Terrible Vendor--Datsun Parts

[ljbryan]

I am very appreciative of the good work that Will is putting in making a good car out of the piece of over rated crap that Al sold as a fully restored car. When complete it will be an outstanding car. Can't wait to drive it and show it. You have to look under the covers to see the quality of work that Al does. He hides, short-cuts, and lies about the quality of what he has done. When complete, this car will look on the inside like it does on the outside. It will be what Al said it was---"a fully restored car, each and every part is either new or better than new"

Larry

Edited February 14, 2009 by Arne
Post cleaned by Arne

[hls30.com]

I went out today to check on the paint and body progress on Larry's car.

The paint was chemically stripped to about 70% clean so as to show the type and quality of metal repair Al did in his restoration of the car.

What was found was:

1) More mismatched, un-restored, hardware-store fasteners securing everything-the Air conditioner condenser was held on with just two zip ties.

2) A healthy amount of dent repair was done with filler on top of two or more layers of paint-1/8" in places-indicating that the only attempt at sheet metal repair was to call for less filler, and not to correct the shape of the metal.

3) In many of the places where the layers of old paint were ground off, the metal was allowed to sit uncovered long enough to "brown" from exposure, and veins of rust had already started under the filler.

4) As illustrated earlier, the car had been hit front and rear, under the filler at the roof seam at the passenger side quarter window was one of six kinks in the chassis caused by front and rear impact. The passenger side measures almost one inch shorter than the drivers side, explaining the fact AL could not get the front bumper to bolt up on that side no matter how much he tweaked it. The Kinks also explained the torn spot welds on the core support. One thing I did not catch was the fact that the repair to the rear of the car was so poor that the taillight panel is actually leaning inward-explaining the voids at its attachment to the rear floor, and the buckling in the spare well and on either side of it in the rear floor-the rear panel was manipulated under pressure and welded in to fit, the area was not trammed correctly then the panel replaced after properly fitting it to the cut out area.

Some of my pictures did not come out well, I will retake and post them in the next few days.

The Gentleman Restoring the paint and body work is no stranger to concours work, among his many awards for his work his cars have won awards at:

1) Hilton Head Island Concours (Ferrari)

2)Shelby American Automobile Club (289 COBRA DRAGONSNAKE and 289 COBRA USRRC)

3) Pebble Beach Concours (1940 Continental Town car, made from a cabriolet, 1941 Continental Coupe-both restored for Director Joel Silver)

4) Amelia Island Concours (Ferrari 250GTO)

Currently in the Spa with Larrys 240Z are a big Healey, a series 1 Jag XKE, and a Ferarri Testarossa, when I dropped the car off last week, there was a Rolls Royce Silver Cloud, An Aston Marton DB9, and some American muscle.

As a side note, the gentleman who handled the Mechanical correction to Larry's car

Grew up working in a Savannah Z specific garage. He was an ASE certified Master Mechanic by his eighteenth birthday. He spent several years working for Winston Cup Racing teams, was the track manager at Roebling Road and has built countless champion cars for privateers and large companies. Among his many victories he has the distinction of winning the Pan American Road Race, La Carrera PanAmerica, in a car he designed and built.

Will

PS-Yup that is Larry's car checking out the fanny of the Testarossa through the doorway...

Edited January 29, 2009 by hls30.com

[hls30.com]

More details...

The floor rear floor between the taillights and the riser behind the seats is seriously tweaked. There is not one level spot in it. The tirewell is not round, or level, as pointed out before the rear floor beside the tire well is bent upward on both sides, the floor in front of the tirewell is bowed up, what I originally thought were shrinkage cracks in the sound deadening have turned out to be stress cracks. The curve at the rear of the car is 1/2" inward from where it should be at the center of the panel-and it is all in the rear floor.

The car will be trammed as per the Nissan Restoration Checklist over the next week, and I will get pictures with a straitedge across the area to show how distorted it is.

In the meantime here are some more pictures of other impact damaged areas.

Edited February 6, 2009 by hls30.com

[hls30.com]

And a few more...

Notes:

1) Rust in battery area-not treated-just painted over, and coming back-even though the car has not been stored outside since it came to the low country.

2) The body steel extending down the hatch is 1/2" lower than the hatch-built up with filler.

3) A dallop of filler in the top corner of the windshield channel?

4) No attempt to bump any of the metal close to the right shape-every panel(except the roof) has shallow dents that will be worked out instead of filled.

5) more than 1" of filler in several places

6) The car shows absolutely no evidence of any attempt at chassis straightening.

PS I shot a video of the Testarosa being backed past Larrys Z, you can feel the Z begging for a few more minutes...btw the a car that red, that wide, and attention getting should have a louder deeper growl!

I'll post it later.

Edited February 6, 2009 by hls30.com

[Tarmac]

Ok, looking at some of the pics of the dented rear end, and remembering the hood, and (i think) drivers side floor dent, im now asking....

"is that car a good candidate for a restoration?"

I've seen straighter bodies sitting around in the desert for $200-400. Maybe it would be better to buy one, and build it back up.

[BenJammin]

Ok, looking at some of the pics of the dented rear end, and remembering the hood, and (i think) drivers side floor dent, im now asking....

"is that car a good candidate for a restoration?"

I've seen straighter bodies sitting around in the desert for $200-400. Maybe it would be better to buy one, and build it back up.

There are much better, straighter shells out there for cheap just to start over with and transfer the good stuff. I got a really great one for $500. I couldn't imagine (or justify) the labor cost in getting that beat-up mess back into shape.

