>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>It sounds like China is the
absolutely best place for you
I couldn't have said it better!!!!!!!!!!!
Dave Gebhard
----- Original Message -----
From: Jeff McNeal <jmcneal@ohms.com>
To: dayton carpenter <djcarpen@hotmail.com>;
<spitfires@autox.team.net>
Sent: Tuesday, February 27, 2001 2:15 AM
Subject: Re: Response to Classic Car Restoration
factory in China-questions
> Thank you for your input. I had asked all to
reply to me off the list.
Dayton, you can't post a message on a public forum
and chastise anyone for
providing public replies. You may have "asked" for
private replies (I
honestly didn't recall that you did, but I'll take
your word for it), but
that in no way obligates anyone to provide you with
replies strictly on the
terms you dictate.
> First as to quality issues:
>
> Anybody that has seen my work knows that I cannot
cobble my cars together.
> I probably have one of the best Spitfires in the
country. It is also
> displayed in the newspaper across New York State.
Anybody that has seen
the
> car knows this. One the best restoration shops
in New York, which
> ironically specializes in English cars, has
trained me.
Nobody questioned the quality of your personal car,
did they? I readily
congratulate you on a beautiful looking machine as
seen in a recent issue of
Spitfire & GT6. However, I really have to question
your maturity if not
your business accumen because a rather unhealthy
dose of arrogance is
peppering your comments on this list and that can't
bode well for you, no
matter how you slice it. And why is it ironic that
they guy who trained you
specializes in English cars? I would think that to
be rather fortuitous for
you, not ironic. Did you say in your first post
that you were restricting
your import/restoration work to English cars? If
not, then how is this
statement even relevent? How are you with
restoring Volvos?
>
> If you do the bodywork yourself and he paints the
car he make you sign a
> waiver stating that you will tell others that he
painted it. This is type
> of reputation he works on. He did a stock
spitfire frame off restoration.
> The car had a new shell the last one that the RTF
had years ago. The frame
> was solid so no major sheet metal replacement was
needed. The restoration
> cost over $12,000 and that did not include the
mechanicals.
This must be a typo. No reputable painter will
require you to sign a waiver
that compells you to promote his work when he
hasn't done the body prep
himself or by fellow professionals that he knows
and has worked with before.
You must have meant that you are required NOT to
reveal his name, hence your
omission of it. Again, the photos in the magazine
speak for themselves, I
think. Nice work.
>
> After completing my frame off project my friend
painted my car and
actually
> asks for me to bring to his shop when I am in USA
for his customers to
see.
> This does not take into account the 5,000 hours
of modifications to my
> driveline and frame to fit the Chevy 4.3L V-6 in
the Spitfire. I will put
> my car up to anybody!/s on this list whether in
performance or appearance.
> My car in large car shows still always places
first or second.
I can tell you are (were?) an attorney by the way
you estimate your working
hours. Too bad they weren't billable, eh? Do you
really expect anyone to
believe that it took you six-hundred-twenty-five
8-hour days to install and
tweak just your drivetrain? I hope you know that
you're scaring the hell
out of anyone contemplating doing anything similar
with a yarn like that. A
few hundred hours? Okay, maybe. But 5,000 hours
to install an engine and
drivetrain? Come on! What did you do? Melt the
ore, cast the parts and
create the engine by hand?
>
> My object here in China is to sell to exclusive
market basically large
> company owners, and not the average person here.
China laws strictly
> controls the importation of cars. The duties on
imported cars range from
> 125-to over 200%. Cars will have to pass safety
inspections and
emissions,
> yes emissions. Lucky before become an attorney I
worked as an
Environmental
> Engineer. I plan to use the state of the art
technology in my factory, as
> most shops here don!/t treat the paint emissions.
I plan to help the
> government here implement their environmental
plans thus helping US
> businesses do business here China.
It sounds like China is the absolutely best place
for you to be and I
applaud you for committment to helping the Chinese
government implement
their "environmental plans", whatever that means.
While you're at it, maybe
you can slip in a few human rights laws into the
books when nobody is
looking.
>
> As for tax issues I know the law on this, as I am
an International
Attorney
> specializing in trade and business in China, Hong
Kong, Singapore, Taiwan,
> and Thailand. There is no need to explain the
law to members on the list.
There is also no need to explain your foreign
business plans to members on
the list, or boast about how much money you stand
to make if you are
successful.
>
> AS FOR depleting or driving up the cost of
classic cars this is
> unsubstantiated. From the early 1980s to 1990
the Japanese bought a great
> deal of US cars and shipped them to Japan. This
did not have any
noticeable
> effect on the car market in the US.
Oh yeah? Ever check the prices on early vintage
American classics? How can
you make such a self-assured statement like this
and expect the rest of us
to buy it?
>
> Furthermore what the US has always stood for, as
Jeff stated, is a Free
> Market Economy (FME). My buying cars are based
on this principal. If
> people don!/t want to sell their car to me they
simply wont this FME
> business basics. But I know they will because
the US is a FME.
Did I state that? I don't believe that I did.
Please don't misquote me.
What I said was: "I would be opposed to any
"business plan" that would take
more classic cars out of circulation in the free
world for the sole purpose
of lining your pockets with a grossly inflated
profit margin". How in the
hell did you extrapolate your quote of my words
from that? Careful Dayton,
the attorney in you is really beginning to show
now!
>
> Also next time look at where your rubber and
plastic parts are made for
your
> Spitfire. Most are made in Taiwan, which now is
moving most of these
> operations in China. So my plan includes making
aftermarket parts here.
I
> have already selected a management team so
quality can be properly
> controlled. Again thanks for you comments.
>
Well, once again, all the best. Glad you've got a
management team in place.
Sounds like you're committed with or without the
input of those on the list.
And I think you WILL have to pay U.S income
taxes -- that is, unless you
renounce your citizenship ala Marc Rich. Live long
and prosper. Peace, out
bro!
Best wishes,
Jeff in San Diego
'67 RHD Spitfire Mk3 aka "Mrs. Jones"
'68 LHD Spitfire Mk3 frame-off resto project
Jeff's Classic '67 Spitfire Mk3 site & Vintage
Spitfire Webring
http://www.ohms.com/spitfire/spitfire.shtml
home of the NEW Totally Triumph Auction
"By Triumph enthusiasts, for Triumph enthusiasts"
http://www.ohms.com/cgi-bin/TRauction.cgi
and..The Totally Triumph Garage forums --
moderated, focused, friendly!
http://www.ohms.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi
...plus a few other surprises!
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