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My Next Project: 1965 Sunbeam Alpine

I Lean

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
Vendor
Location
Utah
What are the plans for the upholstery now? (not that I'm sure what they were before, but...)
 
UNSTUCK

UNSTUCK

But stuck more often.
The carpet will be one piece heat formed, very high end. Originally it would have been several pieces. We were going to do all black with a hint of red. Now the main color will be gray and then proportionally black and red, just like the paint. The seats were going to stay the original shape/style, but now may get scrapped and one off customs built. The door panels were going to be one layer to stick to the original style, but now will be three layers, gray with black, with red. The biggest changes will be behind the seats and the trunk. Behind the seats will be totally filled in/covered. I'm not sure about this, but Andy has a vision so John is letting him run with it. The trunk lid will be glassed over and then covered. The nickname LIGER will be on it.

I had no idea what this guy could do. Had I known, I would have changed the way I built areas of the car. Some parts we built will get scrapped or modified. In a way, it's a bit frustrating, but it's not my car.

I think the takeaway here is have a plan in place before even starting the project. Have planning meetings with every vender you plan to outsource parts of the job to. Let them bounce ideas off each other and let them know exactly who is going to do what on the project, so stuff doesn't get done twice. There's long, hard work that may/will get tossed out the window now.
 
moab_cj5

moab_cj5

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Location
The Village of Kay
UNSTUCK said:
The carpet will be one piece heat formed, very high end. Originally it would have been several pieces. We were going to do all black with a hint of red. Now the main color will be gray and then proportionally black and red, just like the paint. The seats were going to stay the original shape/style, but now may get scrapped and one off customs built. The door panels were going to be one layer to stick to the original style, but now will be three layers, gray with black, with red. The biggest changes will be behind the seats and the trunk. Behind the seats will be totally filled in/covered. I'm not sure about this, but Andy has a vision so John is letting him run with it. The trunk lid will be glassed over and then covered. The nickname LIGER will be on it.

I had no idea what this guy could do. Had I known, I would have changed the way I built areas of the car. Some parts we built will get scrapped or modified. In a way, it's a bit frustrating, but it's not my car.

I think the takeaway here is have a plan in place before even starting the project. Have planning meetings with every vender you plan to outsource parts of the job to. Let them bounce ideas off each other and let them know exactly who is going to do what on the project, so stuff doesn't get done twice. There's long, hard work that may/will get tossed out the window now.
Click to expand...

Any changes I need to know about before I keep working on the console?
 
UNSTUCK

UNSTUCK

But stuck more often.
He did mention widening the center console base so that the wood looks to sit inside the base instead of on top of it. I didn't give him the base when we dropped the car off because the paint was still wet. So he hasn't seen it. It is so wide it barely fits between the seats as is. Keep going the way we've discussed.
 
nnnnnate

nnnnnate

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Location
WVC, UT
That looks real nice but I still prefer the original color.

Are you ever going to be willing to do another project like this?
 
UNSTUCK

UNSTUCK

But stuck more often.
nnnnnate said:
That looks real nice but I still prefer the original color.

Are you ever going to be willing to do another project like this?
Click to expand...

Well the original color was a very dark green. The teal was an idea that John had before he decided to go all out on a build. He then thought the teal didn't really go with the scope of the project, once we got into it a bit deeper.

Funny you should ask about another one. On Saturday I came in from cleaning up the garage to find my wife resting. She hadn't been feeling well. She looked up at me and out of the blue, I blurted out, "You're not gonna like this, but I just got off the phone with a guy. I told him I would build his Sunbeam starting next week." She looked up at me with horror in her eyes and (no joke) started to cry. I started to laugh and then she realized I was joking. Then she was upset with me for giving her a heart attack. Too soon, I guess.

After big projects (this one was HUGE) I usually just hang out in the house for a couple weeks before she gets bugged with me and suggest I go out in the garage and build something. We have been in this circle for 10 years. I'm sure it will continue.
 
jackjoh

jackjoh

Jack - KC6NAR
Supporting Member
Location
Riverton, UT
I remember the trouble they had with the suspensions on the Alpine, Cobra, and Mustang. When they would accelerate it would unload the front/left?? wheel and lose traction. I remember Shelby had an englishman (Hill, Hall??) I forget) working on the Mustang that lost his life testing his own design. Just a word of caution before it is put on the street.
 
UNSTUCK

UNSTUCK

But stuck more often.
As I recall the big issue was with the steering. The entire setup was mounted behind the wheels. In this case it made for terrible angels and was difficult to put the car in the direction you wanted to go. Not one part the of the original steering or suspension was left on this car. But I totally hear you. It did a few slow laps up and down my neighborhood street before attempting faster speeds.

I remember a Jeep build I did a while back when the guy took it out and and then send me a text picture of the GPS max speed recall: 103mph in the dirt. After I peed myself a little, I patted myself on the back for building a suspension that could hold up to that abuse.

It's a good reminder that we all need to exercise great care as we test and run our fabrication work.
 
UNSTUCK

UNSTUCK

But stuck more often.
As long as it’s not me that has to do the work! :rofl:

I don’t know much about the flipping game but id guess you would want a car that would give you the greatest amount of customer interest and therefore potential buyers. So try to flip a sunbeam, or try to flip a Honda?

PS. The car in this thread is still sitting at the upholstery shop. He was supposed the have it done last March. :mad:
 
UNSTUCK

UNSTUCK

But stuck more often.
If you can wait a couple of weeks, I will give a full report of the upholstery project. If you're about to drop a car off, PM me.
 
UNSTUCK

UNSTUCK

But stuck more often.
Well today is a big day. The car was dropped off at the upholstery shop in January of 2018. We were promised it would be done and ready in time for the 2018 Autorama at the end of that March. One year later, today, it is supposed to be done. I am headed over there this afternoon to pick it up. I'm bringing my muscle man, Carl, with me as back up. (He's on week 6 of P90X so we should be fine :D )

I have no idea what to expect. I can see the car being done and he just hands it over to us. We load it up and take it right over to the expo center for the show. I can see him trying to take the car over to the show and entering it as his own car, for his own advertising. I can also see him demanding more money before he gives it to us. We have already paid him $2000 over the quoted price. He has only received authorization for about $700 in added items, but he has done other work that was NOT authorized and outside the scope of the build. On top of that I'm not even sure if he as done all the work from the original quote that he has already been paid for. He has only allowed me inside the shop 4-5 times since he's had the car there.

I have a bit more back up I'm bringing with me. I don't know if it will help at all though. Doing a bit more research on him I found out that his business license expired in 2015 and has yet to be renewed. I'm pretty sure he can get in big trouble for that. I filled out an IRS " Information Referral" form informing the IRS of the cash payments he demands with no invoices or receipts given. I then printed out the, "Utah Automotive Repair Act" and have highlighted each of the violations I could accuse him of (there's more than a couple).

I have absolutely no desire to play hardball with this guy. I feel that we have been more than patient with him and have compensated him fairly. I'd like to pick the car up today, with no money due, and we can each go on with our lives.

Wish us luck!
 
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