Greetings All,
I feel it is my responsibility as the forum moderator and GT40 consumer to state my position and interest with respect to this thread on waiting for parts and orders with George Cochran.
During the summer of 2000, when I was researching which GT40 maker to settle on, I took at look at Lynn Larsens' Sabre GT40. He had at that time ordered a set of full crossover exhaust pieces from George at Kustom Metal Werks. I took at look at the pieces and said "Wow!". They were good. I've not seen a lot of GT40 systems, but George's were excellent pieces by any measure of metal working. Smooth bends and radii, no wasted parts, and block hugging tight - not angular and space-consuming as most of the examples I'd looked at - including a few orginals.
The welds were excellent, coating beautiful, and they fit. Lynn gave me the contact information and I passed it on to others, mostly Roaring Forties owners such as Bob Lawerence and others, as well with my highest recommendation for his work. When I started the GT40 webpage I posted photos of his work that were sent to me by Mike Starling, a friend building a Sabre GT40 and all-around good guy. His tubes were for a 351 block but the results were the same as Lynn's, excellent work.
I ordered a set along with a host of other folks building Roaring Forties cars and other makes sometime in the Spring of 2001. After speaking with George he agreed to let me borrow some of his special metal working tools which greatly helped me in preparing the Roaring Forties chassis - nothing mind-boggling but if you can borrow a 4-foot metal brake instead of buying it then it is a good thing, unless metal working is your trade. George sent me the tools, I paid the freight, and he'd never before met me in his life - just a good guy trying to help someone else out. In my opinion this says a lot for a person. When he needed them back I sent them back to him, no problems or worries.
I for one wasn't in a hurry to get my GT40 exhaust since I knew I'm a 2-2.5 year builder - I wish to take my time, do it 100% right, and build something that I'll be proud of driving (others can do the same faster, I'm just slow). Therefore, I allowed others that were in more of a hurry to get in front of me in the queue even though I'd ordered eariler.
However, after awhile it became apparent that there were some definite production problems with the pieces. Everyone paid for the work up front and, I for one supported and highly recommended the product, but few people had received everything that they'd ordered. I have received my modified rear cross-member and my heat shield as of this writing, nice work as usual, but not the complete system. Various stories floated around as to the reasons for the delays in delivery but these did not agree upon cross-examination. Deadlines and promised dates were consistently missed.
Therefore, I know that at least six people have not received everything that they've paid for or that was indicated was heading their way. I've received emails from various parties and I'm essentially trying to sum them up with this post.
The bottom line is this - I'm afraid at this time I cannot recommend to other folks to use George for their custom metal work. His craftsmanship is excellent and he has been very helpful to me personally, but the product has not been delivered to me and others when promised. This isn't good business practice and, given the amount of time involved here, would in many cases be considered beyond anything "reasonable" and warrant legal action.
Am I worried about getting the exhaust system? No, as I've stated here and on the Club Cobra I think George is honest with respect to accepted orders and will do what he says he will - it just might not be at the exact time stated.
What would I like? Well, I'd seriously like for George to solve his supply bottlenecks, be it his own projects or out-sourced bits, and get his business to the point where I think it deserves to be - at the top of the class. He obviously can do good things and could make a serious impact on the car building hobby as a whole, if he can get his business together and things in order. These types of things negatively influence outside perceptions and certainly can have serious ramifications for future business.
As for other situations involving Kustom Metal Werks and certain intellectual properties of Roaring Forties mentioned in previous posts, I do not know for certain the complete story there and will not comment. However, if these things are true then it is bad for business, the GT40 business in particular, and I don't think the industry needs such happenings. Folks work hard to develop their products and should be paid fair market value for such things. If indivduals or businesses seek to exploit the work of others for their own personal gain then I will certainly not tolerate it and will condem them given the opportunity. I will follow this closely to see what happens. Any information will be appreciated.
I'm sorry for the long post, even as "moderator" of the forum I definitely take a hands off approach. As I've stated before, I'm a strong proponent of freedom of speech and am not going to get into a censorship or editing mode. But, freedom of speech is granted to everyone concerned, all sides included - anyone else care to respond?
Thanks,
Ron
Link to CC Thread
[ February 06, 2002: Message edited by: Ron Earp ]