BOULDER SPEEDSTER BEWARE 2

Here is my experience with BOULDER SPEEDSTER CO. On July 19, 2005 I ordered a Speedster from Luke at BSC. With all the options it came to $31,500. plus $900 shipping. After a 2 month wait the truck arrived with the car. It would not start and the driver & myself had to push the car off the truck and into my garage. Here is what the initial inspection revealed. The car did not have 4 wheel disc brakes which I paid for. No fog lights which I paid for. No nerf bars which I paid for. The drivers seat had grease and grime on it. The trunk would not latch and close properly. The hi-lo switch did not work. The parking brake did not work. The front bumper was not on straight and the bolts holding it to the brackets were only finger tight. There were no heater boxes installed which I paid for. Once I got the car running it backfired and sputtered, I found that it would not go into gear, any gear. There were major clutch problems. At this point I called Luke. He told me that he and their mechanic who assembled the car would fly from Denver to my home in Calif. and make the car right, in my garage and that it would only take 1 day! I reluctantly agreed. While waiting for this to happen, further inspection showed that the car had been in an accident, that the right front fender had be re-fiberglassed and repainted, and not very well. When I reached Luke he denied knowing anything about it. I told him I did not want the car under any conditions and that I wanted to return the car for a full refund. He said that the best he could do was to try and sell the car for me, that he did not have the money to refund me. I then told him that I was going to file a complaint with the D.O.T. as he was engaged in inter-state commerce and that I had been de-frauded. His attitude changed dramatically. He agreed to take the car back and send me a SPYDER at no cost to me but I would have to pay shipping to offset the difference in the price of the two cars. This cost me an additional $2,300. I agreed, reluctantly. Just before Thanksgiving I received the Spyder. It has it own problems but I'm working them out. No one returns my calls at BSC. My advice is to think twice before purchasing a car from Boulder Speedster

Holy s**t! Are you kidding me? What the hell kind of operation is this?

Oh boy, I can't wait to see where this thread goes.....

James,

Please call me directly regarding your experiences with BSC, and the things that need addressed with the spyder. 574-546-4656 is the direct line to the shop.

Carey Hines
Special Edition, Inc.

They appear to be another builder for Beck. Is it just me? - I could maybe order a production car by sending $30k off and waiting for delivery --- but not to a low volume, rather unknown builder. Jim Ward (dubudee) recently bought from IM and made trips out there to check on things --- and IM has a long time great reputation. Ha, I must be too cautious --- some folks get their brides the same way -- me, I want to kick the tires and rev the engine first.

As far as I know they are still in business. Second question: No I didn't. I didn't even know who he was until this afternoon (01/09/06).

Well, if Carey is supplying them with cars after prior complaints and now yours, then that says something....

I have one question. Is BSC still a builder of Beck Speedsters? To this day? (Ok, two questions) Did you contact Carey Hines prior to this post?

I just called them... they claim to be the Western US distributor of Beck as does their Web Site. FWIW. He was ready to take my order.... as a Beck builder. Maybe you should check in on what's happening.... or is Beck still the company name?

Theron, is there a way to put an alert under the makers tab about BSC? Also a Red Font Post in the Newbies Topic area? I think it would be a good thing to do before someone else takes it in the shorts.

Look's like someone drop the soap in the showers....

Jim - I don't agree with putting red flag on BSC. It's always buyer beware. IMHO He should have flown out and inspected the car before having it shipped --- not just sent his $ and hoped. Or had someone independednt do it for him. None of the items he listed were unfixable --- like the guy said they could be fixed in a day. Not sure of the body damage and repair --- autodealers fix dents from shipping and display lot juggling all the time and most owners don't even notice. I recall when I bought a new 914. The yellow one I liked had a dent in side - dealer said I wouldn't even notice - yeah right. I got a white one instead. Yeah, you'd think for $30Gs they would do better QA.

Wolfgang, I disagree. People who visit this site need to be warned about those selling cars who are not reputable. Unfortunately people who are less than honest are great at painting an unrealistic picture and making people feel comfortable.

A potential buyer comes here, and gets the impression Beck's are good cars, and they can be. They then talk to these guys and make the mistake of thinking they and Beck are one-in-the-same. They obviously are not!

A warning is appropriate. Unless you like seeing people get taken advantage of.

Hi Wolfgang. I happen to agree with Ron. There is a difference between Beck and BSC, right? We now have a company (BSC) misrepresenting the cars, and has a clear record of sending out Speedster Rs in less than desirable (to say the least) condition.

