TheSamba.com :: View topic

Fri May 08, 2009 1:22 pm

Hi,
I just moved to Boston, MA and try to find a good bodyshop for my beetle. I fund a shop nearby called Beetle Bug III in Hudson, MA. http://www.beetlebugiii.com Does anyone know these guys? Can anyone recommend a shop in New England?
Thanks
Karsten

Mon May 11, 2009 5:56 pm

Here's a link to a shop in Rhode Island.
www.401restos.com Tim Scheller is the owner. Check out his site.
One of the car he restored is featured in the December '08 issue of hotVWs. He does nice work. I've seen some of the cars he's worked on at the Litchfield CT show.

Jay

Thu May 14, 2009 11:18 am

OK, thanks for that. Yes, this convertible he did was a nice piece of restauration. I will call him!

Mon May 18, 2009 6:08 pm

There is a shop in NH called Brims on the seacoast.

http://www.brimsvwrestorations.com/

They do good work from what I hear..

No personal experience though.

Mon Dec 02, 2013 9:07 pm

Can anyone recommend another body shop in the Boston/Providence area that preferably has experience with VWs?

I've got more money than time right now and want to pay someone to finish the body work on my '63 bus.

thanks

Wed Dec 04, 2013 6:24 am

I know your looking for another shop but Tim at 401 Resto's is the only guy I would let touch my VW's. He is working on my 56 beetle now and he does top notch shit. He is an honest guy who doesn't jerk you around which seems to be hard to find in the body shop world.

Wed Dec 04, 2013 1:55 pm

Do not use brim. He will deliver you a car, 3 years later at midnight missing a door. Trust me the work wasn't worth it.

I agree, tim and his crew at 401 are killer! Don't waste his time if you're looking for cheap. If you want it done and done right, you can't beat tim at all. His work is above and beyond most restoration shops in the north east, actually the usa as far as I'm concerned.

The detail is off the charts!

Wed Dec 04, 2013 9:05 pm

I really wanted Tim at 401 restos to do the work but I got the impression he doesn't want to work on VWs. I told him I was willing to spend $10,000 for the final bodywork and paint but he essentially turned me away. :( I thought that 10K would be enough to get it done, but I guess not.

so now i'm shopping around per his suggestion. i have more money than time right now and if i can't find something else i might just ask Tim to "do what it takes to get it done"

Thu Dec 05, 2013 6:46 am

I don't know the specifics, so I can't comment. That is in line with a bug, but a bus is quite a bit more.

Perhaps you caught him on a bad day. If you only knew how bad some of his vw customers treat him, you would see why he gets bitter. His best vw customers are not your run of the mill vw people....

I can't (and won't) speak for tim, but if he turned a job away, it was for a reason. The public at large has (usually) no idea what it takes to do just body work, let alone the assembly time.

That said, I would try to get into 401 if you need work. Remember, cheapest isn't always least expensive

Wed Jan 29, 2014 9:47 pm

first off thanks for the compliments guys!

anyhoo,hi guys haven't been on here in a very long time and time isn't on my side either...the new shop is a hand full but worth every penny,but I just wanna chime in for a bit....

Ed,and others here s a run down: though 10k seems like it would be sufficient,you would be very very surprised....the last near rust free '65 we did for kurt clipped way past $12k and still wasn't to the level we wanted but it was what he could afford at the time...does he want to bring it to a different level? sure does. is he going to have to spend more scratch? sure will. is he on board? absolutely!

we don't do the driver,"presents well" kind of work anymore,it is done to a level that these and all classics deserve wether your driving it daily or throwing it on a trailer...this means nothing to me as normal paint maintaince will keep a paint job lasting for years and years...nearly all of my customers cars look exactly the day they did when they first got them. show it or drive it that's their choice. the work isn't going to be dropped down or brought up just for the mere fact of' "I wanna drive it like a Honda or store it like a Shelby",this is why were a little bit more money than the others all jobs have to be done the same way.

that said, I own my work...all of it, ask any of my customers...if they pay their hard earned money and agree to let me do what it takes to do it the right way once...I stand behind it. when materials these days for a top notch paint job for a bus will click over the $4000 + mark that doesn't leave much left for hrs to straighten,rust repair,steel parts etc with a 10k budget.

I have tried to keep the costs low for people but it is not an option anymore with the new shop,costs of operations and more important the material costs which I don't get to agrue with...I don't use junk and wont use junk to save some money as it will bite me later and I will end up redoing the job on my own dime.

vw's are a "do it yourself" hobby very few can say the same, but this one does...so to goto a body shop and hear a shop owner tell you $12-$15k to paint a vw is not as rare as one may think considering the same guy told a shlby owner or a Camaro owner an easy $20k pretty sad this day and age...and to get one to actually want to do a vw is even rarer!!

so in a nut shell,good shops are really really hard to find especially here in the north east,i myself am getting out of the full builds,only body and paint are the only things we are going to do here...the cost to build a turn key vw is well over the 20-25k mark and it isn't worth is as I still find hrs to bury and materials to wash away even at $20k! sounds crazy, but when you have an easy 4-500 hrs and 3-4k in materials,new motors,trans, factor in all the needed replacement parts..it adds up quick and its a shame for sure.

keep your eyes peeled and see if you can find a quality shop worthy of doing it...but I can tell you this...$10k will get you in the door of another shop for sure...,then be prepared for the time frame,level of expectation etc etc...you will find when its all said and done....your 10k isn't going to be reflected.

thanks for reading,yawning at my typing and understanding this side or the optics..

here's a super quick example:

$13 +:

to see Kurt's bus in person is truly exicting and the fact right after this pic he drove it to florida with a 1600 sinlge port with a trillion miles...no road rash,no chips and no body issues..as far as the mechs go.....well that's his deal,but I did do a decent run through on everything for him :-)
thanks
T

Thu Jan 30, 2014 7:05 pm

^^^^ An excellent, fact filled reply. ^^^^

Mon May 26, 2014 7:34 pm

Here is a recent pic of my Ghia which Tim @ 401 did in 2010. I have driven it over 8,000 miles since then and it still looks as good as the day i drove it home.

Tim's work cost me over $15K (see the build thread on 401restos.com and you'll soon know why) but it was worth every penny.

Spread out over 4 Summers $3,750/yr is a bargain. I plan on having this car forever.

If your gonna do it, do it right..

Over the years Tim may have lost patience with the tire kickers and people who think they're gonna get a turn key car for 5K.. But don't hold it against him.

Mon May 26, 2014 8:33 pm

Worth every penny of my hard earned cash. If I was going to do it again I would not hesitate to have Tim do it. The time and detail the Tim and Matt put into it is exactly what I had envisioned when I dropped the body off. Don't f@$k around, have it done right. Yea your going to pay for it but the end result will be sick.