This is not a for sale thread - I'll put that in the for sale section at a later stage.

 

I've not driven my 300zx now for 3 years. I've only owned it for 5 years and in that time I've spent over £50k on it.

I'm just so frustrated now as I've tried everything I can to get the car back from the mechanic but every deadline I have given has been missed. The ones that were quite important to me were:

 

Summer 2006 - missed.

Christmas 2006 - missed.

My wedding Jul 2007 - missed.

Birth of my little daughter Oct 2007 - missed.

 

I was originally quoted 3 weeks, to have the engine reassembled and put back into the car. No fabrication or parts were required that I didn’t already supply.

After 22 months I still haven’t got the car back although I have been promised so many times "it will be ready by this weekend" or "I just have a few more bits to do on it" etc. etc.

So I'm at a stage now where I have to take legal action. I really didn’t want it to get to this stage but I have no other choice. As I'm not getting any communication back from him regarding the final deadlines I have given (weekend just passed was the final cut off point).

 

So for me the 300zx is no longer fun. It's become one huge pain in the butt. The amount of man hours I have spent on that car is huge, everything on the car I have done myself apart form the body kit and paint. So once I do get it back eventually, I'll be forced to sell. I really wanted to drive it around so badly just one more time but now with my 6 week old daughter I don’t think that's going to happen either. I know that if I do get it back and start driving it again I will fall back in love with the car that I built and it will be even harder for me to let go of it. In terms of material things, I have been more passionate about this car than anything else I have every owned. It was not only my ride, but my hobby and pride & joy.

 

I've had a lot of fun driving it and doing it up from scratch and I want to thank the people that I've met along the way. You are all a great bunch and I've had the most fun when I've been driving with you guys. I still watch the old video's I used to make of things like the Brighton meet, the SE rolling road day, Trax, the essex meets and of course Billing. Maybe I'll host these up somewhere in the near future just to show the new guys how we used to do things, and also to remind the old guys of the good times.

 

Really breaks my heart and I just wanted to share it with the people I've know on this forum for the last 5 years, I'm going to miss the 300zx scene a great deal and I'm hoping the new owner of my pride and joy has as much passion as I have about "Silver Streak" (my car's name).

I saw another trader who was going through troubles completely change in character and cross over to the "Dark Side" .... selling, stripping parts off cars, every few weeks that passed he seemed to justify his own actions more an more to the point the whole Zed community owed him for the 7 years he donated to it. In the end half a dozen people lost out on around £400 each and I heard one story almost identical to yours.. where the guy never got anything and his £20K project was completely parted out (someone got the £12K engine for £3500 cash in hand.

At least up until the last month, people could come around and look at their projects.. the fact you can't should be HUGE ALARM BELLS.

 

The longer you wait, the less chances you have of any result. His reassuring texts can only be viewed as his attempt to pacify.

 

Go Legal, Go Quick. I'm sure you're probably thinking that if you go to the Police, you won't get any of that extra effort out of him that he's been promising?

 

dunno... don't want to call anyone a sucker... but seems like you're setting yourself up for a sucker-punch?

 

Report it as it looks to be. STOLEN. When the police show up to his place ( which they are obligated to do ) be aware he may try and produce a lot of documents that show you haven't paid your bills and that in effect he has taken the car in lieu of payment. if it is believable, the police will say that this is a matter for the courts and leave.

 

 

Remember: There is some unwritten rule amongst low class individuals : that the longer they go owing money to someone (spanning months,years) the less it seems that they actually owe anything; they even start to get very mad that they are still being hassled & threatened over a very old and complicated issue.

I saw another trader who was going through troubles completely change in character and cross over to the "Dark Side" .... selling, stripping parts off cars, every few weeks that passed he seemed to justify his own actions more an more to the point the whole Zed community owed him for the 7 years he donated to it. In the end half a dozen people lost out on around £400 each and I heard one story almost identical to yours.. where the guy never got anything and his £20K project was completely parted out (someone got the £12K engine for £3500 cash in hand.

At least up until the last month, people could come around and look at their projects.. the fact you can't should be HUGE ALARM BELLS.

 

The longer you wait, the less chances you have of any result. His reassuring texts can only be viewed as his attempt to pacify.

 

Go Legal, Go Quick. I'm sure you're probably thinking that if you go to the Police, you won't get any of that extra effort out of him that he's been promising?

 

dunno... don't want to call anyone a sucker... but seems like you're setting yourself up for a sucker-punch?

 

Report it as it looks to be. STOLEN. When the police show up to his place ( which they are obligated to do ) be aware he may try and produce a lot of documents that show you haven't paid your bills and that in effect he has taken the car in lieu of payment. if it is believable, the police will say that this is a matter for the courts and leave.

