My, how the time flies!  I haven’t posted since before the holidays, but now that they’re over I don’t have an excuse!

Back in November we brought in two new projects—a 1978 Camaro Z28 and a 1958 Ford 300 Custom.  Both cars have special meaning to their owners which are always a pleasure to build.  We recognize and appreciate the trust that goes into turning over a car like that, to be completely torn apart in order to make it new again.  We are also honored that we get to become part of the amazing stories behind these special cars.

The Z28 restoration is an anniversary gift from a wife to her husband.  He bought the car new, and it’s the car they dated in.  It had been sitting idle behind their house for years, and since he refused to give it up, she decided the thing to do would be to restore it.

The Ford 300 belonged to the current owner’s grandfather, and was the car he learned to drive in as a teenager.  We will have it better than new for him to drive for his wedding later this year.

We were extremely short staffed at the end of 2011, but have hired a few good people and have some other potential candidates we hope to bring on soon.  That will allow us to keep all of these new projects moving at a good pace and to finish up the ones we have been working on for a while.

The 1950 Dodge Pickup is nearing completion and should be going home in the next few weeks.  The 1970 Challenger is ready for paint, and the Econoline is in mock-up for body work.  The 1966 Mustang went home in November, as well.

We completed a custom pink paint job on a VW Beetle Convertible back in October, which turned out spectacular!

Last week we also got in a 1968 Charger for metal work.  We’ve had a fairly steady flow of collision work in the last several months, too.  Not to mention the work on my Durango—my much-loved Jeep was totaled in October and we’ve been working on replacing it with a 2004 Durango.  Someone had the awesome idea to do a custom paint job on it, so on top of everything else going on we’ve been squeezing in some nights and weekends to get that finished.  It’s looking like it will finally be on the road in the next week or so! 

Just in time for Thanksgiving, I would like to take a moment to give thanks...to our wonderful sponsors who helped with some of the fuel and travel expenses for taking the Challenger to SEMA a few weeks ago!

Spectrum Health Partners

http://spectrumhpllc.com/shp/

Hagerty Insurance

http://www.hagerty.com/

Kings Interiors

http://www.kings-inc.com/

Their generous donations helped us cover the large fuel bill for trucking almost 4000 miles!  Since the opportunity to show the car at SEMA came up last minute, we didn't have as much time as we would have liked to prepare (and budget) for that expense.  We not only appreciate the wonderful service from these vendors, but their amazing support of us, as well, and all that we do. 

So, from everyone here at Team Witt...THANK YOU!!!!!

I need to give project updates, as well, but didn't want to include it in the last blog entry else it would run on for-ev-er! 

So, for everyone wondering how the in-shop activities are proceeding, here's the run down. 

The 1950 Dodge pickup is nearing completion. It's been in final assembly for a few weeks, after the bed wood came in and was stained and polished.  Converting everything to 12v has taken some time, but all in all it's coming together smoothly and should head to the interior shop in the next few weeks.  The tires were ordered from Coker today.

The 1969 Mercedes is also getting ready to be finished up.  There's been quite a bit of tail-chasing figuring out all the issues and getting them corrected, but only a few small things remain there.  We expect it to be out of the shop by the end of October.

The green Challenger is also moving along nicely.  All the parts and jambs have been painted and the body completely prepped for paint.  Just waiting to spray the body.  We had to order new body hardware, which held us up a bit while we waited for that to arrive so the guys could line up the body panels. 

The Econoline has picked up at a decent clip, but we still have no estimated end-date for that project.  We are probably looking at spring of 2012.  It's been stop and go for a while, but now that it's rolling again we hope to get it knocked out.  Recently there's been a ton of fab work which seems to move slowly, but Kirby will get started on the body soon.

The 1971 Volvo had been finished up and went home a couple months ago.  Unfortunately, after just a few weeks, it was rear ended!  So, it's back for a small collision repair and should go back home again this week. 

The 1966 Mustang mechanical restoration will also be finished this week.  I know the owner is excited and antsy to get it back in his garage.

We'll get started on the 1957 Chevy pickup soon, probably by the end of October, but we need to get one or more of the near-completed projects out the door first.  We are also looking to hire another team member as we are extremely short-staffed right now.  Once we find the right person to join the team we'll be moving these projects along at a much faster pace. 

Kirby finished his rat truck in August, but it still has a few odds and ends to wrap up, although it is drivable and on the road now.  We are planning to start my rat rod project this winter.  The weather is just too nice right now to stay inside all weekend, so I’m putting off the start of that work until I don’t want to be outside anymore!

I’ve wanted to write about May for over a week but it was such a blur, it’s been hard to remember and tease out exactly what happened in May, and what came before, and what’s coming up next.

We started the month by going to the NSRA show in Knoxville, which was our first NSRA event.  Our original plan was to head up Thursday night after work and be there all three days, but since our Preds made it to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season, we had tickets to a home game Thursday night.  We left Friday around mid-day, got settled in and just started the show Saturday morning.

The park location of the show was great on the inside, but there was no trailer parking around the area.  Even the show staff wasn’t able to direct us to a place to leave the rig.  The main road had a wide shoulder where parking was permitted, and signs stating “No Parking Here to Corner” so we assumed we could park on the street, and we did.

