I noticed that there was a thread asking for good shops in everyone's area. After reading this I thought I would take a minute to vent my frustrations on the same subject. My frustrations began over two months ago. My 66 fastback had developed some rust in the floor and I wanted to have new pans installed. By chance I met a nice woman at a local car show that told me her husband used to own/operate a Mustang restoration shop in Phoenix for fifteen years. He was now located close to me just over the state line in Eagle Rock, Missouri. I drove the car to him and he quoted me $500, since I would be stripping the interior out, and said it should take about three days, but asked for a week just in case. Not a bad price I thought, so I scheduled an appointment for the first of June. Now you should also know that this is the car that I have planned on taking on vacation and made reservations according to his time frame and a few extra weeks for me to perform other jobs on the car. So, I drop the car off on June 22nd, since he postponed me twice already from the original date, and then he tells me it will be two weeks now, not one. On July 2nd I call him to see how it is going. He snaps at me and says he has not even started and he forgot that it was the 4th of July so he would not work that day and on the 5th and 6th would be out of town hauling cars. I told him I was on a time schedule and he PROMISED me it would be done no later then the 14th. I called on July 13th and found out he was once again out of town in Fort Worth and had NOT even started on it. Worse yet, he had only ordered the pans that week and had just got them in on July 12th. Needless to say, after three weeks, several lies, and charges for having to cancel my vacation reservations twice, I picked my car up untouched.
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Sapphire Shelby
1966 Shelby: Candyapple red w/white Lemans stripes
1966 Fastback: Mild Shelby clone
1989 GT convertible: 5-speed, 3.73 gears, four point roll bar.
Sounds just like the run-around my boss got several years ago. The guy kept saying, "Yep things are moving along but slow". Boss stopped by and the car (67 Cheby) hadn't been touched so far, and this was over a year. Always best get some good references and maybe check the BBB. You may not be the first.
Dave
Now enter the new shop. I drop my car off with them on July 14th. I was told they would start on it first thing July 16th. On July 19th they call, not to say it is done, but to ask me to come down and talk to the sheetmetal guy and tell him exactly what I want done. I thought that was very odd since I had given them the new pans from Dallas Mustang. So I go tell them what I want and they tell me it would be done no later then July 27th. The 27th comes and no car still, but it should be done no later then July 31st. The 31st comes and still no car but it should be done no later then August 2nd. You get the picture by now. I finally can pick my car up on August 3rd. When I go to pick up the car I am just so excited to have it back that I foolishly don't get underneath it and just load it on my trailer. I get the car home and in the garage, then raise it on stands to do what I need to do to it. I roll underneath and I am totally appalled by what I see. Not only did it look cobbled up but there was a six inch long gap between the drivers side floor and the factory bace that connects the two pans. Even worse was the fact that at its widest point I could actually shove my whole index finger between the two. Needless to say I take it back to make them fix it on August 7th. I find the owner of the shop and he apologizes and says he will make it right no matter what and the car will be done no later then August 10th. Yeah right. I call on August 10th to hear that they are trying to get it done and to call back around four. I call around four and am told they are still working on it and they will call me back in a little bit. I wait til six and finally call the owner on his personal cell phone. They did not even freaky start on it until after I called at four!!!!!! Now I am told, again, that it should be done no later then August 13th. I am so ticked off I can hardly stand it as you can tell from my VERY VERY long vent. My three day job has turned into an almost three month job. I can't see how people stay in business by constantly telling lies to their customers. I apologize for the length of this, if you are still reading thank you for listening to me.
Raymond
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Sapphire Shelby
1966 Shelby: Candyapple red w/white Lemans stripes
1966 Fastback: Mild Shelby clone
1989 GT convertible: 5-speed, 3.73 gears, four point roll bar.
I know it was my fault with the first guy. I now know why he does not run a restoration shop in Phoenix anymore. The second shop, though, I have heard nothing but excellent things about them. I have even seen some of their work before and was quite impressed. That is why I was so shocked at how it looked when I got underneath it.
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Sapphire Shelby
1966 Shelby: Candyapple red w/white Lemans stripes
1966 Fastback: Mild Shelby clone
1989 GT convertible: 5-speed, 3.73 gears, four point roll bar.
Hello. Things like that are why I very seldom recommend a shop. You just never know. A lot of people don't really seem to understand that the owner is the least important person there as far as what the end product looks like, and it is very difficult to find someone that actually does good work anymore. A shop could have been turning out first rate work for years and then all of a sudden can't paint a car to save their lives. It isn't because of a change in ownership, it's because the painter quit or got fired or deported or something.
From my experience you're lucky to even find a shop that was (or seemed to be ) willing to take a project like this on.
I tried years ago taking my car around to several shops in adjacent towns to get my battery tray inner fender replaced, rear valance repaired, and a few other smaller things done. I expected with labor rates at some shops $60-70 an hour it would be costly and was prepared. Well I wasn't prepared in the fact they didn't want to work on the car at all! Almost every body shop I went to did strictly insurance work since that was where the 'bread and butter' was.
They told me if they did take the car on it would be a back burner project as a fill in between insurance jobs but they would have the car for awhile as they were mostly busy with insurance work. This is what may have been happening to your car.
So that's why I took my money and went out and bought my Miller MIG welder, sandblaster, air tools and other stuff and I did the work myself. I have given up on finding a shop to work on the car. Now as I tackle each project I research the best way of doing it and buy the tools and supplies myself. This has become more work and more of a hobby and more costly than I wanted but I do get the satisfaction out of doing the work myself and I can always sell the tools in the future or since I want another car to restore I'll save them for that time. The next car shouldn't cost as much as this car to restore..............atleast that's my theory.
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1968 Mustang coupe, Acapulco Blue, 289 2v, C-4, Power Steering.
Hopefully a 1969 convertible or Sportsroof (non Mach or Boss) for next Mustang project
Trying to find my father's 1973 Mustang Grande he bought brand new. 3F04F126773 last known registration and title was in New Jersey, 1982.
I know what you mean about finding a body shop to do this. However, this shop also does full scale restorations so I didn't think it should have been a problem. I have seen their work and was very impressed with it. I have now found out that they only do good work if you have all the time in the world and unlimited resources for money. I obviously have a wrong line of thinking. I feel that when I pay what was quoted for the job it should be properly and look good. Neither was the case this time. None of the welds were ground down, the screws they used to pull the metal together when welding were never pulled out, the pans were not seam sealed nor undercoated, when they cut the old pans out it is not even remotely a straight cut and then they never cleaned the metal up (it looks like they just took a hacksaw to the floor while blind folded), and they just cut around the mounting plate for the seat belt leaving it just to hang there like a flap and didn't even at least tack weld it to the new pan. I am so disgusted that I can hardly stand it.
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Sapphire Shelby
1966 Shelby: Candyapple red w/white Lemans stripes
1966 Fastback: Mild Shelby clone
1989 GT convertible: 5-speed, 3.73 gears, four point roll bar.
Floorpan Frustrations 
Things like that are why I very seldom recommend a shop. You just never know. A lot of people don't really seem to understand that the owner is the least important person there as far as what the end product looks like, and it is very difficult to find someone that actually does good work anymore. A shop could have been turning out first rate work for years and then all of a sudden can't paint a car to save their lives. It isn't because of a change in ownership, it's because the painter quit or got fired or deported or something.
) willing to take a project like this on. 
