Has anyone done business with Starlight vintage car parts? They sell woodie wood on ebay under the seller name thewoodiegarage2 I am thinking about buying a wood kit from them and would like to hear anyones experiences with them. Thanks Jim
This thread has some relavant info on woodies. I'm not sure if it relates to the same supplier you mention or not, but it would be worth reading through before forking out any money on woodwork. The info starts around page 150 but it is scattered through the whole thread. http://www.ozrodders.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=26691&start=2235
Hmmm. I've never heard of them being called Starlight parts. I recently bought a top assembly and pair of "D" pillars from the Woody Garage2 (also known as Resurrection Customs and Rods) in Orange, California for my '36 woody project. They look fine. The parts were super well packed for shipment to me. I was out in L.A. for the Roadster Show and went by their shop for a visit. They've got a shop full of woody projects in house. I am fine with them and will deal with them on some other pieces in the near future. I think the bottom line is, considering the price for a full wood kit for these cars, it's money well spent to hop on a plane and visit the manufacturer/shop you are thinking of buying from before plunking your money down, no matter who you choose.
Hi Jim.....here's some work they did for me, I'd be interested to hear what folks think..... ....there's more,but you get the general idea , regards, Col.
Gee Col, that looks terrible, must be disheartening. I have always wanted a 36 woody, but I am better with steel than wood, but reckon I couldn't do any worse than that.
i believe that woodiegarage, woodie garage2, starlight, resurrection are all the same people.. I had previously seen the photos posted by Old Col and I have been learning that OTHERs have had similar experiences with this company.. It would seem that they only BUILD the parts after they sell them on ebay, which accounts for their "lead times".. (most of their ad's state XX months lead time..) in most situations these lead times would be acceptable to woodie folks IF the quality of the parts were ON par with original parts.. from the photos above it would be apparent that this is not the case..
Wasn't there a guy in south california rabbit wood works? not sure of spelling. He had write ups in the car mags.
There are plenty of quality wood kits out there; from the pictures above these folks don't look like they are able to offer anything you couldn't do yourself. You might start with an email to your local chapter of the National Woodie Club to see if they can recommend someone for your car. Here's a link to the Great Plains chapter: http://www.nationalwoodieclub.com/chapter_greatpl.htm Good luck! [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tehoma] 1[/FONT]
Thanks for posting those pictures Col. I read about your experience via the link in post 3. I sure hate to see that happen to anyone and appreciate you telling the story to help prevent other from being taken. I was hesitant to move forward with them after talking to the secretary on the phone. Would not stop talking about how good they are long enough for me to ask questions. I had to stop her and ask to speak with someone from the shop. Even the gentleman in the shop could not answer all my questions about the wood they use. I have done a little research on other wood shops and I believe there are some that do great work. I just got drawn in by the good price, clean feedback, and pictures from the woodiegarage2 or starlight or what ever they call themselves.
I do a fair amount of wood working, and have thrown away better work than the pictures Col posted. Cant imagine anyone using wood filler on something that is obviously going to be finished "natural", and not painted.
Ive comtemplated building a woody, since I was in archtectural millwork for a long time. From looking at woodies at various shows, that were untouched,the joints are critcal to the structure and how long it will last. This take shapers ,moulders,planers ect. with a lot of handwork. This is no place for fillers and ill fitting workmanship. Most seem to be built with ash, since this species is know for being tough and has alot of good charcteristics. Im sure there are some good kits or replacement peices from the vintage car suppliers.
Hi Irondoctor , that initial chatiness soon dries up once you've forked out the payment......doesn't take long before there's no response to repeated Emails to any of the main people, Dr. Chris Marks, Jeremy,or Sascha......and phone calls don't fare much better. If they got answered at all , I often found myself sitting and waiting while the staff went to find someone to talk to me......after about 10 minutes on International rates I figured out that maybe they weren't ever coming back . It got to the point where I began to wonder if they were still in business at all ,so I had a pal who was over there on business drop in to see if they were still operational....and yes,they were.....just wouldn't answer me when I needed to know when my gear would be ready for shipment. The really unfortunate aspect of my friends visit was that he fell in love with a '34 Woodie on the floor there that was for sale , a price was negotiated for the car and a wood kit to complete it......now he's in a far worse situation than me as there's now a dispute about it.....so it's all going to get legal . My original order for the two '41 rear quarters was placed around May last year , wasn't ready for pickup by my shipper friend until approx. the same time this year , somewhat different to their grand claims in the Ebay spiel. Unfortunately I was sucked in by the Ebay ads and pictures ,feedback ,etc too......odd thing about the feedback though , if you check the items sold,there's no wood products .....??? I never thought to Email the Woodie Club, even though I'm a member there.....I would have asked questions on their forum but it doesn't seem to have any life in it and I'd noticed that other guys Q's went unanswered, so I figured I'd just have to take a chance and hope the product was as good as the promises. When this shipment arrived and we unpacked it , I couldn't quite believe what I was seeing......next morning I sent another Email to them which again went unanswered ,as did the phone calls......so about then I figured it was plainly a waste of time. But my son had the idea of contacting them through the Ebay ad , posing as a potential new customer , just to see if they'd respond to that .....and boy! , did they!....straight away and full of it .....so he told them he was going around to a "friends" place to see his newly arrived woodie parts and would get back to them as soon as he'd seen the stuff. Which he did, saying that the guy ( me) wasn't real pleased with the stuff and maybe they should contact the customer and sort things out. They responded by saying they'd already been in contact and were waiting on photos.....so I sent them the collection I showed earlier......and a few days later I actually got a reply from the good Dr. himself.....where he admitted they'd "fumbled" the ball , and that they'd like to work with me to sort things out, and was there someone over here who could "repair" the quarters............to which I replied that I wasn't all that interested in having repaired quarters on my fresh build and that perhaps the best way to put this to bed was to start thinking about making a refund......and that was the last of it....back to the cone of silence again , even when I suggested sharing my experiences on here or the Woodie Times, nuthin'!....... So I figured there was little to be gained by making a big drama out of it all, just pull my head in and get on with the build , maybe have a shot at doing the timberwork ourselves....can't be worse then their best was......
Don't know if they have the kit you need, but from what I hear, these people are very good (and not cheap). in Signal Hill, CA. (near Long Beach) http://www.woodncarr.net/
I have used Wood N Carr on two of my woodies, great quality work, customer support and they get back to you with any questions, etc. I would highly recommend them.
Dennis Fetzer in Wisconsin is very good. Call me in the shop and I can help you out. Tom 763-241-1252
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