HELP! Is the body shop taking me for a ride? Houston TX

65Lover · Post by **65Lover** » June 3, 2008, 9:34 am

The 65 is my first restoration. I thought I'd found the right body shop after having several different shops employees come to the house, look at the truck and give me a quote. I deliver the truck and on the first day they are calling me wanting to double the price. Apparently the shop owner and welder that came to the house didn't give all of the part details to the wife/estimator and she hadn't included them in the quote. She wanted me, the customer, to be happy. She even asked the welders to take a lesser rate of pay on the job and I think my slick is at the short end of this deal! We reached a price in the middle and work began, but I worried about the guys' attitude on this job! I furnished the new floor pans. They cut out the cancer, welded in the new pans, repaired rust holes in the kick plates, rocker panels and fixed a huge cutout area around the shifter that the previous owners had done. Here is the problem. We went every other day to take pictures and it seems that everything was just tacked in and primed. I would like to know if there is anyone in the Sagemont area of Houston, TX that could look at pics of the work or go to the shop with us and let me know if I'm getting incomplete welding due to the shops underquoting.

Johnny Canuck · Post by **Johnny Canuck** » June 3, 2008, 9:42 am

Went thru this (3 times). All I can say is , in hindsight, you should have got a written quote from a body shop that you have seen, and spoken to the owners of, SEVERAL nice resorations out of.

Took The RCMP and a half dozen of my best friends to get my truck back from one of those @$$holes.

65Lover · Post by **65Lover** » June 3, 2008, 10:48 am

I visited the shop FIRST! A kid in the neighborhood had his SWEET '65 Mustang there, he rearended someone. He used the shop for the original restoration. When I asked if they did restorations the ladies face lit up! She showed me folder after folder of restoration pictures on her computer. One of their jobs was accepted into this years Keels N Wheels show in Kemah, earning them passes to the show from the cars owner. Then I got the grand tour of the shop and the story on every car and truck in there. I got to go into the paint booth and look at the SWEET little black Porsche they had almost finished. I told them what I was working on first, the '65 slick, and that the other four projects may follow based on their work. She was excited and even mentioned giving me a discount on the labor since I knew the owner of the Stang and had multiple projects to offer. That is when I invited them to the house since I wanted them to look at the '65 slick as well as the '68 Cougar project that is next in line. Everything checked out nicely! That is why I think that the underquote may be the basis for the work being performed. They are almost finished and I may give them a second chance and have them put in patch panels on the lower cab corners. If that work is poor, I may just learn to weld!

rc1099 · Post by **rc1099** » June 3, 2008, 1:06 pm

What do you mean by, "they were tacked in and primed"? Are all the seams completely welded? Sometimes you don't want a continuous weld over large seams of sheetmetal, it'll heat it up too much and it will warp. Sometimes it's better to tack weld the piece in and then fill in the rest of the seam with other tack welds until it's completely sealed. Regardless of how it was done, you shouldn't be able to see through the welded seams. I guess a picture would help out more for what you're asking.

65Lover · Post by **65Lover** » June 3, 2008, 1:22 pm

I can't seem to get pictures to post, but I can send them if you PM me with your email address.

Max · Post by **Max** » June 3, 2008, 1:37 pm

Where is this shop located in Houston?

65Lover · Post by **65Lover** » June 3, 2008, 1:43 pm

I got some pix to post in my personal gallery. Shop is in the Sagemont area

jecsd1 · Post by **jecsd1** » June 3, 2008, 3:51 pm

I AM NOT A BODY MAN but I would think that you could in fact warp the metal or blow right through it if you try a continuois bead and that quite a few tacks and seam sealer may in fact be legitimate. Like you said, might want to see how they handle the cab corners and go from there. Again I am not a body man and this could be all wrong, just a gut feeling.

winr · Post by **winr** » June 3, 2008, 4:34 pm

Hi 65lover.

I used to live in Sagemont, I am about 8 minutes away from there.

If I can help let me know.

There are 5 or 6 of us Slick guys close.

And on the welding, you weld little spots all around and keep going around until it is filled in.

Keeps from warping the metal as others have stated above.

Richard.

truckerdaddy66 · Post by **truckerdaddy66** » June 3, 2008, 8:02 pm

I got two really nice paint jobs at maco paint &body off of airline just north of loop 610 north side. One was a 89 ford crewcab,and the other was a 1951 chey p/u. They charged me 600.00 each. But that was about 6 or 7 years ago! They looked petty darn good for the money!

Beware of high dollar bodyshops!
You can spend thousands, and then you will not want drive it have fun.

Truckerdaddy66 ,New Caney ,Tx.

helicorbin · Post by **helicorbin** » June 3, 2008, 8:23 pm

ask em' if they would be putting they're name on it for Texas Heat Wave in Austin so everyone would know they done your work, sometimes the fear of embarrasment is enough to motivate them through the job ( Nobody wants to advertise that way) . If they under bid it , thats on them ! I'd get a second opinion from these guys on the North side, they could at least point you in the right direction.

