A repair/paint shop near St Louis?

[stever_sl]

I've saved up enough $$ to restore my TR7 (rust, brakes, suspension) but I can't find anyone who wants to do the job, and I'm looking for any leads. I was hoping John Mangles ("MG Doc") would take it on, since he does beautiful work, but he's reluctant -- he's told me several times that it would cost far more than the finished car would be worth, but I'm not worried about that; I bought the car new in 1976 and it's important to me. I checked with the local body shop since they've done great things with my family cars, but even though they've done British cars before, they also don't want to tackle this - not that they've seen the car, it just seems that they'd (understandably) rather be working with things they're more familiar with.

So I'm wondering if anyone knows of a place they could recommend? If not locally, then I could always ship the car to a shop elsewhere, but I'd really appreciate any first-hand leads that folks might have experience with!

- Steve Richardson
St Louis MO
76 TR7 (original owner)

[TR7Aaron]

Hi Steve,
We've emailed back and forth a few times. I can recommend a shop you DON'T want to use and that would be Old Style on Dorsett road. They painted one of my cars several years ago and didn't do that good of a job. A friend of mine had similar results.

Aaron
1976 TR7 FHC (an ongoing project)

[stever_sl]

Good info - thanks! I checked out British Cars of America and wasn't impressed by the dirt and clutter in their shop and yard. As a side note, I'm just amazed that in this economy I can't get people interested in doing work that I'm fully willing to pay for. Not just car work - for months I've been trying to get an estimate for some concrete work, and another for electrical work around the house. Either nobody shows up when they've promised or they come and look around, then never deliver the promised estimate. I even had a drain company send someone out to locate and mark a blockage, which he did, but nobody ever came back to finish the job. I've still got some of that guy's tools - if only they'd all be considerate enough to leave me a present like that when they don't finish what they start! [:)]

Maybe the best thing I can do on the TR7 is to patch what I can (I'm not a welder) and Bondo the rest. It would buy me a year or two of time to find somebody who wants to do the restoration...

- Steve Richardson
St Louis MO
76 TR7 (original owner)

[PeterTR7V8]

Ship it to NZ. Don't laugh - it happens. It will add $5-6000 to the bill but you'd probably make half that up on the exchange rate ($NZ1 = $US0.70). Our shops charge the equivalent of $US55 p/h but generally have a good reputation and they are bloody keen to do it.

Now, just to be sensible (as opposed to being sensitive) you could buy a cracking TR7 for the money it will cost to restore an average one soooo...


Never say die. At least not while you're still breathing.

[Beans]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by PeterTR7V8</i>

....Now, just to be sensible (as opposed to being sensitive) you could buy a cracking TR7 for the money it will cost to restore an average one soooo...<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
I don't want to be sensible [:D]

<center>
<font color="blue"><i>1981 TR7 FHC Sprint (better known as 't Kreng)
1980 TR7 DHC (my first car currently being restored)
In parts a 1980 TR7 PI DHC, 1981 TR7 DHC, 1981 TR7 FHC</font id="blue">
<font color="red">http://tr7beans.blogspot.com/</i></font id="red"></center>

[Workshop Help]

Hmmmm, here's an idea that some people try. What would you think of approaching a high school auto shop class with some of the chores to be done on the car? Sometimes the kids will come thru with the task done right to get a good grade. Then sometimes, the grade may not be so good. In any event, if it does turn out to be so much crap, you won't be paying the full retail like you will at a production shop who WILL bugger it up, then try to hide it under bondo and paint.

Mildred Hargis

[stever_sl]

I'll have to look into the tech school thing - unibody repair is a whole different thing than, say, doing the same kind of work on my 50 Dodge. Which, by the way, the body shop also doesn't want to work on, but that's another story!

Ship to NZ? I'm not automatically against the idea, but I think I'd better explore other closer-to-home options first...

Christmas is coming. Maybe I should just ask Santa for a cheap welder and try to sort this thing out myself!

- Steve Richardson
St Louis MO
76 TR7
50 Dodge Wayfarer

[Hasbeen]

Doing the job yourself sounds good, but I din't think a cheep welder
is that good an idea Steve, unless you have someone very
experienced to recommend something suitable for you.

My experience with most trade type jobs has always been, that the
less skilled the operator, the better the quality of the equiptment
required, to get a satisfactory result.

Actually I would think that quite a few people on here have the
knowledge, & could advise you of suitable equiptment.

Please forgive me if you are a hotshot welder, who's problem is no
time.

Hasbeen

[stever_sl]

Since I know nothing about welding, the other thing I considered was using the "no-weld" repair kit that I bought from Eastwood last year. The idea is that you cut out the damaged area, make a patch from sheet metal, flange the edges, drill holes, and install the patch (wet with structural adhesive) with pop rivets. Not as strong as a continuously-welded seam or an unbroken sheet of steel, but if my math is right, just about the same strength as spot-welded seams. I just really want to do something with this car - it's been sitting in my garage since 1992!

[jclay (RIP 2018)]

Custom Car Cool, Houston, Texas

http://www.customcarcool.com/

They are doing my next car.

jclay

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[stever_sl]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by jclay</i>

Custom Car Cool, Houston, Texas

http://www.customcarcool.com/

They are doing my next car.

jclay
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Looks promising! Have you talked to them about a ballpark price yet?

[Workshop Help]

Are we hinting the cost of TR7 repairs will be the price of a ball park?

I wonder if the price will include a warm, flat beer and a cold, stale hot dog?

Mildred Hargis

[stever_sl]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Mildred</i>

Are we hinting the cost of TR7 repairs will be the price of a ball park?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Ball parks are generally built with taxpayer dollars and investor bonds. I'm OK with that, if anybody wants to mail me some money!

[MickeyR]

Steve -

Sent you an email.

Mickey

[jclay (RIP 2018)]

Starts at $5000 and goes up, to totally strip the can, repair or replace all panels that have rust and repaint.

jclay

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