VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 Anyone ever deal with Jim @ Autowood Restorations?

I am now working on my fourth restoration using Jim's wood and it's always a perfect fit and never a problem getting it in a reasonable time.

All customers are good customers if you take the time to educate them about your products features and benefits. Sending them down the road only benefits the competition. I would appreciate it if you could send some of that "hot air" this way in a few months.By then we will be ready for a January thaw.

Wow.....it looks like I really opened a can of worms with this post.

Anyway, guess what....my wood showed up on my door step yesterday.

Kind of a puzzle since most of the wood I had was missing or broken and my cab was disassembled when I got it. I figured out most of it but there are a few pieces that I am not sure where they go. I am sure I will figure it out once I start putting the cab back together. I just wish I could find a good technical drawing of the cab. There are many drawings for the coupes and sedans, but I can't seem to find any for the trucks.

My problem was never about the amount of time....it was about his lack of communication and poor customer service by never answering his phone or returning calls. He never seemed to have a problem getting back to me before I ordered. It was after he had my $1200 the calls stopped. I am not trying to accuse him of anything...except for poor customer service.

After all these posts I just placed an order with KC he was very responsive and said it will take 4 or 5 months to get the wood which is fine, not ready for it yet anyhow, he asked for 50% down which is what I do for my custom projects also, this gives him incentive to finish it and give me some leverage if needed. Communication is key and it is the one thing that I insist on from vendors, and if they don't have time to keep me informed then I don't have time to deal with them there are always alternatives.

The wood finally arrived last week....very nice stuff. I will post some pictures of the progress once I start putting the cab back together.

Many of you assumed I was "bitching" about the amount of time to get the wood. If you fully read my first post and follow-up posts, I was not ever complaining about the time frame....which I stated several times. I was complaining about his lack of common courtesy and business sense and not returning calls or emails. Yes, I know he is probably a busy man. So am I and shouldn't have to waste my time just trying to get someone to confirm that they received my payment. A much less patient man would have assumed he was being scammed and probably gotten pretty angry. My first concern was that I mailed the man a $1200 check which was not cashed for weeks. I was checking in to make sure that he received the payment, but no return calls. Then after he finally called me saying that the wood had shipped, and three weeks later I had no wood I was concerned that the shipment had be lost....which would have been his loss, not mine. Again, I was never "bitching" as many of your put it....just making sure the man got HIS check and this HIS shipment did not get lost.

ditto-when check was cashed help went out the window

after nearly 2 yrs. of trying to get even cursory assembly procedures and members of VCCA removing themselves from my questions(many,many others tried to help in every way possible to the point of sending missing pieces for free!!)there will be no help coming from Jim Rodmam(even at $4000.00)-I spent every waking moment looking for assembly help but as every model is car specific I can understand why there are no paint by number instructions-I now know how to assemble 30559 but am forced to sell entire kit as I can't locate correct braces or brackets after much help and searching and simply out of $

I don't know which model, year Chevrolet you were trying to rebuid, but I would think that after spending that much money that you may have been able to find a parts car and the literature to complete the job. I am sorry that you have decided that you have butted your head against a stump long enough and for whatever other reason. Times are tough and money is getting scarcer.
Are you going to sell the car and everything?

Here is the job number that lexey included in his post above: 30559

The job number indicates that he was working on a 1930 four-door sedan.

I'm really on the fence about what to do with car-it's been a dream that turned into a nightmare all because usps lost all metal braces and brackets-I have looked feverishly for a totally scrap car to obtain them but as I stated these things are so car specific I've bought or been given braces from same year car but not exact model and parts are different and although I'm a pretty good fabricator some are cast and difficult to reproduce-I am forced to sell new wood and perhaps generate enough $ to make steel body(please don't ostracize me)-if not I'll probably part it out and search for a dream I can afford

You can usually buy a "turn-key" car cheaper than you can restore a car so you might want to look for a restored car that is ready to go.

Wouldn't it be easier to find or fabricate the missing pieces than to make all the steel parts required to replace the wood?

The steel tubing would probably be easier to fabricate then to find all of the correct braces and brackets since the braces are model specific.

Hello Lexey, sorry you have gotten frustrated with your project. There is a fellow who has a scrap '30 4 door sedan car about 20 miles away from here. It has been picked over pretty well but the brackets may still be there. Which ones are you missing? Metal on western cars can hold up fairly well if they have been covered. Download Rodmans picture of his sedan kit, and have it digitally blown up to 11 x 17. If you want I'll talk to the fellow with the parts car, we will probably see him at meeting in a week and a half. I thought those front brackets off of that '30 coupe I sent you should have fit. Keep us posted.

I would like to express my dealings with Jim Rodman at the expense of being expelled from VCCA-his craftsmanship is second to none-as I was in no hurry time wasn't an issue but call after call being told "all I have to do is make doglegs"finally did become an issue when I was told "we're all set"-I paid someone to drive to Indiana from Vermont to pick everything up and the guy had to wait hours for him to make doglegs-the second issue arose when I paid 4000$ and he told me he would hold my hand through entire assembly process-I didn't call out of respect for his time but needed a simple answer to a simple question and he went ballistic and ended our "relationship"-if you google or ask him he will admit to being an illustrator for Whirlpool so my question is at the price of perhaps one kit isn't there time to include basic assembly instructions- understanding that there are so many models I can see incomplete directions but when building anything you start with a foundation and proceed accordingly and then some common sense takes over and you proceed-this is where I may get into trouble but I truly believe I know where my sandblasted,epoxy primered&painted brackets and braces are located and my dream ended-they looked as good as his kits& were perfect for preassembly-let the defamation lawsuits begin but it's off my chest now and I can start getting over it at great expense

when Jim stopped returning my calls I called saying I had someone interested in buying a kit and he couldn't get to the phone fast enough