Chalk me up as another guy that thinks Granatelli is a stand-up guy. Yes, this is my 1st post and yes Granatelli asked me to read this thread. However, he did not ask me to reply...I do that on my own accord.
When I purchased my 2006 C6 Corvette, my performance became mundane very quickly. After many hours of research, I decided on a A&A Corvette kit with long tube headers and a Wicked Racing C5R camshaft. The end result was I had a really fast car that was really loud. After about 8 moths of driving, I just hated the way my car sounded and idled with the headers and camshaft. It sounded cool when I dropped my son off at school because it turned everyone’s heads. On the other hand, it wasn’t so cool when I had a business meeting or a night on the town with a lady friend. It was then that I decided I wanted something just as powerful but didn’t sound like a race car or draw so much attention. I wanted a drivable car with perfect road manners an amazing power (I was so done with the lumpy-lump cam BS – guess I’m getting old).
When I did my research I came across several companies that offered what I wanted. I ended up speaking with Tim at Lingenfelter, Hennessey at Hennessey and Chris at Granatelli. They were all easy to deal with and all on the same page as I was. I ended up with Granatelli for no other reason than they caught me at just the right time. Lingenfelter wanted near double what Granatelli charged. Hennessey was a few thousand under Lingenfelter but seemed like I was getting less. They were all impressive. If you just followed all the press it’s hard not to go with Lingenfelter. It’s interesting to note that when I did my net research in ’06, I couldn’t find bad press on Granatelli. Hennessey took a beating over Viper stuff. Lingenfelter had good, great and bad reviews as well. It was all food for thought but “thought” none the less. I did not go with Granatelli because he charged the least as money was not the issue. That is not to say I have unlimited funds either…like most of you, I work very hard for every dollar and I wanted to make the right decision. Choosing Granatelli somehow felt right.
I ended up sending my Vette to Granatelli in California. You can see I live in Texas. I ended up with a 414 c.i. engine and a Twin Turbo kit at only 9 psi. On their engine dyno it made 904hp and 881 ft/lbs. I was shocked when I first heard it…it sounded near stock and perfectly quiet..just like I wanted all along. They tuned it on their chassis dyno where it made 812 rwhp and 800 ft/lbs. This was, by far, the most power I had ever had. I was eager to tame all that power! My plan was fly to California and drive the car back but that never worked out. Unfortunately, I had a death in the family and I mentally was not up to it. Granatelli sent me a video of my car completed and I took a shot that his word was his bond.
A week later Horseless Carriage pulled up to me house and drop off my baby. SIDE BAR. Granatelli took my checks all the way up until the final payment prior to shipping. Then I paid with a cashiers check which made sense. That is how I would have done business so when SSE 4 2SS seems offended that Granatelli would not take his check - it seems like a smart business move and should not be taken personal IMO. As my Vette came off the upper deck of the truck I could see the bottom of the car looked as good as the top. They spent a lot of time making it right…pure craftsmanship IMO. They even paid to have it professionally detailed inside an out. I’m not kidding…the engine was so clean you could eat off of it. The interior looked brand new and there was not a fingerprint ANYWHERE…perfection! There was even a cool console plaque with the Granatelli logo, engine size and horsepower…a nice touch. In the passenger seat was a Granatelli folder with a full color engine and chassis dyno chart, DVD of the engine dyno, and professional photos of my baby (along with a copy of the invoice and J.R.’s personal business card).
I can go on about how nice my baby ran and bore you all with minute details but here is the bottom line: My car was flawless, fast and tame at a stop light. A year after driving the car and 7,000+ miles later the fuel pump failed so I called Granatelli for help. Granatelli charged my card for a new pump set up and said he would credit me back when the old unit was returned. He even paid for overnight shipping. When my mechanic returned the pump to Granatelli, Granatelli called to say this was not their pump set up. After thinking about it they realized when my car came in, it already had the fuel pump upgrades that came with the supercharger kit. With that said, I didn’t receive a refund but again, I understood that it was not something supplied by Granatelli. Based on the 1 year time lapse I really did not think he owed me anyway. I never took the position that I spent $40,000 so he owed me something.
Moving on…let’s fast forward to now. I was made an offer I couldn’t refuse for my baby so I sold her. Still having a love affair with super high performance Vettes, I purchased a super clean 2012 ZR1 with less than 1000 miles on it. My next call was to Granatelli to see what goodies he could ship me to add on a few extra ponies. I also purchased a 2011 SS/RS for my son and wanted to know about his suspension parts – no F/I for my kid – not on my dime anyway.
So that’s my story in a nutshell. If this, being my first post, has less value to guys with 1000 plus posts – I get it. I figured I owed it to Granatelli because they really did go above and beyond for me. They even sent flowers when my father passed away and that little stuff goes along way with me.
John D.
