Another victim
“THE ONCESMOOTH PAINTWORK NOW FELT LIKE SANDPAPER”
After reading Jason Rickerey’s letter ( Unique
Cars December 2017) my own nightmare resurfaced. I had the misfortune of entrusting my pristine 1967 Mustang Coupe to a business t hat had slick advertising, a great look ing showroom and that could ta lk t he ta lk. The work, t hat should only have ta ken a couple of weeks, took 11 whole months. The oncesmooth paint work now felt like sandpaper, sitting out in the weather for ten and a half months of t hat period.
The original quote had doubled to a lmost the cost of a new Falcon/ Commodore. As a parting gif t t he lef t window mechanism was broken, even though I had it replaced prior to sending t he car to t his hellhole.
Even though the Mustang passed rego it was dangerous to drive and I a lmost had a couple of serious accidents. After finding an honest and competent mechanic, I had to redo most of the prev ious work. I have receipts from the second mechanic that mirrors t he original work. I’m luck y to have a wife to let me pay money for the same work t wice. There must be other poor souls out there who are unable to f inish t heir classic cars af ter being ripped of f.
My mistake was that I didn’t ask ot her car ent husiasts f irst. Before you trust your pride and joy to anyone do a lot of background checks f irst. Tom Byrnes, Brisbane, QLD
JEEZ, THIS is starting to scare me. I’ve had the odd dealing with a business that hasn’t been entirely above board, but never anything like the horror stories
I’m hearing after reading Jason’s letter a couple of issues ago.
I’m staggered, Tom, that a business could leave an otherwise pristine car out in the weather even overnight, let along more than 10 months. I wouldn’t do it to my own precious metal, so I can’t see how a business can justify doing it to a car that’s been entrusted to them. Makes you think that some businesses are out there to make our automotive dreams come true, and others are out there to make money.
My advice to anybody to whom this sort of thing happens is to get in contact with their State or Territory motoring club and have an independent inspection carried out. That way, any safety issues (such as you discovered on the first drive after the work was `done’) will be found and logged. And believe me, if there’s one organisation the dodgy operators out there are
terrified of, it’s the motoring clubs. That said, attempting legal action will often just see the shifty bastards close the doors on the shop and declare themselves bankrupt. Hanging’s too good for ‘em.
The shiftiest treatment I ever got was as a young kid buying my first car (And, yes, it was my own money. If you knew my old man, you wouldn’t need to have asked that one.) Anyway, it was a HQ Holden that I bought from a used-car dealer in my home town and, even though it was only a decade old (not an old car by modern standards) it was pretty well used and abused. But, as mandated by the law at the time, the car yard sold it to me with a roadworthy certificate. Three weeks later when the rego ran out, I figured I’d take it back to the same car-yard for the roadworthy…it was only three weeks ago, right? Yeah, well, it seemed in those three weeks the indicator lenses had faded from roadworthy to unroadworthy and a lower ball-joint had also worn. Not in the last 10 years, mind; just in the last three weeks.
But just to prove that there are some good guys out there, after Jason Rickersy’s letter laying his soul bare over the mistreatment of his HZ Holden, I was contacted by a bloke name of Paul Ford who offered Jason first dibs on a potential replacement for his lost HZ Holden. Paul knew the car he was selling would never be the family heirloom that Jason’s original HZ was, but it was a gesture typical of the calibre of gentlemen (and ladies) who read this column.
Unique Cars got involved to broker whatever deal came out of it, but by then, Jason had already bought another car. The last time we swapped emails, Jason’s dad was actually driving the new Holden across the Nullarbor to their home town of Balcatta. Which means Paul’s bright orange, survivor V8 HZ Holden is still up for grabs. In fact, we’ve featured it elsewhere in this magazine. DO myself and editor Guido a huge favour and buy it before one of us does. Please.
Pinless grenade?
To Gar y Black (Issue 410, and his question about which BMW 3-Series to buy); go for t he 330ci, you won’t be disappointed. I’m biased hav ing owned one for t he past four years – a 2004 E46 330ci M Sport Indiv idua l. Love it. Those si xes are such a sweet motor and sound awesome at 6000 rpm.
Persona lly I prefer t he M Sport, the subtle body k it and 18-inch wheels give it a bit more pizza zz, if t hat’s your t hing. Mine’s a f ive-speed auto but don’t let t hat put you of f; it is quite happy to be used as a manual a long your favourite bit of road. As wit h a ll cars, especia lly BMWs, look for a complete ser v ice histor y.
One thing Morley forgot to mention however, is something I wrote in about a couple of years ago and it’s ca lled t he DISA va lve. A small pin in t his va lve has a tendency to fa l l out into t he inlet manifold wit h potentia lly dire consequences. BMW is aware of it but doesn’t want to k now about it, but I’ll wager t hat your loca l dealer has experienced the problem on the 2.5 and t hree-litre motors in t he E46s and X5s. Google it, t here’s plent y of info out t here.
There are k its available for around $120 to 150 online to replace t he pin and f lap and it is a DIY job if you’re handy. In my case the pin was found in the bottom of t he inlet manifold ! I’m current ly running without