Sometimes you just gotta laugh to keep from crying.

[Eddie H.]

long story:

when my son was 15, we bought an old 71 GMC for a father\son restoration project. He took it down to the last nut and bolt, cleaned, sandblasted, the frame, and rebuilt the suspension. We rebuilt the engine, put in a 700R and got the rolling chassis completed. We sent the cab, bed, and front clip out, had them media blasted, and epoxy primered. I replaced the floor pans, cab corners, and rockers, and all the usual rust repair. I then sent all the body parts to the paint shop who promised us a 2 week turn around time to get them painted. The parts stayed in "paint jail" for 10 years, during which the painter moved 3 times, and I had to track him down. the parts were stolen. ( or he sold them himself, and claim they were stolen) Anyway, after getting a lawyer, and threating a lawsuit, I finally got him to replace the "stolen parts", (which he did a half assed job of painting). With the help of my former 15 year old son, ( now 29) , we got everything back together, finished out the interior, got the glass in it, and got it titled and registered. The only thing left was to take it to the State inspection place and get the safety inspection on it and it would be street legal. We took it up to the inspection station, and the dumb kid doing the inspection forgot to put it in park, got out of it leaving it in reverse, and ripped the driver's door and front fender nearly all the way off.
Sometimes you just gotta laugh to keep from crying.

[too much stuff]

Just keep laughing, what else can you do at this point?

[Toxic Orange]

Unbelievable... I feel for you. Hope your luck with it turns around.

[Scott>72-GMC]

All I can say. Is wow
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[JHT67]

Too much.

[Expat_dude]

Wow, that suxs!!
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[JCD]

Sometimes you wonder if the vehicle itself is hexed.. or just got some bad luck in it from somewhere down the line..
I had a '68 Camaro that I started calling "The Target" because in the 8 years I had it, it was hit 12 times.. 7 by hit a run drivers, the rest were insurance claims that kept it in the shop a grand total of 4 years.

J.

[67c10rustbuket]

Ouch, sorry!

[Don Quixote]

If anyone knows how you do, I, for one, do.

In 2000, I sent my truck to a body man I knew for the major body work and paint. I had a bad bed and bought a stepside I found which I really liked and replaced the 292 with a 350.

I was told it would be $7000 and I gave him $4500 up front to cover parts. At the time I was a long haul trucker and had to check on by phone and visited every two weeks.

He told me 6 weeks but that had come and gone several times. I then took a packpacking trip in Europe and got stuck there as a result of 9-11 and wound up getting a job in the Netherlands. Every 2 or 3 weeks I would call him and check up on it and my brother would stop by his shop.

In late 2002, I visited the States with the lady I was dating and took old Rocinante out from under him. Since I told him beforehand, he pieced it back together and he told me he wanted more money. To get my truck back, I told him I'd get back to him on that. He charged me for 99 hours to put it together and wanted another $3800.

I had no front wheel wells and my bed was held down by a sheet of $2 plywood that lasted about 10 miles. I had no exhaust and my tires were dryrotted. Most of the cab was primed but not painted and my electric was cut up and held together by the ends twisted and taped.

I drove it from NH to St. Paul to store it with a relative of my girlfriend in the middle of Winter like this.

A year later, I was contacted my a collection agency about that $3800. I told them what I told the body man, I'm not paying you. Take me to court and I will leave the truck outside his Honor's window so he can see for himself why I didn't pay him more than I already had.

I never heard from anyone regarding that again.

To this day I am still trying to undo and redo what he but I just haven't been able to undo the damage. I made a large dent in it a few years back with a new chassis and parts off of the truck I got the chassis from.

To this day I am still afraid to take her in for body work and she is starting to suffer for it and now I have my family to care for so where I have a good allowance for her to get work done, I don't really think I will catch up to what I had in mind years ago.

The wife loves old Rocinante just the way she is, warts and all.

[Eddie H.]