A couple hours after we arrived, my dad got to Knoxville, after riding his motorcycle over for the day.  He called me and said that he saw where the truck and trailer was parked…and there was a cop sitting behind it with his lights on!  I asked him to go over and see what the deal was, and turns out some people had complained and the Knoxville Police Department wanted the truck moved!  Even after admitting that it was parked LEGALLY, the cop helped us locate another place to park and even gave the guys a ride back to the park since it was several blocks away. 

We didn’t pick up any awards at the NSRA show, and I’m not saying we would have otherwise, but we are also pretty sure that we weren’t judged.  It was a large show, and despite this being it’s 20-someodd year in existence, the staff didn’t really have a clue about where to park, where the show car entrance to the park was located, when/where the judging would take place, etc…  At least not the ones we talked to.  It was still a fun show, with several of our guys going along, and we saw plenty of nice cars and made some good contacts.  The weather was perfect, even a little cool, and it was probably the last weekend I’ll be able to say that for many, many months!

Two weeks after the NSRA was the 6^th Annual Goodguys Nashville Nationals, at LP Field here on our “home turf.”  We were looking forward to finally having completed cars at the entire show, and had three: the black 1969 Charger; the 1970 Go Mango Challenger; and the blue and white 1971 Volvo.  We were also excited that there was no travel involved, and we could drive all of the cars to and from the show (it is only a few miles from the shop) instead of loading in and out of the trailer every morning and afternoon. 

Kirby’s parents also made the trip down from South Dakota to attend the show with us, so that was a very nice addition to the weekend.  They don’t get to go to shows with us often, and in fact, had only been with us at the Deadwood show, which is their “home turf.”  We had quite the crowd at our tent all weekend, with both his and my parents, several of our guys and their families, former team members and their families, friends, and lots of our great customers!  It was really exciting to see how many of our customers came out to see us and show their support!

The weather was also decent enough, even though it was on the hot side, and we grilled out at the tent and generally had a really good time.  The cicadas even stayed at bay until the Monday after, making it tolerable for me!  Unfortunately, though, my allergies kicked my rear end after two days outside, and I had to stay home on Sunday.  I planned to hop over for the awards ceremony at 2:00, but because of the weather, they moved it up to 11:00, and I had just rolled out of bed, so I missed it!

The Challenger picked up the Meguiar’s Magnificent Masterpiece Award, and the Charger nabbed MOPAR Muscle Pick!  Of course we are always excited to win any award, but I was particularly proud of the Charger this time, since this was only the 2^nd show in which we’d entered it, and it has won an award BOTH times!  I’m not surprised because it is a stunningly beautiful car, that is also extremely rare, and the quality of the work is top-notch (of course!).  But it is also an understated car, being completely stock (except the wheels) and being all black.  Sometimes it can seem as though it will blend into the crowd, so for it to be recognized in both the shows in which it has been entered means a lot.  It also tends to garner quite a bit of crowd attention on it’s own.  On Friday it was parked next to the Challenger, which is a completely different type of car, and is painted a LOOK AT ME orange, but the Charger got just as many looks, and maybe even more discussion, as the Challenger.

It was also really neat to hear several people say, “This car was on Powerblock a few weeks ago,” upon seeing the Challenger.   I’m glad people saw it on Powerblock, and I’m even more glad they remembered it!

Anyway, we get a little break from the shows here for a few weeks.  Other than the Power Tour stop in Nashville on Tuesday (06/07) we don’t have another show until the Goodguys PPG Nationals in Columbus the second weekend of July.  That should be a hot one!  It is our first trip to the Goodguys Nationals, so we are looking forward to seeing all the cars there, it is supposed to be one HUGE show!

I’ve had notes for this blog written down for over two weeks now, but am just getting around to typing it up as I wait at the allergist’s office!  It’s been unbelievably busy since getting back from Texas!

One reason has been the insane hockey schedule, but we’re not going to complain about that!  We’re very excited that our Preds made it to the second round, and even though it means even less sleep, we hope they keep on going.

Another reason was staffing.  After another long search we finally hired two new guys for the shop.  Matt started a couple weeks ago and Roddy will start Monday.  Check back for more info on those guys.  I’m still trying to pry bio info out of Matt, and haven’t had the chance to bug Roddy about it yet. 

We’re also nearing the end of a couple projects, which usually entails lots of little details, loose ends and it gets generally hectic.  Especially when you are trying to wrap up a few at a time.  The Jeep went home a couple weeks ago, and the Volvo should go home tomorrow.  The Green Monster was back for a few more minor tweaks, and she should leave next week.  The Bronco is also coming to a close. 

Even though it seems like everything is leaving, we’ve had a few more come in and a few more that will be coming in after that.  The only one that is 100% confirmed (as in, sitting in the shop right now) is a 1957 Chevy Pickup that came to us all the way from the great state of Maine!  Love it up there, it’s so pretty!  The owner is moving to the area and sent the truck down ahead of the rest of his belongings so we could get started on it. 

The Dodge will be kicking into high gear again, and the Challenger is almost ready for the 2^nd coat of primer.  The Mercedes should be wrapped up by the end of the month, as well. 

Aside from the goings on in the shop, we are headed out to Knoxville this weekend for the NRSA show there, which typically lends a bit of franticness to the atmosphere!  Ha!  Luckily this one is a short trip, and then we’re back in town for a while after.  Our big debut on the Powerblock is this weekend, too!  We’re sad we’ll miss it live but can’t wait to get home Sunday night to check it out!

