SAW complaints??

First and foremost I don't claim to know it all as well as I am not here to kick up old dirt to create a meaningless cloud of dust.
"I would surely discuss options with an attorney" ...was stated in the best interest for an individual to be professionally informed as to one's consumer's rights and to review a builder's obligations to the consumer.
The bottom line is no matter what the scenario may be, a four year time line is simply ridiculous.
Not to toot my horn but as far as personal car counts, as a hobby I've done in excess of 38 replica resto's and builds to date while operating a successful trucking business. All been completed ahead of schedule with complete owner satisfaction...so it can be done.
If a car can't be built and delivered to a customer within a four year time frame, something isn't quite right with what a company states they'll do within a stated amount of time and what is physically impossible to acomplish. Hence a four year time line is, simply ridiculous.
~Alan

Kris,
I hope it all works out for you. If I were in your shoes I'd have a very sour taste in my mouth about the car regardless of when it gets completed. That said, these cars do have a way of washing the
"bad energy" away, kinda like my wife, no matter how pissed I get at her I can't stay mad for long.

LOL... I know it will all go away with the first drive. And I do feel somewhat responsible for not staying on top of it. Those of you that have completed cars, how often did you call to check up? I'm sure it would speed the process along if I got a little more annoying. :)

I was/ am interested in a SAS. My wife and I drove down from ny to see the shop and meet Steve. Steve,his wife, his helper/builder, all very nice people but did not look to me that thay had a production line or an urgency to build many cars. They look to be great cars being built one at a time. Not sure if I can wait a couple of years for a great replica.

Hey Gerd, can you pass the beer nuts...I'm exhausted from the return trip from Morro Bay..In my non-turbo Fiber Fab that's 20 years old.
In the mean time Kirk's crew built 3 cars since this thread was started....

Why wait???
Kirk's cars cant be beat for the fun to dollar ratio!
Morro bay was a blast!

Who's Kirk?

Kirk Duncan, owner of Vintage Speedsters in Hawaiian Gardens, Calif.

So what is a reasonable build time? Just how long is the average car guy willing to wait to have a car built for them...

3 months

I don't mean to sound cynical, but...
I'm not sure which is more ridiculous, that a builder will take "years" to build a replica, or that some customers will actually rationalize that to mean "quality."

A sparsely populated queue in this economic climate can certainly lead to problems. That doesn't make Steve Lawing a bad guy.

If Steve is a bad guy, it's not because of our economy, his problems started before the downturn.....
And..if you are willing to wait as long as he takes, fine, but one can hardly recommend a builder as unreasonable as that...and anything past 6 months to me is unreasonable....
just my opinion....and we know what that is worth....

this is still america for awhile and you are entitled to your opinion, as far as I know. Not defending his build time Vince, only the seemingly endless attacks on on his business integrity. If there are issues it would be, in my opinion, with the restatement that those build times would be significantly reduced.

%&*#^ ! ... It only takes nine months to build a human being ~

But it took a lot longer than that to make Vince...I'm just saying.

Bob, I don't know Steve personally, and far be it for me to smear his or anybody's name without due cause, but the thread was about recommending him as a builder, and integrity means more to me than the build time, and his is cloudy to say the least, on both measures....whether it be true or not, it deserves to be mentioned, because it happened...that is all I'm saying...lets be honest here..

Just Google "Steve Lawing."

Its more fun to google vince

What you do with Vince is your own business.

Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing as many of those SAW cars as I can lay eyes on at Carlisle. I've always liked Hoss' car, and I only briefly saw Charles' car on a trailer in 2008.
If I remember correctly, there was a green Suby-powered SAW there in 2006, but I wasn't there long enough to really put an eyeball on it before I had to leave.
Having never met Steve or seen his operation, I remember working on my own car with The Wrench, as part of a two-man operation. That really can take a lot out of you, especially if one guy's under the weather or not there at all.
We worked on the low-tech end of things, too. All air-cooled race cars, no high-tech, computer-controlled anything. It still took forever to put a car together, even in the best of times.

Cory, Unfortunately a couple of us SAS guys will not be at Carlisle this year due to other commitments. Diane and I will miss all of you as Carlisle is our favorite auto event of the year.

The other thing that I will miss is showing my unique mid-engine coupe to the rest of the enthusiasts and the spectators present. Most of us SAS-owners do not regard our cars as better, just uniquely different. Some of you know that I also own an IM Roadster and Diane still likes it best. Different strokes, I suppose.

With regard to the long wait for SAS cars, this has little to do with the build time and much to do with the length of the queue awaiting these unique vehicles. It just takes awhile before this very small shop can complete the vehicles that were ordered before yours.

Well, I'll admit these cars look well made, and I like their interpretation of the pedals, among some other fine ideas. I'd have to spend more time looking, and preferrably driving, to see the real differences. But I will say this; four years, even one year, is kinda too much time to wait. I could not do it. I really do not see how this could be considered a business -- sounds more like a hobby. Which, by the way, is kinda how I see Allan's (Dr. Clock's) adventures w/ Speedster builds. Done part time 'cause he likes to do it. He has a "day job". And he can turn 'em around in a few months. And all the BS about lawsuits and such probably deserves some consideration. Something happened there, although you and I will probably never know exactly what, nor why. The best cars are made by IM, and the best values (bang for buck) come from JPS, Vintage, Beck, is how I see it.

This last weekend at Morro Bay there were over 40 speedsters. Every one of them was just a tad different from each other. It comes down to personal taste, and how much you are willing to spend to be just that much different....
Personally, when I'm ready to pull the plug, it has to happen much quicker than 6 months, In 6 months I better have already enjoyed my tub for 3 of those months, and I work hard for my money, so bang for the buck is most important....
So the right answer is different for each of us....

