Zuma wrote: ↑Fri Feb 17, 2023 9:54 pm
but a list of tried and tested go to competent folks would stop a lot of scratching around.
The trouble is that everyone has their own horror stories to tell, even of the tried and tested places, and it used to be the case you weren't permitted to name them, all you could do is call them "a restorer".
As an example:
A well known restorer did not put one of my chrome hubcaps on properly, nor did they tighten up the brake pipes on my car. They also threw out my original crash pad and parcel tray, replacing them with the more modern black one (duotone cars should be beige parcel trays and fleck roof lining crash pads). This led to total braking failure when all the fluid left the system, on a busy, fast moving road, nearly resulting in a bad accident. A verbal apology and a replacement stainless steel hubcap was given.
The same restorer set fire to the whole interior of a relatives car (welding sparks), they were given a worse condition interior as an apology.
This same restorer has had many happy customers comment on their work over the years on the forums.
Another restorer (A) charged several thousand for welding work. A couple of years after, my car started to look in a sorry state again (for example the flat sections of the front wings could be pulled away from the car) and was booked in at a different restorer (B) who was recommended by some new relatives, albeit meaning a 400+ mile journey for the car.
(B) couldn't believe what they found, basically filler and welding onto rust. (A) had never cut out the rusty metal but welded wire (as I understand it) to the rust and welded onto that, even though apparently this was probably more difficult than cutting out the rust and replacing it with new metal to weld on to.
This led to us having to pay for all the work to be carried out again by (B) meaning the price of the original quote was doubled.
And even years later, the club's official helpline was still recommending (A) to people as a potential place for work to be carried out. I'd imagine they'd have a disclaimer though, as in these are not official recommendations, just companies that list themselves as working on Minors.
Of course (A) is/was unable to be named to people due to the rules, so people just had to take their chance if they did find their way to using them. Either way (A) never gets mentioned these days, so I see no need to drag up the past naming them now even if it were permitted.
However, as I've been extremely happy with (B) I can name them for you as:
Minor Services, Witchford, Ely