Well, that’s all for now.  Check back next week for info from the show this weekend!

I wanted to write this post on the way back from the First Annual Goodguy’s Spring Lone Star Nats in Ft. Worth, TX but our GPS had us going through some strange back way to get to the interstate (northeast of Dallas) so I had to navigate.  Then the roads in Arkansas were too bumpy to type accurately…and then I slept most of the way back from there!

Not surprisingly, I’ve just been too busy since we got back to sit down and put thoughts to keyboard here.  Today I finally decided that I just HAVE to do it, else we’d be well into our next show before I ever got it done!

We left for Texas on Thursday afternoon, around 1:00, and a full six or seven hours after the time we’d planned.  As usual!  We drove it straight through, getting to my aunt’s house in Arlington at about 3:00am on Friday!  We didn’t even shower, just hopped into bed, for a quick nap before getting up at 6:00 to head to the show.  Needless to say, it took us a bit to get going that morning and after stopping for coffee, picking up our registration materials and getting the car unloaded, we didn’t get parked inside the show until about 11:00.

The parking area was inside the infield at Texas Motor Speedway, and where we went on the first day was all pavement.  As is typical in Texas, the wind was whipping like mad, so we were not able to set up our tent.  I realized on the drive down I had forgotten to pack my sunscreen, but borrowed some SPF 30 from my aunt that morning.  Unfortunately, on my skin, SFP 30 might as well be SFP 0!  With nothing between me and the sun--not even any clouds--I fried!  My legs looked like lobster claws by the end of the day!

There was a modest number of cars and attendees on Friday and we were concerned that being the first spring show not many people would be there.  When Saturday rolled around, boy were we wrong!  After getting up early and getting the car unloaded and into the judging area we set up the tent.  There was a strip of grass right outside the fence separating our judging area from the roadway, and conveniently, our car was the first one parked inside the fence--enabling us to keep an eye on the car while also having shade!  What a lifesaver that was for me!  I had picked up some SFP 100 the night before, slathered that on, and stayed under the canopy as much as possible.  One of our Facebook “fans” stopped by the show to say hello, as well, which was really neat.  Neither one of us had met him before, so it was super cool to have someone come out to meet us and see the car when we were so far from home.  That meant alot! 

We were getting a little nervous because we hadn’t really seen anyone looking at the car who appeared to be judging it.  Who were the judges?  What were they looking for?  In this case, we parked in the “Builder’s Choice” area, meaning we were competing for a Builder’s Choice Award, as well as a chance to be selected as a finalist for the Custom Rod of the Year Award (finalists are chosen at several shows throughout the year, with one winner chosen later in the season).  I walked around and checked out our competition.  There were several really nice cars parked in there, but none of them gave me much concern until…

…I walked up on this black Buick and within a few seconds of spotting it, I knew it could mean trouble!  J  It was sleek, clean and straight as an arrow.  I circled around to the back of the car and then spotted the pinstriped “Alloway’s” at the bottom edge of the deck lid.  “You’ve got to be kidding me!” my brain screamed inside my head.  I figured there was no way we’d beat an Alloway car, and turned out I was right.  This one was selected as the finalist for Custom Rod of the Year at this show.  While losing never feels good, we were totally okay with that result because the car deserved the win.  It felt good to be competing against one of the absolute best, so losing to the best didn’t hurt as bad as it might have otherwise!

Since this was our first time competing in a Goodguy’s show we had no clue as to how it all worked.  Did they tell you in advance that you won, or did you just have to show up on Sunday and see?  Since we had such a long drive back we considered skipping Sunday and hitting the road if we hadn’t won anything.  Didn’t make much sense to drive an hour, unload, sit around for just a couple hours, before loading back up and then heading out of town.  We couldn’t find anyone to ask, so we remained clueless about the process and just planned on coming back Sunday.

Trailer parking was on the other side of the planet from the show entrance, so we started loading our gear into the new collapsible wagon I had picked up right before we left (which, by the way, is a life saver!) and headed back to the truck.  On the way in to get the car we noticed everyone lining up in the opposite direction of the exit.  Kirby asked someone what was going on, and turned out they allowed the cars to run a few laps (at a reasonable speed) around the track.  We agreed that would be wicked awesome and we wanted to do it.

A guy was looking at the car when we got back to it, and Kirby took a few minutes to chat with him.  I opened the passenger door and saw a piece of yellow card stock sitting on the driver’s seat.  I picked it up and saw the announcement: You have been selected for a Builder’s Choice Award!!!!  The card had instructions for Sunday--where to report and when, etc…  I couldn’t wait until Kirby got in the car, so I interrupted him, waving the yellow card in the air.  We won!!!  We won!!!

