How dumb can I be?

[William Dupree]

I've had my 260Z since I drove it off the dealer's floor. I saved and sweated so I could get it, because at that time you basically took what Datsun had and paid what they wanted. I have loved this car and in and around 2015 it was time to refresh the car. It the car has lived in successive garages and had maintained all the services. But I am not a professional and I looked through Craig's List for an individual to restore/refresh the car. It of course had minimal rust which I had removed, and stripped and sealed the body. I sent the engine off to get hardened valve guides and a general checkup. Spending what I originally paid for the car this jackleg mechanic took me to the worst experience a car owner could imagine. We went back and forth with price spanning 4 years and 20000 dollars. I pretty much monitored the progress but I had a personal accident which halted the shop visits. That is when Jeckel turned to Hyde and this guy tried to up the money we had a verbal agreement about. Here is where I found out how dumb I had been. Not that my wife did not tell me to get a contract when the mechanic refused I should have walked away, but NO now stupid joined dumb to cost me tens of thousand of dollars. This is a precautionary tale to those who might even think about what is safe when giving up your money. Cover your butt with paper. My car is still in the garage in a roller condition with axillary parts stored in boxes. I don't know if I will ever get it finished but I thought it might help others. I will not mention his name as he has moved on after cashing the last check and pushing the car to the street. Watch out and beware, of course my wife was right.

 

 

[MikeRL411]

Old Hollywood axiom "A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on."

[yenpit]

I hate stories like this & feel for you! 🙄 😒 I have seen many "horrible experiences" in my 40 years of classic cars & working in the classic car parts industry.  The last shop where I worked for 8 years, specialized in Z cars.  We would get lots of calls for work, offer up a VERY ROUGH ESTIMATE, most would balk & look elsewhere.  Some of those guys would end up in a similar situation as you.  My point is, it is rare to find a really good mechanic/restorer advertising in a newspaper, on craigslist etc.  They are there for a reason!  Word of mouth & restored cars to prove it are the keys to getting good work!!

 

Good to great restoration work is extremely expensive!  We would start at $20k+++++++++++ to simply go thru the fuel system & hydraulics............minumum!  A full on restoration could easily reach $60-80k+++++++, mostly depending on the ACTUAL condition of the car.  That shop where I worked, just had a guy bring in a 1970 240Z "Series 1" that he paid around $10k for a few years back.  HE told us it was a good solid car.  They agreed to a $60-80k restoration.  Once the car was stripped down for media blasting, it reared its grossly ugly head!!  It was a rotted midwest car that had been HORRIBLY restored, with horrible patch welding & TONS of bondo!!  They had to reassess & told the guy it would take another $20k minimum in metal work.  Instead, I found him a much better rolling body shell with title for $3500.............he bought it, has not picked it up yet!!  Fingers crossed!!

 

PS I found my cousin an exact copy of the 1974 260Z that he had bought NEW in Illinois!  This car has 43k original miles, CA car, same year, same early small bumpers, same color & SAME ALUMINUM SLOT MAG WHEELS!  He bought the car for $45k, had us go thru the fuel & hydraulic systems for reliability & loves it!!  

[thisismatt]

Why wouldn't you name him? Sounds like an Al aka denmarkboy story...

[datzenmike]

Talk about rearing an ugly head.

[kathrynobrien]

On 5/19/2023 at 4:35 AM, William Dupree said:

I've had my 260Z since I drove it off the dealer's floor. I saved and sweated so I could get it, because at that time you basically took what Datsun had and paid what they wanted. I have loved this car and in and around 2015 it was time to refresh the car. It the car has lived in successive garages and had maintained all the services. But I am not a professional and I looked through Craig's List for an individual to restore/refresh the car. It of course had minimal rust which I had removed, and stripped and sealed the body. I sent the engine off to get hardened valve guides and a general checkup. Spending what I originally paid for the car this jackleg mechanic took me to the worst experience a car owner could imagine. We went back and forth with price spanning 4 years and 20000 dollars. I pretty much monitored the progress but I had a personal accident which halted the shop visits. That is when Jeckel turned to Hyde and this guy tried to up the money we had a verbal agreement about. Here is where I found out how dumb I had been. Not that my wife did not tell me to get a contract when the mechanic refused I should have walked away, but NO now stupid joined dumb to cost me tens of thousand of dollars. This is a precautionary tale to those who might even think about what is safe when giving up your money. Cover your butt with paper. My car is still in the garage in a roller condition with axillary parts stored in boxes. I don't know if I will ever get it finished but I thought it might help others in geometry dash lite. I will not mention his name as he has moved on after cashing the last check and pushing the car to the street. Watch out and beware, of course my wife was right.

 

 

I also used to have the same experience haha🤣

[datzenmike]

If at all possible learn to work on your own Datsun. If you can't, the next best thing is to know more about what's wrong that your mechanic and tell him what you want done. Worst is to know nothing about how they work, then you are at the mercy of the mechanic you choose.

 

Get a factory service manual (FSM) and leave in the bathroom and read it every morning. Learn how to replace simple ignition parts and do an oil change. How to check your oil, change your oil and the filter. Change the air filter. Buy a set of metric sockets and a ratchet and other tools as needed and you're ready to check and set the valve lash. One thing leads to another. The FSM? they're about $30 on line and the first time you use it it more than pays for itself. What does a mechanic charge these days. $80-$100 I really don't know. I have owned Datsuns for way over 40 years and they were never in a garage.