I learned the hard way that you have to be very careful who you trust
with the restoration of your car. Just because they do body work,
doesn't mean they can restore one of our British cars. Here are a
couple of lessons I've learned. I'm sure others can add to it:
* Do a thorough search of shops that specialize in (1)
restorations and (2) restorations of British cars. There are not that
many shops out there that have had an older British car to work on.
Most shops today depend on insurance repairs. I can appreciate this.
It's a business and a good business owner is going to take in work that
assures the best return on labor. The honest ones will tell you that
they don't have the time or the proper facilities to do restoration
services. There are many shops in my area that I would take my Jeep to
for repairs, but I wouldn't take my Austin Healey to them for
restoration work.
* If you find a restoration expert, verify the quality of their
work. Ask for references, go look at work they've done on other cars,
look at work they are currently doing and talk with individuals who work
in their shop.
* Use the many resources we have available to us to find a
restoration expert - this list being one of them. Talk with members of
your club as well as members of other clubs in your geographical area.
You may find that in order to find the best restoration expert you may
have to haul your car a few hundred miles from home. But if it assures
that your car will be completed to your satisfaction, that is a small
price to pay.
My first experience at hiring someone to restore a car was a nightmare
that I hope to never repeat. I contacted the Better Business Bureau and
Chamber of Commerce and was told that my only recourse was to file a
civil claim against the individual to recoup my money. They also told
me that even if the civil court decided in my favor, it would be my
responsibility to collect the money. Bottom line, I lost a lot of
money.
When it came time to have my Austin Healey 3000 restored, I sought out
someone who specializes in restorations of Austin Healeys. Once I came
to a conclusion as to who I thought would be the best shop to take my
Healey to, I visited his garage (prior to even asking him if he could
restore the car), viewed other cars he was working on during my visit,
and talked with others in his garage. He was very up front with me
about the time it would take to do the job right, how much it would
cost, volunteered references, and showed me cars they were currently
working on as well as complete photo sets of cars they had completed.
He even suggested I visit a client who lived nearby who had their car
restored by his shop. Of course, the restoration isn't going as fast as
I would like it to go, but I still have confidence that it's being done
right.
I'd be interested in hearing from others on how to find the right person
to restore our cars. We spend a lot money to restore these cars and it
would be great if we could prevent others from experiencing the
frustrations others of us have had to go through.
Charlie
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