He finished talking to the guy, and the line of cars lined up for the track started to move quickly, so I told him we needed to get in line.  Once he started the car he noticed that we were low on gas.  We had about 1/8^th a tank.  Not a problem, we thought, since the line was moving.  Then we realized the line was moving to a staging area where they split the one line into two lines, where you had to stop and sign a release form.  That went quickly.  We were still good.  The two lines were split again into three lines, and moved into another staging area.  We sat there for a few minutes.  Now we’re starting to get nervous, and I’m trying to come up with a way to get out of the line and back to the entrance.  We don’t see one.  The line started moving again, so we went ahead.  To yet another staging area, in pit row.  Stopped again.  This time for at least five minutes.  At this point it doesn’t make sense to turn the car off to conserve gas, and to top it off, the car had been starting hard, so turning it off risked it not starting again.  At long last, the line started moving and it appeared as though we were going to get on the track.  Nope.  Just the line to our right.  Not a problem, we’d be next.  Wrong again.  They took the line to our left next!  After another five minutes, and with the needle sitting on E, it was our turn.  Honestly, we believed we’d run out of gas on the track!  But we made it our three laps and had a great time doing it, even though our stress and nervousness over the amount of gas we did or didn’t have left hampered it just a bit!

After we calmed down from our near-miss on the racetrack it finally started to set in that we’d won the Builder’s Choice Award our first time out!  We got the car loaded up but didn’t have any time to rest and celebrate our big win, because my aunt and uncle had dinner reservations for the four of us that night.  So, we headed back to Arlington and after dinner we were so beat that we crashed right away.

Sunday was not as hot as Friday and Saturday, and there was a nice breeze.  We got the car unloaded and in to the Winner’s Circle around 9:00, and my aunt and uncle met us at the show around noon.  After the Awards Parade Kirby took my uncle for a ride in the car while my aunt and I lugged our wagon out.  Turns out my uncle is big into old cars and hot rods, which I never knew for some reason!  They headed home and we loaded up.  After taking a few minutes to cool off and rest we hopped in the truck and headed back toward Tennessee.

As I mentioned before, the GPS took us on some highways and back roads until we reached the interstate about thirty miles northeast of Dallas, which took about an hour and a half.  There was a Preds game on the radio starting at 5:00, so we agreed to drive until the game was over then stop for the night.  That would put us right around Hope, Arkansas.  I hopped online to find a hotel, but thirty or so miles west of Texarkana one of the trailer tires blew out!  It isn’t a Team Witt road trip until some crisis, major or minor, occurs!  Luckily we did have a spare, and it wasn’t yet dark so I played lookout while Kirby changed the tire.  He did it with the speed of a NASCAR pit crew, I swear!  At least to me, who assumed it would take at least an hour.  Twenty minutes later we were back on the road. 

So, we pulled into our hotel in Hope right about 9:00, got some good sleep, and then headed back Monday morning.  We made sure to stop at a tire place before getting back on the interstate since we were then without a spare, and all of the trailer tires needed to be replaced.  One of those things we had been planning to do but hasn’t gotten around to yet!  J  The folks at Kidd Tire Repair in Hope were amazing, and took care of us right away.  In under half an hour we were well on our way!  Turned out that Kidd Tire was just two blocks from the Bill Clinton home, so I walked over and took some pictures while we waited--never being one to pass up a historical site, no matter what it is!

All in all it was a good trip, we are more than pleased with our award, and our trip crisis was more of the minor variety.  It was nice to see some family that I don’t get to see often, since they live so far away.  We’d love to check out the fall show they have in October, as well, and will probably make one or the other an annual trip from now on. 

Another BIG, BIG thanks goes out to our Team, for all their hard work getting the car cleaned up and ready for the show, and for everyone’s assistance in getting it loaded and strapped in the trailer while we ran around like crazy trying to get ready to go!  Without them we would have been even later getting on the road than we already were!  We appreciate each and every one of you guys, and we hope you know that!

Our next show will be the NSRA South Nationals at Chilhowee Park in Knoxville, TN May 6^th through 8^th.  If you are out in that area, please be sure to stop by and say hello!  We’d love to see ya, or meet ya!

Until next time…

I just went back and looked over my post from the end of 2009/beginning of 2010 to refresh myself on all that’s changed in just the last twelve months.  Coming up in April we will hit the two-year mark in our “new” location that isn’t all that new anymore.  I see that we were a little concerned about filling up all our shop space when we first moved in, but that hasn’t been a problem in a long time!  More often than not we are pondering new storage options so that we can house all of our ongoing projects and the associated parts efficiently!  A car completely taken apart takes up three times as much space as one that’s together, so making sure that all of the parts are not only organized, but stored to minimize the amount of space required is an ongoing battle—but a good one to have to fight!

We had experienced a lot of success and gotten a good deal of exposure at our Franklin location, despite being off the beaten path a little, and we were a little nervous about moving up to Nashville.  Particularly since this location was still off the beaten path, too.  But it’s been nothing but a blessing to us, and it seems that the more centralized location has been a benefit to our business.  It also puts us in closer proximity to our vendors and suppliers, which is a huge time and cost saver!

In 2009 we had just attended our first show in an “official” capacity, when we had a booth at the Goodguys show here in Nashville.  We didn’t have any cars that year, though.  What a difference a year made!  We finished up the Charger and Challenger last year, and the Challenger made the rounds of the show circuit during the second half of the year, winning awards almost coast to coast!  We didn’t make it all the way out to California, but we did get to Deadwood, SD where we stole the show!  We are eagerly awaiting the 2011 Kool Deadwood Nites show, as it’s quickly becoming one of our favorite annual events!  We are also very excited to have the Challenger on the show circuit for the full year in 2011, and can’t wait to hit some of the shows we missed last year.  It’s going to be a blast!  Can’t wait for our BIG unveiling at the Nashville Goodguy’s this year…we’ve come a loooooong way since our lowly little booth and no car to show!  J

November marked our 2^nd visit to SEMA and we were fortunate enough to be able to take two of our guys with us, as well.  It’s been a difficult year in the staffing department.  We lost a couple Team Members for personal reasons, because sometimes life throws us some curve balls, as unfair as that can be.  Some others just didn’t work out with us, which sucks for everyone involved, but it happens.  We now have a full, awesome team and we couldn’t be happier.  Hopefully things start to settle down in this department for a little while, with the exception of any new Team Members we might need to hire in the upcoming year.  Here’s wishing for only new additions and no more replacements!

