Looking to buy a General Lee? STAY AWAY FROM BK AUTO!! It's almost over!!!

[SFRT]

oof.

[skip68]

Can you post the warranty papers ? Can you post the original bill of sale from Bk to brian ?

[SFRT]

looks like maybe sickdawg 'passed the savings' on to you.......

[hemi-hampton]

Warranty Papers, Thats funny

[skip68]

Warranty Papers, Thats funny

I know it's funny but it did come with some kind of warranty and I'd like to see it. 

[Ghoste]

What were the 32,000 dollars in additional Chargers used for if the base car was was 26.5k (discounted from 35,000)?  It obviously wasn't parts.

[Steve P.]

I have been meaning to get to this thread for a while now.. Just too much going on here..  I made it about half way through page 2 and had to quit..

I am going through the same kinds of problems with people working on my house. Nowhere near the money you spent, but sick to my stomach on both accounts.

I think we should have an island where we could send these absolute hacks. Then once is is filled to capacity we could fire bomb the bastards. 

I am not one to start anything violent, but I am damn tired of getting screwed and damn tired of others getting screwed too...


Glad to know you have the right guy on the job now.. I hope the car is still your dream. I understand about things not coming together and that can easily ruin a dream..

[jb666]

I have been meaning to get to this thread for a while now.. Just too much going on here..  I made it about half way through page 2 and had to quit..

I am going through the same kinds of problems with people working on my house. Nowhere near the money you spent, but sick to my stomach on both accounts.

I think we should have an island where we could send these absolute hacks. Then once is is filled to capacity we could fire bomb the bastards. 

I am not one to start anything violent, but I am damn tired of getting screwed and damn tired of others getting screwed too...


Glad to know you have the right guy on the job now.. I hope the car is still your dream. I understand about things not coming together and that can easily ruin a dream..

Hey,thanks!

I am actually relieved that all of this came to light like it did. I killed two birds with one stone.

1. We can expose everyone to BK/HLPAG#2
2. I can get this car done the RIGHT way and know that for the next 10 years I won't have a problem! This is being done right and will LAST.

So I'm very positive about this whole thing. I have the time to expose BK for the crooks that they are and I plan on pushing it as far as I can!!

[jb666]

I just acquired something that should help with my mission.. A couple of very nice domain names where my story can be told for anyone who would like to search..

More details later, stay tuned 

[BB1]

This thread is incredible. 

[Mike DC]

       
Keep up the good fight. 


It sounds like there's literally dozens of thousands of dollars of discrepancy between what BK charged for the car, versus what actually ended up being sunk into the final item.

             

[SFRT]

the extra 32K was spent on R&D costs regarding the development of a fire proof roll bar......

[jb666]

the extra 32K was spent on R&D costs regarding the development of a fire proof roll bar......

or a new TIG welder.

[jb666]

Here's some of the paperwork. More to come.

Sorry they are so big...

[The70RT]

You spend 55K on a resto but your suppose to check all the bolts to see if they are tight 

[jb666]

You spend 55K on a resto but your suppose to check all the bolts to see if they are tight 

Yeah, that to me right there screams "COVER ONE'S ASS". That way when someone calls and says "the whole car fell apart!!" , they can say "Apparently you didn't read your care & feeding manual!!"

[skip68]

    I have never heard of any shop telling a customer to take the car to another shop and have them doulble check their work before they drive.        I'm surprised they didn't write it in crayon.   You must make extra sure that part of this is seen by all.  

[skip68]

Huuummmmm.? EXEMPT FROM SALES TAX??? (DUE TO OUT OF STATE SALE?)  Seems fishy to me.  I'd like to see the title and Bill of sale!!!!
The skip68's

[moparstuart]

 If the goods or part is shipped over state lines, I say shipped and not picked up in that state ( as far as shipping parts). You dont charger the sales tax.  The car owner is responsible to pay that when they get it titled and licensed in the new state.
 

[Cozmo]

Wow,
very sorry to hear about all the troubles with this car.  I remember how excited you were when you first found it. It looked like such an awesome car on the website pictures.

I am just glad that you or no one else was hurt while driving it. Good luck getting it up to the quality standards of your other cars.