Edited February 14, 2009 by Arne
Post cleaned by Arne

[hls30.com]

The final tally of sheet metal replacement is in, the hood, hatch, lower valence center panel, and passenger door will be replaced. Restoring them with metal bumping would cost more than replacing them.

There are problems with replacing the chassis. In Ca they may well be $500 and findable, but then there is the shipping to get it here. Plus there could be legal ramifications later.

Will

Edited February 14, 2009 by Arne
Post cleaned by Arne

[hls30.com]

Leave it to me to say everything was pretty much done. The DS dog leg was repaired by bashing it in, closing it up with fiberglass, and filling the void with filler-visualize a baseball sized hole beaten in with a five pound hammer and rammed chock full of bog.. I am wondering where the reinforcement that should be under there is. I left the camera at home, and will post my cell pictures as soon as I find the cable.

Looks like the most cost effective repair will be to replace the entire rear clip.

Will

Edited February 12, 2009 by hls30.com

[hls30.com]

This Post contains ONLY Public Records, Better Business Bureau Records, for DatsunParts and DatsunPartsLLC, Whois records for datsunpartsllc.com. and ebay names. All posted records were freely available with out cost at the indicated sites at the indicated dates.

All include the date they were captured.

From The website of the California Secretary of State. 09/30/2008

Permit Number 100933256 is Closed and is not valid after the closed date

Owner Name: NEWELL GENE ALLEN, JR

Business Name: DATSUN PARTS

Address: 6268 FILLY CT

RANCHO CUCAMONGA

CA

From the Beter Business Bureau as of 12/17/08

The Better Business Bureau Rates DatsunParts a "D"

" Our opinion of what this rating means:

We have enough concerns about this company (for example, their offer, customer complaints, advertising, etc.) that we recommend caution in doing business with it. "

From The website of the Nevada Secretary of State

Business Entity Information

Status: Active File Date: 10/1/2008 12:30:02 PM

Type: Domestic Limited-Liability Company Corp Number: E0629462008-5

Qualifying State: NV List of Officers Due: 10/31/2009

Managed By: Managers Expiration Date:

Registered Agent Information

Name: NEVADA STATE CORPORATE NETWORK, INC.

Address 1: 777 N RAINBOW BLVD STE 250

Address 2: City: LAS VEGAS

State: NV Zip Code: 89107

Phone: Fax:

Mailing Address 1: Mailing Address 2:

Mailing City: Mailing State: NV

Mailing Zip Code:

Agent Type: Commercial Registered Agent - Corporation

Jurisdiction: NEVADA Status: Active

View all business entities under this registered agent

Financial Information

No Par Share Count: 0 Capital Amount: $ 0

No stock records found for this company

Officers Include Inactive Officers

Manager - CHARLENE ALLEN

Address 1: 777 N. RAINBOW BLVD. STE. 250 Address 2:

City: LAS VEGAS State: NV

Zip Code: 89107 Country: USA

Status: Active Email:

Manager - NEWELL ALLEN, JR.

Address 1: 777 N. RAINBOW BLVD. Address 2: STE. 250

City: LAS VEGAS State: NV

Zip Code: 89107 Country: USA

Status: Active Email:

From Network Solutions Whois Search:

Domain Name: DATSUNPARTSLLC.COM

Registrar: ABACUS AMERICA, INC. DBA NAMES4EVER

Whois Server: whois.names4ever.com

Referral URL: http://www.names4ever.com

Name Server: NS1.ABAC.COM

Name Server: NS2.ABAC.COM

Status: ok

Updated Date: 05-feb-2009

Creation Date: 05-feb-2009

Expiration Date: 05-feb-2011

>>> Last update of whois database: Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:58:38 EST <<<

DATSUN PARTS, LLC.

From The BetterBusiness Bureau

DATSUN PARTS LLC

Number: 200830110001 Date Filed: 10/23/2008 Status: active

Jurisdiction: NEVADA

Address

777 N RAINBOW BLVD

LAS VEGAS, NV 89107

Agent for Service of Process

NEWELL ALLEN JR

6268 FILLY CT.

ETIWANDA, CA 91739

From Ebay: Starting Date Ending Date

datsun-parts 02-May-07 Present

ur-gelis 22-Oct-04 02-May-07

bad-mfr 13-May-03 22-Oct-04

absolutely-ghetto 04-Mar-03 13-May-03

2602nv 21-Mar-02 04-Mar-03

Edited February 24, 2009 by hls30.com

[280~Master]

Did you happen to get any more pictures?

[hls30.com]

Ebay no longer has the ad.

Here is the wording of the original ad exactly as AL posted it on ebay, and the original photos.

"Datsun Nissan Z 240Z Restored 1970 All New NOS Parts

Up for bid is a Series 1 240Z. Production date of 3/70 it was one of the first 8500 made. This restoration includes over $25,000 in New and Genuine New Old Stock 240Z parts. Every last nut and bolt was removed, re-plated and restored. This Z was a personal project car that I took special pride in to make sure it was a true award winner. Nothing was left undone, completely restored interior includes and NEW Dash, New Door Panels, New Seats and New Carpet. All of the gauges including the clock work perfect.

The factory spec rebuilt engine is a L24 block with a E31 head. Every part of the engine was disassembled and rebuilt to factory OEM specs. It has been professionally tuned and runs great. OEM 4 speed transmission is also rebuilt with all new parts.

Overall every single part is brand new or restored to better then new condition.

Please be advised that the paint work was not done to Concours requirements. If you wanted a true 100 point car you would need to have it repainted. During assembly it suffered a few bumps and bruises that will need to be fixed."

Will

Edited February 14, 2009 by hls30.com

[hls30.com]

and the rest...

Edited February 14, 2009 by hls30.com