Hot Rods Truth in fabrication

When you claim someone else's work, it always comes back around to bite you! Especially on a popular build. The 34 truck that was the best of show at the Detroit Autorama is not built by Hatfield Restorations in Canton Texas. It was built by Irrational Metalworks and Montiac Motorsports in DFW. Montiac built the rolling chassis, and Irrational Metalworks built the rest of the truck. Hatfields did build the mirrors and rear bumper and did the paint and finish work. It's hard to believe that a shop like that would stoop to that level. There was a HAMB garage crawl at my shop while this truck was being built. On top of that, lots of other people have seen it, and it is very well documented with pictures.
I have known about this for a while, and have tried to remain a gentleman about this, but today at Good Guys, they have it on display, so I had to confront them! If you go to Good Guys this weekend, stop by and tell them Irrational Metalworks says hi!!!









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Sorry about this man! Your a damn good fabricator and it should be known who's hands have been where. This build has an owner, have you asked him about the sign? Good luck...Tyler

 

Goodguys are just displaying the car, the owner is providing the info. I can't imagine an owner not giving the true builder credit. Sorry you didn't get credit.

 

That's a beautiful truck and I hope the credit for your great work is corrected honestly.

 

Hatfield Restorations is displaying the car in their paid for booth. The owner knows who built the truck and has been to my shop. Hatfields is running this deal. I know, I was there today confronting them.

 

Remember Al Gore,,he claimed to have invented the internet,,it came back to bite him in the arse! HRP

 

Sent Hatfield a little message on their website

I'm ashamed of you guys. I'm ashamed that a shop of your caliber would stoop to such a low level, or allow your shop to be represented fraudulently.
The 34 truck on your website and now displayed at Goodguys was NOT built by you as is stated on the display sign.
Here is a link to a thread on the HAMB.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=785813

Here is the text of the thread:

When you claim someone else's work, it always comes back around to bite you! Especially on a popular build. The 34 truck that was the best of show at the Detroit Autorama is not built by Hatfield Restorations in Canton Texas. It was built by Irrational Metalworks and Montiac Motorsports in DFW. Montiac built the rolling chassis, and Irrational Metalworks built the rest of the truck. Hatfields did build the mirrors and rear bumper and did the paint and finish work. It's hard to believe that a shop like that would stoop to that level. There was a HAMB garage crawl at my shop while this truck was being built. On top of that, lots of other people have seen it, and it is very well documented with pictures.
I have known about this for a while, and have tried to remain a gentleman about this, but today at Good Guys, they have it on display, so I had to confront them! If you go to Good Guys this weekend, stop by and tell them Irrational Metalworks says hi!!!


So, in essense this is something you need to correct both on your website and on any future displays at shows.
I can't believe you would allow yourselves and your shop to be presented in such a downright fraudulent manner.

This might get their attention

You did very nice work on the truck and should get credit due to you.
They even have pictures of it on their website in bare metal presenting it as if they built it !

 

Thanks for the compliments guys!
Blue One, those bare metal pics on their site is how it left my shop and those were taken when it arrived there. It left my shop and went back to Montiacs shop and they built the headers and sent it there to get finished. The irony here is I have done a few jobs for them that they could not do. They didn't have the talent or equipment! We have always had a good relationship till now. That makes it even more lame on their part!

 

Tim

I saw the truck today at good guys as well and what a beautiful piece of fabricating it is. It is a gorgeous piece of work with just enough work on it to separate it from all the rest but not enough that it looses it identity. I took lots of pictures of it and some of the subtle work done it. I also had two conversations with Raymond about it today because looking at it once or twice just wasn't enough for me. Raymond did tell my wife and I that they did not do all the work on it. He was clear to us that someone else had done most of the work. They did the mirrors, bed liner, rear nerf bars, the interior and some other minor things. I agree with you it does appear that since it is in their booth that it is being shown that they built it. I would have to put some of the blame on the owner for not giving credit where credit is due. I have a friend that runs a custom shop and gets really upset when others take credit for his work. In most cases its because he starts the project and for whatever reason the owner takes it somewhere else to get it finished and the same song and dance happens as it has to you. After seeing that truck today if you did most of the work and Hatfield finished it or just added changes requested by the owner I give you both credit for building a beautiful truck and from the only sign I saw, the Detroit auto show must have felt the same way.

 

Wow that kind of shit spoils it for everyone.

Whatever happened to show cards that proudly listed all of the various individuals/shops that contributed to the build? If a tradesman had been around for awhile in town, you'd usually recognize their work anyway.

Something like this;

Model A Roadster

Car Club_____________

Owned by-_____________

Bodywork- by owner

Paint & Pinstriping-Jack Williams

Upholstery- Kizer Top Shop

Chrome-Lemon Grove Plating

Engine and machine work-Broadway Machine

Special thanks to-__________________________________________

 

Lame. Are those guys members here? It would be interesting to hear their side of the story.

Looks like you both did a great job on the truck.

 

Sorry that this has happened to you. Being in your business makes this situation really suck !!!
I have a long time friend (Terry) with whom I have worked with on many projects. At the time we both did side work for extra income and to pay for our car hobby.
I was introduced to a friend and co-worker of Terry's that needed help building / finishing his project. I worked with Terry on the body work and fabrication phase and once Terry had painted the car it was brought to me for a complete custom interior.
First out door car show Mr. Third Party is telling the "Whole World" that he built the whole car by himself. This Crap Sucks and always will.
I hope you get my point when I say that the truck looks GOOD !!! I wish you continued success................ Jeff

 

What do you think they would say??

