[Brian]

As those of you at the Summer Sizzler meet on Saturday know, I picked my car up at the end of the day on Friday. The shop was able to do the frame straightening in house. The cost didn't run beyond what the insurance company sent (but didn't run below either), and they painted the spoiler. I was, however, not fully satisfied with their work. I was afraid to scrutinize it too closely when I picked it up, because I didn't want to be disappointed, but one thing caught my eye right away. There's an abvious gap between the bumper cover and the panels above it. I complained about that, and Steve said that he couldn't see any other way to put it back together or shim it up since it connects like one tube sliding into another. But he said if I wanted him to try something, I can bring it back. Jabba asked if I had the other check, and I said, "Yes." As I started signing it, I asked him if he had a receipt. He said, "No." Then he added, "Your check stubbs will be your receipt."

The color on the spoiler didn't look right to me. It looked too dark and not like a saturated-enough blue. It looked less purple, like it was missing the red component. I hoped that when I saw it in sunlight, it would look different, but it didn't. When I stopped for a closer look on my way home, I noticed that I could still see a vestige of the big dent where the quarter panel had buckled. They hadn't painted the edges of the trunk lid and adjacent panels, where they rubbed in the impact and afterward. The trunk lid and the adjacent panels on either side are still not in straight alignment with each other. It clicks when I open the trunk. The garnish panels below the impact point and on the door now have a few chips in the paint, where none had been before.

On Saturday, I went to the meet at O.T. & Di's, and several members looked at it. Mike told me the trick to installing the bumper so there's no gap, informed me that the lack of red metallic flake in the paint is why it doesn't look right, and pointed out other flaws in the paint job, like its texture. John found what caused the clicking when the trunk is opened: the latch that it connects to on the body is still pushed forward a little from the impact. It's actualy clicking on a plastic protector, and not on the metal of the latch or on the side of the trunk lid. Y.T. agreed with Mike about properly installing the bumper, and said that could be fixed in about 10 minutes.

Nate brought his '94 laguna blue to the meet, which had recently been declared totalled when someone hit him. It is in much worse shape than mine. He lives in a different state w/different insurance laws, and was dealing a different insurance company. His settlement was $3000 more than what Nationwide wanted to total my car at.

Today, after work, I stopped back at the shop to talk to Steve. When I explained about the bumper, he said that he did install it that way, but said he can try to find a way to reduce the gap. He did not agree with me at all about the color of the paint. He claimed that he doesn't see any red or purple in the original paint. (I even pulled out the color scan from back when they did the previous body work for me in 2006. One component is "trans. red", another is violet pearl.) But he did claim to see differences in color between the parts that are metal and those that are plastic. Steve also claimed not to see the remains of the dent, which so many members had also seen on Saturday. He said that the other side looks the same, but I still see the diference. He said that the trunk latch isn't pushed forward, that what I'm seing is the natural curve of that piece of the car. He said he'll try to see what he can do about the clicking though. He said he'll fix the rub marks around the trunk lid and the chips on the garnish. He said he'll fix anything "reasonable", but it's obvious that doesn't include repainting what he's already done. I'm supposed to drop the car off next Monday.