CAROLINA KUSTOMS DAKOTA KUSTOMS LONNIE CRAPPY CUSTOMS,CRAPPY WORK PORTLAND, Oregon

Tracy im sorry you fill the way you do. when you brought your truck you asked us i want gauges the look stock and i told you that with a diffrent motor then stock, a diffrent trans. and rear end the best gauges for you was the new Dakota Gauges that if you wanted to change something later that these would be programable to what ever you do. when i called up Dakota digtal they told me your gauges where new and would have to be  built. so i called and told you that and you said ok. i am not the one making the parts so i cant make a company go any faster and since you asked us to do this in the middel of summer they mite have had more orders then just your they were building. we you can to us you aske us to install the gauges, hood enblems, install window glass, after market rear bumper and clean up the truck that looked like it has sat under a tree for 20 years along with try to clean up the wood with out removeing it and in stall a new wiper kit, and see if we could get the heater to work  we did what we where asked to do

we install a hood emblem that was not made for your truck we taped off the hood and lined up the emblem so we could drill in your hood

we took the rested doors apart sand blasted and greased the door parts so your windows would roll up and down and put the doors all back together and made sure everything worked right.

we install your rear bumper and brakets that were after maket so we had to heat up the brakets fit them clean them up and repaint them so we could install them plus we had to buy all the hardware

we had to rip everything out over you dash and pull out all the old wiper stuff from  the 50's and install new arms and motor the kit that we supplied

 we power washed the truck and buffed the maaco paint job and detailed the out side the best that we could  the one detail guy spent 2 days doing buffing it cleaning it and and waxing it trying to get the rust stains of with out killing the paint

we tape off the bed rails with tape that cost 4.99 a roll so we could sand the bed without take the paint off the rails i bought the stain and the wood bleach to try to get the mold out of the wood

we installed you gauges and spent  5 hr tracing your new wiring down you had someone else do because half of your wiring was not hooked up and we repaired all of that

when i called you to tell you that your gauges where in  i told you that it would be done by that monday you want to pick it up.  your husband cam buy that morning  we told him it would be done later today and he said you guy would be by to get it  and told us what a diffrance the truck look all clean . 30 mins after your hasband left he called and said you guys cant come get it  you didnt have any money.  and you would not be able to pick it up till the end of the month witch was 3 1/2 weeks away  then you call me a week later and asked am i going to get here late and you would come and get it by 6 pm i waited here till 9 pm and no call no show didnt here from you till 3 weeks later and you called and said i will be there in 15 to get it, I had your car cleaned and ready to go the day you said you wanted it. it did sit out for 3 weeks and cant clean a car in 15 min . when you came and got the truck we told you the speedo mite be 2 to 5 miles off if it is bring it back and we will try to get it right on, your gas gauge was on e beacuse you gave us the truck with 2 gals of gas and the truck ran out of gas so i put 2 gals back in it . so i had no clue the gas gauge was bad.  and when you told us i replace it for the cost of the part did not charge u labor also when you head light swith went out 2 weeks after you posted this and before i seen it i replaced it at no charge  when im not the guy who did your wiring and im not the guy who left a 6v headlight switch in a 12v truck.

on top over everthing on are work i charged you 1990.00 to do all that work witch the gauges where over 750.00 the wiper motor was 300.00 the window weld  to install the new glas was 19.99, the bolt where 2.00 to 5 dollars and you have 4 in the frame so thats 4 nuts,4 lock washer, and 4 bolts, 4 chrome bumper bolts, some grease for the windows, new bolt for you doors to hold the windows in since a few where broke off, paint to spray your after market bumper brakets, the stain for 30 for your wood, the wax, cutting compound, the 3 wool pads the went thru to get the grim off your truck along with other suff we did to help you out on the truck so what did 500 on all the work for you. im soory you feel i took you and i did bad work because you car was drity because you picked it up almost 4 weeks after we where done and we could not get your paint to look like a brand new car when the paint is 10year old and its a maaco paint job

Over promise and under deliver seems to be Lonnie's mott. When I brought my 52 Chevy 3100 Pickup in, I wanted to have my stock gauges replaced (My truk has a '68 GTO engine)  my wipers switched from vacuum to electric, a rear bumber, hood ornament and side mirror attachec, have 2 windows replaced (I had the windows, just needed them installed)  and also was excited when Lonnie blabbered on about how his crew could detail my truck to looking incredible. (He claimed I had a fantastic paint job under the grime and all....) He never gave me anything in writing. EVER. Not even when I asked for it. REPEATEDLY. (By email and in person)

May 3rd we dropped the truck off...according to Lonnie, my gauges were on, and I quote, "A slow boat from CHina" to somewhere in South or North Dakota and it would take 8 weeeks to get them.