EKSTENSIVE METALWORKS, LLC
1804 Sunny Dr. Houston, TX 77093

Max · Post by **Max** » June 3, 2008, 8:59 pm

Is this that Asian shop off of Scarsdale Blvd. by the car wash?

helicorbin · Post by **helicorbin** » June 3, 2008, 9:11 pm

uhhhh. no.

http://www.ekstensive.com/

36truck · Post by **36truck** » June 3, 2008, 9:36 pm

It's hard to tell how things are welded on the floor with the primer on. But it looks like they welded it all the way around. Don't really care to see undercoating sprayed on the floor.

Max · Post by **Max** » June 3, 2008, 10:09 pm

Sorry, I was asking 65lover about the shop on Scarsdale.

blackagatha · Post by **blackagatha** » June 4, 2008, 1:04 am

well, what exactly are you expecting? they are kinda small pics, but it looks fine to me.... thats kinda how it looks unless you pay big bucks to make it perfect, ground smooth, look like nothing ever happened. but it looks like fine work to me...

therealjoeshmoe · Post by **therealjoeshmoe** » June 4, 2008, 8:59 am

well, i have mixed feelings about body shops.. you cant trust any of them sorry $^#&@* ! anyway they are all out for money thats it.. I paid nearly 5 grand for a paint job on my ford because I wanted it right! I wanted to take it to shows and enjoy it.. 3 months after it was done the paint started cracking and peeling bad! I took it back to the guy and it sat untouched for over 7 months.. he is a sorry motha ###@@#.. oh by the way he is CARL WILLIAMS IN MULDROW OKLAHOMA.. if you want your truck botched up take it to him cause thats all his sorry azz does.. I got a garage so screw all the body shops Im doing it all myself!

joey

65Lover · Post by **65Lover** » June 4, 2008, 8:59 am

Max the shop is off of Kingspoint. Insurance jobs are their bread N butter, but they do restorations. I know now that I should have asked questions about EVERYTHING they were going to do from cutting to finishing for paint prep.

This chick has learned a lot in the last month, but I'm not quitting on my slick!

I'll just have to find other options.
Everybody that has seen the pics seems to think the welding is okay. Maybe just not ground down since they were going to spray undercoating on top. They had undercoated the side panels(kick panels?) as well but we had them remove it and prime so we could paint. I think after they do the rear cab corners the truck is coming home. I'll just have to learn to weld! I looked at the truck the other night and my side drip rails were filled in! I told them it needed to be removed. Shop owners wife didn't know they were going to fill them in. Maybe the shop guys don't know how to restore old trucks!

65Lover · Post by **65Lover** » June 4, 2008, 9:18 am

blackagatha wrote:thats kinda how it looks unless you pay big bucks to make it perfect, ground smooth, look like nothing ever happened.

blackagatha $1100 for welding in two floor pans I provided, welding up the hole around the shifter, welding metal into two holes in the kick panels and a couple more small areas where the scuff plates cover inside the door Is this amount about right, or high for the work performed? I'd really like to continue using the shop since they are so close to the house, but I will definitely handle things very differently. I will go to the shop every day and know exactly whats being done BEFORE it gets done!!

DV65CustomCab · Post by **DV65CustomCab** » June 5, 2008, 5:25 am

therealjoeshmoe wrote:well, i have mixed feelings about body shops.. you cant trust any of them sorry $^#&@* ! anyway they are all out for money thats it.. I paid nearly 5 grand for a paint job on my ford because I wanted it right! I wanted to take it to shows and enjoy it.. 3 months after it was done the paint started cracking and peeling bad! I took it back to the guy and it sat untouched for over 7 months.. he is a sorry motha ###@@#.. oh by the way he is CARL WILLIAMS IN MULDROW OKLAHOMA.. if you want your truck botched up take it to him cause thats all his sorry azz does.. I got a garage so screw all the body shops Im doing it all myself!

With all due respect Joey, one shop does not represent the industry.
It is very hard to find ANYONE willing to undertake 'restoration' work. There simply isn't the quick return like there is in collision repair. Unless you go to a restoration shop and fork over huge dollars for Jay Leno quality work, you've got a real challenge on your hands getting someone to even touch it. Then you've got widely varying expectations of what constitutes 'restored' in different people's eyes. Show quality for the local Dairy Queen cruise night is not the same quality as for an AACA judged national meet.

Having been around this business for a long time now, my advice to folks (other than the OP as it's kind of too late at this point) is if you can't restore a truck yourself, then you should buy one finished. Even some very experienced guys I know who can do everything but paint have the same troubles expressed in this thread. The cost, also, will be far more than you could have spent simply buying a finished vehicle. I look at some of the work mine needs with utter dread...even being in constant contact with body shops daily I can count on one hand how many may actually be willing to take on even doing a part of my truck. And it's just going to get worse as fewer young people enter the business.