I guess I haven't kept my promise to blog at least every other week, but I've come pretty close!  If we could just get over all the bugs that seem to be going around we'd be doing alright!  The past three weeks have been a revolving door of people coming down with this or that, and the final person to catch something was Kirby.  Even though he'd been feeling a little off since last week, he didn't go down for the count until yesterday.  Hoping a couple days at home, resting, will knock it out.

We've picked up two more guys and added them to the Team in the past two weeks.  The first is another Body Tech who is also helping out with panel prep (for paint), and all of the post-paint "chores" as well.  This will really free Kirby up from some of the tasks that thus far have been on his plate, even though they didn't necessarily need to be.  The other is coming in part-time in the afternoons, after school.  He's a high school senior that plans to study automotive repair after graduation.  We plan to split his time between helping me in the office and helping out in the shop.  He will be able to offer some general relief for everyone, serving as a catch-all guy while also gaining practical experience and knowledge he can apply in his professional future.  We'll post some more info, and add them to our Team page soon.  (I'm a little superstitious at this point--everyone we've added to the site right away hasn't worked out for one reason or another but the people we haven't managed to post right away have hung around!)  It's nice to FINALLY be fully staffed!  We haven't been there in a while!

As for the projects in the shop, a tentative completion date of March has been set for the Mercedes.  We're not guaranteeing that--there are still too many unknowns there--but we believe we can have it done by the end of that month.  When we threw that out there we learned that the customer's birthday is in mid-March, so if we can hit that target we will, but if not it will still make a pretty nice late birthday present!  :)  Parts delays notwithstanding, it should be doable.  We've basically assigned one person, minimum, to the vehicle through completion.

We got the engine for the GTO back from TyTech last week, meaning final assembly has begun on that car.  I have to admit, I'm not personally a fan of red but this particular shade is a very rich red of a bluish variety that is bold and bright while at the same time not overpowering.  When you first look at it, it has more of a burgundy feel on the eyes even though it is a pure red through and through.  Pictures just don't do this color justice!

Since we located a block for the Jeep CJ-5 Gary went ahead and started working on some of the other stuff last week, like the suspension.  We are trying to get as much done as we can before getting the engine back, so that once we do have it, we can drop it in and finish it up.

The Dodge Pickup is moving right along, as well!  If I'm remembering correctly, I believe I was told a few days ago that metal work is basically complete and that body work will begin soon.  Keep an eye out in the next few weeks for some progress pictures that show major, noticeable changes on that build!

The Volvo is moving along at a nice clip, too.  The interior panels that Tommy fabricated have been dropped off at the interior shop, and when Kirby stopped in there Monday the fabric the customer ordered was in, meaning that it should be crossing the finish line in the upcoming weeks.

Work will resume on the Challenger SE build in the next week or so, as well.  Now that we are fully staffed it is easier to keep cars in a regular rotation, rather than having them be spaced out at somewhat irregular intervals.  The build budget on the Challenger limits the amount of work that we can do in any given month, but now we should be able to work on it for a solid week to week and a half per month.  It is off the frame table, but I'm not certain what's next for it.  Once I find out, I'll let you know!

Last, but not least, the "Agent Orange" Challenger will come back in, likely next week, so we can swap out the door panels and reinstall the repaired shocks.  Then we'll have to get her good and shiny for the Powerblock TV taping scheduled for February 23rd.  We'll be sure to let everyone know when that will air.  We are very excited to have the Challenger featured on Powerblock TV, and are grateful for the wonderful people at RTM productions allowing us to come back and film another car.  They have been very supportive of our shop since the very early days, and we appreciate that!

It's been a long time since I wrote a blog.  I really have no excuse, and I've thought about several things I wanted to write...I just never did.  We have been extremely busy in the last couple months, particularly in December, but at the same time nothing particularly exciting or worth making a whole blog post about.  So I'm embarking on yet another catch-up blog to wrap up 2010 and bring in 2011.  One of my resolutions is to get better about blogging on a regular basis this year--if not weekly, at least bi-weekly.

After SEMA we set out to hire again, which is usually a long and painful process for us.  I'm not much into interviewing people and the volume of applications we get every time we post a job ad is a bit overwhelming.  Our intention was to hire a general helper/paint prep person but we did get a few applications for people that exceeded that skill level and one in particular really stood out after the initial phone interviews that I conducted.  So, we brought on our first new team member around Thanksgiving.  We are pleased to welcome Mike Jones to the Team Witt family!  Mike brings many years of experience to the table and is excellent in metal fab, and just generally all around.  He's been a great addition so far, and we hope he likes us too and decides to stick around!