Okay. I could wait 8 weeks for this awesome stuff he peomised.Well, FINALLY< after us calling to check in, and half the time, Lonnie never calling us back, FINALLY....the truck was "ready" to be picked up. I had to wait to get in due to some logistics issues (I was out of town) and when we finaly connected, I arrived to find my truck waiting.It had not even been vacuumed inside. The dash was dirty. The gauges he installed....were. That's it. Not working, just instlled. My gas gauge registered EEE Fuel for emplty to I went straight to a gas sattion, where the gauges continued to register EEE FUEL..He never even set it up. He told us that we would need to get the milage gauge programmed ourselves (Um...what is HE for?

The bill was to the penney what he quoted, although the work was NOWHERE near what this jerk promised.

I have mentioned his name around town (At car shows adn PIR and never heard one good thing back, so I was worrried, and no I knwo wy.

I would NEVER go back, nor recommend his work. He does a lazy, sloppy job and is unrpofessional.He has no integrety.

Tracey

After reading the "Crappy Kustoms" post, and as a current paying customer, I felt compelled to post my experience with Lonnie & Carolina Kustoms. I've spent quite a bit of time out at their shop over the last year, and I've spent more than quite a bit of money with this company. If you are looking for a shop who will bondo over rust, do a fly-by-night unprofessional job, then this is not the shop for you. If you want a highly professional job completed by a hardworking, fairly priced, integrity based family company, then this is the shop for you. Carolina may not be the cheapest in town, (even though their shop rates are about half of others), but you get what you pay for. Lonnie and his team aren't going to provide you with the $599.00 weekly Maaco Presidential special. This is the place to take your classic vehicle to when you really want it done right, from beginning to end! There are so many things that I appreciate about Lonnie and his team at Carolina Kustoms. Lonnie has communicated with me every single step of the way on this huge project with my '68 C10 (pictures on his website, truck nearing completion). He has given me multiple options when things were not going as planned (if you have an old house or old car you will know what I am talking about), and has worked with me every step of the way to make this restoration everything that I had dreamed and more. Because I live close to the shop, I have enjoyed watching every step of this project unfold in person. Carolina Kustoms has an open door policy, and I have always been welcome to stop by the shop & check in with the guys about my truck. I can honestly say that our family won't go anywhere else ever again. CK are now MY people; we can laugh & disagree on everything from sports to politics, but we always agree on just how cool these old cars really are. I love watching these cars come together over time in his shop. I remember watching one of the guys outside handsanding an old fender. He intensely worked on it the hour that I was there. I came in later that afternoon and he was still working on it. One last stop at the end of the day he was STILL working that fender. I went over and told him that I certainly hoped that he would be one of the guys working on my truck, because that kind of attention to detail is what another thing that makes Carolina Kustoms an amazing shop!

I'm not here to document every bump in the road with my truck while it's been in Carolina Kustoms. These bumps had nothing to do with Lonnie and his crew, and everything about my buying a truck that was more damaged than I knew. I will share about one of those bumps though, because this is so typical Lonnie. My cab came back from the blasters and it was a mess. Lonnie called me out to come and look at it with him. The truck had been wrecked very early on in it's life, possibly even before leaving the factory. The layers and layers of deep bondo were now gone, and what we were left with was a twisted, rust-pocked, rust-ridden, big old mess. It was such a mess that to restore the cab (which Lonnie would have done if I had insisted). Lonnie's started to work. He told me not to panic, we'd figure this out soon. That afternoon Lonnie found me a cab on CL that a young guy was offering very reasonably. We were told it was clean, rust free and had been sitting in a dry barn in Stayton for years. I arranged a price with this kid, and for him to deliver it to Lonnie. At delivery, Lonnie inspected it like it was going on his own truck. It was the cleanest cab he had seen in years. Lonnie didn't need to go to this trouble for me, but he did. He always has. Lonnie at Carolina Kustoms is the real deal. He's the car guy who knows his stuff, he's a businessman with old fashioned integrity, he's a family man, he's talented, and he's also funny.

