New Video On YouTube Plus Estimates And Cost | Holton Secret Lab Blog

Another day another video is completed and uploaded! I am having fun with making and creating movies for HSL. The video is a diary of sorts on the build and restoration of the 1936 Ford Five Window Coupe.

The “36” Ford  came to us needing quite a bit of work. “Wild Bill” had to fabricate some of the fenders as you can not buy steel after market fenders for this year of car. It is common knowledge that the “1936” bodystyle is one of the harder vehicles to restore….below is a sequence of start to finish on the dash of the “36”. I wanted to show how detailed the work is…with the dash being a very small part of the build and restoration…

Dash sequence from start to finish.

These pictures explain both cost and time, the entire car is like this, not just the dash and wiring. Holton Secret Lab is like Detroit Motors…only we do it all by hand without machines. When we are done with the build or restoration it is brand new. Every bolt and nut on it is replaced, all the wiring, the undercarriage, the engine, everything on it is gone through. Lots of little working parts and lots of large moving parts. WB has always said “when a car leaves our shop I want to know that it runs perfectly”. Being sure that all the moving parts are safe is huge as we want our customers to be safe.

WB is test driving the “55” Chevrolet  Pick Up.

Often we are asked by potential customers how much will it cost to do their project or vehicle? It is hard to answer that question!!! Our customers want to have an idea and feel we should be able to give them a bid or estimate. It is difficult to answer as we do not know what is under the paint…or if there is rust or something unexpected to repair. Building or restoring a vehicle is committment to hard work. We strive to be honest with potential customers and we try to be realistic…however, let’s see what is under your paint first…

When we remodeled our kitchen we had an interesting lesson in surprises. Remember our house is 1920 vintage…my contractor told me that things would go smooth…as he could not see any issues to cause trouble…This is how it looked when I got my rough bid… and then Suprise Suprise!!!

Mom did not tell me, when she remodeled the kitchen in 1960, she covered up an old chimney…..hmmmmm. This surprise occurred just as the job was close to bening done. The contractor had planned on getting the steel kitchen out and installing the new wood cabinets the next week…due to unforseen circumstances…the job changed…the time line changed as well as the cost.

It took longer and my budget was blown but that was the breaks. We could not see through walls and the contractor could not see through them either…eventually…I got my dream kitchen:)

We understand why a customer desires to have what is called a “ballpark” figure…they are trying to get an idea of their budget…on the other hand how do we know for sure.  Wild Bill will not mislead a customer with a wild guess…we have lost jobs due to that but he feels he cannot give an honest answer in telling someone a set price. The job may end up costing less or more….but we will not know until the vehicle has been torn down and the paint is removed.

Here is a good example…this is a 1966 GTO.

Under the exterior paint was a nightmare of rust and bad bodywork. Once it was stripped, the entire trunk was rusted out. The paint and bad bodywork had held it together.

It took more time and it cost more to repair and fix.

Lots of work…

To finish it, complete and done.

Beautiful and a Show Stopper.

In this GTO’s case it was tough. The customer had bought this car and paid a good price not knowing what was underneath. We were all sick to find what was under the paint…the owner loved the car, he had always wanted a GTO like this…it was either fix it right or simply get rid of it. He hung in there and asked for it to be fixed correctly…kind of like how I had to hang in there and finish the kitchen. In the end this GTO turned out perfect and his dream was restored…he felt and we agreed that the GTO was rare enough to invest in it.

HSL will strive to do the best for you with your project. We try to keep the costs down and to be dilligent with the turn around time. The GTO was completed in less than 9 months and out the door. If it comes to our shop, it is worked on with completion in mind.

Be sure to check out the new video of the 1936 Ford on YouTube.