{Chrysler 300} Waning resources for restoring our "Beautiful Brutes"
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{Chrysler 300} Waning resources for restoring our "Beautiful Brutes"



This sure makes me even more grateful that I was able to get SO MUCH stuff from Gary Goers for the (RE)-restoration of my father's 300C convertible in the 2012 - 2016 time frame before he was overwhelmed by health issues.   His passion and dedication in spite of his increasing pain and debilitation was remarkable.  The lack of viable alternatives for many items even ten years ago made me realize what a precarious position we Chrysler 300 restorers were in, and the Quirey team is now recognizing the huge task they have taken up in trying to satisfy that demand.  BTW, Dad's car ("Big Red" - 3N572517 cvt)  still wears the complete interior (seats and carpeting) that young Gary personally cut, sewed and fitted during a four-day visit to Gary's place in Southern California in 1973 - Dad drove from Albuquerque and stayed at Gary's home (no extra charge!) while the work was being done!  I saved many of the receipts and correspondence from my Dad's early restoration efforts, and when I met Gary during the 2014 Club Meet in Alamogordo, NM, I showed him the $930 receipt for that 40-year-old refurbishment; he just chuckled and said, "Yeah, that was a lot of money back then!"

Ray Melton

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On 2/24/2024 1:11 PM, John Grady wrote:
——this  all comes down to “ Beggars can’t be choosers” —- well they can , but they will starve .
 Choice of nothing  at all , or wait . That is reality . —unfortunately ,even  the  latter choice  will go away if not careful here. 

 Owner will say, if it becomes a PIA,——- fine get your own waffle imprinted leather , cut it and sew seats in your own basement . Then if pattern  is off 5% in depth , yell at yourself . New press tool for waffle is 40 k $ to  make 3 sets a year? hope someone  buys a few.
And need a leather press. 
 If no orders my cash is tied up in rolls  of leather and mothballed machines . 
start there …. 

Oh — you wanted cloth with silver threads woven into 1957 cloth . Sure no problem , I have Merlin in a closet , next week ok? 

right …. 

Industrial sewing machine, correct  size  patterns, stuff to 3 D cut foam ? 
skill to run it , find correct stitch threads, delays from suppliers, —today all in China , finding  this person to sew it who I would guess makes 80 an hour .  Go for it . And daily piles  of whining calls too ,” is it soup yet ?” “ why don’t  you call me back”  # 8 today. 

That is a disheartening situation for  the most optimistic well meaning guy . Leads to “ who needs this?” . And soon “ don’t make 300 stuff anymore , just 55 chev floor mats 


 i am sure they want it to be soup 100x more then you do  

We are truly noise in car hobby, we forget that . We can’t even get good 14” tires. 
I saw Mac’s model A parts book , you can buy the whole car in pieces , 1/2” thick . That is not us .. 

on the other hand, if SMS does as is alluded to , that is just dishonest . = Heads up SMS , just tell people it will be a while . No whack a mole . customers will vote with feet .
I don’t get it .. if I am SMS I am way more stressed playing WAM daily than just being up front . On other  hand ,??? can be  Ponzi attribute to that , need cash to pay for  stuff now being delivered to fill old orders?  


All while  retaining employees? waiting? 

Not advocating anything here,—   just saying we are no longer all in first grade , where you learn that stamping feet , um, causes a time out , and not much more . You make choices, but you also have to have some empathy … for the other  guy. Then  that becomes mutual, he helps you  … 
jg 


Sent from my iPhone

On Feb 24, 2024, at 12:09 PM, Nick Taylor <nicksgaragesd@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:


There is a vast difference between Gary Goers and the type of vendors who are being discussed here. Gary had his quirks about ordering but if you ordered something, you got it and if he didn't have it or there was a delay, he would contact you. I got my 300F in 2016 and the first thing I did was order everything for it from wherever I could. This was toward the end of Gary doing business, but he called me right after he got my order to go through it and to let me know about his challenges. He tried to get my seat covers done but ultimately, he couldn't so he refunded me the money that I had put toward them. No questions asked. He also went out of his way to source things I needed.

SMS is totally different, they lie and they lie and they lie. They take your money as quickly as they can and don't deliver. There is no excusing their behavior. But like others have said, they are a necessary evil. Also, make sure you get swatches from them. Not all their reproduction material is correct or will match what you have. And once they cut it, you own it. They won't take it back, even if it's totally not right. 

Nick

On Sat, Feb 24, 2024 at 9:00 AM Michael Corrigan <mcorrigan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
As others in our group have reminded us, no one is getting rich, taking care of parts for our old cars. Any of us who had to figure out how to deal with Gary Goers eventually realized that you either accepted the reality of who he was or gave up and accepted some lower quality or not existent alternative.

My advice for all of us is to imagine we are at a very busy airport at the end of a day full of traffic delays. We may be frustrated, but is it ever affective to be rude to the gate agent? I suspect we all know the answer to that, even if at times, it feels quite unsatisfactory! 

Sometimes the best answer is just to complain to one another! 
This coming from one who has struggled with a twelve year long restoration…

From: chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of Nick Taylor <nicksgaragesd@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, February 24, 2024 11:46:40 AM
To: James Douglas <jdd@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Chrysler 300 List Server (chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx) <chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: {Chrysler 300} Some people think I am being too harsh...but..
 


The only thing SMS is fast at is charging your credit card. They will send you a bit of your order so you get stuck with a partial order that is harder to cancel.

They obviously can produce things when threatened and there is no need for them to lie to customers. I got various answers that my embossed material was either already done, being done, or will be done in two weeks. 

And it doesn't seem to matter if you're a small customer or someone who orders a lot. A friend buys a lot of materials from them and he gets treated the same way.

Nick.

On Fri, Feb 23, 2024 at 10:00 AM 'James Douglas' via Chrysler 300 Club International <chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

When I inquired about 2/14/2024 of why my headliner order of about December the 18th, and promised as a three-week after the 1st   of the year not arrived nor had anyone called me to tell me it will be delayed, I got an email on February the 16th that stated, My sewer say’s the headliner will be done today.”

 

So, an hour or so ago I get a voicemail asking me if my headliner has the external bows or the internal bows are they are different headliners. Today is the 23rd. Therefore, nobody was working on this headliner on the 16th. Smoke.

 

Apologists keep suggesting that we should kiss the ring of the suppliers. Horse Dung.

 

Suppliers need to stop lying about deliver times. Then a potential customer can choose to do business with them or not based on facts and not fiction.

 

I would like our club to stand for full disclosure by suppliers. It is not a bad thing to tell people that it is going to take 3 months, 6 months or a year for a part to show up. It is a horrible thing to miss represent the timelines, however.

 

James.

 

 

 

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