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

[skip68]

Good point dstryr.  That's what I was saying a bit ago.  Has anyone seen a certified mechanic there ? If Thomas is not then that makes it even more scary that they are building cars.  But, it does explain the reason why this car was built the way it was.     

[teamroth]

He didn't work in covert ops. If you go back and look, he was a driver, who happened to be in the psychological operations battalion. I can guarantee he was NOT an operative.

He may not have worked it, but he was trained in it.

I knew this ex-Marine... he was the most gung-ho ex-Marine I ever met. Man, he was into firearms, military history, hell, even his motorcycle was camo. And he never saw 1 second of combat. He worked his 4 year stint in the arsonal at Camp Lejeune. 

There's no such thing as an ex-Marine.

Amen BigCountry!
Bogus, I am not arguing with you, but I was a Marine for 8 years, and I can tell you, psychological training is something he does not have. That is something given to a very select few, and I doubt he could pass the psych eval required for entry. He would have posted his certificate on his web page.

Great JOB Chuckles! You are the man.

[bigred68]

He didn't work in covert ops. If you go back and look, he was a driver, who happened to be in the psychological operations battalion. I can guarantee he was NOT an operative.

He may not have worked it, but he was trained in it.

I knew this ex-Marine... he was the most gung-ho ex-Marine I ever met. Man, he was into firearms, military history, hell, even his motorcycle was camo. And he never saw 1 second of combat. He worked his 4 year stint in the arsonal at Camp Lejeune. 

There's no such thing as an ex-Marine.

Good eye big guy. I'm sure your wife will agree as she, and all who have served our country in the armed forces are FORMER armed forces personal. He is a former Marine.

[The70RT]

Good Job Skippy!!! 

[skip68]

Thanks guys.    phase #1 complete.    Thanks to the DC.com Moderators and Troy for letting this happen and keeping it clean.     Chuck..........

[General_01]

Good job Chuck. I am glad your hard work is paying off.

[bigcountry]

He didn't work in covert ops. If you go back and look, he was a driver, who happened to be in the psychological operations battalion. I can guarantee he was NOT an operative.

He may not have worked it, but he was trained in it.

I knew this ex-Marine... he was the most gung-ho ex-Marine I ever met. Man, he was into firearms, military history, hell, even his motorcycle was camo. And he never saw 1 second of combat. He worked his 4 year stint in the arsonal at Camp Lejeune. 

There's no such thing as an ex-Marine.

Good eye big guy. I'm sure your wife will agree as she, and all who have served our country in the armed forces are FORMER armed forces personal. He is a former Marine.

Nope, no such thing as a former Marine either.....Once a Marine, Always a Marine.   Semper Fi.

[hemi68charger]

Really,,,,,, so they're gone, kaput............ I'll have to swing by their former shop and check it out......... I was under the impression they were moving from the Spring Branch area of Houston.............. 

Troy

[General_01]

I do understand what you are saying. You don't "join" the Marines. You "become" a Marine. And that doesn't change just because you are not in the Marines anymore.

I think this is one time you could call someone an "ex-marine" though. He certainly does not exemplify what a marine is by his actions. Just my opinion.

[hemi-hampton]

What I'd like to know is how the guy made the leap from drawing pictures to chief bodyman and painter. He's pretty young and the resume did not mention mechanical work experience.

Alot of people that run these type of shops never touched Bondo or a Spraygun in there Life. There only good at Bullshitting people & trying to make Money. I see it all the time. They run the office & hire guys like me to do the actual work while they are clueless but convince you they are not & know whats going on when they dont, or only a little. Some do paint & Body work but not very good at it. Some are but small %. I can see him become Legit by buying a Booth ect. & then it's business as usual, nothing will change.  LEON.

[jb666]

What I'd like to know is how the guy made the leap from drawing pictures to chief bodyman and painter. He's pretty young and the resume did not mention mechanical work experience.

Alot of people that run these type of shops never touched Bondo or a Spraygun in there Life. There only good at Bullshitting people & trying to make Money. I see it all the time. They run the office & hire guys like me to do the actual work while they are clueless but convince you they are not & know whats going on when they dont, or only a little. Some do paint & Body work but not very good at it. Some are but small %. I can see him become Legit by buying a Booth ect. & then it's business as usual, nothing will change.  LEON.

I'm afraid you're probably right. Much like Hans, he might change his shirt, his business name, but certainly not his practices...

[skip68]

Thanks General_01 for the support and the help on the side.     hemi-hampton,  You are right far as business as usual to a point.  But like I said, this is still not over and I hope BK becomes legit.    In fact, I hope he becomes very legit and does everything right.    

[hemi-hampton]

Yes, I would hope so too, He becomes Legit & does things right, meaning Quality work. Congratulations on your persistance & work so far. LEON.

[jb666]

Yes, I would hope so too, He becomes Legit & does things right, meaning Quality work. Congratulations are your persistance & work so far. LEON.

Ok, I can understand how one would go "legal". Get licensed, get the shop inspected, pay your taxes, and do things right (business), but how do you go from being a total butcher creating some of the worst cars to ever hit the road to suddenly being able to "do it right"??  In my opinion he'd have to hire people that knew what they were doing to build his reputation back up. There's no way HE can do it on his own. He's a bullshitting business man, not a body man, not a fabricator, not a mechanic. The only thing Thomas should be doing is answering a phone and leaving the real work to the skilled professionals.

[tan top]

What I'd like to know is how the guy made the leap from drawing pictures to chief bodyman and painter. He's pretty young and the resume did not mention mechanical work experience.

