Body Shop Needed

Zen · « **on:** September 12, 2005, 07:12:30 AM »

The father of a lady I work with owns a very nice 71 or 72 Super Beetle, Formula Vee edition. She showed me a couple of pictures of it the other day and it appears to have a very nice original paint job and still has the Formula Vee decals on the side in nice shape. I think she said her dad was the original owner. Anyway, it looks like it's been garaged all it's life and is in excelent shape . . . except . . .

A few years ago the lady's brother borrowed it and hit something with the right front corner. The bumper, hood, apron and fender are toast. Except for the hood being a hard one to find a replacement for, all of that would be pretty easy to fix. But, from the pictures it looks like the right side of the body that holds the strut tower is tweeked behind the strut tower. Just from looking at the pictures, I don't think the frame head is bent, but you never know . . . supers aren't quite as rugged as regular Beetles. Anyway, they are looking for a compentent body shop that would be willing to fix this thing right. I recommened having Charles Overton in Tallapoosa look at it, but when they called, Charles' wife said he was back to working out of his garage and was not taking any new business at this time.

Do any of you know of another good body shop, preferably one with Beetle/Super Beetle experiance, that you would recommend?

Ret.Bugtech · « **Reply #1 on:** September 14, 2005, 08:58:24 AM »

Zen , Whats the story on Overton . Has that shop "run a muck" or did they have to many Chiefs ? :?

copperjewel · « **Reply #2 on:** September 14, 2005, 01:36:13 PM »

I know one of the guys in on opening Rusty Resto's had a major life change due to massive lay off at his job. Been there and done that number myself!!! Not sure if there were any other issues :?: , but the shop is no longer around. I did not get to visit but about 2-3 times due to my long hours here, but it was looking very good from my personal view. And it was only about 1/2 mile away!!!

Charles is still doing work out of his home as before,but is swamped right now. He is working full time at another job and doing this after hours. I still say he is one of the best you can find if he is able to work you in.

Zen · « **Reply #3 on:** September 15, 2005, 11:00:58 PM »

I've said it many times before . . . you can find a whole lot of paint and body guys who will work cheaper than Overton, and if you have enough time and money you might even be able to find someone who does better work (or maybe not) . . . but you'll be hard pressed to find anyone who will do half as good a job at twice the money. Which may be why he is working another job and has such a backlog of paint and body work.

My ex-brother-in-law was a paint and body man who got into Corvettes and eventually opened a business (American Corvette) in Powder Springs, GA. There were a few years that he would work 18 - 20 hour days, 6 days a week for at least 50 weeks out of the year. He finally developed a simple theroy . . . if you have more work than you can handle, you aren't charging enough. If you don't have enough work to keep you busy, you are charging too much. After applying this theroy for several years, he sold the business and pretty much retired (works when he wants to, doing what he wants to) while he was in his late 40s.

Anyway, back to the Formula Vee Super Beetle, she sent me a couple of digital photos of the damaged areas . . . the right front and left rear. The left rear is really nothing. The right front is going to need a VERY compentent body man. Oh, and he isn't the original owner. His daugther said he is the second owner, but bought it when it about a year old. It has been pampered and garage kept, but it has been driven! She said that her father drove it to work everday for several years and that it has over 100,000 miles on it.

This would be a lot easier to fix if it were on a Beetle, but the inner fender is part of the suspension on Super.

This is another area he want's fixed . . . but it should be easy.

Bugnut · « **Reply #4 on:** September 26, 2005, 02:46:06 PM »

When I was younger I was proned to crashing cars and my friends dad would fix them pretty cheap. He owns a small shop and mainly buys cars fixes them and does a little resto work. Anyway I called him about painting my bug and found out in his younger days he worked for vw in the body shop and is very familiar with bug body work.
The name of his shop is POST MOTOR COMPANY His name is Henry Post.
The number is in the book,don't have it sitting here or I would list it.
Anyway He has been known to do some good work on old classic cars and is as honest of a person as you will find.He had a 57 chevy at his shop when I talked to him. I doubt many people trust a 57 to just anybody.

« **Reply #5 on:** November 01, 2005, 09:30:16 PM »

Thanks Zen, Copper.. shop was doing GREAT! but one of the partners had sticky fingers and did half *&^ work.... Nuff said.

I'm back at my old shop , besides being burned out i have 9 restos here and a year waiting list. But I'm thinking about finishing these and taking a break to enjoy time with my son and my hobby more.

have you called Herrell bug parts ?..speak with "Tan"

Ret.Bugtech · « **Reply #6 on:** November 02, 2005, 10:24:48 AM »

Hey Spray, I never had the chance to visit you Guys before the "wheels fell off" ,but from the pics I saw it would have been a real treat. I never have understood why things like this happen when you have a good thing going and are able to do something you love to do and are able to offer a service that is getting harder and harder to find. I was in the VW business
for 40+ years both dealer and my own business and this type of thing happened to me also. I never really got over that for a long time and I was really burned out on the whole damn VW thing. I just wanted to go hide in the woods. Then I discovered the VolksFolks and joined up with them . I found a outlet for my flushtrations with this "Bunch" and it re-newed my interest in VW. Its was really strange to find out that a lot of the members of this club were not born when I was in the business big time. I guess the last thing to say is don't dwell on it to long because the talent you have is a rare thing to have. Don't waste it like I almost did.
Good guys really do have the last laugh. As Sherlock Homes would say: "Come Watson and all will be revealed in time." Press on !!

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