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Brim's VW Restoration New Hampshire
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Boost
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 6:09 pm    Post subject: Brim's VW Restoration New Hampshire Reply with quote

Has anyone used Brim's VW Restoration in Somersworth, NH for anything? I searched but found nothing. Was hoping to get a thread going with some feedback (positive or negative) from anybody who has done business with them. VW Shops in the New England are few and far between. Here is a link < http://brimsvwrestorations.com/index.html > Thanks.

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rust - [email protected]

Moderator note:
Please read the latest comments at the end of this thread, this business has a lot of complaints
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bigbadbug53
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PostPosted: Wed May 18, 2011 7:12 pm    Post subject: Brims VW restorations Reply with quote

currently getting the runaround a little by brims vw restorations.... ive seen his work it looks real good he is talented but slow. he said my car would be done in a month that was late december of 2009 its may of 2011 now and i have yet to see my car.. ill post pictues of his work when it is finished..
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sqairback
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 9:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

my friends car has been there for 4 plus years dont hold your breath
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bigbadbug53
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 25, 2011 6:41 pm    Post subject: Brims Vw restorations Reply with quote

Ya know to be honest I was wrong about getting the runaround what I thought was some sort of excuse was actual fact. Brim had some sort of accident a few months back and as injured as he was the man busted his a$$ to get my car done and he exceeded my expectations. Ill post some pictures he did heater channels full sand blast, rust repair and a few things here and there. I thought it was a bit expensive at first but after seeing all that needed to be done and the quality of work id do it again.
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Eurolymius
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 10, 2011 12:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just shipped my car off to him today. He came by twice to look at it and seems to know what he's doing as well as very accommodating. I'm hoping this is a good match, but I am concerned with timeline issues after reading this thread. So, I'll try to update you all on his progress and my opinions.
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sqairback
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 24, 2011 7:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My friend finally pulled his car after 4 and a half years and over 20k because his car was still not running correctly and wired incorrectly. Lots of Bad excuses Lies and obviously timeline issues. The sad thing is he really does know vw I think he just needs to stick to paint and Body
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VWig
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 2:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My car has been with him for a couple of years, but to be honest it has also been convenient for me for it to be a slow process.

I did find this on the net:

June 16, 2011

"AL: What is the Brim Bell Benefit Show?

SMS: It's for Brim Bell who lives in New Hampshire. He's from here. He's got his own VW restoration business, and he fell there and broke his neck. And his arm. And nobody found him for almost half a day. He got radical surgery that could either cure or kill him. "

This might explain any difficulties people were having last year, and maybe even now. Thank goodness he seems to have pulled through!

http://www.sungazette.com/page/content.detail/id/5...l?nav=5016
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frankraineri
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 04, 2012 11:39 am    Post subject: brims vw resto. Reply with quote

I have my ghia there for @ 18 mos. and when he fell, I dident know it at the time and it seemed he just disappered with my car. Needless to say I was very upset and was going to pull the project. If I could find him until I herd the news.
Yes it is a very SLOW prossess. and lots of money. more than I thought. Its a huge leap of faith to give him a BIG deposit And my car. I don't know him from Adam, I thought I lost everything. So far the car is being done correctly. He really knows what hes doing. That said. After sandblasting the car is going to be a HUGE challange for ANY restorer. Worse than I EVER thought. So far I'm satisfied. But I'm very hard to satisfy.I'll post photos .if I knew how.
According to my reserch. Brim is THE guy to restore VW's on the east coast. He says hes commited to my ghia. I can't wait to see. I'll keep you posted [/youtube]
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skills@eurocarsplus
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 05, 2012 8:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Rolling Eyes i have a buddy that has poured in tons of money with this guy. i don't know if he is a member here or not (i'll have to ask him so he can respond) at any rate, he has had his bug for over 2 years and has poured out enough money to buy a nice new TDI. all he gets is voice mail and empty promises.

i have been asked to help in the 'reposession' of my friends car. i will try to get him to post here. i love his 'booth' i have a fan in my home garage too.

i have not dealt with him, but saw a 'sweet' deal go sour real, real fast. i feel bad for you guys, in the end i hope you make out ok, but my buddy is breathing fire and shitting lightning Evil or Very Mad

and as a side note, i saw on his site 'no body filler' just remember that....
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my reason for switching to subaru is my german car was turning chinese so i said fuck it and went japanese.......
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Thanks for the correction. I used to be a nice guy, then I ruined it by exposing myself to the public.

