No, I Was Right the First Time

Another week has gone by and very little has changed. For those of you keeping track, I've been without my car for exactly 6 weeks now. My friend from out of town came to visit, so we stopped by Frank's Upholstery to look at it. Here's the status:

Ceiling
There's sound-deadening material installed on the roof of the rear cabin. Admir informed me earlier today that he hasn't even ordered the tinted glass to begin drilling. Every time I see this guy, I make him tell me a game plan and then ask him if there's anything he needs from me. Seriously, I'd almost rather be pulling teeth. He's supposed to come by tomorrow with the detailed invoice I requested so he can do whatever is necessary to finish his part of the project while I'm out of town next week. I am beyond sick of dealing with this.

A/C
Admir also told me he needs to buy more tubing. Right now, there's a 6-foot tube coming out of the air duct toward the back, and there's another 6-foot tube running along the right side of the rear cab. They're not connected and should be. Vents will be installed to point the air at the passenger seating along the left side... someday... preferably before I'm on my deathbed.

Dashboard
When I talked to Francisco yesterday, he said the dash was almost finished. In addition to covering that, we also need to cover the wood-lookin' part of the door consoles. One of them was off when I looked at the car, the other wasn't. Things that make you go, "Hmmmm..."

Decals
I've been getting the run-around from Francis from D Only Son for a week now. We talked once and he said he'd set up a meeting with an artist, but like everyone else I've been dealing with here, we discuss something, we break, and then nothing happens. He also asked me to email him and he doesn't have an email address listed on his business card or website. I just can't deal with one more person who doesn't have his shit together right now. I would like to have a logo drawn up more than anything so I can start designing a homepage and printing business cards, but I'm going to have to find someone else to do this later.

Seats
I had to change courses a little bit with this one. I finally got sick of waiting and put my foot down on Tuesday. I told Francisco if the leather wasn't delivered and satisfactory by EOB Wednesday, he must cancel the order and just use vinyl. If I had known that leather seats would be this much of a clusterfuck, in addition to costing thousands of dollars extra, I would have stuck with vinyl all along. This is getting ridiculous. Of course, I had to call Francisco EOB Wednesday and he said he cancelled the order. They weren't too happy. We both sort of agreed that their happiness is irrelevant. I emphasized once more the urgent need to get started. If there's anything that's keeping you from getting started, tell me right away.

So of course, I get to the upholstery shop in the middle of the day with several of Francisco's guys humming away on a bunch of other people's cars, but not mine. (As an aside, there's always at least one high-end or classic car being worked on when I go. They're neat to look at, but you know, NOT MINE.) Since I had someone with me, I did an excellent job of acting like nothing was wrong even though I'm very dismayed by the lack of progress.

Francisco wasn't there, so I didn't even get a chance to see what the difference in price would be now that I'm using vinyl. We talked a lot about this earlier in the week, but he never quoted me an exact difference. The time factor is more important anyway, and there's not a huge discrepancy between the two materials when they're going on car seats.

I want to note that I understand Rome wasn't built in a day, but this project should really be at or near completion by now. I've been watching the show "Street Customs" and paying attention to the timelines that the man in charge sets for certain projects. I recognize my low spot on the foodchain (many WCC customers are famous), but even without special exceptions being made for me, people who do this kind of stuff regularly can be in and out of a car in a couple of days to wire sound, a couple more to build seats, etc. They wouldn't want a car sitting in their lot for 6 weeks and could do something about it.

I blame myself for not interviewing more auto shops before committing, but I also feel somewhat taken. If someone tells me they can do a job, I believe them. These people were recommended to me by the person who sold me the car, with whom I had a positive experience. It makes sense to go with a personal recommendation rather than look online or in the phonebook. So let's say they are halfway decent auto-repairmen. Still, why would you take on a project you can't do?

I don't want to use the term, "end of my rope," but I'm having a hard time staying cool about this. I would really like to get my own place and sleep in my own bed again. I'm also tired of people asking me when the car is going to be done when the short answer is obviously "Never."