I prolly should not be writing this now, because I am hot. Why.. Because, I just saw a post report from a guy I consider a friend, or maybe more of just an aquaintance, but a fellow that has been a big supporter of the board and the club, who really has an issue with this post. I do to.. it's unhealthy for the community, and certainly for Keith and Duane. On the other side of the coin, we have Larry. Been a real tough go of this deal for him, and trust me, I know quite a bit about this deal off the board here. Last December, when this first came up, I atttemped to mediate this dispute, as both parties are BPG members. And even if they weren't, I would do it anyways, as it happened on the board here, and there both Buick guys. I spoke with Larry and Keith a couple times. No resolution could be made, I recommended that they part ways as amicably as possible. Did everything I could and invested a fair amount of my time. At no time, was any discussion had between Larry and I about bringing the car here at that point. About a month or so Later, Larry called me and said he had made arrangements to pick up his stuff, and asked if I would be interested in completing the project. At that point in time, I knew that it would be late fall before I could even think about it. But he said he would wait. In the meantime Bruce Durband had a change in his Business, that required that he cancel a project that had just about started in the shop, that would have taken up that slot on my schedule for the majority of 2004. These thing happen, and I called Larry, and let him know that he could bring the car out much sooner than I had told him, due to this scheduling change. At that point in time, he mentioned that he was going to get the car in the next week or so. About 2 weeks later, I get another call from Larry, saying that a bunch of his parts are missing, and what will it take to replace some of that stuff, If he can't get it back. "Can't get it back" I said, why on earth would you not be able to get it back? You have paid your bill right?.. Yes he said. At that point, I told him that he should give it a few weeks, and wait to see if he gets a response from Keith and Duane. If he did not, then I gave him permission to use the board to try and illicite that response. At no time, did I have this fiasco in mind. Maybe one or two posts, and trust me, if I was Duane and Keith, I would make damn sure this guy got his stuff, since they admit it was there fault for not having it ready to pick up. I have a shop full of litterally thousands of GS parts, and I can tell you, that it would not be hard to forget an item or two, or even the list that Larry has. How frikin' hard does this have to be? Now, to why I am hot, and why I just put a halt to this whole thing. The Gentleman that had reported the posts to a moderator, got an email from me yesterday, saying yes, I knew of the situation, and while the whole deal is regretable at best, I could see a value in opening a brief public dialoge to attemp to get his parts, so everyone could move on here. I stress the word Brief. I mention to him that tenative plans had been made for Larry to bring the car here. I get this email from this gentleman this morning, here is an portion of that email.. The second last paragraph says that when Larry gets his parts he is bringing the car to JW for completion. That stinks. JW owns the board. JW allows this attack. JW gets the work when it is over. That stinks. I have not seen an attack on a person or company like this since Lassiter went after Keith Blyth. Whoa.. back that bus up here folks. This was never my intent, but I can see the reasoning for the perception, so I am here to set the record straight. First off, I have a shop full of cars, and folks on the waiting list. I have no need to sully anyones reputation to get work, that's for damn sure. I would love to help Larry with his car, but no way, no how, and I going to get drawn into the business between him and GS Autobody. I will not have my good name and repuation sullied in the least bit by this. Who knows, maybe the action I take this morning will keep that car out of my shop. But to hell with it, I have worked long and hard on this club thing, and my business, doing my damnest to keep my promises, and keep my good name intact. I worked 17 hours yesterday, as it is the busy season now, and as I write this, I have friends standing around in my shop waiting for me to show up. And am I there.. no, I am sitting here writing this. Now you see the reason for my anger. This has now impacted me and my customers. This whole deal has very little to do with my, and you can be damn sure I won't let it hurt my reputation, and when I see that in public or private, if even one person thinks I have any ulterior motives here, I will put an end to it. So.. here is what I will do. Keith, Monday morining I am going to give you a call. Please, for God's sake man, have a parts list of items that you are going to return to Larry, so I can post that here, so Larry and everyone else can see it. I will give you my Fed Ex shipping account number to ship the parts back, if it is that big a deal. Be advise that I will be reporting that also. To me, you are responsible for every nut, bolt and screw that showed up in that car, or in boxes, and since you terminated the project for whatever the reason, it's on you to make sure Larry got everything back. If he did not, then it's up to you to see that he does, on your dime. AFter shipping arrangements have been made, and Larry gets his parts back, I will delete these posts from the board, so the ball is in GS Auto's court now. GET THIS DONE. Now that I have spent yet another hour of my time on this, I have to leave it, and attend to the things that I have to do today. And this ain't it folks. This post is not open for discussion. It is strickly informational. JW
As of this morning, a third party, contacted by the Diablos, and compensated by Larry has retrieved the majority of the parts from GS Autobody. When Larry has the parts in hand, we will conclude this matter. JW
