Unique Performance scam

[rellim51]

"Chip Foose, the winner of an unrivaled three "Ridler" Awards,"

He's not the only person to win 3 Ridler awards!

[Steve1968LS2]

You guys are giving the "Check writers" way to much credit.Look back at the roots of this hobby.It wasn't "check writers" fabbing up parts to make something work on their cars.Backyard innovation drives this hobby,then it trickles up.Alot of the parts you can buy today come from backyard innavators(Edelbrock,Isky,hurst,Crane..ect)
These high dollar rides just give us regular guys something to aim for.There are plenty of homebuilt cars(on this board even)that can match the pro built cars.
Personally i don't have a problem with someone paying someone else,not everyone has the right skills to build a ride they want.The problem today is that money,not passion, is driving this hobby out of most peoples affordable range.And then you add in crooks like Unique and Hennessy and it starts to go south real fast.

That's not true.. money has made the hobby MORE affordable... The basic parts are cheaper since they can sell more of them. R&D costs of things like subframes are paid down quicker due to "the money people".

The POPULAR cars have gotten more expensive because the hobby has gotten more popular and everyone want's the same few models. It's like land. Everyone wants to live on the beach so that property goes way up and out of the reach of most people. Those people have to live farther from the shore. Everyone can still afford a house but it might be in the middle of nowhere.

Same with cars.. Everyone (figuratively speaking) wants a '69 Camaro so the price of that car skyrockets. That means you might have to buy a '69 Nova.. or maybe something like a Laguna or Fairlane.

The point is that the hobby is as affordable as you want it to be. It gets expensive when you want a sought after model and then you want to fill it with every fancy do-dad in sight. But that's a personal decision.

[WS6]

"Chip Foose, the winner of an unrivaled three "Ridler" Awards,"

He's not the only person to win 3 Ridler awards!

who else? I don't follow Ridler really.

I say we cut the check writers or not crap from this thread. It's not what the topic was about and people never change their view on who is more of a hot rodder from these discussions/arguments.

[rellim51]

Don's Hot Rods won in 93,96, and 99.

[WS6]

cool. Did Foose win three in a row or was it two back to back and then he took a year off before winning the third?

[rellim51]

I think he took a year off.

[BobB66SS]

From famous to infamous, just that fast...

==========================
Unique Performance files for bankruptcy
Local authorities raided firm earlier this month
Bob Gritzinger
AutoWeek
November 29, 2007 - 2:25 pm ET

Texas-based specialty-car maker Unique Performance appears to be calling it quits.
The company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy Nov. 12, just 10 days after authorities raided the firm's operations in the Dallas suburb of Farmers Branch, Texas.
In that raid, local authorities and federal investigators seized 61 vintage cars that allegedly had improper or illegible Vehicle Identification Numbers.
Under Chapter 7 bankruptcy, Unique Performance seeks to end its business operations. In the filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas in Dallas, the company listed no assets. A Dallas legal publication listed Unique Performance's debts at $1 million to $100 million, but did not disclose major creditors.
Besides customers, many of whom had placed substantial deposits on cars with list prices ranging from $100,000 to $250,000, creditors no doubt include Carroll Shelby Licensing and Foose Design.
Shelby Licensing was working with Unique Performance to produce continuation Shelby GT350SRs and GT500E "Eleanors." The cars, which are refurbished versions of the original cars with updated powertrains, chassis and safety components, carry price tags of $100,000 to $200,000.
Foose licensed the company to produce the Foose Mustang Stallion, the Foose Camaro, the Foose Challenger and the Foose Motorcycle. Both companies severed those licensing agreements in the past two months.
No arrests have been made in the case, and authorities are still investigating whether charges will be brought against Unique Performance owner Doug Hasty or other company employees.
In an earlier statement to AutoWeek, Hasty said his company had delivered 119 vehicles since 2003 and had invested all the money from deposits into parts and production of 106 more vehicles.

[WS6]

so it chapter 7 the one where they screw everyone over and they never get their money back?

[Charley Lillard]

yep....

[Dayton]

Chapter 7 is liquidation. A trustee generally sells all the assets and distributes the proceeds to the creditors. Doesn't sound as if there will be any proceeds....

