ivanj

I just had some minor rust fixed - the old back of the rear fender spot about the size of a poker chip - and advised the craftsman Jay that I had learned from the Community that there were two options for the same paint color, Sherwood Green.

Jay informed me that he found THREE color chips for Sherwood Green. He proceeded to pick the correct one and the car looks new. (Peectures later.)

I want to highly recommend Jay at Auto Body Specialists (603 647 4000)
425 Second Street in Manchester, NH.

Before giving me a competitive estimate he had a rather lengthy chat with me, not only set my expectations but also get some idea, I believe, of the level of taste and craftsmanship I required. He began and delivered the work exactly on schedule - 4 days. I dropped the car off at 9am Monday and he called me at 4pm Thursday to say the car was ready. (Unlike the clown crew who kept my ''73 BMW for 16 months - 13 months beyond schedule - while they did a perfectly dreadful paint/resto job, but that's a story that will go untold. I've seen the good the bad and the ugly. Jay is on a higher aesthetic level.) He also did more work than he said he would in the estimate. He didn't just fix the rust and paint the back of the fender.

He washed the car completely, including a scrub and detail of the engine compartment with proprietary solvents that reminded me of when I first saw the car in the showroom. He completely cleaned the undercarriage and blasted 12 years of grime out of the seams of the car. He removed white paint spots from the opposite side of the car that I thought were road chips. His dent specialist removed a small dent in the hood that every other body shop told me required repainting the hood. Before painting the car, he basically fully detailed the exterior and interior including the leather, the carpets, and the inside of the windows (without waxing the outside which of course would interfere with the painting process.) He explained to me afterwards it is necessary to do this level of preparation in order to properly match the hue of the paint on the restored body panel to the totality of the car. Remember this was for a rust spot the size of a poker chip!

He completely blended in the left side of the body after removing the bumper saying that his reseach had shown that sometimes rust occured there on Legend Coupes; he found the beginning of some in a hidden space and fixed it.

Afterwards his bill was 20% less than his estimate.

Jay has a nationwide clientele who demand the best. His clients include sellers of 19 cars restored by him that were sold at the Barrett Jackson auctions for top dollar. When he had my coupe in the shop he had, in progress, an outrageous completely customized supercharged Viper owned by a Chrysler dealer (who I know has his own body shop!), a Corvette Stingray with the best custom (silver blue) paint job I have ever seen, two frame up Pontiac GTO restorations, two frame up Camaro restorations, and a C6 (?) Corvette customization that had the engine work done by Lingenfelter. By the way, I found all this out only after I contracted with him to do the work after getting a competitive estimate from him.

Obviously I will go no place else to have work done. Maybe you peeps in LA or other big cities are used to getting this level of work but obviously I'm not, even though I been on the receiving end of body work for over 30 years.

If you ever visit NH you might want to arrange to have Jay do work for you. He's obviously booked well in advance for major modifications but makes it a point to fit in smaller jobs because they "pay the rent." Jay also does a $350 detail job which is lightyears beyond anything the local "Prestige Detail Specialist" shops do for $250 or so. He basically prepares your car to go on the Barrett-Jackson block.

If you call Jay to discuss work, mention that the guy with the green Legend coupe recommended him, please. It's never good to anger even the demi-gods.

Cheers,
Ivanj

 

Herb

Well, um you just make that sound so lovely, I suppose I could stay in a Motel 6 in NH for a week?

But the real question is:

How much did it cost?

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ivanj

Let's just say the three estimates I got were within $300 of each other; Jay's estimate was in the middle. His final cost was 20% below the estimate, guess I got ripped off. BTW I going to have him repair some of the BMW nonsense if he'll do it.

There is no Motel 6 in Manchester; check out one of the motels near the airport or if you have $$$ stay at the Bedford Village Inn. The best restaurant near ABS is Lakhorn Thai. It's basically Thai home cooking served by friendly people and is very inexpensive. Try the Duck Hoo Chee extra spicy. There are also some nice upscale places across the bridge downtown Elm St. anyway they are upscale by NH standards, not like March or Le Cirque.