MY LOLA??? Would You be Pissed Off? I am!!

[john]

After a a long 2 1/2 years wait for my car, what do you think? I want very honest anserws? Than I will reveal the names of the builders.

[Big-Foot]

John - to what level did you contract your car to be built? What I see is a roller that's had some work done to the fiberglass in the area of the flares.. The wheels look like the genuine articles which may have been hard to come by...

[john]

I will post the contract...tonight I have to go to work! the body is to be fitted in the contract..

[Johan]

Did the dog piss on it or keep walking ? I found that center dash support brace by the way. Happy to ship it to you. Impossible to answer your question with the info given, but the body looks nice. I have some wheels that would fit better in the fenders, and no I don't want your old ones. You need 8s and 12s not 10s and 14s.
The car is about 1/3 done ? Where did you get the body ? New nose ? Same Penske tail?
The body does not look so bad...

[Keith Hardy]

It looks a little, erm, ragged in places but presumably a days work sanding and it would look quite different I'm sure. It's all relative however and I would be delighted to find it in MY garage....

If you're not happy with it send it to me..I will even pay the shipping..

[Gregg]

How much money is invested?

[Jac Mac]

Originally Posted by Dogface

After a a long 2 1/2 years wait for my car, what do you think? I want very honest anserws? Than I will reveal the names of the builders.

90% done & 90% to go, a frequently used quote from race car fabricators! ( Even used it myself on occasions ). Got to say it, I have started with worse & it does appear to have improved slightly from the pic in your avator.

[chuck smith]

I would be pissed

[john]

Here is the contract



This email is to update a list of request and work that has been previously agreed on, on 1 Lola T 70 Spyder. This car will be provided with a black power coated frame only. The remainder of the suspension will be lightly sprayed as a rust preventative with paint. John will disassemble and send these pieces out when he receives the car. Also, rollbar will supplied bare for the purpose of chroming. Suspension uprights are to be light weight, hollow casings with pin drive hubs. Brake rotors to be supplied by BEEP, also brake pedal box, and all brake lines externally ran. BRAKE CALIPERS TO BE SUPPLIED BY JOHN. These will be in working order if calipers are supplied during billing process. In any other case, brake lines will be stubbed at the caliper. Fuel system will consist of 16 gallon, 100-125 thousands aluminum tank. Fuel lines to be stubbed at motor. Adequate fill neck and cap provided with car. BEEP RECOMMENDS FUEL CELL BLADDER. This bladder will be installed at no charge if costumer pays for fabrication of cell and shipping cost to BEEP. COOLING SYSTEM car will be provided with 1 aluminum radiator, cooling tubes of amble size to transfer cooling from front to rear-stubbed off at engine bay. Car will be fitting with Lola T 70 body. Complete rear clip, front clip, and side pods in doors. John will provide adequate wiring for track events and all gauges. If wheels are supplied in the near future, they will be fitted and checked by All Pro Cars. As discussed in the past, wheels, wind screen, and shifter are to be supplied by owner. All Pro Cars PA now has 4 sets of hinges and 1 shifter linkage. The linkage will be installed in the car. Paint on body will be completed by owner. Cost of wind screen will be covered by owner. As per conversation of 3-26-2007, the frame will be powder coated and this will require 3 weeks. When chassis is returned to BBEP , BEEP feels this car will be ready for pick up by the owner in 30 working days. Owner will be updated weekly as to progress on the car by email from BEEP, after power coating is done. All extra parts, such as hinges, will be returned to John by BEEP. BEEP has 2 Z/F axels, 1 that has been modified and 1 that has been disassembled and reassembled. These are at Beep and can picked up by John at his convenience. Motor will be supplied and installed by John after car is picked up.

[john]

I guess I'm shell shocked at the pictures. When I see a product like Frans roll off the truck, you don't see any ruff stuff to this degree. Sure frans need fine tunning but clip repair from carless handling. Please!!. Would any builder out there be proud to post these pictures of his work and want to sell cars? With this level of car you would expect more. The public forum has been gentel on comments but the pm's are brutal. To many folks are afraid to say there opion. Yes it all can be fixed but My body guy may not be able to handle the repair work. He only paints. What I'm trying to say is when you see a roller like Frans being delivered, It looks great! I exspected the same level from a Shelby builder. . Now would you buy from him if you saw pictures of my the Lola? Now Im stuck! I will have to have the car body finished by body/paint guy that can do the job. It will exceed my buget. Considering what i have now have to put in the car I should have gone with frans car,It would also have been faster. this guy promissed the car with in 6 months. OK...2 years later. merry Xmass. Yes the car cost less than what fran is getting but that is not th point.This Project was going to be used as an example for the builder to sell more cars. Now with the repairs, It will cost more than Frans. So I lose! I have not pickedup the car yet ...ther is a balance due. Once I get the car, I will have to make a harsh decission. the one good thing I can say about the car is the Space frame work is excellent. The suspension is very costly...Pin drives ..sorry for the chopper writing but I started a new company and I am working 16 hr days.Now I have more stress. Thanks for the comments You guys are great.

[Cliff Beer]

John, sorry to read of your disappointment - I would be disappointed also. If the chassis is well done and the suspension is similarly also high quality then a good body man can sort out the body without too much trouble - it'll take some time but it's not rocket science. If you get the body sorted then you'll have a good basis upon which to finish it to a nice level and have a good running car. Hang in there and with some patience and persistence it should work out fine. You'll get tons of support from the folks here!

[Malcolm]

If you paid $10 then be happy, if you paid $100,000 then it could be fair to expect a little better presentation. But fibre glass body work that is not all the same gel coat always looks messy until undercoat evens it all up. If the chassis is sound the body work can be sorted. I get the impression you were not expecting to have do quite so much pre paint preparation.

[fostereast]

It looks a lot rougher than a FFR, which I thought was about the roughest anyone legitimate provides. (I like FFR and the team at FFR, and the bodies I have seen come a little rough, so I am not bashing them in the least)

Is the builder happy with what he has given you?

[Richard O'Clery]

Crikey, that's bad! Can't wait to see it finished, though.

[David Briggs]

I would not accept that.

[Ian K]

John,

I hate to say it, but other than delivery delay, I'd say the builder has met the "letter"
of the contract. The body is fitted isn't it? I agree it is crap, and no prep work has
been done, but none of that was actually stipulated from what I can tell. This might be
a case of differing opinions/definitions of what a "fitted" body actually means.

However, I totally agree that the "spirit" of the contract has not been met, and add in
the 18 month delay, if I were the company involved, I would not be proud of my work,
nor would I not make every effort to make things right.

Ian

[Peter Jankovskis]

Originally Posted by Dogface

When I see a product like Frans roll off the truck, you don't see any ruff stuff to this degree. Sure frans need fine tunning but clip repair from carless handling.

You would be surprised. I just wrote a $4000 check to my assembler for unexpected body-prep work required on my RCR-70 Coupe. The raw state of my RCR-70 body was nothing like the "gee its so nice I don't need to paint it" RCR-40 body.

[Johan]

There is no limit to the amount that can be spent on body and paint, but these cars eat up cosmetics during normal use. Race car standard is that it looks good from the fence.