Hotrod Ethics...I Have A Question Of Those Who Build

Take pictures of what you do and if you want the credit you have the proof
I take pictures of every step of repairs for my customers saves a lot of trouble or questions later

 

It's a compliment, really.

 

Tell your friend to stop being a douche.

 

I have some rusty shitty looking cars around my place if anyone wants to buy them...oops I meant "patina".

 

It's not really my place to comment on a thread like this, but this thread is 7 pages long, and has nearly 6500 views. There are more than a few people that will no doubt repeat the fact that this car was built and not a survivor. It may not catch up with the owner right away but eventually word will spread at the events he attends. The hamb could be a powerful tool when it comes to spreading the word like that.

At any rate you did do an amazing job on that thing, if I wouldn't have seen this thread I would have just thought it was a rad survivor myself.

 

IF your friend misrepresents this car when selling it, including it's history, in order to get a higher price, that is fraud. It is actionable by the buyer, to recover the amount he paid over what the car would otherwise sell for.

Even though it is the same physical car, if the seller causes the buyer to rely on his misinformation, it's fraud.

Of course not really your problem, and just a sort of what-if, we can't know what his intentions are. FWIW.

Ethics are up (or down) to the individual.

 

Well, everybody on the hamb knows you built it now, and that's prettymuch everybody. I imagine the owner's story will catch up to him fairly quick

 

No, it's dead on. Someone wants my work to pass as theirs. Same thing as if I built a car and someone claimed the work as thiers.

Anyway, this topic is beat to death now and I'm done with it. I hope the OP outs the guy.

 

Not car related, but kinda like a house, everyone tells the builder what a great house he builds ,He takes all the kudos ,but in reality it was all the subcontractors that did all the nice work.

 

Fooled me, I thought it was the genuine article !

 

WTF!!!

This is THE Web site about traditional Hot Rods!
The page where people gets called out for excesive use of natural patina, or not be true to the timeframe.

And now a guy claims to own a Barn find or survivor.
That right there puts down the value on the word survivor. Eventualy on all survivors.

And then some guys tells him "to suck it up".
This must come to an end, pictures need to come out, and so shall the trues!

I might have gotten a little mad, but my point is still valid!

Imagine the OP stated: I build a nice Trad Hot Rod, the new owner tells everyone he build himself this bad ass RR. It would be lynch time! The new owner would be 2 feet of the ground by now.

To the OP; from the other side of the world, judging from two photos, IMHO you do good work. And sad to hear about your mom.

 

Sorry that this has happened to you. At age 65 I have been in the same situation a few times. Just remember if you decide to confront this guy, do it in private not at a show where others may hear the conversation. Half heard conversations could also make you look bad when the rumors start to fly and that will not help. Get this guy off to the side to tell him what you think of him. He is not a true friend so you won't lose anything by being to the point.
Obviously he is just one of the many pecker-heads out there suffering from Short Dick Syndrome , Insecure and Lacking.....................

 

The problem here is if nobody knows you're building cars, nobody gives you work : no work no money. Obviously both of you don't make a living out of it...

 

Some guys are just s__t h___s. I purchased a car from a fellow HAMBer. He lives in the northern part of the country and I live in the south. People ask me all the time if I built it and I tell the no, the guy up north did. I've made some minor changes but I won't take credit for some one else's hard work. I could not have built this car for what I paid for it.

 

I am sure it is been said in some way... next time. Not that it proves much, but if you seriously building and you don't have a website or portfolio of your builds, start doing it. Start hiding tell tale signs in your builds. As an artist, and like many artists, most of us have been violated in this way. If your lucky, some one will ask this arse to do work for them and he will be caught in a lie.

 

Drama!

Really, close this before it continues. Remember this is the HAMB. Who cares. Move on.

 

I agree with HRP I would talk to him about it and let him know your take on the situation. If he is a friend then he will change his tune and help you out. If not then he is not much of a friend anyway. It is really a double edged sword when dealing with friends. Lots of times it ends friendships. I would just take photos of your work and add them to your portfolio. That way if you do get shafted by someone at least you have the proof to call them out in the end if it bothers you that much.

 

It is because a lot of people are lowlifes and don't know how to do anything but want everyone else to worship them like they do. It is one thing to not know and buy a car and admit it, totally different to lie to everyone and act like something you are not, personally....I don't even associate with fake ass people like that.

 

I have built one car from the ground up and I have had 2 others built for me by a friend who does it for a living. Not only do I tell everyone within earshot he built them and what a general badass he is ,but I actually have his business name painted on the back of my race car. That's what friends do...this guy is a fucking tool. Damn shame man, but don't give up on people because there are good folks out there. You would think if he had a heart at all he would at least consider the fact that you were laid off and just lost your mom. Fuck that motherfucker! You know the best part though??!...he will ask/require your assistance again and then you can ask him why is he requesting your help since you apparently did not have a thing to do with the build?!

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by chaos10meter
As long as I get paid I really don't care.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fenders
As someone said.... what's the problem? You do the work, you take the money, you move on to the next job.
Unless you like to lose sleep over what your customer is gonna say he did....

You took the words out of my shop ownin' mouth....

