Hi kids, pull up a comfy seat, I have a story to tell you…
So, a lot of you have been asking ‘what’s going on with the 126?’. Some of you may even be saying ‘I didn’t know you even HAD a 126!’. The short answer is ‘it’s in restoration’. The long answer is a bit more nuanced than that.
After driving the little car 2,500 miles to Slovakia and back in 2013 (
https://www.facebook.com/pg/126toSlovakia ) (12 countries in 12 days, raising money for Mind after my Mum died, in part due to the side effects of mental illness), I took it off the road to get restored. It seemed a good idea too, to spend some of what my Mum left me on a ‘new car’, in this case, a newly restored ‘old’ car (as well as clear some of my mortgage – relevant later). I though £8000 max was a good amount for a new car, or for (at the time) 32 more years out of the car that had served me so well. £2000 was set aside for the engine and gearbox revamps as well as for getting the whole chassis dipped to remove all the rust (£680). And £6000 was set as the max budget for the bodywork welding, repainting and putting it all back together again. Parts were bought by me over and above the budget, because hey, I can’t do maths.
The rolling chassis went up to David S. and Marcus B. of **** up in Leeds in November 2014, with a deadline for completion of my wedding day, 15th August 2015. As they didn’t have to do any of the mechanical side of things, this seemed quite reasonable.
Time passed. Chunks of £500 were transferred to Mr B.’s personal bank account as he requested them, with occasional emails and photos of progress as it was made. In October 2015 (please note where that is on the agreed deadline for completion) I asked for a financial breakdown of where we were with the car, labour was at £4773, of which I’d paid £2500, so £2273 outstanding. In his opinion, there was still going to be £5150 on top of that, for materials and approximately 7 weeks’ remaining of labour (3 weeks’ welding and 4 weeks’ painting and rebuilding). This was my first Big Surprise. What I’d budgeted £6000 for was actually going to cost nigh on £10,000 to finish! But you know what, I kept getting assured he was doing such a fine job, with such great skill and attention to detail, and well, the hassle of moving the project now would be detrimental, so okay… my mind was adjusted to an embarrassing amount for a restoration of a basic model 126, but there you go. Go ahead, Mr B.!
Now let us fast forward to May 2017, this year, passing many promises of new deadlines that sailed past unmet. Despite only needing three weeks’ worth of welding back in 2015, the car is STILL not finished on the welding side of things. So I ask for a second financial summary of the restoration so far. Mr B. now agrees I’ve now paid him £6000 in chunks of £500 to his personal account, that labour and materials so far have amounted to £14,800 and an estimate of £3500 open-ended or £5000 fixed price to finish.
Sorry, pardon?
Yes, £5000 to finish and £8,800 OUTSTANDING to settle up for the current state of the restoration. Let me remind you what that current state is: WELDING STILL NOT COMPLETE DESPITE THREE YEARS AND SIX GRAND HAVING PASSED.
In fact, it was so ‘sorry, pardon?’ I didn’t actually read the outstanding amount to start with, just that it would be £5000 to finish, so arranged for a local restoration company to take the project on for £3500 - £4000. It was only in response to me telling Mr B. that I was moving the project that he emphasised the ‘outstanding’ amount.
As you can imagine, some conversations happened after that, many for legal advice, and finally, in order to get the car back due to its sentimental value if anything, I agreed to pay an additional £4061.50, meeting in the middle of our differences of amounts outstanding.
So, having now paid over £10,000 for some unfinished welding, some amazing friends help me load up and transport the car and all its bits down to Colchester, to at least be close to home while its being finished.
And I thought this was the end of the bad part of the story, that this bit would be the bit where the rest of the project goes smoothly and the car gets done etc etc etc. But I’m afraid not. As of today, I’ve been told that in attempting to work with the doors (new ones needed still, despite costing THOUSANDS already) and putting the bonnet and boot lid back on to check alignment, it turns out Mr B. had welded on the new panels without lining things up first. The doors hit the wings when opened. The bonnet isn’t aligned to the front panel or the right hand wing.
I. Am. Beyond. Gutted.
The new restoration company is working on the car today, figuring out what can be done, if anything, but I fear I may have to cut my losses now. Ten grand down the drain and minus my lovely little car.
I will let you all know here if it’s salvageable, but for now, please take heed of this story:
- Get the deal put in writing, despite how awkward and untrusting that seems
- Have a contingency plan for what happens if it goes over budget
- Sanity-check the amounts you’re spending – could you buy a fully restored version of your car for less? Maybe you should.
- Don’t keep extra parts with the company who’s doing the car. If it all goes to sh*t, they will have minimal property of yours that will be easier to walk away from (I took the engine and gearbox and all the extra parts up to be with the chassis – I may well have walked away from the chassis if it were on its own)
- Get advice from experts – car club, local restorers, keep them informed of the progress. You’re less likely to be taken for a ride if experts are checking progress too.
Lina
P.S. if the car is salvageable, I'm in need of a pair of doors! If it's not, maybe a chassis...!