Alot of people that run these type of shops never touched Bondo or a Spraygun in there Life. There only good at Bullshitting people & trying to make Money. I see it all the time. They run the office & hire guys like me to do the actual work while they are clueless but convince you they are not & know whats going on when they dont, or only a little. Some do paint & Body work but not very good at it. Some are but small %. I can see him become Legit by buying a Booth ect. & then it's business as usual, nothing will change.  LEON.

yep thats soo true  seen it many times !! got all the chat & buzz words .... but give them a  bondo spreader , paint gun ..wrench & its  ............

[hemi-hampton]

I've worked at place's where I've done good work & the owner will say your taking to much time, Hurry up, forget this, forget that, forget the sand blasting, forget the cut out welded patch, just Bondo it, Hurry up, just get it done, Today, not tomorrow. Some times it's the boss that orders his workers to just do garbage crap work because it's faster & makes them more money. Many dont care if it last A month or 5 years. It's hard for this type of Bodyshop owner to all the sudden make a turn around & do things right. Some know how but just won't, some just don't know how to do it right.    LEON.

[jb666]

I've worked at place's where I've done good work & the owner will say your taking to much time, Hurry up, forget this, forget that, forget the sand blasting, forget the cut out welded patch, just Bondo it, Hurry up, just get it done, Today, not tomorrow. Some times it's the boss that orders his workers to just do garbage crap work because it's faster & makes them more money. Many dont care if it last A month or 5 years. It's hard for this type of Bodyshop owner to all the sudden make a turn around & do things right. Some know how but just won't, some just don't know how to do it right.    LEON.

Very true, and very sad.. I know that if I owned a body/paint shop I'd want to be able to see a car I painted 3 years down the road and have it look just as nice as the day it rolled out of the shop.. Imagine not caring about the "big picture"?? Immediate gratification with no concern of the long run is no way to run a shop, but like you said, so many shop owners only care about payday, quantity and quick turn-around.

[mikepmcs]

I think the issue here is capital.  If he had it, or any other owner for that matter, he could take the time to do the job right with guys like leon, brian, justin, and a bunch of others, that i apologize for leaving out but i'd be here all night.  In other words, the money is there up front to do the work correctly and takes as long as it takes.  Vehicle is finished, owner gets paid and the train keeps steaming along.  IMO, and my short lived experience, most shops run off other peoples money and that drives poor work.

So, that being said, I don't see how TS(bk) can turn it around and make it a profitable business right out of the box because he does not have the money to sit back and let it happen.  Unless he's hiding all that money still.(that still baffles me by the way)  Where's the godamn money?

[skip68]

   Yes Mike, Where is the money ?        I do not want him to disappear.   I want him to try and save/keep the BK name all he can and do all he can and spend allllllll the money he can to become a 100%  real restoration shop.    I know it sounds crazy and strange coming from me but, this is what we want.     Give me a call sometime Jeff. 

[dkn1997]

I think the issue here is capital.  If he had it, or any other owner for that matter, he could take the time to do the job right with guys like leon, brian, justin, and a bunch of others, that i apologize for leaving out but i'd be here all night.  In other words, the money is there up front to do the work correctly and takes as long as it takes.  Vehicle is finished, owner gets paid and the train keeps steaming along.  IMO, and my short lived experience, most shops run off other peoples money and that drives poor work.

So, that being said, I don't see how TS(bk) can turn it around and make it a profitable business right out of the box because he does not have the money to sit back and let it happen.  Unless he's hiding all that money still.(that still baffles me by the way)  Where's the godamn money?

Mystery solved!  That's why the fab shop at BK is located next to the copy machine and the receptionists desk!  He didn't have the working capitol! 

All kidding aside, I agree with you mike, it's also the same formula that sinks home builders and contractors.  They can't manage the money on long term jobs.  The body guy who's doing my charger won't take my money sometimes.  Every time I see him i offer to pay him more....He said that he'd rather go slower on the payments. Otherwise, he said, we could get to the end and he'd feel like he did the job for nothing.  Yet every time I go, work is progressing along nicely.  He has enough money to keep the shop open.  When the jobs are done, he gets a nice chunk.  aside from the benefit of doing business the right way and managing his money right, i have to think that it's a real feeling of satisfaction to hand over a car to a happy customer and get a nice fat envelope.

[scatpack69]

it should be about quality, not quantity.

[skip68]

I think it will be more quality now.   It has to be because there was NO quality before.      The bottom line is that he is complying and as far as I know doing what he should.  There is nothing else we can do about that nor should we.  We have exposed him and now that part is done.    I bet in the next few months if he gets licensed he will be inspected and pass and that is what we want.     Jeff's car stuff is not over and that will play out in the months to come.  We have done our job to bring BK Automotive to the public's attention and it looks like he is doing his part so we must leave it at that.  I'm not happy at all with BK and I'm not on his side but, there is only so much that we can do and I feel that we have done it.            Chuck............

[autodynamics]

ok.....how about some pics... little less chat....a little more pics...

[hemi-hampton]

OK, Here a Pic for you. Here's a Quality job. I worked on the car a little & then Quite the shop before it got Painted. It was at the 2009 Detroit Autorama. Cost for Resto you ask? $300,000.00 (300k) I'm told. LEON.

[hemi-hampton]

2 more I worked on. Rare Judge Conv too. Price of Resto I hear was only $150,000+ each on these 2. Enjoy. LEON.