Originally Posted by JCD

Sometimes you wonder if the vehicle itself is hexed.. or just got some bad luck in it from somewhere down the line..
I had a '68 Camaro that I started calling "The Target" because in the 8 years I had it, it was hit 12 times.. 7 by hit a run drivers, the rest were insurance claims that kept it in the shop a grand total of 4 years.

J.

I have often wondered if this poor truck is just being punished for something it did before I came along and rescued it from the crusher.

[Don Quixote]

Right?

[JCD]

Originally Posted by Eddie H.

I have often wondered if this poor truck is just being punished for something it did before I came along and rescued it from the crusher.

Maybe it gave up when it was waiting it's turn..
You'll have to give it a new soul..
Try naming it, and tell it you care... you'd be surprised.

J

[JCD]

Don, that's a horror story ..
I had a similar story with a body man..
Brings back a lot of toxic memories.

J.

[68GMCburban]

Wow. I couldn't imagine that. I would be 10 kinds of pissed.

[Mister-B]

Originally Posted by Don Quixote

If anyone knows how you do, I, for one, do.

In 2000, I sent my truck to a body man I knew for the major body work and paint. I had a bad bed and bought a stepside I found which I really liked and replaced the 292 with a 350.

I was told it would be $7000 and I gave him $4500 up front to cover parts. At the time I was a long haul trucker and had to check on by phone and visited every two weeks.

He told me 6 weeks but that had come and gone several times. I then took a packpacking trip in Europe and got stuck there as a result of 9-11 and wound up getting a job in the Netherlands. Every 2 or 3 weeks I would call him and check up on it and my brother would stop by his shop.

In late 2002, I visited the States with the lady I was dating and took old Rocinante out from under him. Since I told him beforehand, he pieced it back together and he told me he wanted more money. To get my truck back, I told him I'd get back to him on that. He charged me for 99 hours to put it together and wanted another $3800.

I had no front wheel wells and my bed was held down by a sheet of $2 plywood that lasted about 10 miles. I had no exhaust and my tires were dryrotted. Most of the cab was primed but not painted and my electric was cut up and held together by the ends twisted and taped.

I drove it from NH to St. Paul to store it with a relative of my girlfriend in the middle of Winter like this.

A year later, I was contacted my a collection agency about that $3800. I told them what I told the body man, I'm not paying you. Take me to court and I will leave the truck outside his Honor's window so he can see for himself why I didn't pay him more than I already had.

I never heard from anyone regarding that again.

To this day I am still trying to undo and redo what he but I just haven't been able to undo the damage. I made a large dent in it a few years back with a new chassis and parts off of the truck I got the chassis from.

To this day I am still afraid to take her in for body work and she is starting to suffer for it and now I have my family to care for so where I have a good allowance for her to get work done, I don't really think I will catch up to what I had in mind years ago.

The wife loves old Rocinante just the way she is, warts and all.

Wow. And people wonder why patina trucks are desirable? I know there are exceptions to the rule, but it sure seems that there are a high number of bad automotive painters. It's almost like the industry attracts the circus freaks in life that just don't understand that this is unacceptable behavior.
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[catch2otwo]

time to sell it and start over. If its crashing itself now, imagine what it will do when your driving it!

[D.PASSMORE]

I feel you Eddie! I took the top off my Blazer for the first time in about 6 years this last weekend. I was moving it to a safe storage area around my barn, putting along and bam - boom! I looked in my rear view mirror and the front topper had slide off the trailer caught in the ground jacked the topper back into the lift ramp and busted my hatch in half at the bottom. WTH! I guess we/I forgot to tighten down the straps... Crap happens!
I guess it DIY fiber glass repair 101 on You Tube...

[Southern Shaker]

Gotta whoop a mans ass sometimes...

[Eddie H.]

Originally Posted by Southern Shaker

Gotta whoop a mans ass sometimes...

Believe me, I thought about it, many times but my better judgement prevailed.