My first high end client.

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Cope

Cope

Fusing with fire
Joined
Oct 20, 2009
Messages
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Location
San Jose, Ca.
I'm not sure how this guy found our shop but he's here now.

His car is so nice I dont even want to be around it.

Fresh paint, new WHITE interior and worth more money than I'll make in a year.


I dont even want our fender covers touching his paint let alone anything else.
I'm so nervous to even have the car in our shop is realy scares me.

This guy owns a large part of our local hockey team. So I know if anything goes wrong he will sue me and probably kill my family and my dog.

My hands are literally shaking just thinking about his car.

I'm gonna make this SOB run like a raped ape with its *** on fire and NO ONE is to even touch this car.

On one hand I'm happy to get the chance to show what I can do but on the other hand I'm very worried to even have his car in our cramped shop.


Go big or get out.. .
 
Reminds of the shop in Mill Valley (Robin Williams lived there) on my last road trip in a '72 Satellite Sebring Plus that was not willing to perform an oil change for me. Had to take it to another shop down the street. Really freaked me out.

I hope you jump right in and get it done!
 
You get used to it. It's just a car, and you should he insured to cover any damage that might happen to it. Hopefully...
 
1953 Cadillac.

I'm insured but think this guy can ruin my entire world with just a word.
He has influence and weight.
 
Cope said:
1953 Cadillac.

I'm insured but think this guy can ruin my entire world with just a word.
He has influence and weight.
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Then consider the fact that the car is likely not as mind blowing to him, probably just another toy. Unless the guy is a sadistic prick, what does he have to gain from making your life worse? If they are that kind of person it's not worth working for them anyway.

I once stripped and reassembled a 1957 el Dorado brougham. Every piece of trim on that pig was pretty much unobtanium. Have I mentioned that the devil drives a cadillac?
 
I've been around some pretty high-end cars especially when I worked in a Corvette restoration shop everything in there was stingrays and high-end convertibles. Maybe that car is worth 10 times as much but none of them did Scare Me. Again it's just a car.
Any update on how your Transmissions working for you?
 
The trans works great!

Getting ready for my race against my engine builder.
 
Cope said:
The trans works great!

Getting ready for my race against my engine builder.
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do you get that prideful feeling every time that you shift that your hands put on every last seal and threw in every last clutch and you didn't need any high-end know-it-all Builder to do it for you?
 
Also if anything ever goes wrong which could likely happen the way you're going to treat it LOL you'll have that thing slapped apart and putting new parts in there quicker than you can say Rumpelstiltskin...
 
Cope said:
1953 Cadillac.

I'm insured but think this guy can ruin my entire world with just a word.
He has influence and weight.
Click to expand...
that weight swings both ways
do a good job and he might tell his other millionaire buddies to use your shop too
 
I used to work on brand new vehicals, it was alittle intimidating at first. When ppl say their just a car, I bet they haven’t worked on someone else’s hi end car. **** like that used to bother me. Then 1 night I went home,had a decent sleep, woke up and thought to myself that I’m not gonna let any kind of **** bother me. And u know nothing bothers me not. Let the chips fall where they may. Any material thing is fixable/repairable. Ppl ubderstand that ur only human and that **** happens, even to the best of us. Now, get to it. Kim
 
You never get another chance to make a first impression. The fact your shop got the job speaks volumes already! Treat it and him as you would your own and you'll be golden. Mr. High End can turn into an endless stream of his friends and colleagues calling you their mechanic.

I still remember the first high end parts that arrived here years ago for a retired NASCAR driver. Billy, standing behind me when I opened the box, said "Ooooooooooooh, pretty! Don't *uck 'em up." And he walked away.

You'll be fine. Relax, take a deep breath, and fix it right. Then get ready for the onslaught of new customers. :D
 
Thanks everyone!

Just gotta be super careful. It's not even so much me as one of the guys I'm worried about.

I made it clear no one is to touch the car for any reason. Unless the shop is on fire I dont want them near it.

I'm gonna make all the gauges work. Swap out the valve covers, new distributor, new plugs, new wires and then just do a vacuum tune on it.

For how nice the car is it runs like crap.
 
One of our customers brought in some valve covers and an air cleaner that he had powder coated. I had recommended that he send them to you.

When I unwrapped them the black lettering is all wonky and get this. They ONLY coated the INSIDE of the air cleaner!! So the part you cant see looks great, the outside was all bear steel!!!

:rofl:

The funny thing is they must have taped it all off. I'm sure they were thinking something, I'm just not sure what it was?
 
At the parts store where I used to work my boss owned a '41 Cad flathead V8 ragtop. Thing idled so slow and smooth you had to look at the fan to see if it was running. It had an exposed link starter solenoid like some of the early '50's GM. One time they were going to use it in a parade, and the starter failed. The dealer who was working on it called "they could not fix it." Lee sent me down there to "have a look." I REALLY pissed of the mechanic when I told him "all we need to do is yank that off there and flip the contact washer over in the solenoid." AND it WORKED!!!
 
Dennis H said:
Score! As Rusinowski would say. What is it?
Click to expand...

Cope said:
I'm not sure how this guy found our shop but he's here now.

His car is so nice I dont even want to be around it.

Fresh paint, new WHITE interior and worth more money than I'll make in a year.


I dont even want our fender covers touching his paint let alone anything else.
I'm so nervous to even have the car in our shop is realy scares me.

This guy owns a large part of our local hockey team. So I know if anything goes wrong he will sue me and probably kill my family and my dog.

My hands are literally shaking just thinking about his car.

I'm gonna make this SOB run like a raped ape with its *** on fire and NO ONE is to even touch this car.

On one hand I'm happy to get the chance to show what I can do but on the other hand I'm very worried to even have his car in our cramped shop.


Go big or get out.. .
Click to expand...
Go for it Cope! You know you have the skills and knowledge to do a first class job. You don't need a mega shop to be first rate. Keep us informed and congratulations
 
Just some friendly words of advice.... Don't post pics of your customers cars, or give details about them period. This goes for the internet, your morning coffee shop, and everywhere in between. Most people like their privacy respected, and it's a very small world.

My entire clientele is high end (rich, famous, ect). Price it accordingly!!! You don't want to work harder for the same money. They are demanding (both time and results wise), scope of work, ect. You can quickly wind up working for nothing trying to please somebody.
 
Pascamp said:
Just some friendly words of advice.... Don't post pics of your customers cars, or give details about them period. This goes for the internet, your morning coffee shop, and everywhere in between. Most people like their privacy respected, and it's a very small world.

My entire clientele is high end (rich, famous, ect). Price it accordingly!!! You don't want to work harder for the same money. They are demanding (both time and results wise), scope of work, ect. You can quickly wind up working for nothing trying to please somebody.
Click to expand...
I kind of agree with not posting pictures of someone else's high-end stuff unless they tell you to. I for one have mostly pictures of my own cars and trucks that I've redone as examples. I have one or two customers Vehicles who aren't so high-end and don't mind their motor compartment or something very nondescript pictured..
 
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