[DeTomaso] FW: weird situation with my car, good news

Dave Londry davel at emspace.com
Thu Jun 4 02:45:37 EDT 2009


Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Good job with the cool-keeping, man.
I'll be checking the Reno stories to see if you made it.
dave

Christopher Kimball wrote:
> Hey everyone,
>
> First, I want to thank all of you who sent me the very helpful emails.  I appreciate the suggestions and the moral support, which is amazing.
>
> Let me tell you the latest:  Since the general consensus from almost all of you was for me to contact the police, I called the engine builder this morning and told him that despite the fact he and I had a good relationship, which I didn't want to damage, I felt it was time for me to file a police report.  The insurance company representative told me this morning on the phone the same thing, by the way.  I said I'd give him until Monday before I filed.
>
> He said he had continued to leave numerous messages on the mechanic's voice mail, and also had a friend that was planning on driving to a possible location of the mechanic's new shop--a building the mechanic had mentioned he was interested in some time back.
>
> Apparently before the friend even left to go searching, the mechanic finally called the engine builder back.  What happened was about two weeks ago the mechanic's daughter was involved in a horrific boating accident (crushed part of her face, back injuries, etc.) and has been in hospital for the last two weeks.  That's why the mechanic essentially "disappeared" during that time.
>
> The engine builder told me the transmission was out of the car (as it was two weeks ago) and that he was going over this evening to look at the motor with the mechanic and they were going to try to get the repaired car back to me before the weekend.  He said it's the only car in the shop at the moment.
>
> As far as getting the car back before Saturday; I'll believe it when I see it, and even then I'll have a very limited time to drive the remaining 300 miles to break in the engine and ensure everything is OK for the Reno trip, but at least we know where the car is now.
>
> Some of you mentioned my stress level, and over the last few weeks I've tried to remain calm and pragmatic about this whole thing.  In fact, my office staff commented more than once that they would be livid if they were me, and were amazed I wasn't freaking out.
>
> I guess I had them fooled--over the last couple of weeks I've had several migraine headaches, gotten very little sleep and have been extremely distracted.
>
> As I said before, however, the support of everyone in the Pantera community is overwhelming, and that kind of "burden sharing" really helps during frustrating times like this.
>
> By the way, I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but my Pantera has been given a nickname:  "Pandora."  Those of you who own, or ever have owned a Pantera and know the story of Pandora's box will immediately understand!
>
> Pandora in Reno?  At this point I'd put the chances at about 50/50.
>
> Thanks y'all.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Chris
>
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> From: Christopher Kimball <chrisvkimball at msn.com>
> To: Pantera List Serve <detomaso at realbig.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, June 3, 2009 1:47:23 PM
> Subject: [DeTomaso] FW: weird situation with my car, need your help
>
>
> 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.
>
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>
> 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.
>
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> Sincerely,
>
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>
> 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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