For the life of me, I just don't understand why the shop didn't say whoa, this is going way over the estimate we provided, we should call the customer and discuss what we found before going any further. Take a few minutes, call the customer and he'll likely agree with your findings and say go ahead and do it. Drop a big cost surprise bomb on him and he's apt to react like a cornered dog. Who wouldn't? You just can't spring a whopping big charge on someone that was expecting it to come in close to the estimate provided.

Where Are You From? Oro, Ontario

Do You own a car built by Durant? Star F Touring

The West Coast Chapter Toured their shop a few years ago. I've been back for two Model T radiators. A fan blade broke and ruined the first one they made. The return inlet on the second had to be modified as the cross member it sits on was bent. They reworked it and didn't charge me anything. I have been very satisfied with their work.

Building a radiator is an incredibly labor intensive process. My Star radiator is made up of hundreds of square tubes that need to be stacked together and then soldered. When I replaced mine, I had it done in England. The cost was well north of $3,300.

According to BW, it takes a year of training before someone can be expected to do a radiator on their own. The California labor market is very tight and our environmental regulations are the strictest in the nation.

Where Are You From? North of Golden Gate Bridge

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1925 Star Touring

the problem with lee is he wants people to feel bad for him if you have the radiator in front of you and you have experience in rebuilding them for years and you give a price you should stand by your quote and im not the only person you have done this to. IM not looking for anyone from club to call him just beware of how he does business and if price was a couple hundred over ok but 1000 without calling customer is poor business and you should be called on it

Do You own a car built by Durant? yes

I absolutely agree with Jeff! If I ever need a recore job I would be prone to try Johnson's Radiators in Sydney, AU.

Where Are You From? Texarkana, TX

Do You own a car built by Durant? Several