"Yea we did a few things to it and made the show board to take all the credit. Oh yea, we plan on taking money out of other peoples pocket for stuff that we don't have the talent to pull off."

I always thought Hatfields was an upstanding place. I guess I was mistaken....

 

It's funny, a few months ago someone had a post like this, and a lot of guys said it was OK, as long as you got paid for the work....I think I might have been one of the first to disagree with this logic. Really horrible when someone else claims your work as their own. There oughta be a law!

 

I didn't see how the ad is set up or presented. If the company did do a decent portion of the work, they do have a right to say they put their skills to the car or played a role in the build and completion of the vehicle.

If, however, they are simply suggesting that they did everything, I would bring one of your shop signs to the next show and put it up in front of the damn car. Or better yet, print and put up copies of flyers that prove the truth around the car. Stand 12 feet away from the car and hand out info with a grin on your face.

Then again, it might be that the man who paid the bills to have the car completed is promoting the lie. In that case, unless there was a contract which stated building title rights, he is sadly in the legal right. In such a case, he could actually suggest that Barney the Purple Dinasour built the car (maybe his kids love Barney?). Sucks, but true.

Pork

 

Don't care about legal rights, it's about being a man and doing things the right way. I give them credit for the awesome job they did finishing the truck, but they don't have the sack to reciprocate. They are so money hungry they don't care about the two guys that gave them the platform to make them look good. Like I said, the owner knows where it was built, and I have pics of him and Monte in my shop with the truck. He has no reason to screw either of us over. It all falls back on the guys that display the sign that says " built by".

 

If your name being listed on a sign and being credited for ALL the work performed is that important to you, perhaps you should do all of the work and only allow completely finished projects to leave your shop in the future ....
When a project leaves your shop in an unfinished condition, your perceived role on that vehicle is vastly reduced (as you just found out).

 

Actually Mr Gore never claimed to Invent the internet, just while he was in Congress he worked on getting the funding to the people that did invent it, so in a way he did help.

 

Yeah, this sucks. Happened to me 20 years ago on a high profile car. I did all the chassis and drivetrain plus some custom sheetmetal work. Car was very sucessfull on the show circut, even winning the top awards at Oakland and Sacramento. When it came out in Custom Rodder magizine the "big name" at the time painter had claimed they had done all the work including pictures of my work! Turned out this painter was buddies with the artical writer and I did get an appoligy fron the car owner. Still, I thought the car was going to give me some great national exposure, really pissed me off.

 

I gotta agree with Special on this one.The man paid for the work ,its his deal.Unless he sighned some sort of waiver to put your name on anything whats the big deal ?You know you built it,your freinds and those around you know,im sure your reputation isnt riding on this one build.Yes its wrong to claim its their work ,but that just makes them look like fools.To come on hear and whine about it makes you look like your world is riding on this one build.its only a car.you are possably ruining a company ,its employees and families over this and no i dont know anyone involved with this ,just an observation as ive built many cars and once they go out the door i move on.

 

Totally disagree. I don't hear any whining involved here, just a simple thread setting the record straight. There is a significant difference between bolting a wheel or mirror on something and doing all of the metal work and fabrication on it. Though Hatfield's certainly has a lot of work in the vehicle, to put up a sign that say "built by Hatfield Customs" implies they were the only shop involved in this build. That's a material misrepresentation. When so much business is obtained in this hobby based on prior work, reputation, accolades, etc., to claim the work of another to bolster one's own professional repertoire is fraud. Hatfield's shop has turned out some nice cars, they should know better.

 

Hmmmmm....as a restorer I get it. The fabrication work is spectacular but does that constitute "building" the truck. Dunno. Seems to me the pictures show a project with no motor, no interior, no trim, no lights, no mouldings.....do those vendors get to claim the "build". I would have to say the fabtricator was contracted to do his part, got paid and needs to move on. A facbricator is not a "builder". That distinction goes to the shop that deals with the customer paying the tab, the logistical headaches to make it all happen, supplies the finished product and in many cases spends the time and resources to get it out into the world for all to see. No shorting the fab work here or that credit for that task should be pesented clearly but calling it the "build" is stretching it.

 

Possibly look into copyrighting your work. Cost is minimal ($35.00 IIRC), courses of action that open up are more numerous.

Cosmo

 

Wrong, I just posted a couple of pics. There was lots of work done on this truck at this shop. I have all the pics to prove it! It came in a rolling chassis and left ready to get painted wired and upholstery. You are missing the point. It's about giving the proper people that built it the credit deserved. So your saying all the logistics and design work, waiting to get paid, buying materials was done by Hatfield? I don't think so.
The owner of this truck is a member here I believe. I wish he would chime in!

 

^^^^
And also takes money away from the shop that did almost all the fab work through future customers not knowing the truth....

 

How does Monte feel about this?.

 

Actually he said "I took the initiative in creating the Internet." His exact words.

 

How do you know his reputation isn't riding on this build? How long have you known him and how well do you know his business?

Businesses that misrepresent the truth deserve to lose customers.

 

The same. It does him no good either. He's just more reserved than I am on this! Normally, I take stuff like this with a grain of salt, but sometimes keeping your mouth shut is not good. This isn't the first time this has happened and not the last, I'm sure!

 

All the work meaning casting the engine block, machining the castings, extruding the steel box for the chassis etc??? At what point do you quit claiming it is all your own work and accept that a lot of people are involved and not all can have their name on the sign?