[jb666]

Thanks Cozmo!! And thank you for the help spreading the word around on different forums 

[Mike DC]

About the legal battle - 

Try to nail down cases of specific things being not what was described on paper.  That's your best bet. 


Legally speaking, a $300 steering box that wasn't actually replaced might get you more headway in court than $3000 worth of unsafe work on the framerails.  The steering box is a specific thing on paper.  Its absence cannot possibly be written off as a difference of opinion or misunderstood intentions between you and BK.

 

[jb666]

About the legal battle - 

Try to nail down cases of specific things being not what was described on paper.  That's your best bet. 


Legally speaking, a $300 steering box that wasn't actually replaced might get you more headway in court than $3000 worth of unsafe work on the framerails.  The steering box is a specific thing on paper.  Its absence cannot possibly be written off as a difference of opinion or misunderstood intentions between you and BK.

 

I agree completely, and my list is already 99% formed. Everything from fluids that were paid for to the suspension to the body is in there.. The list of things they DID vs the list of things they charged for is quite a bit off 

[Old Moparz]

Oh, sorry to but in again, but i have been getting more emails pointing out specific posts. I'll shed some light on some of these things that I thought were interesting or of note and then leave the board to the guys it belongs to.

I have put the posted notes first with responses in italic.


Rotted frame rails covered in fiberglass.. Check out the "patches" and the holes. In person this rail is disgusting.

-There were rust spots in teh rails, almost completely confined to the rear, behind the axle and under the trunk. you can even see in the photos its mostly complete, with holes dotting teh rails. They were blasted to remove exterior rust, glassed over to make them appear smoother and undercoated. the trunk rails are not structural to the car. 99% of the weight and structure supporting i done between the front and rear wheels. this could have been done alot better, but as it has little importance to the track or structure of the car this is an area where money was saved.


They put a new pan down , as you can see. They left rotted corners in the trunk and filled them in with fiberglass. You can (or COULD) see through to the ground from each corner of my trunk.

-we did major pan, but not trunk extensions. there were holes in the trunk extension, and by holes I mean a few that you could see through. Its in the trunk. If I have to explain this,.... I think the decision making is evident here.

Their "custom subframe connectors" were an absolute joke. They may as well have used exhaust tubing.. The welds on the end were something your 10 year old son could do with a blindfold on.

-thats actually funny. Anyone who knows anything about subframes or mopars knows that these are the best subframes you can buy or build. they were welded by a frame and structureal designer/fabricator that has built things for indy cars. they were correct thick wall tube and correctly welded. Since the major welding was done in this car and it was off the twirler it was made to be a bolt-on connector. Just to be safe, it was welded on by the installer, so I can see it being rough welds where it attatched to the car, but thats because it was already bolted and the welding didnt need to be perfect.

Gee, let's weld a couple of cool looking bars under the hood and then brag about how they'll take the torque of the Hemi.. When in reality they are welded to a thin pc of metal known as the FIREWALL. These things have about as much support as a 2X4 would holding up a bridge..

-They are not welded to the firewal. They are welded to a 1/4" steel plate reinforcement on the wirewall. And yes, they are very strong. It has been proven on the track with high hp and high $ cars. these braces are built by XV who produces $250k base model super-muscle cars. Its ridiculous to say they are anything but perfect.


See all the open holes on the firewall? Well, to rectify this situation, they simply took some Dynamat from the inside and spray painted it black in the engine bay.. Problem solved, RIGHT??

-right. since the buyer said he was installing an a/c and heater system once he got the car, so the firewall needed to be left alone. I put dynamat over the holes so I could test drive the car without choking to death on fumes. And nothing in the engine bay was spray painted.


Let's brag that all of the gauges have been sent out and rebuilt, yet we'll install them and NONE OF THEM will work. Sounds reasonable.

-Auto Instruments rebuilt the gauges, and have done mine and many others for many, many years. Its about $750 worth of work for the basic package and I have never had them not work. they worked when they were installed. I would look at the ratty wiring harness before I considered the gauges.


Let's do a 4 wheel disc conversion but leave all of the drum lines/hardware under the car. Who needs a T in the back, a little duck tape will hold the lines in fine.. The leaks? Eh , there nothing..The ENTIRE brake system had to be taken out.

