Unique Performance, maker of Eleanor, is in big trouble!

[TK73]

Shel-wanna-bees

[Khyron]

With all of the Shelby clones out there now as it is, maybe this will help. As a Shelby owner, I love it!

thats harsh! 

[Ghoste]

I really would rather see this happen to HLPAG than these Eleanor dudes but vin fraud is bad for the hobby overall so I can't say I'm too upset.  It's also probably true that ripping off some of the big wallet types was a much more dimwitted move than Hans the bottom feeder (well, maybe not a bottom feeder but he's not too far away from being one) likes to pull.

[Old Moparz]

I really would rather see this happen to HLPAG than these Eleanor dudes but vin fraud is bad for the hobby overall so I can't say I'm too upset.  It's also probably true that ripping off some of the big wallet types was a much more dimwitted move than Hans the bottom feeder (well, maybe not a bottom feeder but he's not too far away from being one)

That's great,   

[autodynamics]

the actual story is like this: there are not real shelby's or cobra's  however shelby did put his name on them after they were produced.  here is a link to it exactly. what a shame allot of people will get screwed.
http://www.pro-touring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=36223

[dukeboy_318]

sucks to be the people dumb enough to pay 250,000 for a Eleanor clone

[charger_mike75]

A fool and their money are soon parted. $250,000 for a mustang period is excessive.

[Mike DC]

This case looks like a pretty epic example of what not to do in the custom-car biz. 

It's got everything: 
Using a vintage factory nameplate, using a Hollywood link, trying to overhaul crappy cars, way overpriced final products, taking money up front too early in the game, big press/SEMA and no real shop running yet, crooked a**holes in charge, disgruntled employees, angry ripped-off customers, Chapter 7, police raids for VIN fraud . . .



If the picture follows through the typical pattern, then it's not over yet.  The guys who ran this mess will get away with everyone's money, set up a new shop in a few years, and keep doing similiar crap with a slightly lower profile in the future.  And of course the automotive press will never say a bad word about any of it. 

 

[89MOPAR]

  Hoo boy would i laugh if Carrol Shelby was brought in as a defendant in the case.  I wonder if he will refund the money he got [ I assume] to lend his credence and name to these cars. "Cause I don't think he did it for free. Hahaha.  I'd rather have the 71-74 Mach 1 version from the original movie .

[Ghoste]

sucks to be the people dumb enough to pay 250,000 for a Eleanor clone

Have a heart man.  Do you have any idea what an huge burden it is to try and show the world how excessive your disposable income is?  I don't, but I'm thinking it's gotta be really really hard.

[moparstuart]

  and what about all the people who already have there cars?  are they vin'ed wrong and illegal too ?
they have been pumping them out for awhile  ?

[hemihead]

Can't say as I feel too bad for the investor type losing his money  .Maybe they will go invest in something they know about. And I would think any finished car that was VIN swapped should be illegal also just like any other car out there . It should be surrendered to the authorities and destroyed.

[Mike DC]

Those guys from Unique Performance had better just be glad they did this scam here in America. 

I've heard that in some primitive third-world countries, they actually put people in jail for stealing millions of dollars.

[Alaskan_TA]

Foose bailed on them now too;

http://www.oldcarsweekly.com/Default.aspx?tabid=520&articleid=8765&articlemid=1519#1519Articles

[Mike DC]

 
Another sign that the situation at U.P. is already way beyond the damage-control stage. 
Foose's actions sound more like: "Get clear of the building before the whole thing blows!"




I just hope the authorities are monitoring all of U.P.'s tangible/liquid assets very, very carefully right about now. 

This is usually when all sorts of cars, parts, tools, and unshipped finished inventory will begin "disappearing" in the ruckus.  And friends of the people in charge of the operation begin getting amazingly cheap deals on all sorts of items.  (And those items tend to remain very close to the location of their previous owner even after the sale.)

 

[dukeboy_318]

sucks to be the people dumb enough to pay 250,000 for a Eleanor clone

Have a heart man.  Do you have any idea what an huge burden it is to try and show the world how excessive your disposable income is?  I don't, but I'm thinking it's gotta be really really hard.

oh i feel for them, but still, they were the ones who piled that much money on a car, i wouldnt pay that much for any car, simply cause id be afraid to drive it and thats what a car is designed for, not sit in a garage covered up.

