Mondo

I cried off with about an inch or so left. In all honesty, I only made it that far because I wasn't prepared to suffer abuse for being a "soft Northerner!" :rofl: You absolutely don't have the build for one, Joel ;) - it weighed more than I do!

Did you get a Breakfast Stick? I did when I went down on Saturday and it nearly killed me! :lol:

You were indeed the first Zed I ever did, Marty. Feels like a lifetime ago now!

In light of recent revelations, I'm a little (a lot!) concerned about some of the work that's been done on my car by a certain mechanic in the past. So I'm driving down to Bristol in the wee small hours of tomorrow morning so the entire car can be thoroughly looked over by a professional! I'm really hoping that nothing shady comes to light.... :scared:

Told you he'd look after you, Tom. :)

I'd have liked to, Gaz. It just doesn't make financial sense unfortunately, even at the lowest tier. :(

Nearly 5 years to the day since I joined this forum as a trader (before I even became an owner, no less), it's time for me to hand in my pass and become a regular Subscribed member instead. Over the years, interest in my trade on here has declined to the point where it sadly doesn't make financial sense for me to trade here. I think that as more and more owners start to see these cars as investments rather than toys, and lean more towards standard styling as a result of that, enquiries have pretty much tailed off into nothingness. It's sad, but it's the nature of the beast. I'm not closing the business or anything like that - simply saving some money on "advertising," that's all. I am aware of the outstanding Group Buy and, having already discussed this with Groover, this decision won't affect that in the slightest. At absolute worst, it just means that participants will have to upload their own photos, rather than me starting a thread for each job! :lol: I've done some jobs that I'm truly proud of for Z32 owners over the years and also had the honour and pleasure of providing work for some stunning examples. I'd like to extend a heartfelt "Thank you!" to all my customers; each and every one of you is valued. Thanks also to the Committee for letting me peddle my services for the last nearly 5 years. :thumbup1: So that's me, over and out. I'll see you all back in General Population shortly!

It's in the planning stages at least! Although I reckon Gray has more disposable cash to build one than I (or possibly Jimmer) do....

Leather seats, Alcantara trim. Exactly as it left the factory. :thumbup1:

Can't look at that link cos Groover hasn't replied to my reply to his reply yet.

As I said, it's all very much in the preliminary stages here. We'd have to both agree to fund the build equally as it would be a jointly-owned car, for one thing. It wouldn't be a showcase for either of us as such. At my end, the interior would be identical to the factory finish... even down to the stitching on the steering wheel and gearknob (and I loathe doing baseball stitch!). From Jimmer's perspective, he'd obviously handle all the mechanicals and whatnot, but there'd be no upgraded parts. If we had to recomission the original bits, so be it. Basically, as close to being a "timewarp" example as we could make it. My original plan was to completely de-mod my own car, but I honestly couldn't imagine not having red seats or driving around at bog standard power levels :lol: So it makes more sense to build a second car instead. As to whether it could be ready for 2019: I have no idea whatsoever!!

I've read and re-read this and I have a couple of simple (if not overly PC) questions: How does a guy in a wheelchair root around the bombsite that is LA Autos without getting into serious difficulty? And how does he get parts off any car and off the premises without it being completely obvious...?? Genuine questions, by the way!

Seeing as the last couple of days have been predominantly doom and gloom around here, I thought I'd have a stab at cheering everyone up. Jimmer and I have been discussing a bit of a joint project recently. It's very much in the planning stages at the moment, but I think it could be pretty good if it comes off. There's been a lot of press coverage surrounding things like Sierra RS Cosworths and suchlike, and about how a totally pristine and original example is now fetching considerable money... ...soooo we're looking at building a completely standard 300ZX! Ideally a UK factory manual (seeing as people think they'll command the best prices in years to come) and make it completely bone stock. No 99 Spec rear lights - just nice orange lenses please... the standard airbox... standard suspension and brakes. Even a standard power output! Standard everything, basically. There are some beautiful examples of "OEM+" cars in this club, but we want an OEM one as if it just rolled out of the factory. This doesn't mean, however, that absolutely everything that can be renewed will be renewed - that would end up ludicrously expensive! I think the idea is to only replace things that really need it. I don't know whether Jimmer would build a fresh engine for it or not... he'd have to decide that based on the car we got. I'd certainly be renewing the interior as, no matter how well it may have been looked after, the leather would be 20 odd years old. And yes, it would be a leather interior - I absolutely refuse to make a tweed one for it! :lol: So that's the plan, such as it is at this point. A 100% standard Z32, built by one of the most (if not the most) respected names in the community. And by me as well ;) What do we think to that, gang?

As Tom says, there are a few people who have been burned in one way or another who have yet to say anything. I can think of one who will almost certainly remain silent, sadly....

