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I don't even know how to start - what a disaster. This has been the only phase of my project car that I have not done myself, and I regret it severely. Here's the story.

As mentioned earlier, my Z had a few minor body problems that needed addressing. The passenger floorboard had a small hole in it, there was some rust under the battery tray, the hinge recesses for the rear hatch had some minor rust damage and there were two rust holes at either corner of the rear deck where the hatch trapped water against the metal.

All in all, certainly not very serious damage for an early model Z. To properly correct the problems, I wanted the car stipped to bare metal, new metal welded in where appropriate, and the whole body sealed and primered. Problem was, I didn't have the equipment or the space to either strip the car or weld in new metal. Moreover, I didn't believe (and I was mistaken) that I had the expertise to perform the work. So I knew I would have to farm out this part of the restoration. Then the problem became one of money.

While driving around town one day in my Z, I happened across a shop called "Mike's Customs." I stopped in to talk to them about my project and met the owner, Mike. I explained to him what I had and asked if he would be interested in the project. He took a look at the car and told me what I already knew... it was one of the cleanest Z's he had ever seen. He then showed me around the shop, including a visit to the paint booth, where he had an old Ford (not sure of the model) which had just had the interior, exterior panels and engine compartment repainted. I was particularly impressed with the engine compartment, which looked better than any new car I had ever seen. Mark told me he could do the same for my car. He told me he couldn't really give me an estimate for my car without seeing it stripped down, as rust can hide beneath body components and mechanical assemblies. That seemed pretty reasonable, so I told him I was planning to disassembe the car in the next few months and would call him as soon as I had it down to the unibody.

Before long, I had the car completely stripped down to the unibody and suspension only. I called Mark, who came out to my house and looked the car over. Initially, he wanted to do the entire car at once, including spraying all the panels and the body. But his price of nearly $9000.00 to do the job practically choked my wife. In the end, we agreed that he would strip the body to bare metal, repair all rust, seal all seams, treat the metal, primer the whole unibody and paint the engine compartment, interior and door jambs. He also agreed to refinish the underbody and restore the suspension. The final price for the job, $3900.00. I was satisfied and agreed to deliver the car to his shop the next day.

The problems began immediately. I visited the shop two to three times a week to keep up with progress on the car. Mark had promised the car would be stripped via "bead blasting," the method preferred by most modern restoration artists. On one visit when the car had just been stripped, I noticed that nearly every crevice on the car was filled with sand. Talking to the shop help, who didn't know Mark had promised to bead blast the car, I discovered she had been sand blasted there at the shop! When I confronted Mark with my

discovery, he lied to me and told me only certain parts of the car had to be sand blasted... presumably in order to remove some severe rust hidden beneath the paint. He assured me the rest of the car had been bead-blasted as promised. Problem number one.

It was only after this issue that I began to do the research I should have done before dropping the car off. In talking to some of the other customers Mark had done work for, as well as some other shops in the area, I learned Mark had a reputation for beginning work, asking for a large chunk of money to continue the job, and then never finishing the project.

To be continued...........

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