VINCE
AGAIN U R WRONG
LAST WEEK THERE WERE OVER 40 SPEEDSTERS, SPYDERS AND COUPES!!!!! :)

Shouldn't that be pull the trigger? If not, should I give Doctor Kevorkian your email address? :-)

Plug works.

I keep my plug pulled...

http://www.wate.com/global/story.asp?s=7159386



caveat emptor.

As posted by Curt Scott on his Web Site.

The beat goes on ...one can't argue previous history that repeats itself... Again ...." caveat emptor "


Saturday, 3 January 1998
Specialty Auto Works
proprietor Steve Lawing, Knoxville, Tennessee

If you're considering Specialty Auto Works to do assembly/completion work for you, I urge you first and foremost to contact Mike Cromwell of St. Louis, Missouri at (314).432-1066. Mike will be delighted to share with you his experience as a customer of Mr. Lawing and Specialty Auto Works...

3/99 It has recently come to my attention that Specialty Auto Works' prospective customers are being led to believe that the above unhappy former customer (Mike Cromwell) was just an aberration, not to be taken seriously. One caller even advised us that Steve Lawing told him "Mike Cromwell bought him a wrecked Cobra for him to try to fix." Sighhhhhh. Bear in mind that Tennessee's Attorney General intervened in Mike's behalf and compelled SAW to reimburse Mr. Cromwell... and not for "... a wrecked Cobra," but for the Cobra that Steve Lawing/Specialty Auto Works built for him.

And since we have the names of other equally-unhappy SAW customers on my database, here's another example of the complaints we've received about SAW: One SAW customer (of Fairfield, Connecticut) purchased his "Speedster C" through Mr. Lawing, after being advised that Lawing was a "preferred assembler" of the infamous Florida telepredator. To make a long story short, when Lawing shipped his car (months late), the brakes didn't work, the transmission wouldn't go into gear, the gelcoat finish was "wretched" and required a full refinishing & repainting; furthermore, the (SAW-installed) VW engine blew up shortly after delivery. In all, this customer had to spend over $5,000 to fix all those things that he had every reason to expect would be "right" when his car was delivered. He also complained that every time he sought Lawing's advice regarding how to best fix the sundry glitches his car displayed, the "solutions" Lawing gave him were invariably useless; furthermore, he never received any refund for all those additional expenditures.


"Curt Scott"

Isn't this the same thing as dredging up old threads on SOC that Theron and others spoke about recently. I know more about the incidents described than you or Curt Scott and will only say that they didn't quite happen as portrayed. Enough said.

While I certainly agree with the advice of "caveat emptor", let's make sure we are talking from first hand knowledge and not just Internet chatter.

Would anyone that has been on this forum for more than a year or so not observe that each of our Speedster manufacturers has not has a problem or two along the way?

In looking back through all the threads on SOC, the general consensus of SAS 356A replica owners is that they like their cars but the wait was lengthy.

I find the wait for SAS cars to be completely unacceptable and I have three SAS cars. But, I don't find dredging up comments made on the Internet over a decade ago to be particularly helpful.

IMHO said builder does produce a quality product when... actually produced I am not flying off the handle stating my own opinion for which I am not, but simply conveying previously posted internet information for the potential consumer to review and draw his or her own conclusion(s).
" Isn't this the same thing as dredging up old threads on SOC?"
.....Well actually no it isn't by along shot ...What I am sharing is that per the referenced 1998 article, the same scenario exists today and that, you'll agree isn't a good thing for the consumer.
This is proper venue to allow others to be made aware of less than ideal situations inclusive any assembler(s) that would allow a vehicle leave a facility with shoddy workmanship i.e. leaks, noticable pain flaws, aluminum siding utlized as engine tin, etc.

I thought I'd never respond to another ignorant half assed self sactified post from a non SAS (NOT SAW) Speedster owner. But here I am again, for all the mis informed pin heads, yes Steve Lawing was arrested on FALSE CHARGES brought by some disenchanted HOT ROD buyers. The case was was dismissed, the disenchanted buyers satisfied and Specialty Autoworks stopped making HOT RODS and became Specalty Autosport(SAS). Now if these posts or should they be called rim shots by jealous non-SAS owners were so freaking true, then maybe Theron is in on this perilous scheme since SAS is advertised on the main page of this site. Now my last 2 cents is, when you see just negative posts being made by SAS owners then you can take my 2 cents to the bank.

Yeah!!!! I second that!!!

Ok, so which car is better, a Beck, Vintage, SAW, TR, IM???

(Several happy faces here)

Larry you are funny!

Ummm - Sapporo and blister nuts from Trader Joe's

How bout them 'slander' charges Nolan? lol

It would actually be libel, but why digress...

Whether you think Steve Lawing is an outstanding citizen and trustworthy businessman or not, his reputation took a huge hit when he was indicted, and his fuzzy build-schedule hasn't helped him in the PR department. The SAS open-ended completion record requires an IMMENSE leap of faith from his customers.

Question: when you "get in line" to have a car built by SAS, do you make a deposit then, and wait for your build to actually start, perhaps a year or two later? Or, do you send a check just prior to your build's actual beginning? If it's the latter, fine. If it's the former, that's Ponzi scheme territory.

John Leader said:

Question: when you "get in line" to have a car built by SAS, do you make a deposit then, and wait for your build to actually start, perhaps a year or two later? Or, do you send a check just prior to your build's actual beginning? If it's the latter, fine. If it's the former, that's Ponzi scheme territory.


OUCH!

This thread if nothing else has been a fun read..........;-)

Not for everyone David.

Can anyone explain why the owners of other builder's cars are so concerned with SAS, when SAS owners and buyers are not concerned about the quality, costs or other issues of those other builders?

Yawn, I'm really starting to get bored.