R107 Bulkhead work taking 18 months so far

[tapweasel]

Hi all,

I have had my car in with a well known and seemingly well respected Mercedes specialist in North West London since June 2019 and I am starting to get concerned with the progress so far, I am calling every week , none of my calls ever get returned and if, on the off chance I do manage to reach the proprietor I get told he is waiting for a part so it isn't progressing (currently a dash grommet / gasket).

I have been quoted £13,000 for the works which i thought was reasonable given the amount of work required, the car needs bulkhead work (the usual) and a lot of rust treated underneath as well as a complete mechanical update wherever required as the car was in dry storage for 10 years prior.

As I was relatively close to the area on Sunday I thought i'd pop in to see firstly if my car was actually there and secondly what state it was in.

I will attach photos if I am able to, but essentially the car has been left outside the front of the garage, for how long i don't know, unlocked with deep puddles in the (new) floorpans and plants growing within. The bulkhead repair looks, to my untrained eye like a bit of a bodge and parts are stacked up in the boot, throughout the interior etc.

I am happy to speak to the guy face to face regarding this but can somebody let me know if this level of service and finish is to be expected from this type of job, I want the car back as soon as possible but am nervous about the bulkhead repair being finished off and buried behind the reinstated dashboard etc.

Please can somebody give me their opinion of the work carried out here, I paid £2000 up front for the work to start and am aware that new rear floor sections are in but I am extremely upset that the car is just sitting outside the guys garage potentially for months on end starting the whole rusting process again.

Many Thanks

 

[ChipChop]

It is not a quick process restoring an old car as the restorer has to deal with the hidden horrors that only come to light when work is underway. Also not at all unusual for garages to keep cars outside in the rain in my experience. Only you can see if the work done is up to the standard you expect, photos do not show much i am afraid. However bearing lockdown in mind it does not look as if they have been doing nothing from the pieces of removed rusty bulkhead in the boot (last photo). Took me 2 months to get my car in for some suspension work recently because of all the lockdown backlog in work at a local Mercedes specialist.

Best advice is to have a friendly chat with the owner and if you are really not happy with what he/she says settle up and remove your vehicle. Best of luck, lovely car btw.

 

[tapweasel]

It is not a quick process restoring an old car as the restorer has to deal with the hidden horrors that only come to light when work is underway. Also not at all unusual for garages to keep cars outside in the rain in my experience. Only you can see if the work done is up to the standard you expect, photos do not show much i am afraid. However bearing lockdown in mind it does not look as if they have been doing nothing from the pieces of removed rusty bulkhead in the boot (last photo). Took me 2 months to get my car in for some suspension work recently because of all the lockdown backlog in work at a local Mercedes specialist.

Best advice is to have a friendly chat with the owner and if you are really not happy with what he/she says settle up and remove your vehicle. Best of luck, lovely car btw.

Thanks for coming back to me, true there have been some surprises along the way not least Covid which is a struggle for everyone.

Yes, definitely need to speak to the guy, just putting it out there for others to give me better educated opinions who might not be so emotionally invested and who might know a bit more about the finish to be expected with this particular job, obviously the sections of the repaired bulkhead / heater boxes are hidden away but just need to be sure it's not a structurally significant section as it was pretty flimsy tin that had been hand painted over. The water ingress was annoying as it has been bone dry (albeit already rusty) for the last 10 years

She is / was a lovely car and I just want to make sure while I have her opened up and accessible that the work is carried out to the correct standard and good to last another 15 or so years before the rust sets in again.

 

[alabbasi]

I have a 71 280SL pagoda that i took to a local restorer who was recommended by a friend. We agreed a deal of $1000/month for him get it done and he indicated that it would cost about $10,000 to restore. After about 8 months of inactivity (telling me he was looking for parts) I decided to find my own front clip with good sheet metal and took it to him. Shortly after asking him to open the books and tell me where he was at. He indicated that I somehow owed him $5000 even though he's not done anything to the car for months while I paid. As he had the car, I paid him to get it released and move on, and it was returned to me as a shell in primer.

The next guy was suspicious of the work and took a grinder to some of the repair. It took about 20 seconds of grinding to blow through the filler and was nothing beneath it. All I got for the $12,000 that I spent with him, was about 4 hours of his time to wipe filler and fiberglass all over the car where there should have been new metal.

About a year later, the same friend who recommended this guy and appeared shocked when I showed him the work admitted that he had a Ford Torino restored in the past with this guy, but then quietly sold it because it leaked everywhere nothing fit right.

It took everything in my power not to punch him in the mouth.

Be careful with restoration businesses, especially if you're paying up front. It seems that there are a lot of thieves in that industry.

 

[tapweasel]

I have a 71 280SL pagoda that i took to a local restorer who was recommended by a friend. We agreed a deal of $1000/month for him get it done and he indicated that it would cost about $10,000 to restore. After about 8 months of inactivity (telling me he was looking for parts) I decided to find my own front clip with good sheet metal and took it to him. Shortly after asking him to open the books and tell me where he was at. He indicated that I somehow owed him $5000 even though he's not done anything to the car for months while I paid. As he had the car, I paid him to get it released and move on, and it was returned to me as a shell in primer.

