LEARNING TO TRUST
AS THE ECONOMY SEEMS TO BE TURNING AROUND, MORE PEOPLE ARE PAYING TO HAVE THEIR TRUCKS WORKED ON IN SHOPS. Not all of us have the luxury of shelling out our hard-earned cash to complete a truck build, but nevertheless, business is on the upswing. Though there are cases where people drop appointments, quite a few shop owners have told us that they’re fairly busy these days. The big-name, higher-caliber shops have jobs booked into the next few years. This is a comforting turn of events, since times were pretty rough for most of us for a while.
Although it can be satisfying to work on our own rides, sometimes we just don’t have the time (or know-how). Commissioning the work to someone else also alleviates stress because we know a competent person is on the case.
When you have a shop work on your truck, make sure you accurately assess whether or not you can truly afford the work you want done.
Every modification has a price range, rather than a one-size-fits-all number, and if you can only afford the lower end, I suggest you proceed with caution. I’ve seen way too many “buddy deals” go south. Often, trucks involved in these situations are either trashed or end up at another shop with owners paying more much more than they would have initially.
How do you decide whom to trust? Do your research! I cannot stress this enough; the answers are out there. Scope out shops you are interested in and check their social media pages and their tags to review the quality of their work. From there, you can reach out to former customers and get their feedback. Next, get a rough estimate for your job and decide if you want to go forward with your plans.
Recently, we caught wind of some well-known shops that weren’t living up to their end of some deals. Even though they seemed to have good reputations for executing professional jobs, no one really wanted to speak up about the bad work they’d received because they were embarrassed and felt ripped off. In these cases, the only way you can be sure about a shop you are considering is to ask around about their legitimacy. Getting firsthand accounts from actual customers (off the record if need be) can spare you the headaches that can result from trusting a deceptive shop.
Another thing to consider when picking a shop or customizer is their style. Most can adapt to various jobs, but some stick to one particular style exclusively. That kind of consistency can work to your advantage, because you’ll know what to expect. If you do choose a shop based on its style, don’t try to change its way of customizing to suit your needs. That might sound odd, because we’ve been conditioned to believe that the customer is always right, but I think the safest way to get what you want is to pick a shop that produces vehicles exactly the way you like them. You’ll know what to expect, and you won’t throw them a curve ball. I’ve had several shop owners confide their frustrations to me about disagreements with customers over aesthetics or techniques. Those situations rarely end well. Remember, if you chose the shop based on its style, you need to trust how they operate on your truck.
This month’s ’61 F-100 cover truck is a good example of trusting your customizer. Todd Williams has been customizing vehicles for many years, and for one of his rides (not the cover truck) he researched a shop that specialized in the type of vehicle he was building. He got exactly what he expected, and wanted, because he did his research beforehand.
He took a different tack the second time around and had the same shop work on the ’61 F-100 cover truck. The truck was a little outside the shop’s comfort zone, but he knew from personal experience that the crew could handle it. He didn’t agree with everything they wanted to do, but he rolled with it and trusted the crew’s decisions. His trust was well founded, and you can see that the results are nothing short of spectacular. This truck is a masterpiece, and is likely to be remembered for a long time.
Todd’s experience is one that we can all learn from. He was able to get amazing results by doing his research and trusting the right people to finish his ride. Though we may get worked up and inspired to get a truck done as quickly as possible, there are no shortcuts to building a quality ride. Do your research and you’ll be rewarded with a truck done right.