MR HYDE IS COMING TO LIFE

[Dr Jkel]

Originally Posted by dcarlos55

I just finished reading this entire thread and I can't say how impressed I am with the ongoing effort you have put into this. I had never seen this thread before but I spent a couple days parked next to F5journal at the fest and he told me some of the story and where to find it.

It certainly seems that you are finally nearing the end of an almost never ending story. Good luck to you with the rest of that journey.

I have a project car in my garage I haven't touched since I got my Camaro and I have to say your story inspires me to get back to work on it. You have certainly proved that there are rewards for just continuing on when everything looks impossible.

Carlos,

Thanks for stopping by and I really appreciate the kind words. It is rough some days when you actually think about all that has gone on with this project but I will finish it!

[Dr Jkel]

Well a little update.....well sort of.

I took ole Hyde to the upholstery shop to get an estimate to finish the interior.......Hmmmmm where do I start.

I know the man who owns and runs the shop so he kinda gave me a tour of his new facility. I was first greeted by a 1956 Chevy Bel-Air, the a 34 Chevy Sedan, a 57 Chevy and lastly a 69 Camaro...each had there own garage bay and was sealed off from othe parts of the shop area.

I am particular, really particular...people accuse me of not being able to be satisfied when it comes to my vehicles....As they say " Nothing is ever good enough" LOL Well I can honestly say I have now seen flawless vehicles. I actually spent about 45 minutes going over the black 69 Camaro and 56 Chevy........even though the interiors were not in them they were both absolutley flawless. The 34 Chevy was perfection...it was better than Barrett Jackson quality. For a Car lover like myself I had a great time just looking and it was obvious that I did. These were truly 1000 point show cars. That was the good.

Then he had a type of inspection bay so I pulled ole Hyde in and he went at it. He spent about 30 minutes in the interior just sitting there looking...not saying a word just looking....Seems he was making mental notes and once he got out he wrote some things down.

He then did the same thing with the exterior. Again not saying a word. All the while I am in other bays looking at cars, LOL and Drooling

Once he was finished he asked what I wanted done. The first bad news was he stated that he would not touch the truck unless he re-did everything and took it all the way down. Certain things like the wiring and plumbing were good but body wise it simply did not cut the mustard.

I actually understood his point that since he would have to warranty it then he needed to start from scratch since he didn't know what was under the paint...Of course he immediately noticed all teh places I had noticed and a few I hadn't, noticed it was two different colors and pretty much identified everything I knew was wrong .

We discussed the interior and he showed me his ideas of what he thought would be good and look right.

Now if you are into the streetrod scene and interiors you know that most quality interior shops have a year wait and you also know that they are not on every street corner. Luckily this place is about 30 minutes from my house...too bad I didn't know this 10 years ago.

Then the conversation turned to money:( He said it would take him at the minimum of 2 months JUST for the interior. New seats, new console, re-paint interior, stereo, carpet, sound deadening, sealer etc.......pretty much starting over and doing it right.......Total??????? $14000.00 yeas boys and girls FOURTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS...I about passed out....I saw exactly the rough drawing he did of what it would look like, the door panels, A/C placement seats and everything and it is exactly what I want but 14k it simply is not going to happen.

The seats I had bought from Summit are useless...It would take more in labor trying to get them cut down, painted and re-upholstered then it would be to start with the right seats.

I can not spend 14 K just on the interior knowing I have to re-paint it, just cant do it.

So I will have to come up with a different attack plan cause this one aint gonna work. He did say that he would take me in January if I decided to do it and not make me wait a year.

I also asked him what the labor vs materials were and he said it was about 60/40 split or roughly 8k in labor to do the paint work and do the interior work.

Simply disgusting! He also stated that he could do the truck in a year start to finish and the labor rate was 50.00 an hour plus materials on whole project cars....So I have a whole lot of thinking to do. LOL

[garcmol]

I liked where this was headed, until the price tag. Wow!!!

[Dr Jkel]

Originally Posted by garcmol

I liked where this was headed, until the price tag. Wow!!!

You and me both...I was hoping around 6k or less for the interior based on the 3500.00 it cost me 20 yr ago to do the 85 Chevy truck he did for me but it has quadrupled in 20 years.

Shops like this figure if you can afford to have it, then you can afford to have it done...kinda like a "Streetrod" premium type deal.

I fully expected the paint work to have to go all the way back down and was hoping the paint job would be 14 k not the interior:(

[Scrappy Doo]

Ouch

[PeeBee]

Ouch... Guess that's why there hasn't been an update for a while...

[f5journal]

Bump