Is anyone else having issues with Howell's Sheet Metal out of Beaumont Texas. Have called and spoke to Brian the owner several times , ordered parts 2 different times and nothing is shipped. What is going on. Rather frustrating. The weird part is nothing is even showing up on my charge card statement. Vic
I know there stuff is sold by the major Model A parts distributors so maybe they're trying to keep up with that and not the small orders. ?? Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
He is a terrible business man. Like others have said never buy direct unless you can go there and pick it up.
The odd thing is that over the past 3 years I have bought a lot $$$$ of parts from them and no issue. I am on their waiting list for front and rear repop 33-34 fenders. But in the last year I have spoken to Brian and he assures me that my orders are getting processed but these last 2 orders that I gave him and after 2 months have not showed up. Wish he would be honest with me instead of being left hanging and not going to another vendor for the similar parts that are not made by him
My other issue is when buying on E Bay I typically buy a lot of parts at the same time and it always end up a real mess with getting the shipping straitened out to Alaska . So I like to buy all from 1 guy to consolidate the shipping cost. Vic
yep....what was said....they set up a row over from me at the Pate Swap meet....most likely the best time to get yer part...
I think that I will take my business elsewhere . I am sure the other suppliers would be willing to take Alaska money ? Vic
ALWAYS buy their products from other vendors and NOT directly from them. They want to produce the parts and wholesale them out and not have to deal with the end used. Good for business or not they are often the only game in town for parts.
If it's the only fenders that you are having trouble getting , l'm not surprised. I doubt they are making them and think they are sourcing them from Steve's Restoration or Gaslight? Steve's has been advertising for months that they are going to make another batch and I don't know if they ever have. Let us know who you get them from and how they fit Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
I had ordered other parts as well from them. I have been in contact with Steves Auto Restoration and they indicate that they are about a year out for production. Probably will just keep a eye open for some nice stock fenders and order all the other parts from another source. Vic
Mac's, Snyder, Brattons are distributors who sell Howell's. Brookville as well. The problem is they all come from the same sources. There are some fenders for sale in classified here on HAMB. Originals are much better if you can find them Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
While on a business trip in Asia . A business rep I met over there indicated that he knows where a couple of huge warehouses are that are full of original dies for metal stamping. He indicated that when the auto makers are done running these dies . They are sold to other companies to continue aftermarket stampings. Many of these dies date back to the 30's - 40's - 50's and 60's . I am doing a follow up on his claim. Vic
I think that's true, whenever I complained about the poor quality of the repo panels, the answer was " old dies, worn out"
Bought a 1920 T front driver side panel from them recently. Got it sent out in a timely fashion. With all their parts it'll require quite a bit of fitting and working to be right but it's a start. Easier to get to the finished product than starting with a flat sheet. All I needed was the part in front of the false door. Emailed them to see about if I could get one stamped just with that but never got a response. Got the extra somewhere and guess I'll cut it up when I run low on steel unless someone near bowling green, ky wants it.
Sorry to report that nothing has changed!! The only difference is they charged my card and I didn't receive my order for 6 weeks. That was only after I disputed the charge with my credit card company. THEY ARE THE WORST I've ever dealt with.
I posted this back in 2012. Some things never change. Didn't read all the posts but I had a bad Howell's experience. I live in Canada and ordered a 30 coach roof insert from them. They were to ship by UPS to Niagara Falls NY where I would pick it up. I had to call them at least 8 times, most times not getting an answer and their machine didn't seem to be working. Finally they told me it was shipped and on what day I could expect it. They sent me a receipt by e-mail so I went to pick it up on the assigned day. There was some delay at the border but I finally drove to UPS. As I was approaching the terminal, a truck was pulling out of the driveway and the name on the side was similar to a notation on the invoice. I blocked the truck (not UPS) and asked if he had just delivered my roof to which he replied they would not accept it and it was on its way back to Texas. I finally convinced the driver and his dispatcher to give me the pallet. Had I arrived one minute later, he would has been on I-90, the entrance being next to the UPS terminal. To make matters worse, I paid $240 for the insert and $240 for shipping and what I received was a piece of 18 gauge sheet with two corners rounded off. It came no where near fitting and required hours of cutting and trimming to work. I could have bought the same sheet of 18 gauge locally for $40 and used the $480 to pay my body man to trim it like he had to with the Howell piece. Warren
Locals know if your going to buy Howell's you'd better do it at a swap meet where you can see and actually get your part in person. No shipping Sent from my SM-J727T1 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
2 years ago a local guy brought me a very rough 34 Ford truck cab and 2 of their complete door skins. I can honestly say that those skins were a work of art. I am not a pro body guy but they "fitted up" so perfectly and very quickly turned junk doors to look 100% perfect. The crown was perfect as well as the "finished" width to the pre-bent side flanges after crimping them flat. I was very impressed.
SAR (Steve's) called me in September 2018 saying they were going to stamp out another run of 33-34 Ford Font fenders. I was on their call list as I have been searching for a decent set of steel fenders for a while, but by the time they called, I had already found a repairable set of original fenders. This has been posted quite a few times (just search "Gaslight" here on the HAMB), but from what I read, the overall consensus was the Steve's parts were great and Gaslight's parts were ok but will need work. From those posts, Howell's has been brought up a few times also.
Tried Howell's for 2 months to get a rear panel for my '27 T Touring. Ordered some quarter panels and other used parts from 'T' Haven, he contacted Howell's, and the whole order was here in 5 days. Rear Howell's panel was 'drop-shipped' with the stuff from 'T' Haven... Other 'T' sheet metal for my Anderegg project came in a week, (2012) Howell must just be devastated with the tripling of business. Just wish he'd say so.
I had ordered a complete 27 roadster decklid from Macs and found out it was backordered. When I tried to get an estimate on how long it would take all the could tell me was lead time was 180 days. I found out the parts were from Howell's and called them direct to see if I could get a better idea of when to expect the. I gave them my name and told them what was going on and they asked me "Jim from Twinsburg Ohio" ? I said that's me and he said well I'm looking at your order right now and It will be within the next 2 weeks. After speaking with them I told them I really wished I could have ordered the inner and outer panels separate but Macs didn't list them like that. They said if that's what you want will ship it like that. When I got it in a week or so it fit just as crappy as any repops do but I expected that. That's why I wanted it in two pieces because It was easer to make it fit that way. I would buy from them again for sure but maybe I was just lucky.
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