I understand what you are getting at, Wolf and I would agree if it wasn't for the clear misrepresentation of products at BSC. (Well, maybe it isn't so clear..... LOL)

This is an owners site, right?.... there should be an alert made to protect others from the fraud and crap that appears to be going on. Now, if they are building under Beck's authorization, then that's another ballgame. I'm not clear on that one based on their web site having Beck all over it & what I heard on the phone today....

Jim,Ron,I agree with you 100%.People on this site(and outside) should be aware of what is going on in the "speedster world".This is why this site is here for.I guess people do not care about reputation that much.They want to learn the hard way.But if I was on the market for a speedster I will think twice about a Beck.Not because is a bad car just because their name is synonimous with a bad builder.(I know I shouldn't be like this sorry)

A majority of cars being purchased and ordered new from all of the manufacturers, are not people who have even been to this site. So I'm not really sure how effective anything we do or say will really be to any manufacturer. Or they read a couple of posts and off they go to buy a car. This problem will always exist.

Even within are group, you can tell people things about your own personal experience with a car you have personally owned, and people will just make up shit in response, like "oh he had a bastardized version". This from someone who has never even seen the car. The manufacturers politics and games makes someone new to this arena ignore perfectly good view points. They listen to what they want to hear and ignore what they don't want to hear as someone intercedes with some kind of line of bullshit.

We deminish ourselves as a group, and become completely helpless to improve anything. And then we wonder why people continue to make the same misjudgements and errors when purchasing these type of cars.

It's really sad in my opinion.

I have never listed "red flag" warnings on any manufacturer. This is a searchable forum and anyone can find out information about a builder before making a purchase. I am old enough to know that there are two sides to every story. I have not investigated to details of this information. It would be irresponsible for me to form and instant opinion of the facts, without knowing them.

However, It looks like James has had some real complaints with BSC. They have now been brought to Carey's attention. Carey is taking steps to help, now that he knows the situation. Carey is also aware that even though he didn't finish the car, it has his company name attached. Instead of jumping on the "hang em" bandwagon, why not let Carey attempt to address the situation? I'm sure James and Carey will post, to let us know what is going on as future customers will read messages like these.

-=theron

I'd like to be a fly on the wall when BSC explains to Hines how so many things ordered didn't get put on the car. The QA issues are large enough to warrant concerns.

I remember being quite enamored with my speedster in the beginning and rating it accordingly. Two years and a few thousand dollars in repairs and many closer inspections, I revised my rating. I doubt anyone knew or even saw the difference.

I have since deleted most of my comments.

Not only did you erase all your comments Paul, but why did you put "Other/Unknown" under Builder? I was unaware of what you just said so I hope I'm not pushing any buttons...

Gentlemen, This is an unpoliced, un verfied chat room amongst a small number of Replica Speedster owners: some new to the game, and some much more seasoned. After months of research, and living only 90 miles from Specialty Autoworks, I decided to obtain my "dream car" from Boulder Speedster. Spoke w/ Luke at first, and then with Eric Shimp by phone & email on a 2-3X week basis by phone, plus countless emails regarding details of the build. I cannot say w/ authority the status of Beck assemblies still coming into the US under the name Beck or whatever. I will state that my car did have a number of quality issues, and that BSC (through Eric) bent over backwards to get it right. I sincerely believe that Pro Street Preformance of Northglenn, CO is where the problems with BSC have arisen. Best I can tell they are either inept & clumsy, or just do not care. My car wa, and will be close to the ultimate rep speedster: Mexico Blue, full leather, original Speedster seats, Alpine CD, bullet racing mirror, tonneau, Nardi wheel & shifter, and under the hood a monster: brand new Bernie Bergman 2442cc air cooled motor that was dyno'd at close to 190 bhp. At BSC's expense Eric traveled to East Tennessee to tech the car & brought with him items that were left off by Pro Street (they paint & assemble BSC cars, plus items that were found to be scratched, chipped, etc. The car was dirty in many places, the throttle cable was improperly routed, the brake lines were improperly routed, and some complete idiot ran paper only heater hose right next to the manifold. With BSC's permission, I shorted their final payment to allow my local mechanic, Mark Finley of ReZoom to finalize the car & make all of these fixes. Mark is renown for his air cooled engine & older Porsche work for both street & track. Bottom line is that BSC has quality issues that they are addressing, and that their customer service is trying hard to please. I have suggested that BSC roll some heads at Pro Street, or go elsewhere. I think red flags are wrong. Everyone of these cars is an individual experience.