Since we hired Mike as a tech we still needed a shop helper so we kept sorting through the applications and interviewed a handful of people until we came across our second new team member, Randy Woodward.  The hardest part of hiring a general helper is that most people who apply view it as a way to get their foot in the door and work their way into becoming a tech.  We actually have no problem with that, and have advertised the job with that potential in the past.  The problem we've encountered is that people want to quickly move from the helper position to the tech position without gaining the necessary skills first and then can become resentful of the "menial" tasks they have to do as part of the helper position.  But no shop can run efficiently if it is disorganized and dirty or the equipment isn't properly maintained.  Randy brings a desire to make things neat and orderly, as well as excellent mechanical skills, to the team and the shop is already visibly improved in the few weeks he's been with us.  And while he is handy with a wrench he isn't particularly interested in learning body work--it seems his passion is truly organizing things, so he's been invaluable to the group as well, and we hope he also sticks around.  He's also helped us tackle some mechanical jobs that have come in over the last several weeks, which has freed Tommy up to do other things since he was our primary mechanic up until this point. 

Now that we have adequate staff we're running full steam ahead on all of the projects we have in the shop.  In November we completed a Tremec 5-Speed install on a 1965 Corvette.  It also had some rear suspension damage that was apparently pre-existing before our customer bought the car and we worked out those issues as well.  The Volvo is progressing nicely and the interior is near ready for Stephens Brothers to do their thing.  The (other/new) 1970 Challenger is coming along slowly, but steadily.  The guys got it up on our newly constructed frame table and have completed most of the welding.  John's been back at work on the Econoline and we're hoping that in the next several weeks the body work will be complete and we can get her into primer.  The GTO has been painted and we're just waiting on the engine to come back to begin building it.  We heard from Tyree this week that it was on the dyno, so with any luck we'll have it back soon.  We also finally located a correct AMC block for the CJ5 and had that shipped to TyTech last week.  Another project new in December is a 1950 Dodge pickup, which we are moving on at the fastest pace of all the current jobs.  It is a simple-style vehicle and there is no monthly budget limit to adhere to, so we are hammering that baby out at a very steady pace.  Finally, in December, we brought in a 1969 Mercedes 280SL that needs to be finished out.  It came to us from the same closed shop as the Volvo, so the body is mostly done, it just needs the interior and exterior finishing touches.  We did run into a bit of a problem fitting the trim to the body and discovered excessive bondo build in a few places that will have to be reworked in order to make the exterior trim fit correctly and not rub other panels, but we are hoping that we don't have to get into stripping too much of the existing work in order to make that happen.

We've also had a steady stream of collision work since mid-December, with 1-2 jobs in there at any given time.  The last remaining collision job is on a Subaru that took a hard hit in the side and rear.  We are pretty much ready to begin the actual body work on that one, since we did locate the panels we needed, but the customer wants to change some of the stock parts to aftermarket, custom parts, so we are just waiting on him to make some decisions regarding the lights and hatch before we have all the parts that we need to get started.  We're shooting for the end of the month on that one.

The Challenger came back for a short visit so we could remove the shocks and send them in for repair.  When we arrived in Deadwood we noticed that had leaked in the trailer.  We aren't sure of the exact cause, but the roads through most of Iowa and some other states were pretty rough and bouncy, and we think a combination of the bad roads and tie down straps might have stressed them a little too much.  Fortunately the amazing company who made the shocks agreed to repair them free of charge.  They have earned a customer for life, for sure!  Not only were they knowledgeable on the front end before we ordered, but they were a pleasure to work with after, and stood behind their product 100%.  Those are the types of vendors we like to do business with!

Unfortunately, the door panels we had made for the Challenger did not really hold up and the leather has started to separate from the panel.  We don't fault the workmanship of the shop that made them--they did help us out in a pinch and knocked the panels out for us on a seemingly impossible timeline--but such is the nature of rush jobs.  (For a better explanation of the story behind the Challenger interior, see the previous blog entry: FAIL)  Regardless, they are the only piece that's holding the car back from being totally complete, so we hare having those redone right now, as well.  The Challenger will go down to RTM Productions in Franklin, TN on February 23 to be filmed for Powerblock.  Like the Plum Crazy Purple Super Bee we had featured a couple years ago, it will be in the background during the "bumps" behind the lovely Courtney Hansen.  We'll let everyone know the air date as soon as we know.  If we remember correctly, it was a few weeks between the taping and the airing last time, so we expect to see it on Powerblock later this spring.

As much as it doesn't seem possible already we are just seven weeks out from the start of our 2011 show season!  Where did this winter go?  Our first planned show is the Hunter's Custom Auto show here in Nashville.  I say "planned" because I admittedly haven't looked into registering for it yet--that's on the to-do list for this week, as well as all the other show registrations for 2011.  But someone from their shop talked to us at another show and asked if we'd enter the car, so I'm assuming it's a go.  The weekend following Hunter's kicks off the road portion of our year as we head to Ft. Worth for the 1st Annual Spring Lone Star Nats.  We wanted to get to the Lone Star Nats scheduled in October 2010 but we just couldn't work it in around other commitments last year and shortly after that show concluded they announced the addition of a new spring show because the fall show apparently reached capacity and they felt they had the ability to host two Lone Star Nats annually.  March will pretty much always be more convenient for us so we're hopeful that the spring show will be strong this year, and in years to come, so we can make this a regular event.  I have family in Arlington, so it does double duty for us as we get to attend a show and visit with family.  Plus we have a free place to stay!  Who doesn't like that?

