Rusty’s Rod Shop Rusty Grindle Criminal activity and thousands in damages to my 6 figure truck build Cleveland Georgia

Rusty Grindle is nothing short of a criminal. Now let me start by saying as a fellow business owner that writing a review is the last thing I want to be doing, but when you have tried all avenues to resolve a situation with the person and business and are completely ignored I feel it is only right to only let others know the truth in hopes they can avoid the same thing I have with Rusty Grindle.

Let me also start by saying that there is always good and bad as I believe in being objective. If you are looking for fabrication, paint and body than Rusty's crew will probably do a good job for you. But if you are like me and looking for a full ground up build, need frame, engine, suspension, or drive-terrain work done- DO NOT take your vehicle to Rusty's shop.

After interviewing several shops, I landed on contracting Rusty to build my 1967 Ford F100 truck in May of 2021. It was clear that it was the largest project Rusty and his crew had taken on to date. We agreed to a $5000 labor deposit and together made a list of all parts, the exact brand and cost. Rusty claimed he did not have a card with higher than a $5000 limit so would need me to write him a check for the parts, which totaled $17,000.

The parts were to be ordered immediately. Crime number 1- theft by conversion. Rusty took my $22,000 and deposited it. Less than half of my parts money was spent ordering my parts and instead was spent on personal and other expenses. The result of this was numerous text and communications to Rusty asking when and why my parts were not ordered and in a time of COVID meant that many of the parts were no longer in stock when Rusty decided to get to it or pump me for more money to afford to purchase them.

This led to crime number 2. Fast forward to August- I continued to get invoiced and pumped for more money by Rusty, but there was little progress being made on my truck. I called for a meeting and met Rusty at his shop to discuss how we needed to get back on track. He was extremely apologetic and admitted to not being on-top of things, ordering my parts and meeting any deadlines. We came to an agreement that there would be a budget of $40,000 total to complete the build 100% with no issues and all parts and items MINUS tires and wheels, which I paid for separately.

We agreed that the truck would be completed in October and that all the original agreed items and brand parts would be used on the truck. It was clearly stated and agreed to not cut corners or quality of any parts. I was told on November 18th 2021 that my truck was completed with no issues and ready to go. Rusty Grindle even accepted the final installment and payment, while complaining that it was not enough so believing yet another lie from him wrote a check for $21,000 as his exact words "we accept tips" so "tipped him" a $1000.

My truck barely made it 30 minutes before dying on me, had a transmission pan leak, rear end leak, rear main seal leak, and a long list of other items. It ended up back in and out of his shop with each time him telling me it was 100% good to go, only for it to be far from being completed. The truck went in and out of his shop until the day before Christmas Eve 2021. Rusty refused to be present that day.

The truck had active leaks as it sat there in his shop, and his staff tried invoicing me for items already paid for. Immediately I had Atlanta Speed Shop inspect the truck. To date $5000 has been spent roughly to get the truck safe to drive and the truck has $30,000 worth of damages done to it by Rusty Grindle and his shop due to his inferior work and due to him ordering parts that did not fit the truck and cheaper ones than agreed.

I paid for Air Jordan's and received knock off Converses. Wrong suspension which I did NOT approve and a crooked mounted engine. I have attached the certified letter and estimate as proof as Rusty is great at lying just as he did from the start from my truck to his home. We have filed criminal charges and are optimistic Rusty will do the right thing, but if not that others can avoid this nightmare.