Frustrated Man Drops Six Figures On Incomplete 1967 Ford F100 Restoration

It’s a tale we see told over and over all the time: someone pays for a professional vehicle restoration, but years and tens of thousands of dollars later it’s still not done. A father in Oklahoma turned to his local investigative reporter after he spent over $100,000 to restore a classic 1967 Ford F100 for his son’s birthday, yet after two years it’s still not finished.

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The father wanted to give his then 14-year-old son what he always wanted for this birthday when he turns 16: a classic Ford pickup. They found the right truck, bought it, then took it to a local shop that does restorations.

While the shop set out expectations on the timetable for completion, the father figured it would take a little longer. Instead, it’s taken a ridiculous amount of time and the Ford still isn’t even running.

Talking with KFOR, the man said he was told all kinds of excuses about why the 1967 Ford F100 wasn’t finished. One was the shop had trouble sourcing parts, which seems ridiculous since it’s not exactly a rare vehicle.

With the truck in the shop’s possession, the father kept getting invoices for work supposedly done. That was adding up and when the guy didn’t want to keep paying, he says the shop owner threatened to have the truck Title 42’d, allowing the shop to take legal ownership of the vehicle.

In other words, they guy felt he was stuck and being coerced into spending a ton of money for nothing. That would be enough to make our blood boil, but we see this exact scenario play out all the time, all over the country, and it’s infuriating.

Sadly, shops get away with this kind of behavior because customers feel intimidated and helpless. Most don’t know what kind of recourse they have at their disposal. We recommend talking to a local attorney if you’re facing this kind of situation.

This guy turned to an investigative reporter who fortunately took up his cause. After all, what kind of work on a ’67 Ford F100 costs $115,000? It’s not like they did a restomod with a Hellcat engine, new chassis, performance suspension, etc.

When the investigative reporter called the shop owner and asked about the long timeframe and astronomical cost, the owner tried to play it all off as standard for the industry. Then he played victim, saying the father was trying to turn things around on a minority female-owned shop (the guy’s wife, who is a Colombian immigrant, apparently owns the shop).

Be careful where you get restoration work done and have everything spelled out in writing before you hand over the keys. Also, if a shop starts doing things you don’t like, rather than ride it out you might want to consider taking your vehicle back, then find someone else.

Image via KFOR/YouTube