April is a down month but May brings us to the Nashville Nats on the third weekend of the month.  We shouldn't have any flooding this year, and maybe the weather will be nice and mild like this past year!  We did not get to fully enjoy the 2010 Nashville Nats because we pushed hard to get the Challenger completed and did not.  (For the full story there, see the previous blog post: FAIL).  We did manage to get the Charger in the show, but only for half the day Saturday.  This year we will have at least four cars in the show (Challenger, Charger, Volvo and GTO) and likely a fifth or sixth (Dodge pickup, Mercedes).  It will showcase the entire range of work we've been fortunate to have in the last two years and exemplify how versatile our shop is.  We're really looking forward to this show and being able to have a strong showing of our work locally, in what is fast becoming a major national show.

June is another down month, which is more than welcome because come July that's when things really kick into gear.  We'll be attending our first ever Goodguys Nationals in Columbus.  Last year's planned trip was scrapped at the last minute because we ultimately didn't feel the Challenger was 100% ready to debut, at least not at a show that large.  So we stayed home and got her ready for MOPAR Nats and Kool Deadwood Nites, and that turned out to be the right decision!  So this year we are heading up for sure--I already booked a hotel room for the weekend because they sell out fast--and are looking forward to this show, as it is one of the largest in the entire country. 

We decided to skip MOPAR Nats this year for a few reasons.  One is the weather--it's just too damned hot and muggy--and that about killed us this last year.  The other is that after getting our judging sheet from the 2010 show (we placed 3rd in our class) we know that we cannot compete in our class at that show.  Because the car isn't stock we have to be in the custom class, but their judging criteria for the custom class docks points for any part/system of the car (such as suspension, and even the radiator hose) that is stock.  Our Challenger isn't 100% custom, and that was never the intention.  It's not to criticize their judging criteria at all, because each show has it's own thing and that's what's cool about car shows, but of the four categories where we were docked points, three of them we cannot change so we know for a fact that we'll still get 0 points in those three categories.  So, while it was a fun show to attend as MOPAR lovers, we just can't justify the trip if we are only going as attendees, particularly with KDN just two weeks after.

That brings us to KDN, which so far has been our favorite show!  No...not just because we won big there last year, but because it's in an awesome location with amazing August weather (such a welcome break from the surface of the sun that is Tennessee August), and the format of the show is unique.  It's a good mix of cruise-ins, rod runs, live music and judged show.  Plus, we have family in that area of the country as well, that we get to visit with while we are out that way.  It's Kirby's family, which is particularly special since many of them don't ever get to see our work because they don't travel to Tennessee often so it's really nice to be able to bring our work to them.  We have a couple of customers who have expressed interest in attending this year which means we may have more than just the Challenger at this year's event.  We've rented a cabin in the Black Hills for the duration of the show so we aren't commuting back and forth daily from Rapid City (about an hour one-way) which should make this year's experience a bit more enjoyable--or at least a bit less tiring!

***For a full schedule of shows and events, click on the "Calendar" tab at the top of the page.  We update it as we add or cancel show appearances.  Depending on our summer/fall workload we may be adding more shows, so please check back regularly for an up-to-date list.***

When everything was all said and done, 2010 was a busy and exciting year for us.  It went by really fast and I'm not sure that everything has even sunk in completely.  We had some ups and downs trying to stay fully staffed but now we have a complete team of guys that totally rock and we're excited to plow through the projects we currently have...and can't wait to see what's next!  2011 will be our first full year on the show circuit and also our first year featuring more than one car at various shows.  As taxing as it is, and as nice as it's been to be stationary for a few months, we are looking forward to getting back on the road and enjoying the shows.  Thanks again to everyone for their support!

Well, it is that time of year again!  My personal favorite holiday—THANKSGIVING!!!

And in honor of what is typically just a gluttonous feast of epic proportions and unending duration I’d like to take a few minutes to focus on the meaning of the holiday and give thanks for all the things in 2010 that we have every reason to pause and be grateful for!

• As always we are most thankful for our wonderfully talented team members Tommy and John!  Without you guys none of this would be possible!
• Tied for first place with our team members are our amazing family and friends who support us, lend a hand, vote in online contests, come out to car shows, fill in when we are on the road, and who just generally put up with our crazy schedules and long hours!  A special mention goes out to Tommy’s wife Jennifer and John’s wife Cendie for allowing us to “borrow” their husbands for extended periods of time!
• Rounding out the three-way tie for first are our customers!  We are so blessed to have great customers, who love what we do as much as we do!  Some people complain about their customers and some people think of them as a necessary evil of doing business, but we honestly love you guys and appreciate each and every one of you.  Thanks for making our work day something special, and not just “another day at the office.”
• We are thankful for a relatively uneventful show season, in the specific area of road hazards!  We covered over 4000 miles on the road this year, in just a couple months and we only had two minor incidents…a flat tire on the truck in St. Louis, and a related trailer meets pole incident!  We normally can’t get around the block without some kind of major vehicle malfunction, so this year greatly increased our successful mile average!
• The result of 2800 of those miles was our big win at Kool Deadwood Nites this year.  That trip was planned and scheduled, not around the show, but around a family visit, and we just happened to take the car to enter in the show, as well.  We couldn’t have been more surprised when we swept the show!  We won all of the categories for which we qualified, as well as BEST IN SHOW!  We are so, so, so very thankful for that win, as it has given us incredible exposure, increased our web traffic exponentially and will continue to pay dividends through the 2011 show, where the car will be featured on all of the show’s promotional material!  Plus, now we have an excuse to head back out next year, and there’s nothing like escaping Tennessee for the Black Hills of South Dakota at the end of August!
• In such a tough year economically for everyone we are thankful that we’ve continued to stay busy, and even grow a little.  Naturally, the pace of our growth has slowed and is a much more steady process now than in the first two years, but with all that is going on out there we can’t stress enough how amazing it is to even be able to say we’re still growing!
• We’ve also had the pleasure of meeting and working with several new people this year in conjunction with what we do.  Such as Ray King from Pinups and Lace/Three Kings Photography, and Nikki Forte pinup model extraordinaire and the brains and brawn behind Forte Designs! 