 

Hey, Monkeys' Wrench;

Sorry about your mom. The pain *will* subside, & the good memories will not. Believe this. It's a fact. You've gotta grieve, to let the pain go. It helps to quit thinking about what you don't have anymore (the physical presence), & what you do have: the memories, good times together, things she taught you, & her spiritual presence (usually it won't show up right away, as your emotions block those senses, but later, you will notice subtle things, that will make you think... what happened? That's odd... ).

Second, your "friend" has used you for his (short-term personal) gain. Later, when he needs things from you, you can chose to remind him of his past action(s), or not. Depends on how you can view his actions (both initial one, & subsequent ones), & if you can accept them. Strictly your call. but I'd suggest considering: "Once bitten, twice shy" & "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me". I'd be hard pressed to call this guy friend, and have any more dealings w/him.

On the (lack of) credit thing (which shows a serious character flaw in guy), I'd be concerned, now seeing guys' propensity for telling the truth, or in his case - lack of it, that if, & most likely when, guy sells car, it gets pawned off as the survivor he claims it to be, & then gets caught in the lies, misrepresentation, & fraud, (+ a bunch of other nasty legal-type terms), he starts singing that you did the work, he paid to to do it, you cut him a special price, & were in it all the time, & maybe it was your idea in the first place. It'll take a lot of time, effort, & $$$, to correct that presumption/assumption. A possible solution is letting folks know. On here was one good way & a good start, but you should probably be more specific, & I hope you took build pics, + the paint detailing pics. Posting pics here, w/descriptions of what you did, & how, may possibly be considered "notice". It's be a good start. Unfortunately, you'd need to "out" guys' name, & provide fairly detailed pics of work you did. Kinda a PITA. Guess there's more than one reason to post a build thread. .

I only saw the two pics, but the paint was very convincing. I'm not into patina - got too much of that now, but a really good how-to may very well get you noticed (maybe) by one or more of the magazine guys. & that would get you a whole lot of recognition you deserve. All of the articles on patina-ing paint that I've seen so far, don't look real to me. All look like attempts at artificial aging - & show it. Looking good at 50'/50mph sorta deal. Up close, no dice. From others comments on here, yours looks good sitting still, & close up. Congrats.

FWIW.

Marcus...

 

If anyone works on one of my cars I take a pic of them and their shop to go with the car always

 

I'm just can't help wondering what's going to happen when Slick sells the car he found hidden away for years to someone for huge dollars and when the new owner is showing it off and telling Slicks barn find story to everyone and someone tells him to look on here and see what this thread said about it.

Slick won't be able to say he didn't know will he.

 

We've been build all kinds of cars for a while now. In the early days we felt as you do when we didn't get the credit we'd hoped for. But as many have already said if you get paid, anything extra is a bonus.

On the friend deal well tha's a whole different story. I'd confornt him on a personal level as I'd be disappointed a "Friend" would do such a thing.

We've built a couple of cars in the past couple of years. One for a company that sells T shirts and such and passes themselves off as a Hot Rod Shop as part of their deal. They tell anyone that will listen they did the work, if anyone corrects them because they know it was our work, they smoothly change track and then sart of with all the stuff they had to rework.

The other deal, the car turned up at the largest indoor show in our country with another shop being given the credit for the entire build when they did was some finishing off work on the body modification.

Simple answer make a website, take a lot of pictures and put your work out there for all to see. But never ever bag your customers or expect they will give you credit. If they paid you they can do and say what they like.

Having people whiling to pay you to do this kind of work is a privilage not a right.

Mark Shearer
Car Guy's Garage

 

I know of a few people who had cars built for them however they give others the impression that the car was actually built by them. The actual builder(s) get no formal recognition

 

Been happening to me for many years! Started with all the work I did for American Iron Horse,and is still continuing today with a black 34 Ford truck that was finished up at a shop in Canton. Does it piss me off? You bet. The funny thing is, what goes around, comes around! I now look at it as a compliment! The great thing about all this is it has shown me other avenues to make more money without all the wanna bees!!!

 

The part that bothers me the most is the fellow mis-representing the car. It's fraud and would affect the sale price.

 

You guys are nuts if you think all those "numbers matching" automobiles that get sold at B.J. are "all original".

Who cares.

Let's see what you can do making a shiny one.

 

Word of mouth is your best advertisement. My buddy I mentioned before who owns a shop doing this does not advertise. If everybody he did work for claimed responsibility for the build where would that leave him? Money don't make it right. Be about like me buying a house full of paintings and signing my name to them." Hey look at what a freaking talent I am!...Did it myself wanna buy it??!" Meanwhile this other poor bastard is eating potato chip sandwiches wondering when he will make his break. Hey but no harm done right...hammerhead paid him for the paintings so there HIS work now.

 

I only work on my own cars unless I'm sure I'm helping out a buddy that is really attached to their car, then It's exiting to help a buddy out. With that being said, I've been burnt doing work for buddies dirt cheap only to see a for sale sign soon after the car gets finished. If I'd have known the ass intended to sell all along, I would have charged a rate more fair to me - like not just enough to cover materials.
I've actually given my buddies the heads up about a certain person, because I have buddies that like to give out free parts to help (only if it is understood that it's not to chip in for someone else's profit I'm sure)