-all i can say is there was no ducktape used, there was a T installed and there were NO brake leaks when it was here. If there were leaks, it would have been redone. And I don't recall any original brake hardware left in place from the drums. the front, rear and e-brake were all new, front to back.

The front end.. That's a good one. They took it apart, sandblasted items(ball joints, tie rods), painted them and reinstalled them. THEY WERE ALL TRASH. The front end virtually fell apart in our hands. The wheel bearings were toast, and the alignment was WAYYYY off.

-the car was blasted befoer the front end parts were put on and we do not reuse front end parts. everything on the front end was NAPA new. I'll bet he alignment was off, since it was never done. I didnt do an alignment on that car and advised the buyer it needed to be done if he wasnt going to have it done here.

Quoting to save....

[Old Moparz]

Reply Part 2

Let's look at this picture.. All looks good, right?? WRONG. The steering column had no guts and swiveled around about 6" in a circle. It wasn't bolted to the firewall and had one bolt barely holding it under the dash. The center console has nothing securing it to the floor. The shifter isn't bolted down and there's no wires running to the lights in the console.. In fact, there are no interior lights PERIOD. They buried the dome light when they did the headliner..

-I know it didnt leave that way. the column was bolted down. I cant say that the column was in mint shape, it was whatever came with the car, but it was bolted in. And no, we don't install interior lights in the base-models. And the dome light in a general lee is a bad idea. the heat radiates off the rollbar and makes for a very hot rollbar, and at best melts the padding, at worst burns someone. In almost all cases, it melts the new lens. We havent put domelights in those for 8 years. And unless the car was a console shift, I don't run wiring for the console lights, they are there fr looks only on base-models.


The torque converter.. I was told it was a 3500 stall. It's an stock converter.

-then someone lied to us and sold us the wrong convertor. That is something that should have been addressed and exchanged under warranty. It is supposed to be a 3500 stal convertor, thats what was paid for.



Ok, I'll leave the board now. i don't have a problem with these things being said. In fact, I am happy to discuss the details with anyone. If I am anything, I am honest and upfront. I had several people call me directly to ask about the car and how it was built, I know at least one definately chose not to buy it based on the information I gave him. Not trying to kil the sale, but wasnt trying to lie either. I told him the truth, which I would have done for anyone who asked me. It is what it is. I wouldnt pay $60k for it, because i don't think its built right or worth it as is, but there was alot going into it that was not up to me.

It left with Royal Purple, orange coolant, no leaks, working thermostat, trans seals... I don't know what to say except something is missing in between. You have a specific question about what it had, I always answer the telephone and email.

I think these forums are a good thing. I just want to make sure it is truthfully represented. this is a tool for someone to use when looking to have work done. they hear good things, then bad things, then see for themselves and make an educated decision. I see some un-truths being put out there and want to correct the record where it needs. the car did have problems, but to say its something that we were paid for that we didnt do right is not the case. I think its great that the new owner is going to fix them and make the car what it should be, best of luck.

Things that were major, I fought to get done and some did, some didnt. At the end of the day, I will not spend my money to build someone else a car. And there is no double billing going on here or anything like that, and I can back up every record I have.

Bottom line: the car is what it is. It was never and is not a restored charger. he spent about $70k? Well out of that only around $20k went to us in labor. To build a complete car for that, it was a damn nice car. It did was it was supposed to. It looked good. I drove the thing at 65 MPH with no problems. It had bad points, but some are superficial and some didnt exist when it was here, don't know what to say about that. I could make perfect General Lee replicas for $65k but no one would buy them and there would be another thread on here calling me a jerk for charging too much. I can't make everyone happy, but I do pretty good. To say this is indicative of what we do here is wrong, and I think it is obvious to anyone who takes the time to see what we are about. everyone needs to make a living, but we are here because we love what we do and want to help others enjoy it as well. I gave up a career that paid twice as good to build this business because it is satisfying... except for days like this i suppose.

thanks for the time and space. I can't think of anything else I need to bother posting about, so back to you in the studio. The information is available for anyone who wants to know. I am only a phone call away.

Bk Automotive LLC
www.bkauto.net
www.blackknightchoppers.net
713-996-9655

Just quoting it again to save it..........things disappear all the time.


More to save, or things go away.....