Donny
Well-Known Member
- Local time
- 10:26 AM
- Joined
- Aug 28, 2009
- Messages
- 3,206
- Reaction score
- 541
- Location
- North East San Antonio TX
Wow, time has slipped away! Still here albeit not too much on here that much. Cuda Chick sent me the link that this was a cool thread, so, thanks cuda! I've since moved shop to a new location, moved the then projects to the new location and basically shut down all blasting operations for a long time. I'm almost done building a brand new, purpose built blasting room big enough to hold 2 B Body cars in it and have nominal room to move around to blast. Ideally, just one car in there is best. I built the room out of steel and put a large platform on top to hold stuff. I bought an old used paint booth which I am cutting up to size to line the walls and ceiling of the blast room. Putting new sheetmetal down on the floor making it a completely enclosed metal room with a large dust evacuation system to keep things clean and tidy.
Sadly, metalworking takes so long and so many customers are completely ill-prepared for the cost realities of these tasks. I'm the bad guy. It is not getting better either. This is now a rich mans game, period. I tell people on day 1 this will be expensive, they never believe me as they are so excited about having their car restored. I had this Gran Torino guy come last spring asking me how much to fix his car; I said no less than 30 thousand dollars. He looked at me stunned, and did not believe me. well, at 21k later, he got mad at me and made a scene and it was ugly. So, I no longer do this work, I am wrapping up what I have and telling them all to go pound sand. As I said, this is now a rich mans game.
I'll go back to just media blasting and working on my own cars' needs and own car projects. What is hot and heavy and actually progressing is the 65 Mustang Fastback I sourced in a storage lot years ago. Gotten pretty busy on high-end work; lots of Porsche aluminum intake manifolds to refinish, and I too have two 928 projects. My GTX I actually gave away to this young man working for me. He asked me a while ago "Donny, help me find an old car to restore" After a few days I decided to give him the best candidate and one worth the most potential money. After all, giving a shitty gift away is not really a gift at all, in fact, it may work against you in the world of Karma! I gave him everything for that car.
Well, I'll try to be around more! Cheers!
Sadly, metalworking takes so long and so many customers are completely ill-prepared for the cost realities of these tasks. I'm the bad guy. It is not getting better either. This is now a rich mans game, period. I tell people on day 1 this will be expensive, they never believe me as they are so excited about having their car restored. I had this Gran Torino guy come last spring asking me how much to fix his car; I said no less than 30 thousand dollars. He looked at me stunned, and did not believe me. well, at 21k later, he got mad at me and made a scene and it was ugly. So, I no longer do this work, I am wrapping up what I have and telling them all to go pound sand. As I said, this is now a rich mans game.
I'll go back to just media blasting and working on my own cars' needs and own car projects. What is hot and heavy and actually progressing is the 65 Mustang Fastback I sourced in a storage lot years ago. Gotten pretty busy on high-end work; lots of Porsche aluminum intake manifolds to refinish, and I too have two 928 projects. My GTX I actually gave away to this young man working for me. He asked me a while ago "Donny, help me find an old car to restore" After a few days I decided to give him the best candidate and one worth the most potential money. After all, giving a shitty gift away is not really a gift at all, in fact, it may work against you in the world of Karma! I gave him everything for that car.
Well, I'll try to be around more! Cheers!