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Barneybeagle
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 17, 2012 6:02 am    Post subject: Brims Restoration, Back in action! Reply with quote

Brim has completed 2 restoration projects for my wife and I over the past few years,{64 deluxe and 70 Ghia} both of which we are Very Very pleased with. I looked around quite a bit before commiting to a shop and for once it seems I made the right choice. It is a real pleasure to work with someone that actually knows what he is doing. Brim is a perfectionist almost to fault! The guy never stops working! His time spent working for BMW shows in his craftsmanship and the excedingly high standards of his work. There had been some issues in regard to comunicating with him on my second car, but it turned out this was due to a pretty serious accident he had. Thankfully he survived. Bottom Line is, Brim's work aint the cheapest but it is the very BEST on the East Coast. At least from what I have seen. I am hoping Brim will have room to squeeze my 56 in sometime this fall, Fingers crossed!
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frankraineri
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 17, 2012 6:58 am    Post subject: Re: Brims Restoration, Back in action! Reply with quote

Barneybeagle wrote:
Brim has completed 2 restoration projects for my wife and I over the past few years,{64 deluxe and 70 Ghia} both of which we are Very Very pleased with. I looked around quite a bit before commiting to a shop and for once it seems I made the right choice. It is a real pleasure to work with someone that actually knows what he is doing. Brim is a perfectionist almost to fault! The guy never stops working! His time spent working for BMW shows in his craftsmanship and the excedingly high standards of his work. There had been some issues in regard to comunicating with him on my second car, but it turned out this was due to a pretty serious accident he had. Thankfully he survived. Bottom Line is, Brim's work aint the cheapest but it is the very BEST on the East Coast. At least from what I have seen. I am hoping Brim will have room to squeeze my 56 in sometime this fall, Fingers crossed!

Yes. I knew that from the start. Now that I read your post. I can't wait for my ghia, I seen it last week. and it is moving very slowley. But its being done to a level that I dident expect. Yes its lots of $$$ and time. But I can see where its going. I'm putting all I have into this little car. and I know it will be worth it in the end. I really think Brim can see the passion my wife and I have for this car. and he also shares this passion for these cars and it showes in his work. thats one reason I took the car to him. If I ever get annoyed. Its only because I forget how much work it takes to do this. I think I'm luckey to have our car at brims. Time will tell.. But so far.. I'm blown away at what hes doing to the car..It is ..with no doubt going to be one of the finest ghias on the east coast.. whenever its done...Maybe he can get your 56 in after the ghia.. the time frame is good.. mine will ..according to him.. be done then. but I can't speek for Brim. He's got a good thing going.. hes tho best on the east coast.. and If he gears up. He can do very good here. there seems to be lots of work. and money to be made.
I told Brim Before we started this project that to My wife and I.. That this car is MORE than a pet than a car.. as silly as it sounds He seemed to understand. WE never felt this way for a car. I lost lots of sleep and worried about this thing. so much. I had many many cars and no other.. even my first ghia has hit me this way.. Few people can understand this.. But I think Brim is one of those people.
Yes, My baby is in good hands.. now I can sleep. Cool
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WM971252
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 20, 2012 3:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

frankraineri it is nice that he is working on yours and I hope all works out for you. It does suck that cars that have been there for way too long that I guess are pushed back again as they are still not done...........
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sqairback
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 10:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

We are still working on my friends car. The Body work is great as far as Weld quality, metal work and paint are concerned. Everything else has been a complete and utter disaster. The car was supposed to be a complete nuts and bolts body off restoration and was a registered running vehicle when dropped off. Every time we try to finish something we find literally five other things wrong with the car. We are making slow progress but there is so much wrong with the work that he has done that it is dicouraging. For example this morning I went over to help bleed the brakes. Half hour job right? I left after 5 hrs. with the brakes still not done. we started bleeding the brakes and got no where I then realized that the calipers where put on with the spacers on incorrectly so the caliper was grinding the rotor. We fixed that went back to bleeding still nothing. Realized he hooked up the brake lines incorrectly for a 72 with a dual piston master cylinder one piston running one brake and one piston running the other three. So we pulled the fuel tank to get access and found the steering column bolted to the steering box incorrectly and out of alignment because the steering box was never tightened to the beam and had rotated! While positioning and tightening that we noticed that the steering arm was also not tightened to the steering box completely as well. We never did get the brakes bled because we had to order new brake lines to replace the incorrect ones.
This a usual day of working on a car that Brim has touched I have seen him in action in person and he is far from the finest on the east coast. I saw him before and after the "accident" and he had a wake up call for a short period of time but then fell back to his old ways.

