Hello all,
I see some of the members from afew years ago are still posting on here Some will remember me I used to drive a Silver 1999 R34 GTR V-Spec around the streets of Adelaide with the number plates COPYME for a time in 2003/2004.
At the time I was 21 years old, had my heart set on having a R34 GTR and found one at a (now defunct) garage in Victoria. First mistake I made was falling in love with that particular vehicle which stopped me from being Impartial about the purchase. In Hindsight, Monro was selling his Blue R34 GTR V-Spec which was a far better example and an individual far more deserving of my funds.
I purchased the car and brought it back to Adelaide where almost immediately the after market greddy turbos failed (both), I would later find out that the sound of a can rattling in my exhaust while having the inability to achieve boost was caused by one of the turbine fragments sitting in my cat. A part of the braking cylinder began bleeding fluid aswell. I was understandably thinking by this stage that I had purchased a 100k lemon, and thought my Victorian inspection was less than thorough.
Before I digress further I'am aware of the general rules and guidelines for the use of this site, which means I will be careful not to name the businesses or individual(s) or make what could be seen as defamatory remarks about. I understand that "Informing people via PM's is tolerated as it is not a public message." Therefore any individual who would like me to elaborate further I can send you a PM.
There was a performance garage near my house just off North East Rd which came highly recommended. I spoke to the owner before being directed to what I shall refer to as "The mechanic", I was aware of him from HPI magazine and word of mouth. He looked over the RB26, my dead turbos and the engine bay. We talked about some of the mods I wanted to do to the car and he told me what needed to be done in the way of repairs, he said he would order the parts and call me to bring the car in I gave him my mobile number and returned the car to my garage for the time being.
I was called the next evening by the mechanic and was invited to his house near tea tree plaza, he said he wanted to discuss the mods and repairs I was looking to have done and he thought we could work out a deal for him to do the work at a cheaper rate than the garage. I was interested in further discussion so I headed over, we sat at his dinner table and he talked about his background, his fathers business in Queensland where he had a similar role and his skills. Which confirmed some of what I knew already.
He said that He would guarantee the work he did to my GTR or my money back, and explained how much he would charge for labour and how he could get the parts I wanted at a discount, he also said that he would invoice all the work at the end through his own Limited Company. Everything was broken down, I knew how much all the parts were going to cost for me to source and the end total will labour was alittle over 40k. He said that the car would produce over 380kw at the wheels.
I felt his reputation proceeded him and there was no reason to be done over for lack of a better word. The deal was agreed and I forwarded about 20k a week later by TFT transfer, he said he would cancel the order for the parts I had requested through his work once they arrived and pay for them out of the deposit on the works. I sent the car to a private workshop near the raceway which the mechanic used off an associate and was told it would be ready within 3 weeks. This was in August 2003, the car was not ready till November, apparently due to parts delays.
The car seemed to run amazingly for about a week, then it started to soil plugs after every 15 kms, when driving the car back to the private garage he used the engine seized. Apparently due to a oil line breaking and leaking all the oil out of the engine. However when the engine was removed later on the sump was still full and there was no fault in the warning gauges.
The Mechanic took complete responsibility saying he would rebuild labour cost free. I thought the line breaking was just one of those things, wished I had installed full braided line and said ok. I ordered a N1 block through the mechanic, 2.8 litre HKS kit and afew other things I ordered and paided for these so i know they were sent to him, air freight from japan.
It was into early 2004 when I got the car back works complete, I had been visiting the car to see some of the works completed, due to work travel commitments I wasn't present for the block arrival or the installation of internals. Upon return everything look kosher.
I ran the car in, the mechanic didn't make himself available for the vehicle to be Dyno-ed and had someone less do so. I was not happy and wanted a refund as tuning was included in the build cost.
The complete bill came to alittle over 80k, I was not given complete invoicing and was becoming unable to get a call returned, I was going to head down to his employer off North East rd when I suddenly learned that he was no longer there.
A sudden financial issue ment I put the car up for sale was contacted by several interested parties in Melbourne, put the car on the back of a truck and hauled it over there. The car was sold. Upon return to Adelaide I received an angry call from the buyer and his mechanic, the internals weren't as I described, It wasn't a N1 block and incorrect screws, bolts and fasteners had been used which had caused the manifolds to warp. The car was sold below what it owed me, I sent them some parts that I had at home to try and make peace.
Then the mechanic reared his head and called my parents aswell as my self saying I owed him money. I had also heard he had paided 10k cash, on the same day I paided him in cash for parts on the second build, for a nice 750 Suzuki road bike.
I asked him if he was still in Adelaide he said he was and I told him that I would be getting some legal advice before any family members or myself had any further conversations with him.
Shortly after I received a phone call from someone I did not know, but had heard of stating he was from a certain group of people, he knew alot about me, I was intimidated and was convinced it was in my interests to pay him the funds I apparently owed The mechanic as he had "purchased the dept."
I'am not going into the details surrounding the exchange, however what I will disclose is that I also had the car I was driving at the time taken from me aswell.
I learned that The Mechanic had swapped parts people had paided for in builds elsewhere and one of the reasons he was in Adelaide was dept issues, there is also a time where a settlement was reached with one of his customers, within a few days of funds being paided to his bank account by myself. A deposit was paided on a queensland property at that time secondly.
All has now been resolved, I allowed myself to be taken advantage of and now have the benefit of hindsight for the future. Hopefully most will not fall into the same pot hole with the level of expenditure and time, due to youth, arrogance and stupidity, But I feel there may be a cautionary lesson to be learnt for some if not all.