[Mike DC]

 
I've been thinking for a long time that we're just lucky that Warner Bros hasn't gotten into that racket with General Lees.




Can't you just picture it now? 

"All the GLs in this limited edition are actual vintage Dodge Chargers that are given a thorough reconditioning.  Then they are modified to the strict standards & specifications of Warner Bros, rendering them no longer a mere Dodge Charger but the REAL General Lee of automotive legend." 

For $200K and more you can get the optional 426/472/528 Hemis, Strange S-60 rearends, EFI . . .

[Ghoste]

Maybe Hlpag is really just a front for Warner Brothers. 

[1FastCharger]

DAMN  I just found out my certificate of authenticity is forged!!!!

[Brock Samson]

Caroll S himself has been involved in a pretty wide range of auto scams over the years... like all the cobra frames that showed up about ten years back.. I met one of his old drinking driving buddys a couple mos. back who told me some tales from their on highway testing racing vettes back in the mid '60s.

[Brock Samson]

interesting link and video, could halpag be next?.. 

  http://jalopnik.com/359986/unique-performance-mustangs-allegedly-built-by-prisoners-used-13-gallons-of-bondo

[Mike DC]

   
It sounds like most of the news about this incident right now is just a bunch of reporters trying to stumble through their misunderstandings about classic car restos.  Not much concrete info past that. 

All that seems clear is that the place is getting raided, everyone respectable is trying to cut loose of the operation fast, and the trouble might have something to do with VIN fraud. 
     

[suntech]

I saw that they are trying to make a point out of where the aftermarket parts where made, and personally i dont care about that. It is the QUALITY of the parts that are important. (We have had that discussion before here)
What it really boils down to, is the vin fraud, and cars not delivered!
If somebody is dumb enaugh to pay 200K plus, for bad craftmanship, i´d say that is pretty much their problem. I am not familiar with their work more than what i have seen on the tv shows, but that looked FAR from impressing!! ( that goes for some of the other shops on tv too).
A lot of it seems to be cheap, off the shelf, aftermarked parts, tacked and bondoed on to a crappy body, with a fancy signature
A 50K car, with a 150K signature...................what a bargain!!!

[rav440]

not that i agree with what they did , but it seems like overkill . is illegle to rebodie a car or unethical  the jist i get is they are not passing them off as original SHELBY car but clones . i dont feel bad for  the idiots plunkging down that kind of $$$ and losing it .
first off if your going to spend money on car or even a part youd better damn sure know what your looking at and going to get for your buck .
and as far as the title washing goes it seem like a frign loop hole that needs to be fixed and should have been fixed along time ago . just like the other thread about the ROUGH SUPERBIRD in the AREO car section NO TITLE but theres guys on here that say they can go thru the same process bacily and have a title made .
and the tags or vins the report claims to be fake looks legit to me to a point ,  the vin is on the dash im not sure but it looks like the fender tag ID #s were ground off and replaced by their own fender tag .  how is that differant than what ROUSHE does ? 
big deal that they were using inmates to do the work  .

like i said i do nto agree with what they do and i hate the idea of the whole rebody deal . i just think these guys were mearly making a clone car and some pin head with big $$$$$$$ bought one thinking he had a real SHELBY till he was told differant .

[Mike DC]

 
Yeah, but what are the buyers supposed to believe?  If you're a rich but uninformed buyer, who do you ask to find out whether the car you're getting was built out of an actual 40yo original "Shelby" Mustang from the 1960s or not? 

I wouldn't trust anyone connected to the Shelby empire (including Carroll Shelby himself) to give me an honest answer.  Johnny Cochrane could have learned a thing or two from the legaleze they use when disclosing what these cars really are. 


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Imagine paying $200,000 for a "real" General Lee of some sort, and then being delivered a sh*tty GL that was built by HLPAG last week.  But it has Warner Brothers paperwork that very strongly implies it was an original TV-series car they overhauled.

That's basically the way the Shelby enterprise operates these days.