All rationalizations aside, anyone planning to do business with BSC after reading this thread should have their head examined. Tom Raymond now makes three people who have reported significant (beyond nitpicky stuff) defects in a new car delivered from BSC. One guy could be a hard-to-please customer; two guys could be a coincidence; but three big complaints is a company that cannot be trusted.

I'm sorry to read about the bad experiences that some folks have with their purchase and builders. I never did visit Henry at IM during his building of my Roadster. I wish I would have, but my position would not have allowed it. I did my homework by checking regularly this sight, checking with other IM owners and putting my trust in Henry and his crew. My Roadster did not have numerous bells and whistles, but what came to my door was exactly what I ordered. Thanks to Henry and his crew.

Troy, I believe this thread is about BSC, not Intermeccanica....
you don't need to take advantage of this thread to push another maker.

I rest my case, a perfectly justified complaint about how bad someone in this business did on a build, turns into a "how great my builder is" discussion. While it is a valuable thread to warn people of an obvious trend as of lately, if you listen to some of these guys you would think that they have majical cars that never break and were built with zero defects.

Stupid manufacturer politics. Just makes me want to puke.

Theron let me see if I've got this right. BSC is NOT a manufacturer and according to C Hines they cut off cars to them last summer after that shipment of lemons. Soooooo, why not put up a flag that this is a shill operation? They are supposedly NOT Beck, but they represent themselves as Beck on the Web and on the Phone... Luke Richards was ready to take my order yesterday. Giving Hines time to fix things has ZERO to do with the potential sales this outfit is trying to make today. So, I ask, if they are not Beck, they ARE NOT a manufacturer, they are not representing Beck (NOW) according to what I am reading.... then why NOT warn buyers???????? It seems like the right thing to do if we give a hoot about future buyers and members. Unless there is more to this than what appears on this thread why should Beck be concerned if we put out a warning on BCS? Surely Carey has taken action to protect Becks name from BSC's less than stellar efforts... right? This has been going on for some time.... how many bodies did Luke have?

I applaud your efforts to be fair to Carey and Beck. But, according to what I can read... BSC is not Beck today, right now, nor are they a Manufacturer.

Maybe the owners should write KCM. Someone should care if Speedster's Owners Dot Com doesn't.

Steve and Vince, pull your panties out of a wad. Troy is the least political person on this thread or the SOC. He seldom posts at all. He was commenting on Wolfgang's excellent suggestion to kick tires. I believe Wolf mentioned IM in his post and you two did not throw in the Crying Towels then. Phhhht! Politics? From BSC selling a used (new) Beck on our For Sale threads last winter (you were commenting on it Steve and Vince, along with me and others commenting..) To a Beck Dealer writing a "Driver's Impression" under the guise of an "owner", to at least 4 BSC Becks being questionable cars (guess about the 4th one...), to selling Becks (by Luke) in the middle of owners threads.... I mean, come on! There have been other issues, but these are the ones you may recall. Mart posted a draft website the other day and it was deleted within the evening... and LaSalle's driving impression still stands. Politics? Nahhhhhhhhh!

I'm happy when someone gets the Speedster of their dreams, no matter who the builder is. But I think it bites when buyers are taken to the fleece market. I am consistent in my views... when I owned a VS I was challenging resellers on E-Bay that were representing their VS resellers as being built in THEIR factory, or when cars were being pawned off as real Porsches. This stuff with BSC is no different. Shill, fraud, whatever. It smells the same.

Jim,
Well said.

Troy

I too bought a Beck from BCS, that was two years ago. I guess I could concider myself lucky, my car was assembled in San Diego. I too had had some build issues but mine were just loose bolts, and fitings, I corrected them and this was after a 2700mile shake down cuise. I have since had some major work done and a few items I hadn't noticed all had to be addressed, this was done and I am still driving my beck. I agree, that if BCS is using assemblers that arn't worth a damn, they should red flagged. I have alot of respect For Cary and he has been very helpful in other purchases I have made for my Beck. Lets give Cary a chance to get to the bottom of this travesty of shoddy dealings for a fine car. I will certainly tell anyone in the future to contact Cary Hines if they are interested in purchasing a Beck. BCS should be avoided , four builds and they are not trusted to deliver what is promised. I personally think Cary will get to the bottom of these bad builds and hopfully a change in western dealership will be in order. No one expects to be defrauded on thier purchases..and no one should. We all have this hanging over our heads when jump in to buy one of these cars and for the money we pay , we should get what we paid for. Just my two cents.

Steven - despite your repeated protestations otherwise, it sounds like you "care" A WHOLE LOT! In fact you haven't stopped posting about how insulted you felt since someone made a remark about your former Speedster that you felt was out-of-line.
Guys - taking things "personally" on this forum is bad for your mental health...IMO.
What? Are we all still in Eighth Grade?

well put John....


