[DeTomaso] Pandora--Unbelievable!

[pantdino at aol.com]

The Pantera is a small car????

Anyway I think you are right. It sounds like he decided you were 
serious about wanting your car back so, against his natural tendencies, 
he is working hard on it.  Probably best to let him finish the job at 
this point.

We just have to hope  that he is capable of fast AND good work.

I have a friend whose restorer has been "working" on his (my friend's) 
old Porsche for like 15 years.  Some people have a strange idea of how 
fast things should progress.  I would have changed restorers 10 years 
ago, but my friend tolerates the situation.



-----Original Message-----
From: Christopher Kimball <chrisvkimball at msn.com>
To: Pantera List Serve <detomaso at realbig.com>
Sent: Sat, Jul 4, 2009 1:18 pm
Subject: [DeTomaso] Pandora--Unbelievable!



You are not going to believe what just happened.

I tried (again) to call the mechanic.  His voice mailbox was (again) 
full.
However, a minute or two later he called me back, seeing my number on 
his phone.

He was furious, and said his neighbors told him I was trying to reach 
his shop's
landlord and that I was planning to come to his shop with the police 
(which I
was).  Apparently, this didn't sit well with him, to say the least.  
After a
barrage of profanity and angry discourse, he said he'd been working on 
the car
for the last three days, and was trying to get it done.  He claimed he 
had tried
to call me back several times, but got my office.  I explained that's 
what
happens when my cell is off--it forwards to the office (why he didn't 
leave a
message is beyond me).  He said he was irritated(!) that I had tried to 
call him
so much (why he didn't return my calls is beyond me).

He said he was going to try and fire it up today, but didn't think he 
could get
the rear deck on by himself, so he might just leave it off (makes 
transporting
the car a bit tricky).  I told him I'd be glad to help him put on the 
rear deck,
or better yet, take the entire thing off his hands.

He went off about how he would get it done and he wasn't the fastest 
mechanic,
but he'd been doing this for 37 years.  He again complained about the 
small size
of the car, and said how nothing ever goes together as quickly as it 
should, and
that he would get it done, and (here's the bad part): he had never 
worked on a
Pantera before!

He told me not to bother him anymore, and to only talk to Dale (the 
engine
builder to whom I originally gave the car for the warranty work).  He 
said he
thought we had a good conversation when I visited him at his house last
Saturday, but that he had told me then that the police involvement 
really made
him mad, and the talk he heard of me getting the police involved 
further, well,
he told me "I don't need that #*&$%#!"

I gently reminded him I thought our conversation last week was fine, 
but that he
did say he'd have it ready by Wednesday or Thursday, which illicited 
another
burst of disgruntlement.

He made it painfully clear that he resented having to work on the car 
this
weekend, which really isn't my problem, of course.

As far as I'm concerned, this guy is a loaded cannon.  The smart thing 
for me to
do, I think, is to see if he really does get it done today or tomorrow, 
have him
deliver it to Dale's shop and then go get it as fast as I can.

As I've said before; what a nightmare.

Sincerely,

Chris


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