My truck isn't quite done, it is in the finishing stages now and is looking great. I can also tell you that if I were to ever have a problem with anything Lonnie had done (I can't imagine this though), I know that he would just handle it. He is a stand-up, honest guy, & one of those people who will do the right thing when necessary.

I highly recommend this company, Carolina Kustoms. When we recover from this project, you had better believe that I will be taking my next project only to Lonnie and his crew. These are the guys for us. I'm going to miss seeing them so often once my project is done.

Sincerely

Min Singleton (because you should always sign your name!)
'68 Chevy C10 currently in shop

Sooo. there has been some bad little boys on here talking about me and i want to set everyone straight. .im jj johnson and i used to own jj kustoms. i havent been in business for two years. i am a lead guitarist for black lili and emberain. the reason im not in business is because i make more money than cars will ever produce to anyone.  im going to stick up for lonnie only this once and thats it. lonnie is a respectable guy. he obviously is doing well. god bless you lonnie! i dont know richard. dont want to know. jj kustoms is dead, not in business in anyway shape or form. will never be in business. i did cars for over 27 years. had my fun , now im doing what ive always wanted to do. go on tour. you can go to both websites and check me out. we are on break right now do to our producers death names Jessica gachupin. she used to work for paramount.  i found out about all of this from some mobile mechanics that are on here. they listen to our music! cheers to everyone jjjohnson

If you’re looking for a quality restoration for your important collector automobile, consider the craftsmen at Carolina Kustoms . We view all cars as rolling works of art and strive for excellence in every area, from Daily drivers, award-winning paint and bodywork to highly accurate interiors and engines that run better than new. A majority of the work is done in-house at our 6500sqft Oregon restoration facility, including body and paintwork, motor and transmission rebuilds, and all final assembly, which allows us to maintain our own strict quality control. We catalog and document every step of the restoration process with digital images and detailed notes, and provide our customers with a restoration summary at the completion of each project. Please take a look at our completed car restoration projects and you’ll get an idea of the craftsmanship we provide.

Of course, the best restorations require some of the best subcontractors, and we outsource several areas of the car restoration process including plating (including chrome, nickel, copper, zinc, phosphate, black oxide and other factory finishes), carburetor rebuilding, electric motor restoration, machine work on engine components, steering wheel restoration, instrument cluster refinishing, body and part de-rusting, and seat belt re-webbing. It goes without saying that we only outsource to reputable companies that meet our own high standards.

The body repairs are performed with the finest quality products available, and our skilled craftsmen have decades of combined experience. From simple panel replacement to complete custom metal fabrication, we can do it all, including the lost art of lead bodywork. If you can dream it, we can make it reality in sheet metal.Bare bodies are placed on rotisseries to perform repairs and refinishing inside and out, top and bottom. The vehicles are refinished and assembled using factory procedures wherever possible, although years of technology improvements often allow us to do it better than the factory ever could. Proper bolts, seam sealers and correctly colored primers are used, which is important for accuracy if you are going to compete at the highest levels. And while some will argue that the finished product is worlds better than it was new, the colors, finishes, detailing, and components will be highly accurate.

If it's been your dream to restore a fine automobile, consider us for your next project. Our reputation speaks for itself: cars we have restored have taken down more than a few  awards over the past few years. Our shop rate for car restoration work is $35.00 per hour. It is virtually impossible to give accurate estimates on restoration costs, given how much potential damage can be hidden within a typical car body, but we strive to provide as accurate a projection as possible once we have been able to thoroughly examine the car.Shop 503-954-1369. Here is a link to my Web page <a href="http://www.carolinakustoms.com/" rel="nofollow">click here to go to our webpage

So here's the ture storie  this guy is going around Portland Or and on craigslist talking about my company first is a 1960 truck that he didnt know was mine, then it was a mustang that was a customers that has 3 cars with us, now he say his friend owned a nova that was done at my shop and is what is funny is I have only did 2 nova's one was my wife and one belongs 2 house down from me. So this guys storie's hav got so bad that craigslist has killed his account. And he is trying to sale his or his buddys shop jj customs. The problem is that we are one of the fastest growning shop in the portland area and Our labor rates are half of everyones and it is pissing people off because we have more work and we have just add 4000sqft to Our shop. we have over 60 people that will tell that we are up front about are restoration work

Plus you can see Our work step by step at www.carolinakustoms.com