[DeTomaso] FW: weird situation with my car, need your help

michael@michaelshortt.com michaelsavga at gmail.com
Wed Jun 3 13:59:19 EDT 2009


Chris,

Man, what a sad story, wish I could offer more help other than to suggest
that you contact every car club in a 300 mile radius and put the word out,
same for exotic car dealers and collectors.

I'm sure it will turn up somewhere,

Meanwhile to everyone else and me included, this makes a product like LoJack
suddenly look more affordable, perhaps I'll be pricing a system as well.

Michael in Savannah

On Wed, Jun 3, 2009 at 1:47 PM, Christopher Kimball
<chrisvkimball at msn.com>wrote:

>
> I recently had a new engine built for my Pantera (dark green, #3846).  It
> leaked oil, so the engine builder said he'd have his mechanic take care of
> it.  I left the car with the engine builder, the mechanic apparently picked
> it up from there, and I haven't seen the car since.  It's been three weeks.
>
>
>
> If you see anything on Ebay or Craig's list that looks suspicious
> (including a great deal on a '72 Pantera with a new engine), please let me
> know.
>
>
>
> Also, if you know the location of the mechanic, Randy Norwood (possibly in
> the Buckley area of Washington State), please let me know immediately.
>
>
>
> At this point, it looks as if I won't be driving my Pantera to Reno, which
> is heartbreaking since my youngest son and I have been working on the car
> all year, preparing for this trip.
>
>
>
> If you want the full details of this sordid story, feel free to read the
> information below.  It is a summary of what I sent my insurance company,
> plus an update of events that have happened over the last few days.
>
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
>
> Chris
>
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> From: chrisvkimball at msn.com
> To: auto at hagerty.com
> Date: Tue, 26 May 2009 19:47:35 -0700
>
>
>
> Dear Hagerty,
>
> I recently increased the agreed value on my Pantera.  The main reasons for
> this were the frame repairs and reinforcements ($4000) and the new engine
> ($9300) I just had completed on the car.
>
> After driving only 200 miles on the new engine, I noticed an oil leak.  It
> appeared to be a rear, main seal problem which is really a pain.  Especially
> since it took six guys all afternoon to install the new engine, and to
> repair the rear seal would probably require another engine pull and
> reinstallation.
>
> Fortunately, the engine builder stood behind his work and told me he would
> take care of the repair, including the engine removal and reinstallation, if
> necessary.
>
> The engine builder (Dale Green of DG Machine, in Auburn, WA) doesn't have
> facilities at his engine shop to work on cars, so he told me he had mechanic
> he's known for 30 years (Randy Norwood I think is his name), and he would
> pay the mechanic to do the repairs.  He said the mechanics shop was only a
> block or two from his own.
>
> I dropped the car off at Dale's shop on Wednesday Morning, May 13th.  He
> was going to have Randy look at it and take it back to his mechanics shop,
> ostensibly nearby.  I told Dale, and he told the mechanic, I needed the car
> ready for the monthly Panteras Northwest club meeting on the 21st.  The
> mechanic said he'd try to have it done by then.
>
> I spoke to Randy the mechanic once last week on the phone (5/12), and told
> him to please be very careful with the paint, as I had just detailed the
> entire car in preparation for the Pantera meeting and the POCA Fun Rally
> (after all, showing off our Panteras is one of the main objectives of our
> club gatherings!)  He assured me he'd be careful and have it repaired as
> soon as possible, and would keep me apprised of the progress.
>
> I heard nothing for several days, and tried to call the mechanic Thursday
> and Friday of that week, but he never answered his phone (I believe it is a
> cell phone) and the message informed me there was no room left for leaving
> messages!
>
> I tried again to reach Randy on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of last week
> with the same result.  Dale, the engine builder, was out of town until today
> (5/26), so after another fruitless attempt at reaching Randy this morning, I
> called Dale and told him of the situation.  I said he should walk over to
> Randy's shop and talk to him in person.
>
> At this point, Dale told me Randy had moved his shop to another location,
> Buckley or Black Diamond (Washington) and was no longer located close to
> Dale's shop.  Black Diamond and Buckly are about 45 minutes away.  I asked
> Dale for the name of the shop, and he said he didn't know.  I asked if he
> would be kind enough to get in touch wih Randy to find out what was going on
> with my car.  Dale said he only had the same number I did, but he would
> certainly try to contact Randy.
>
> Dale assured me he's known Randy for 30 years and all would work out fine.
>
> Well, all I know is the annual Pantera Fun Rally is taking place June 9-16
> in Reno, and I was planning on driving to the event with 8 other Panteras
> from the Northwest.  After putting so much time and effort into the Pantera
> in preparation only to miss the trip would be a huge disappointment for me.
>  What's worse, however, is that I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE MY PANTERA IS!!!
>
> I'm optimistic this will all work out, but I want to alert you to what's
> going on for two reasons:
>
> 1) because as the insurer you have a vested interest in what happens to my
> Pantera, and
>
> 2) I'm wondering if you can suggest an apapropriate course of action I
> should take.
>
> Dale, the engine builder, and I have a good rapport and have always gotten
> along well.  I want to do everything possible to avoid souring the
> relationship, but at this point, I must confess, I'm becoming concerned.
>
> Dale (the engine builder) said before he left for the weekend last week
> (Tuesday) he reached what appeared to be Randy's (the mechanic) girlfriend.
>  Dale told her to have Randy call him asap.
>
> When Dale got back yesterday, he had no message from Randy.
>
> Meanwhile, I'd been trying to reach Randy several times per day with no
> luck and continued to get the same stupid "voice mailbox is full" message
> every time.
>
>
>
> UPDATE FROM THIS WEEKEND:
>
> Sunday morning Randy's voice mailbox was no longer full and I was able to
> leave a voice mail, which I did, imploring Randy to call me back.
>
> I left another message Sunday night, and another this morning (6/1).  Dale
> also left a message yesterday, telling Randy I was talking with my insurance
> company about filing a lost vehicle report.  Dale and I both thought if
> Randy heard that he'd respond for sure.
>
> Still nothing, so this morning I told Hagerty (the insurance company) to
> get to work on finding my car.  They are now going to start trying to track
> down this mechanic guy.
>
>
>
> Today I again spoke to Dale (the engine builder) and he is very frustrated,
> too, and has a friend looking for Randy's new location.  I told him I'm
> filing a police report on Monday, the day before I leave for Reno.
>
> At this point, I am pretty much (sadly) resigned to the fact I'll be
> driving the Magnum to Reno.  After a year of preparation, to be denied the
> experience of a lifetime for my younger son and me because of some
> mechanic's incompetence, is very difficult to swallow.
>
> The way I figure it, there are several possibilities for what's going on.
>
> 1) The mechanic is completely lackadaisical and hardly ever checks his
> voice mail
>
> 2) The mechanic has screwed up the car so badly he doesn't want to face the
> engine builder or me until he figures out how to fix what he's ruined (which
> may be impossible if he doesn't have a clue about working on Panteras)
>
> 3) The mechanic is a charlatan who is selling my car piece by piece on
> Craig's list
>
>
>
> 4)  (and I hope this isn't the case) Randy has been injured or is sick and
> in the hospital
>
> I think it's probably a combination of #1 and #2.  I'll be very interested
> to find out the real story when all of this is over.
>
> I would appreciate any help you could offer me.  Thank you.
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
>
> Christopher Kimball
>
>
>
>
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>
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-- 







Michael L. Shortt
Savannah, Georgia
www.michaelshortt.com
michael at michaelshortt.com
912-232-9390


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