goldens auto works, beaumont,calif??

[deuce_454]

anyone ever heard of him? hes apparntly in beaumont,calif,about 45 miles before palm springs..

I have my 35 there, and would like to know if he is a first class builder. or con artist :-)

any comments pls

[Steve1968LS2]

Never heard of them. I ran thier name through the BBB but nothing came up. That could mean no complaints (a good thing) or it could mean they are new or it's a newer name.

Ran them through the Bureau of Automotive Repair (BAR) and they didn't come up as having a BAR license.. but some custom shops don't join the BAR.

Ask for references, LOTS of references. I find that more paint/body shop are bad than they are good. lol

Also, never pay up front. At Best Of Show in San Marcos they invoice every two weeks.. Also get everything in writing.

[Vegas69]

It's a little late now, your car is already there. :lol:

[Steve1968LS2]

Well, this is interesting..

I ran thier address though Google and found this:

http://www.loopnet.com/property/16314780/611-Luis-Estrada/

My first concern would be that their building is listed for sale.. the second would be all the cars piled up in front of it. lol

Seriously, I would ask them why the site is for sale. Is it thier landlord selling (my guess)? It would be a bummer to get a car in there and have something go wonky with the property.

[Vegas69]

That's where cars go to die.

[Steve1968LS2]

It's a little late now, your car is already there. :lol:

Maybe something made him a bit nervous :_paranoid

[GregWeld]

I never can figure things like this out -- where people do their "homework" AFTER THE FACT.

Then can't figure out why they're having issues.

DOH!

Great work Steve! Nice of YOU to spend YOUR TIME this way. :cheers:

[GregWeld]

Todd -- Your comments remind me of the time I was interviewing someone to build a Nomad for me... there is a shop that is well known in Huntington Beach... seems to turn out a car every other year or so. When I was shown around - MOST of the cars had 1/4" of old bondo dust on them - parts piled everywhere - under the car - hanging out of them - on tables all mixed up with the parts from the cars on either side...

I finally - in my own point blank way, said - "so.... do any of these cars actually leave here"?

There was an "excuse" for each of them -- but the real issue was -- the biggest baddest build was being worked on - while everyone else was just paying "rent". Needless to say - I RAN for the exit.

[EBMC]

There was a so called "hot rod" business in a neihboring town that just closed up in the last couple of weeks and left around 25 customers high and dry. They collected as many deposits as possible, ripped apart their cars, cut off body panels, dissasembled engines and closed shop leaving customers with boxes of parts and in my opinion some of the cars are totaled. I saw this coming for the past year and half and I tell any prospective customers to do their homework, make sure they have a BAR license, insurance and plenty of references. If they ask for a deposit for labor -run!
BTW, I'm not saying this shop is anything like this and it may be a reputable place, but unfortunatly this happens all of the time in this industry.

[Swain]

That's where cars go to die.

lol I almost choked haahdhjksajk

[Steve1968LS2]

The main problem is that bad shops can sound SO GOOD.. they know what the customer wants.

BOS had a guy that brought in a car for an estimate. They said something like $20k and 4 months..

Then the guy says "Well, XYZ shop down the street said it would only be $12k and two months"

Six months later the guy brought them him car. Seems like the other shop just took his money and barely worked on the car over the 6-months it was there.

In other words it's easy for shops to promise, it's somewhat harder to deliver. I like dealing with shops that tell me reality and not just spew forth what they think I want to hear.

The other problem is lowballing the estimate to get the work and then bleeding cash out of the guy once the car is in process.

[slamdimpala]

It looks to me that he does more trucks than hot rods. Thats just what i got from the picture anyway. Are you sure that he can do what you want done? What made you choose this shop in the first place? Have you seen any of his work? Hope that you made the right choice for your sake. Good luck.

[deuce_454]

It's a little late now, your car is already there. :lol:

i bought the car from him... and he offered to do the chop before the shipping... so i wanted to know if it was a legit buisness, and if he did good work... etc

[deuce_454]

i totally forgot to thank you guys for an awesome job... above and beyond my wildest dreams... i just figured i might be lucky somebody lived up the street

[Steve1968LS2]

i totally forgot to thank you guys for an awesome job... above and beyond my wildest dreams... i just figured i might be lucky somebody lived up the street

If he doesn't work out I know of a place that's trustworthy and good.