TheBrewPub

My $.02

jsjohnson

First, how do think they measured the 13 gallons of bondo claim? Did an owner of a complete car offer it up for autopsy? Did they melt said car down, spin it in a centrifuge, and count molecules? Why does everyone seem to believe that there is any basis of fact in the 13 gallon claim when it's obviously an estimate. So how did they make the estimate? Bondo on hand vs. finished cars? Bondo on order versus cars on order? What? Somebody sucked this meaningless number out of their thumb. When you consider the sensationalism applied in the reporting and "detective work", I think it's easy to believe that the estimate is a bit on the high side.

Second, regarding calling the cars "replicas". Well, I agree completely. The Barrett-Jackson crowd calls these types of cars "replicas" all day long. In fact, a "replica" to those people (who happen to be the same people willing to fork over $200K for a finished car) is a car that is not exactly as delivered from the factory, but which has been modified to look like a more valuable version. A "replica" Hemi Cude may very well have started life as a 318 automatic car. Nobody has any trouble with that. These buyers know they are "replicas", and they know what that means.

Third, VINs. Please note these cars were all getting new VINs as issued through the state DMV. The finished car arrives with a newly minted, DMV provided VIN, and as far as I can tell, no mention of the VIN of any of the donor cars. So if this is illegal, is the DMV in collusion?

Hey, the guys at Unique are sleazy for taking $39 million in deposits that won't be returned, and not being able to turn enough profit to keep the company alive. There's the story, and I would appreciate that angle. But the rest is sensationalism.

milo_carrera--now with Corrected Politicality

econobiker

econobiker

Gaseous Clay

J-Roc

Bondo is inevitable in any restoration project. Alot of shops can't use lead due to EPA restrictions. Though I think 13 gallons for a Mustang is a bit excessive. Most of the "pros" you see on cable TV don't even know how to use Bondo.

A shop my dad used to work for specialized in Diamond T trucks, as well as other rare brands. You can't buy reproduction body panels for ANY of them, and I don't think they'd use more than 3 gallons of Bondo on a project.

@UDMAN: I don't know where all the hate for Texas stems from, sure some parts of the state are crap holes *cough* HOUSTON *cough* However Texas has some pretty low taxes overall compared to the blue states and doesn't have near as many budget crises. Oh, and Texans don't all worship Bush those of us that have particular dislike for him are present, we just keep our mouths shut to be polite.

MrEvil

Mike the Dog

kfdave

It's a VIN, as in a Vehicle Identification Number, not a VIN Number, which would be a Vehicle Identification Number Number.

Moving on... I guess I'm not to sure how sorry I feel for the schmucks who had their work done here. These are big dollar luxury or toy items, they should have done more research before they sent a check for 100k to some stranger on the internet to rebuild their youth with a drum of Bondo.

grzydj

kleinlowe

Judd Sandage

Stuntdriver

Look, the company I work for is based in Texas, and I dread going into the land of Bush twice a year. I already said no (actually, my words were no way in hell) if my boss offered me a promotion if I had to move to Texas.

UDMan

1. Takes one to know one.
2. Better Texas has them doing bondo on cars instead of executing retarded inmates.

BULVERDESPUDBOY

mikedrawcar

What's the point of having a car that you never had a hand in building, other than the hand writing your signature?

How did they get Carroll Shelby to officially approve?

Maybe he's so old school, that he believes a person that says "You have my word on it", but I really hope that he at least saw enough of the cars, or said, "I'll put my signature on it when I see it".

Until everything gets to the courts, I'll be sitting on the fence on this one.

I have little faith in stories that get sensationalized. Leave that to Howrd Stern.

skulldriveshaft

NovaloadMissesPolar

Matt Hardigree

2nd : $200K for a Bondo-Bucket? I know there's some fitting with the Foose Kit, but damn !

3rd : $106K of deposit? What, it's small change to them? You let a small cashdown, not the HALF of the car retail. If they say no, go somewhere else.

silex006

Armand Bengle

selfhatingotaku

Now, mainland China might be a different story. Sourcing a few replacement parts from Taiwan for a restoration of a 40+ year old collectors car that will live 98% of its life either in a garage or on a trailer is one thing, but just imagine that reporter's reaction if she ever stumbles onto the fact that a large percentage of the parts content in new, off the lot cars is sourced from China these days.

