CMC history - comprehensive

Where could "WE" have these made? Plastic would be great (and appropriate)!

Truth leaked out in the article - “Kits consist of a single crate, Cozier said, and require 180-350 hours to assemble. More than 200 are sold each month.

The place that made my custom 55 plate makes license plate frames. I toyed with the idea of getting a “Competition Motors” one made before I found the old school one from my local VW dealer (which is where I would have bought a 550, had I not been 2 years old at the time)

I also have a Brumos Porsche one I got from my buddy in FL if I ever get tired of my VW one.

I can't believe I read all through that, but I did.  Was kind-of surprised at all of the Ponzi  Scheme stuff that Levine got into post CMC - I honestly thought he was smarter than that - but Ponzi crooks can be very convincing and Levine was very obviously into building wealth.  I also doubt that in his bankruptcy maneuverings he declared all of his wealth.  Finding ways to hide wealth seems to be a state sport in Florida (and elsewhere).  I'm sure he made out more than OK when all of the dust had settled, and also managed to never spend a day in jail, kind-of like Steve Lawing, right?

I and many others were either ignored or given lip service in trying to get our orders processed and/or get back-ordered parts sent.  At the suggestion of a corporate lawyer friend, I contacted the Postmaster General for the Southeast US (that office is in Atlanta) and worked up a case of mail and wire fraud which, with the help of Janet Reno, Florida AG at the time, mushroomed into all that plus money laundering.  "Auto Resolution" then started responding to my emails and phone calls and started sending backordered stuff, including buying good-quality aftermarket parts if they didn't have exactly what I ordered and sending the aftermarket stuff to me, like a complete windshield wiper system from Specialty Power Windows in Texas.    

https://www.specialtypowerwind...indshield-wiper-kits

In the end, I either got the parts or Auto Resolution sent me a reimbursement check for things they couldn't get and I dropped the suit, but I was only one of many and not everyone made out as well.

Like Curt Scott.  He once ran a reputable and informative Kit Car Magazine but when he started holding some "builders" up to the light and exposing them for shoddy workmanship or, like CMC, short-shipping kits at very high shipping charges (paid by the buyer), he started losing advertisers.  Then Levine took him to court and Scott lost everything to court costs - But he was right to expose people as he did.  More magazines should have done so but he seemed to be the only one.  If they had, back then, maybe some of the "builders" would have been exposed and many people wouldn't have gotten screwed.  We've saved a few people from SAS/SAW but certainly not enough as people are still sending him money.  

Thanks for the link, Greg

I guess I was lucky, getting all my stuff from CMC with no problems.

I may have posted this prior ... many years back I bought a in crate CMC kit in Wisconsin that was missing about half of the parts off the previous owner's packing list.  Auto Resolutions was up and running, I called Auto Resolutions rattled off what parts " I " had not received. I gave the girl my new Pennsylvania address and a week later two large cartons arrived for free UPS :~)

Yeah - it was very long.  I didn't know the association with all those other companies and different model kits.  There was a 4th model Speedster mentioned - called the Classic Speedster C (Porsche 356 Carrera).

Classic Speedster (Porsche 356A); Classic Speedster C (Porsche 356 Carrera); Speedster Californian (Porsche 356 custom); Classic 359 (Porsche 959)

Never heard it mentioned or advertised before.  Was it a model with a louvered rear deck lid or maybe the abstentious whale tale (which looks worse on a classic body than a flared body)?

I bought my kit in Nov 1989 (special offer good only until 5 pm that day) - had to wire deposit).  This was before the lawsuit and Auto Resolutions.  The black gel coat was an extra $300.  The hood and trunk came with all the fiberglass strands showing through (gel coat not thick enough?).  Had issues with back-ordered front turn signals - they sent maybe 5 different ones - and insisted I send one back to get another.  I kept the last ones and they sent another - finally got a pair that matched.  Some had an amber plastic lens, other a frosted white, and even a glass one!  Finally, a pair of matching STAT 18-wheeler clearance lights (which I didn't use!)  They sent me a new hood and trunk lid (didn't even charge me the freight cost) - which I later sold to fellow SOCers who needed replacement!  Ha, Larry's frunk flew over his car and down the road behind him!

My big issue was with shipping.  I had my brother thru his NJ company set up shipping at a huge discount!  CMC knew I was doing this - when I called CMC shipping to give them my bill of lading number - they said it had already shipped!  Fortunately, it was shipped FL to VA via Pilot Trucking - the same company my brother used!  So instead of CMC's $1400 shipping, the discounted bill was only $440!

Auto Resolutions was set up after the Federal mail and wire fraud issues were presented.  Levin was looking at 20 years in the federal slammer if the government won (and their case was pretty good) so he set up Auto Resolution to settle all of the claims against CMC and how it operated was subject to Florida court review (Thanks, Janet Reno).  

IIRC, there was a guy named "Andrew" who ran it (Levin was not involved after it was up and running and nobody at CMC ever used their real name on the phone or in emails, anyway), but Andrew's appointment was after his credentials were reviewed by the AG's office.  I talked with him on the phone and exchanged a few emails with him over time and he was responsive, easy to deal with and really seemed to want to resolve all of the outstanding/wrong orders, but some of their original parts sources had gone away - I guess for lack of getting paid for parts provided.  This was around 1994 or 1995.  The last thing we worked out was the non-ship of a whale tail (yes, I actually ordered one of those silly things) but the molds had been sold by then and I came to my senses and didn't want it anymore so he reimbursed the sell price in a check (that was cashed and didn't bounce).  

I think that the threat of Federal jail time really scared Levin into grudgingly making things right (but he was far, far from bending over backwards to help).  Eventually, Auto Resolution had satisfied all of the outstanding orders that complained to the AG's office and was then dissolved.  If a buyer was short-shipped and wasn't vocal in demanding closure, then they were ignored after a single letter from Auto Resolution to tell them they had rights to exercise.  Later, we learned that some/much of their assets (molds and tooling) appeared at "Street Beasts" and more cars were produced (mostly Hot Rods), but AFAIK Levin wasn't involved in day-to-day actions there.  Many of the Street Beast '32 Ford bodies had similar problems to CMC Speedsters - Bubbling between fiberglass lamination layers if set out in the hot sun for a few days, Hot Rods in the roof, Speedsters between the rear seat and engine cover.

Anyway, a sad end to a sad era in home built Kit Cars, indeed.  But then we always had Thunder Ranch or John Steele to fall back on, right?   😉