Michael

John, your right I do care, too much, I meant I don't care about getting an apology from him, as it would mean nothing.

And being a public forum, I guess it is too much to ask that people are, honest, straight forward, unbiased, and post with some kind of integrity.

Isn't this where you usually attack me for spelling errors rather then deal with the real issue at hand??

I was especially offended by Ron's remark, because it was the point of clarity for me. I knew then that people on this board are completely willing to make shit up, and while other people know that he's making it up, it's ok as long as it meets their agenda.

Here is how my posts will be from now on, so they can be like other people.


Hi, my name is Steven O'Brien. I had Specialty Autoworks build me a car last year. While I wish my job would have allowed me to make repeated trips during the build, it just wasn't possible. In fact, I wasn't even able to go look at the car before it was shipped, but thanks to Steve and his crew everything was just as I ordered it, and I got exactly what I expected. (does it sound familiar)

Since gettting the car, I haven't had a single problem. I know this might sound a little surprising, but somehow I had something built with hundreds, if not in the thousands of new parts and not one part ever turned out to be bad. It has never had a mechanical problem and never will. (sound familiar)

I am now joining the rest of you who are completely willing to lie, deceive, and misrepresent things to the furtherment of a manufacturer. Oh yes, we can all say things like my car from XYZ now has 30,000 miles on it and going strong (leaving out the information, that its not the original engine)(sound familiar).

Respond to anyone saying anything negative by saying they are just an idiot, or there car was just an exception to the rule, or maybe even just attack them in other sly and cute ways to indicate that they aren't very smart or that they somehow lack the "true" experience to know anything about these cars. (sound familiar)


Yea!!!!!!!!!!!!! Aren't we great people.

Makes me want to puke.

Wow, Steven, it seems that quite a few things bring up the urge of vomitting for you. Perhaps an appointment with your doctor? It seems you might be having a digestive problem?
As it has been pointed out many times in the past, things are written on this forum that are taken differently than the author meant. That's the problem with the written word compared to the spoken.

Ron is a very dry, funny guy. If you have followed his posts you would know this. Let it go.

As far as owners holding back on negative comments about their cars and their builders. Some do and some don't. I believe that most people will give their builder some room to remedy any problem that arises before they air dirty laundry. Why trash someone for what may be an isolated incident? On the other hand, After going through normal channels; builder, emails to others who have cars from said builder, etc., I think it's appropriate to post on a public forum, keeping in mind that your post will be scrutinized. Ranting has no place on a public forum. That's why they invented Blogs.

By the way, Steven, you owned an Intermeccanica at one time, which you sold and had your SAW built. Other than the engine issue, was there other reasons you sold it?

Perhaps you would prefer to email your answer or put it under another topic?

Steven Lighten Up. You are way way out of line. You have hijacked this thread to a rant about Ron and he has said nothing about you or your car on this thread. Take this issue off line with Ron if you really think it is necessary

Based upon this maybe "ignore" is appropriate
Troy

Wow.

Thread Split to
HERE

I apologize to everyone for my misunderstanding and mistake.

*a portion of this post was removed*

The speedster mentioned by James, was in a group of 4 cars (Devaney's included), that were built at the same time. I believe that James' car was even on the same truck as Pat's (and the 2 others that went to CA) so this isn't a "new" problem, although it is new to me as well as the forum.
James- I look forward to speaking with you. I was out of the shop most of the day, and will be most of tomorrow too, but I've e-mailed you my personal cell #, which you can use anytime.

Carey

I too bought a Beck and had BSC assemble the car. I do think there is alot of problems with their assembler, but the real problem starts and stops with Luke and Eric, there is no pride in anything they do, and they don't even inspect the cars before delivery. I did fly to Denver to pick the car up, and alot of things that I had ordered were not done, and there were alot of mech. problems with the car. I took the car anyway because I was tired of dealing with them. After I got to Phoenix, found a good VW shop, with people with pride in their work, and started fixing things, shifter, exhaust, heaters, lights, ect. ect. Carey Hines has been way more then helpful, and I really believe knows he has a problem with these guys, and is in the process of cutting them off. But for anyone who reads this, I would never let them touch my car again, or ever order anything from them. They have no pride in their work, and lie about what they have done.

Jerry

Hi James- I am having similiar problems with Specialty Sales in Benicia, CA. My post was "Specialty Sales Sucks. My first Speedster nightmare" What is D.O.T about? How can they help? The situation has gotten worse and if you have any suggestions, I'd appreciate it. Thanks.