She'd probably think it was the scandal of the century if she found out the GM LNJ V6 in the Equinox and Torrent was from - gasp!- China.

ranwhenparked

Look at CARS and their new 1957 Chevy convertible bodies and turnkey cars. The cars are made from all new components with the exception of an original '57 Chevy cowl so they can legally call the result a 1957 and title the car as a Chevy.

So it's illegal to pull a VIN plate off one car and rivet it to another. But it's perfectly legal to transplant the panel holding the VIN. What's the real difference?

bozoerrebbe

Besides, what were they expecting? It's a Mustang (a car who's main asset is that it's a cheap way to get a V8) with an ugly body kit (it was an interesting novelty in the movie, now it's just depressing that it's almost as beloved as the orignal GT500).

Maymar is convinced M.C. Escher engineered his car

NovaloadMissesPolar

As for the Taiwan panels, that's just where they're made. Every panel for every restoration isn't availible with a Made in teh USA sticker on it.

The title thing IS illegal, but it happens way more than you think. I doubt any of those cars were stolen, and if the DMV won't title your old car, you work around the DMV.

squablow

smokeydog001

For someone with your namesake, you've sure got some elitist attitudes about the conveyances of the rich.

jnostalgics

Nice to see the prison/industrial complex is working so well. (I'm sure further privatization will fix that right up.) I'm sorry, but this story may be ABOUT cars, but it goes WAAAY BEYOND cars.   WOW, just wow.

Here are some aerial view's of Unique Performance from MSN's LiveSearch.
I count ~14 'stangs out back, and it looks like the Federales might already be at the front door, look out! [maps.live.com] (click on Bird's Eye, and N S W E)

Any guesses on the small, low, black car out back? (parked diagonally, as dicks do), ...mid-engine exotic? Ok, there's a suspect Nissan Armada, and what's this?... who's 18-wheeler with the Shelby-style racing stripes? Oh, ...Oops.

Mark Miller

Armand Bengle

tяs

Trotskyite

LOL 13 gallons of bondo X 200 cars= 2600 gallons of bondo, or about half the GDP of Honduras; Gee, the law never exaggerates, does it? What tipped them off- the 12 Duro semis parked in front of their garage?

That said, although washing titles is as unamerican as fixing college football games, half the resto-mods built have the same potential issues- plating a brand new car with a 1966 title is always going to be suspect somewhere.

My guess is that the usual suspect is at hand here, somewhere- money laundering. Don't expect Andy and Barney to be running this case for long.....

cazin678

I think the one thing we can all agree on is that this makes everyone's Personal Project Car Hells seem a little more reasonable.

Armand Bengle

Did the buyers honestly believe that Unique had stumbled onto 200+ pristine, rare muscle cars that only required a quick detail before the next car show? Haven't they ever seen the TV show "American Hot Rod" and watched the Boyd Coddington creations come to life? I recall copious amounts of Bond being used on that show.

goatrope

chase42

OK when is it acceptable or legal to remove the VIN numbers and change them?

microcars

El Ojo

And the bit about the replacement parts coming from Taiwan? Did they honestly expect the rust to be fixed with pressings from FoMoCo? And honestly, does it even matter where the metal came from? The two allegations--13 lbs of Bondo and Taiwanese replacement parts--don't really jive. It's not like they're stuffing the rockers with old newspapers and using Bondo as a metal substitute. THAT would be a damning allegation on part with the VIN defacement.

WilliamG.

If they're going to a police auction, that sucks for the original buyers, but it seems like a cheap way to get some classic cars that need some work.

rosshettel

Ray Wert

That newscast is about as slanted and hyperbolic as I've ever seen - pure local schlock. That bit on using inmate labor ("convicted of such crimes as aggravated assault, aggravated robbery and MURDER!") was over the top. It was a sponsored jail program that let inmates learn a skill - what's the big deal with that?

And the claim that they were "replicas" is, near as I can tell, has no basis in fact. Any restoration these days involves getting replacement and fabricated parts. These might not have been high quality restorations, but using the original frame certainly is a good start to a restoration by definition.

As for the filing of VIN numbers, there seems to be something shady going on but with all the other bs in these reports it's hard to separate fact from mudslinging.

weatherman

ZWECK

ZWECK

MalFuller

Mike the Dog

A) The authorites in question have a prior history of either abusive or at the very least of using questionable methods;

or

B) There's a helluva lot of crap still to come out.

FLB

mauthbaux