The short list of things we have fixed so far-
-Complete rewire with new wiring harness that he had installed completely wrong and spliced into with old wires
-complete tear down to the block because he left washers under the crush gaskets on the manifold causing a huge leak
-bad points not gapped correctly and were supposed to be switched to electronic
-adjusted the valves that he adjusted right before the car left the shop they where all out and inconsistent and the car had only idled for maybe 15 minutes
-rear of car was two inches higher on one side
- front fender was was one inch low on one side
- wire wrapped around the throttle cable
exhaust not bolted on completely
-stripped bolts everywhere
-used parts that where paid to be new
I'm sure there is more I just cant think of them right now and I'm sure we have more to find in the future. I am only writing this to hopefully save someone else this trouble. My friend had the money to pay for a complete restoration which he did. He now has to restore the restoration in order to drive his car that he has put more than 20k into.

Beware and get a contract in writing and signed and do not pay much up front if possible with any mechanic especially this one. That is his racket he gets the money up front and lives off it then cant finish that project until the next comes in.
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frankraineri
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 5:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

sqairback wrote:
We are still working on my friends car. The Body work is great as far as Weld quality, metal work and paint are concerned. Everything else has been a complete and utter disaster. The car was supposed to be a complete nuts and bolts body off restoration and was a registered running vehicle when dropped off. Every time we try to finish something we find literally five other things wrong with the car. We are making slow progress but there is so much wrong with the work that he has done that it is dicouraging. For example this morning I went over to help bleed the brakes. Half hour job right? I left after 5 hrs. with the brakes still not done. we started bleeding the brakes and got no where I then realized that the calipers where put on with the spacers on incorrectly so the caliper was grinding the rotor. We fixed that went back to bleeding still nothing. Realized he hooked up the brake lines incorrectly for a 72 with a dual piston master cylinder one piston running one brake and one piston running the other three. So we pulled the fuel tank to get access and found the steering column bolted to the steering box incorrectly and out of alignment because the steering box was never tightened to the beam and had rotated! While positioning and tightening that we noticed that the steering arm was also not tightened to the steering box completely as well. We never did get the brakes bled because we had to order new brake lines to replace the incorrect ones.
This a usual day of working on a car that Brim has touched I have seen him in action in person and he is far from the finest on the east coast. I saw him before and after the "accident" and he had a wake up call for a short period of time but then fell back to his old ways.

The short list of things we have fixed so far-
-Complete rewire with new wiring harness that he had installed completely wrong and spliced into with old wires
-complete tear down to the block because he left washers under the crush gaskets on the manifold causing a huge leak
-bad points not gapped correctly and were supposed to be switched to electronic
-adjusted the valves that he adjusted right before the car left the shop they where all out and inconsistent and the car had only idled for maybe 15 minutes
-rear of car was two inches higher on one side
- front fender was was one inch low on one side
- wire wrapped around the throttle cable
exhaust not bolted on completely
-stripped bolts everywhere
-used parts that where paid to be new
I'm sure there is more I just cant think of them right now and I'm sure we have more to find in the future. I am only writing this to hopefully save someone else this trouble. My friend had the money to pay for a complete restoration which he did. He now has to restore the restoration in order to drive his car that he has put more than 20k into.

Beware and get a contract in writing and signed and do not pay much up front if possible with any mechanic especially this one. That is his racket he gets the money up front and lives off it then cant finish that project until the next comes in.


Evil or Very Mad Evil or Very Mad Evil or Very Mad Evil or Very Mad Evil or Very Mad Evil or Very Mad
GREAT!!!!
NOW WHAT?
He has the car cut to pieces. even if I pull the project.. its to late to save it.. "BALLS IN A VISE" Is that the term? I'm tired of this rollercoaster.. It's looking like a $20.000 ride to the crusher..SOOOO discourged and pissed right now. you don't know..
what to do???
not a penny more until its in primer. If he cant do it with the 13500 I gave him.. Its comming home..in boxes. what to do with it then? I dont know. but at least I'll have control. What a mistake. the car looked ok and drove great. in the past I lost all faith in humanity.. I don't understand why I go back and trust again..as far as I'm concerned everyone on the planet can just drop dead, people are scum...
but thanks for your input anyway.. Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil DAMMIT!!!!!
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sqairback
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 7:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm sorry to hear that you are in it too. Was it the Yellow one?
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frankraineri
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 5:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