 

 

Remember: There is some unwritten rule amongst low class individuals : that the longer they go owing money to someone (spanning months,years) the less it seems that they actually owe anything; they even start to get very mad that they are still being hassled & threatened over a very old and complicated issue.

 

I asume your talking about GPS cos I was one of the victims. Hope his balls go square and fester at the corners.

aye total rebuild took a month of me gathering parts and 10 days straight in the garage, some of those days the car was worked on 24 hours straight, yes all night!

 

Now that is proper service for you!

from what ive read on other posts, this guy lives quite close to where my sister is in lincs. if anyone can pm me this guys name, then i may be able to find an address out. ;)

who is the person? I read martyn on page 1 so do i assume martyn from zen? He did my manual conversion

Thought it was worth one last try....

 

Drove up there today (3 hours to get there), checked out where he said the cars were, couldn't find any sign of them.

 

Drove to his house and waited outside for 2 hours. No one home..

Spoke to a neighbour, got her to get past the dogs and drop a message through the letter box..

 

An hour later spoke to his missus or ex-missus or whoever she is. She will pass the message onto him, got the he doesn't live here only stays here now and again story.

 

So in summary, I have no idea where my car is, I can not get in contact with him at all. I don't know where he lives.

 

So what's my next step now ?. Contact the police first and report the car stolen or contact citizens advice or even a solicitor ?. Anyone know the quickest route to getting my car back, if it's still in one piece that is ?.

its a case for a solicitor. have you proof and logs of contact inc receipts for work etc.

 

cal the police and report it give a statement .it will all help and people suddenly come out of the woodwork when they realize you are VERY serious about your car!

If I was into my zed for £50K Stu, and couldn't find where it was being kept, or able to contact the mechanic to whom it was entrusted to, I would be phoning the police, and reporting it stolen i'm afraid.

Hope you get this sorted.. All the best.

omg, just reading this now, i remember meeting you and seeing your beautiful car at thor in coventry at at rr in jan 2004, and that was what i would have aspired my car to be like, with such a huge amount of money spent and obviously a great deal of love gone into this car see a solicitor

congratulations on the birth of your daughter

Get the law involved Stu - you've been more than patient IMO

 

Good luck!

 

Steve :)

Update... I've contacted a solicitor already for advice, however during that time I have also had contact with the mechanic. After talking to the solicitor and then the mechanic we have all agreed that finished or not the car will be delivered to my house this weekend. If not then he is fully aware that it goes legal.

 

Fingers crossed. I'd rather not have to go legal, but as most of you have already said, I've been patient enough. So this weekend will tell. Either car back or legal action which will include a lot more than just getting the car back ;).

 

I have decided that depending on how finished the car is when I get it back it will be going up for sale in the spring of next year (depending on how much work I have to do to finish it off).

Once it goes on sale it will be completely finished with no problems at all down to the tinyest of stone chips or a smear on the glass. It will be Mint which is sad, but the only way I could possibly sell it after all this time.

fingers crossed for you!

Best of luck Stu, hope she comes back to you this weekend...

Hope it all goes well for you mate, i've met you & 'silver streak' at

billing before, nice bloke, nice car as they say.

On a similar note, a mate of mine had a similar problem with a

'reputable' vw tuner, booked in for an engine swap, quoted 6 weeks,

7 months later still had no car! He actually drove up to wigan to see the car

and was told he couldn't see it because it was at the bosses house.

Turned out they'd smashed it up and were trying to repair/bodge it

back together. He'd just spent £3.5k on a paint job for it too!

They ended up settling out of court in the end.

Update... I've contacted a solicitor already for advice, however during that time I have also had contact with the mechanic. After talking to the solicitor and then the mechanic we have all agreed that finished or not the car will be delivered to my house this weekend. If not then he is fully aware that it goes legal.

 

Fingers crossed. I'd rather not have to go legal, but as most of you have already said, I've been patient enough. So this weekend will tell. Either car back or legal action which will include a lot more than just getting the car back ;).

 

I have decided that depending on how finished the car is when I get it back it will be going up for sale in the spring of next year (depending on how much work I have to do to finish it off).

Once it goes on sale it will be completely finished with no problems at all down to the tinyest of stone chips or a smear on the glass. It will be Mint which is sad, but the only way I could possibly sell it after all this time.

 

Stu, email me what ever details you currently have on this mechanic. I may be able to help you out, due to my current employment, i may be able to find out information that would not be readily accessable to joe public if you catch my drift.

 

My email address is torque0fthedevil@hotmail.co.uk

 

HTH

 

Nick

Jeez Stu, I've just read this, what a total nightmare!! :(:( I love that car, one of the best around.

 

Fingers crossed it'll come back, the story really does sound like it's been nicked and broken though :( Fingers crossed for you :)