Hello,
My name is Michael Steele - Owner/Operator of HEADS UP CHASSIS.
I posted an ad on RJ for a 95 Camaro tube chassis project for $5,500.00 and Mr. Lang answered the ad saying he was intersted in the build but wanted a Firebird instead. I had a Firebird body and Mr. Lang agreed to purchase the Firebird to replace the 95 Camaro in my ad. I told him the Firebird would be more money so the $5,500.00 build started the revision process immediately.
Mr Lang sent me $1,000.00 for a nice 1996 Firebird body which also went toward stripping the inside of the car and cutting sheetmetal out of the inside to prepare the body for a tube chassis.
No, I did not have the money to buy tubing, so Mr. Lang agreed to buy the tubing. The original price of $5,500.00 for the Camaro Project was for used parts I had collected ovr time, hence the low price of $5,500.00 for a tube chassis car. Well then Mr. Lang decided to buy all new components to put on the Firebird so the original price of $5,500.00 was altered once again. The tubing was finally delivered to my shop a few weeks before he was to pick up the car.
Mr. Lang traveled from North Carolina to my shop and on the way down, he picked up his new open trailer that he had built. He said an engineer friend built it for him and he told me he didn't know how much the trailer was going to cost him. Was not your ordinary trailer, but a very nice open trailer. Well, the first thing I find out when I find a product I am interested in purchasing, is the price.
When Mr. Lang came in my shop, I showed him the struts he was getting, and he did not say if he was or wasn't satisfied with them. They were 1st gen Datsun 260-Z struts with aftermarket light weight rotors/hubs and Wilwood calipers.
Mr. Lang was traveling to the Dallas Texas area that week and he was going to swing back by and pick up his car. I "Did" tell Mr. Lang his car would be finished. I worked every day on his car but did not finish on time. The chassis was about 85% welded out when he left with it and the only place that was not welded was where the roof section up top, the outside of the rocker bars where the a-pillar bar and strut knee brace joins. The struts were mounted up top on the strut bars, and brackets were completely welded out. Mr. Lang bought the $500.00 4-link kit from Auto Fab so I had to cut and weld the 4-link tubes. The back brace Mr. Lang sent for the rear end housing was too short and not deep enough to sufficiently cover the 4-link brackets on the housing, so I had to build a back brace that would work affectively.
Note* - Before Mr. Lang came down to my shop, I told him the struts were going to cost more than the ones advertised in the original price. And once again, when he was in Texas, we spoke on the phone and I reassured him the struts were more $$$. I told him he could pay me the extra $$$ for the struts over a two month period and he agreed to do that. He told me he had brought $2,000.00 with him. I asked him if he wanted to leave off the struts, and Mr. Lang told me to go ahead and put them on.
O.K. I did tell Mr. Lang his car would be finished, I worked on his car but was not able to finish on time. I offered to go to North Carolina and finish the car at his shop and would not charge the extra money for the struts, back brace, traveling to his shop. He declined the offer which was his decision. I have been building chassis full time for 10 years and have not once stolen or charged any one more than the price I quoted them. I sincerely regret not being able to finish Mr. Lang's car on time. I do not usually loose much sleep, but I have been very restless since I read the compaint from Mr. Lang. I care about my business and my customers.
Mr. Lang, I regret not finishing your car on time and I will make it right with you within reason.
I am slammed with work, having four front half jobs, four tube chassis jobs, and an interior, and other misc. jobs to do. So I have not built a business on lies and stealing from customers. I am not perfect, and I cannot please everyone. I am only one man and periodically I bring some one in to help me.
I am not only a man, a father, a grand father, but I am a child of the Living God, where by Jesus Christ saved my soul from my sins December 18, 1978 so I have life eternal, Praise the Living God.
Please, racers, business owners, spectators, have you considered your souls destiny after death? I ask you to consider accepting Christ as your savior from your sins, and to be Lord of your life and where you will be able to stand in confidence at your last breath. Do not look to man, to me, for Christ Jesus will judge every man according to his relationship with God, to be in Christ coverd by His precious Blood, or to be outside of Christ, to hear those awful words ,
EPART FROM ME, YE WORKERS OF INIQUITY, I NEVER KNEW YOU !!! And to be cast into the lake of fire where the burning of the soul and body is tormented forever but is never quenched.