I only "know" and remember a little bit about all of this - as it's been around 2.5 years since I heard anything, I can't be 100% certain here. When I first ever went to Lee's in April 2015, he was telling me all about this and how he'd had to go to court (and won) regarding getting either payment for the work he did on three Zeds. Apparently the court found in his favour and ruled that the three cars in question were to have ownership transferred to Lee. I know he sold one to Callum (the pearl white NA), but I can't remember what happened to the other two. I'm pretty sure he had one of them for quite a while, but don't know if it sold or if got broken for spares. Now we're into vague territory. Lee told me that during (or possibly following) the court case, it came to light that Ian was apparently notorious for having work done and then refusing to pay. There was definitely mention of the same thing being pulled on another garage in the past, but that garage was never named (at least not to me). It definitely wasn't Zedworld as I'd have remembered that. For some reason, I have it in my head that this previous situation involved Fords, but I honestly can't be sure. Heading back to the original issue on this thread, it seems that Lee has been in touch yesterday with the owner of the "broken" gearbox that Mikey Bean sold to him (for Steve Broadbent's manual conversion) and claimed that the issues with it are nothing to do with him, and that it's simply a case of myself, Jimmer and Jeff conspiring against him! Make of that what you will...

Gunmetal grey: yes. Gloss black: no!! Not a fan of black wheels (even partially black wheels) in the slightest...

I fear you've missed the point here. This thread wasn't started by a rival trader - it was started by a customer who's had his property stolen and fitted to someone else's car! Not just a random customer either. Someone who has been nothing but loyal to Lee and even leapt to his defence when he's been called out on his actions. His reward for this loyalty? Having his property stolen. You and others may well have had good work done by him, but that absolutely doesn't change what's happened here. It's a bit like saying that, despite all the people he murdered, Harold Shipman was a pretty good doctor.... Any personal issues Lee may or may not have had are irrelevant in this. This is solely about theft and deceit. He didn't "miss" anything as he knowingly fitted Tom's propshaft to someone else's car (this has been absolutely confirmed by the owner of the other Zed, by the way - as stated in the opening post) and then, when questioned by Tom, opted to lie. This thread may well seem to be overarchingly negative when it comes to Lee Dent but, when you steal and deceive a friend and loyal customer, negativity is usually what happens....

Can someone please explain to me Lee needing to replace a customer's (and good friend!) propshaft because he borrowed it is anything other than theft and terrible business practice? Or how charging another customer for a brand new prop and then fitting a stolen secondhand one is somehow ok? Or how lying to the first customer on multiple occasions about where his prop actually is is just an oversight? Explain please! It makes no odds to me whether Lee's in business or not, so i gain nothing from all of this. I'll ignore the fact he's slated me for about 3 months now and ignored my attempts to smooth things over... This boils down to one thing and one thing only: he's stolen, conned, lied to and betrayed a fair few people and, rather than come on here himself, his employee is responding instead!! Tom asked him where his prop was. Rather than tell the truth, Lee lied. There's your bottom line right there!

If Callum's here, as Lee's occasional employee then what light can he shine on Tom's issue?

I know fine well that there are others out there have either had or are having issues with Lee's work. Whether they want to speak up or not is a different story, of course. Then there are the people who have an issue but aren't actually aware that they do... they're the ones, like Tom, who I really feel sorry for...

I think most people can agree that Jeff is rather vindicated in light of this evening's revelations.

That was my first ever visit there, Si. I was rather taken aback myself, to say the least!

I'm sure it's no secret that Lee fell out with me a few months ago. Hell, I had four of his customers contact me in the summer to ask me questions, ranging from "Why have you stopped using him?" to "Why have you betrayed him and taken your car to Powerzed?" I mean, what?!! Since then, he's either slagged me or my work off to anyone who'll listen and he's now blocked me on Facebook and actually issued a threat to me via a third party. What a prince! To think that, because I took my Zed to him in the past (where he used half a tank of fuel, forgot to fit the alternator pulley bolt and sent me a text telling me that me car likes to drift at 85mph in 3rd gear!), I am somehow honour-bound to only use his services... even when I was having an exhaust built in Bristol so it made sense for me to have some other work done at Powerzed at the same time. In the last year, I've heard so many horror stories about Lee - some are confirmed and some are not. The fact that Tom's nightmare has turned out to be 100% true is making me wonder what else is true...

This is very sad. Very sad indeed. It'd be bad enough if Lee had stolen from a random customer, but the fact that he's done it to a (supposedly) good friend, who would always sing his praises and defend him from any detractors, is just absolutely despicable in my eyes!! If he's done this to Tom, who else has he done it to...? I've heard lots of stories and rumours about Mr Dent in the last few months. I've also seen some of his oldest or best customers either go very quiet or outright stop using him. So what has caused this, I wonder...?

Sent that now for you, sir :)