluid changed, and the same 1971 250C was in the same number of pieces as it was the last time I was there, some months ago--all apart waiting for who knows what.  There was a 113 there as well, having more sheet metal welded into it then you'd believe possible.  And it too, had been in the place for months...

You'll just have to get in line and wait.  Save your prayers for the really important stuff.  Once it's done you'll forget all of this.

Michael Salemi
1969 280SL
Signal Red 568G w/Black Leather (Restored)
President, International Stars Section
Mercedes-Benz Club of America

[glennard]

Time to PPP--  Pray a Pagoda Paliate!

[Ben]

Same story here............my car has been away over a year now and I'd say there has been a weeks work done on it, maybe two !!

Still I always knew it would be away a long time, and once its done right I dont care!

Regards,
Ben in Ireland.
'64 230SL 4sp.

[Shvegel]

Micheal,
The scary part is I hired him for his first adjusting job. The secret to getting work done from a former contractors perspective is this.

1. Thrust the person you are dealing with
2. Hand them a stack of signed blank checks
3. Tell them to write themselves a check when they want to

Instant gratification!

Never pay more than parts in advance. If you do the money is gone and he needs to find a new stack somewhere.

[TheEngineer]

This observation has been posted many times here and it's not going to be much help to those of you who have the car sitting in a shop for years, waiting to be restored: It is much better to buy a car after it has been restored and pay a higher price. It is always less money than the cost of restoration and you get a car ready to use. Even then, you will find things to do. Don't ask me how I know.

[Shvegel]

Buying a car that is already done would take all the fun out of it.

[Chad]

Do you mean "thrust" or "trust" in item #1?
..... it looks like a possible typo, and the intended meanings would be somewhat comically different.

quote:Originally posted by Shvegel

Micheal,
The scary part is I hired him for his first adjusting job. The secret to getting work done from a former contractors perspective is this.

1. Thrust the person you are dealing with
2. Hand them a stack of signed blank checks
3. Tell them to write themselves a check when they want to

Instant gratification!

Never pay more than parts in advance. If you do the money is gone and he needs to find a new stack somewhere.

1967 230SL

[Shvegel]

Same thing

[Benz Dr.]

Then there's the other side of the story.

A lot of this goes both ways and much of this kind of work takes a long time to do. Often customers run out of money and the work is put on hold with a bill owing or they just fall behind. Sometimes they have grand ideas and the reality starts to hit home. The costs to restore can be very steep at times.

So, it's all about comunication. Everyone needs to know what is expected with reasonable time frames for the type of work completed. Personally, I tend to slow down or stop working on a car if I haven't been paid and start working out of pocket. Most people are good about keeping up with the shop doing their work but it takes a steady stream of comunication.

Dan Caron's
 SL Barn
benzbarn@ebtech.net
 slbarn.mbz.org
  1 877 661 6061

[Chad]

I had a 57 Giulietta Veloce Spider Alfa Romeo some years ago.  Gave it to a guy to do some work on it ... and got it back two years later - I was pleased and appreciative of him.  These cars are probably not the cars we need to get to work or the grocery store.  It is a luxury to have them. It is easier to buy a car all done up already.  Approaching older cars that need significant freshening up, I have always thought of them as long term projects. Noone is going to get rich painting one of these old cars, or doing bodywork on them. For most shops the business is in the insurance work, not our labor intensive cars.

It takes years to save these cars from the crushers I have seen.  Five for a DB2, three for an Alfa, and going onto two now for this W113, and hopefully sometime in 2008 it becomes a nice driver. It really takes time and understanding. You hope for quality in the end, and hope the cost of fuel is not $15/gallon by the time it is finished. Oh, things are never finished, really.  At least parts can be found for the W113.


1967 230SL