The next guy was suspicious of the work and took a grinder to some of the repair. It took about 20 seconds of grinding to blow through the filler and was nothing beneath it. All I got for the $12,000 that I spent with him, was about 4 hours of his time to wipe filler and fiberglass all over the car where there should have been new metal.

About a year later, the same friend who recommended this guy and appeared shocked when I showed him the work admitted that he had a Ford Torino restored in the past with this guy, but then quietly sold it because it leaked everywhere nothing fit right.

It took everything in my power not to punch him in the mouth.

Be careful with restoration businesses, especially if you're paying up front. It seems that there are a lot of thieves in that industry.

Wow, sorry to hear that - I'm not surprised you were angry!

I don't think the guy I have the car in with is anywhere near that level, it is all at least metal as far as i can tell. i would imagine he's as pissed off with the process as me to be honest, I just need to be sure that the work carried out is to the correct standard

 

[R129mine]

Puddles and Plants. Sounds more like a garden centre than restorer. I would not find that acceptable but have never dealt with a restorer before but those are my thoughts.

 

[alabbasi]

Wow, sorry to hear that - I'm not surprised you were angry!

I don't think the guy I have the car in with is anywhere near that level, it is all at least metal as far as i can tell. i would imagine he's as pissed off with the process as me to be honest, I just need to be sure that the work carried out is to the correct standard

Probably not, but paying up front for work usually gets the same result. They spend your money first and when it's time to do the work, they're hunting around for other jobs that will pay instead of doing the job that they've already been paid to do. It's a bit like lending someone money. If you leave it long enough, they start thinking that it's their money and they don't want to give it back.

 

[tapweasel]

Puddles and Plants. Sounds more like a garden centre than restorer. I would not find that acceptable but have never dealt with a restorer before but those are my thoughts.

This was my reaction upon seeing the car in that state - likewise, I've never taken a car in for this amount of work before so not sure if this is normal practice / an acceptable way to treat the car, I would imagine not? It seems odd to do so much work and let it sit outside letting rust set in again.

 

[tapweasel]

Probably not, but paying up front for work usually gets the same result. They spend your money first and when it's time to do the work, they're hunting around for other jobs that will pay instead of doing the job that they've already been paid to do. It's a bit like lending someone money. If you leave it long enough, they start thinking that it's their money and they don't want to give it back.

True, but there is a hell of a lot of money still outstanding, so you would think there would be motivation for completing the work - this is what is confusing me so much, I searched around for a long time on this and many other Mercedes Benz forums and the guy is constantly getting great reviews.

 

[alabbasi]

True, but there is a hell of a lot of money still outstanding, so you would think there would be motivation for completing the work - this is what is confusing me so much, I searched around for a long time on this and many other Mercedes Benz forums and the guy is constantly getting great reviews.

Possible reasons:

1. Quote was lower than the work required and he doesn't want to do it unless he has absolutely nothing else going that pays better
2. He's running a cashflow business (look around and if there's a pile of cars like yours which are sitting in a 'waiting state') where he takes deposit and gets into the job far enough so that you take it back to him, but he'd rather get another deposit and build up his funnel

Have you talked to him. Try to get him on a schedule where he commits to a date. Make the dates on milestones, not completion.

 

[tapweasel]

Possible reasons:

1. Quote was lower than the work required and he doesn't want to do it unless he has absolutely nothing else going that pays better
2. He's running a cashflow business (look around and if there's a pile of cars like yours which are sitting in a 'waiting state') where he takes deposit and gets into the job far enough so that you take it back to him, but he'd rather get another deposit and build up his funnel

Have you talked to him. Try to get him on a schedule where he commits to a date. Make the dates on milestones, not completion.

Neither of those possibilities fill me with Joy, haven't called him last week but it's hit or miss whether i get him to be honest, like I said he never returns calls. I will try again this week but as far as schedule goes he just says he is waiting on the one part mentioned above but can't find it anywhere, I'm considering trying to source it myself but am now equally concerned about the job being finished with a sub standard / potentially dangerous if structurally unsound bulkhead repair being buried behind the reinstated dash, interior etc.

 

[Rpp999]

If it was mine I would definitely try to source the required part, even if it was just to satisfy my confidence in taking he’s word for it.

 

[alabbasi]

Neither of those possibilities fill me with Joy, haven't called him last week but it's hit or miss whether i get him to be honest, like I said he never returns calls. I will try again this week but as far as schedule goes he just says he is waiting on the one part mentioned above but can't find it anywhere, I'm considering trying to source it myself but am now equally concerned about the job being finished with a sub standard / potentially dangerous if structurally unsound bulkhead repair being buried behind the reinstated dash, interior etc.

Sounds familiar