yellow ghia cv.
he assures me it will be in paint this fall.
the amount of $$$= the amount of time
lets hope I don't need to pull it in the winter.
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sqairback
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 1:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I hope so for your sake but I highly doubt it. Paint is still a long way away from driveable at his rate of work. For someone who sleeps on a cot above his shop you would think he would put in more than one day of work every two or three weeks. Good luck but I have seen this before.... You have been warned but you are also in a hard spot. You cant sue him because he has nothing. So you just have to hold out hope that he will at least get it to a point where you can feel better about pulling it. Like I said his body work generally comes out pretty good for what he is working with. So if you can get that out of him I would pull it and have someone else do the wrenching.
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 6:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

sqairback wrote:
I hope so for your sake but I highly doubt it. Paint is still a long way away from driveable at his rate of work. For someone who sleeps on a cot above his shop you would think he would put in more than one day of work every two or three weeks. Good luck but I have seen this before.... You have been warned but you are also in a hard spot. You cant sue him because he has nothing. So you just have to hold out hope that he will at least get it to a point where you can feel better about pulling it. Like I said his body work generally comes out pretty good for what he is working with. So if you can get that out of him I would pull it and have someone else do the wrenching.


AS I said.. well see..time will tell. it seems your helpfull advice has turned into all out bashing. I'm sorry if your squareback went sour. but I;m forced to give him the benifet of a doubt. I don't like it. but theres always a plan B. the fact that its started shows hes commited. it took me 2 and 1/2 years to do the car half assed. if it takes 3 him to do it rite, I'm fine.
and I find it hard to believe that anyone could screw up a vw mechanicals wheras there soooo simple. and him sleeping on a cot.. who gives a truck!
I don't know what happened between you and Brim. you posted no photos of the mess he made outta your car.you say I have been warned. but where were your warnings before? If and when it happens to me I would be all over it. posting and warning..your posts disturb me and my wife. I will keep you ALL informed on any progress or lack of it. Messes he makes or works of art. the proof will be shown but I will NOT respond to all this negitive crap. I don't know you from Adam and I;m done loseing sleep over this. I'll post next fall with pix of the painted car or i'll start legal action.. PERIOD!!!
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sqairback
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 7:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have never had a car with him, my friend did. I was respecting what he wanted to do before he pulled his car. He was walking a thin line of trying to get his car back any way possible and not totally flipping out in the process with the constant missed timelines. I was just trying to help out a friend who got in the same situation with this guy. I spent numerous vacation days working at Brims shop trying to get my friends car to a point where we could pull it. That is why I seem so angry. I would work on the car one day come back two or three weeks later and nothing in the shop had changed. Not just with my buddies car but all of the cars. He just doesnt work. Just so you know a day laborer stripped your car for $10 an hr he did that in 2 days then the body was sent to sand blast and they (the sand blasters) primered it he has cut some pieces out of your car and welded in supports. This totals a week maybe week and a half of work including blasting. In the process it sat outside last winter and before he stripped it he was driving it for about a week as his daily. I think you said its been there 18 months? Does something seem wrong with that? We had to deal with his sand blasters and chromers because he owed them so much money they would'nt deal with him anymore. I'm sorry if the bashing is coming through in this but it is meant to scare people. No one deserves the stress and shit this guy drags you through. His business is not registered he pays no taxes on the money it brings in. The "shop" is in a residentially zoned area. You see where this could go? He could be completely shut down with one phone call and all "work" would cease. This is what is being contemplated. It is a hard decision because of the five or six cars that are in there right now. The owners would be completely screwed, but if it is not done he will continue to do this to others. This is why I posted as a warning.
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skills@eurocarsplus
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 12, 2012 5:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just talked to my friend who has a car with him...and has for 2+ years. Apparently brim sent him som photos of work being done which tells me he just got money for materials. Seems like a rob peter to pay paul kind of a deal. My friend is kind of embarrassed to post here so I will keep you updated on the progress or lack ther of. This car should have been done in 6 months. That was 2 years ago.

I feel for you guys that have your cars held hostage. But unless something happens you will be without a car for some time
_________________
gprudenciop wrote:

my reason for switching to subaru is my german car was turning chinese so i said fuck it and went japanese.......
[email protected] wrote:
most VW enthusiasts are stuck in 80's price land.

Jake Raby wrote:
Thanks for the correction. I used to be a nice guy, then I ruined it by exposing myself to the public.

Brian wrote:
Also the fact that people are agreeing with Skills, it's a turn of events for samba history
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