[Tiger]

I watched Rides on Discovery the other day and they were brodcasting a program about the Foose mustang (they are way behind over here), Foose and Hasty were all shaking hands and peptalking about this great project. funny huh?

[Bob Johnson]

Piss off your employees and expect jail time....

http://www.mustangblog.com/index.php...nce-tells-all/

only if you're doing something wrong..lol

[Bob Johnson]

Hopefully nobody here does the kind of work this guy received. Spend big bucks on advertising then use the cheapest crap for parts. I might expect it from a backyard grease monkey, but to spend big bucks for it is absurd.

http://www.fixeleanor.com/

odds are ones on here do..90% of shops do inferior work..rip people off..many not intentionally, but out of necessity. It's hard to get good help and the owner winds up losing his as* and if he isn't well off, he has to rip his current customers for cash flow.. because he's disallusioned into thinking he's going to be able to get it all working and straighten out the mess. 99% of the time it only gets worse instead of better. That's why I don't restore cares here anymore. The best fertilizer for a business is the owners shadow..I'm old and retired and I am not going to stay here and babysit a bunch of guys and micro manage them...Plus I just don't know enough about the fabrication etc to guide and direct a crew..notwithstanding the fact that I do not have the patience required. If you look at the guys that are successful in this game, they work so many hours it's unbelievable and they really know their game...including being able to do anything that's associated with a build in most cases

[Bob Johnson]

Chapter 7 is liquidation. A trustee generally sells all the assets and distributes the proceeds to the creditors. Doesn't sound as if there will be any proceeds....

usually aren't...that's why it's a 7...the bank gets what's there...they're usually not even made whole...forget all the other guys under them..

[Bob Johnson]

but who could have paid for those guys to have kept fabbing those new and innovative parts? sadly check writers...i dont car who builds the car...as long as the owner actually drives it to enjoy it...my problem is when somebody pays a quarter million for a car and it just sits in a big garage and is never driven...I was at the autorama today with my dad and we sat and looked at loads of cars...and while we really liked some of the cars built, the ones we liked the most were the ones that had the registration sticker in the bottom right corner of the windshield...the cars that really get driven are what I really like, not the ones that sit and never see the elements...but thats just me and i dont meant to offend anybody that feels differently, different strokes for different folks

Well you can thank the ISCA show car circuit for this. The cars beauty, engineering, driveability, etc is not the main criteria...It's spit and polish..i've said it once and I'll say it again. You can carry a Ridler car to Goodguys at Columbus, and it will lose most times..Foose cars excluded...Carry the Goodguys car of the year to the Ridler and it will lose. Whole different mentality. Goodguys lend themselves more to a driving engineered car. A perfect example is the Berman car that won the Ridler..It didn't show up at Columbus..it won the Ridler and the Goodguys Americas Most Beautiful but I really don't think it would have beaten the 38 Chevy that Dale Boesch built for John. That 38 Chevy in my eyes was a true died in the wool Hot Rod..I loved it and it was engineered to drive..Cool car top to bottom and front to rear..my kinda piece.

[Bob Johnson]

Don's Hot Rods won in 93,96, and 99.

Don's panel fit and finish and attention to detail is as good as it can possibly get..most of his work is so understated, many just don't even take notice and it just doesn't get the credit it deserves..I really like his builds..

[rellim51]

Heck of a nice guy too!

[WhirlingDurvish]

Can't believe no one saw the signs. The cars blew hard ones. Other than the Mustangs, none of them sold. Did you ever see a Foose/Unique Camaro or Challenger at a Goodguys event that they weren't giving away? Then again that was the only way anybody would own one. It had to be given to them. I got a chance to go to Columbus a couple of years ago and see that Camaro and the Challenger, I am by far no expert, but they were the worst Foose designs I had ever seen and the assembly sucked. Okay thats enough on that, I have already said too much.

[rellim51]

You're back! It's been a while.

[WhirlingDurvish]

You're back! It's been a while.

Yeah, had some family problems there for a while, which equaled less time on the computer. Most stuff is ironed out now so hopefully I can be surfin the net more.