Last, but certainly not least, we give the sincerest thanks to the Big Guy Upstairs!  He has provided guidance in times of uncertainty, comfort in times of stress and continues to remind us daily to be thankful for everything we have, not just one day a year.  We appreciate the opportunity we have to work at a vocation, and not just a job!

So…on that note, everyone have a safe and happy holiday and we’ll see you next week!  Then it’s time to sprint down the home stretch of 2010 and explode full force into 2011!!

Lots has been going on around here, but mostly it’s been a lot of sickness!  Kirby and I were both out for a week in October and got well just in time for the SEMA trip, then I came back with the crud again and was out most of last week, too.  That makes three times in two months for me!  Hopefully I’m done for a while!  With the help of our amazing crew we’ve stayed on top of the work here at the shop, but I’ve been behind in updating the website and blog, as well as converting everything to the new photo albums and keeping the Facebook page up to date.  So, here I am on a Sunday night trying to play catch up! 

First and most importantly, we had a great SEMA trip again this year.  Tommy and John accompanied us this year, which will pay excellent dividends over the long haul with all of the information and ideas that are picked up out there.  Kirby and I were just discussing how we wish they’d hold it at least twice a year because it is so refreshing and motivating to see all that’s going on and meet other people and learn about new products and tools.  We picked up a neat little tool out there and are in the process of getting set up to sell the little device, so be looking for more information on that in the next two weeks.  We should have it available for sale through our website by the end of November, and it will make an excellent stocking stuffer for the gearhead on your shopping list!

The show was noticeably smaller than last year, with many vendors missing, fewer attendees and scaled back displays from the vendors that did show up.  In talking with people there we became even more aware of how fortunate we are to have work and great employees to work with us!  Since we’re coming up on Thanksgiving I thought I’d mention just how thankful we are for that—and all our customers, friends, team members, and family that make it possible.  I know I say it a lot, but I mean it from the bottom of my heart every time.  Not a day goes by that we don’t recognize just how great each and every one of you are and we know we haven’t gotten here alone!

In other news, the “Agent Orange” Challenger continues to win awards, most recently taking it’s decade group in the online Texaco Car of the Decades contest.  Another huge thanks to everyone who voted, and tolerated my pestering in the last few days to really get out the vote and push us across the finish line!  It was a close race with the 2^nd place 1969 Dodge Charger, and we narrowly won by the hair on our chinny chin chin!  We should know in the next few days who the grand prize winner will be.   

The Challenger will also be entered in the Music City Bike, Car and High Powered Boat show this coming weekend, November 20-21 at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds.  Show hours are from 10:00am to 8:00pm on Saturday the 20^th and from 10:00am to 5:00pm Sunday the 21^st.  Come by and take a look if you are in the area.  We’ve never been to this show, but have heard from others that there are some very nice cars, bikes and boats to look at.  The weather is predicted to be fairly nice this weekend, but the show is indoors, so regardless of what the weather actually does, it should be a good venue.

Finally, thanks for bearing with me while I convert the photo albums.  The process is going more quickly than expected no that I’ve been able to sit and dedicate several uninterrupted hours to the process, but I do have to convert each page completely before uploading the new galleries to the website.  So, while I have just published the completed “Restoration” page in the new format, it could still be a few weeks before all the pages are converted and fully uploaded with pictures of all the new projects in the shop.

It has been another busy two weeks here at the shop!  Weekend before last was the Music City MOPAR Club Show here in town and we took both the Challenger and the Charger to the show.  The Charger got 2^nd in the B-Body Stock class and the Challenger got Best in Show-Modified.  The weather was great that weekend and we had lots of people come out to see us so it was lots of fun.

The last show of the season for us is next weekend, October 15, 16 and 17 in Bowling Green for the Googduys Nostalgia Nats.  We hope to see some of you there.  We are glad to close out the year at a show close to home, and in such a great location—Beech Bend Park is an ideal location for a show!  The weather should be awesome, too.  We will have the new, much improved, seats in the car by then.  The door panels will be redone during the “off-season.” 

This past weekend we brought in a 1970 Dodge Challenger S/E, owned by a local customer, for body and paint.  It is almost completely torn down and ready to head to the sandblaster early next week. 

We are also making great progress on the 1971 Volvo, as parts have been painted and the body is getting the final wet sanding before paint right now.

The suicide doors on the Econoline are finally hanging AND swinging!  It took quite a bit of elbow grease from John and Kirby, but they look great and are reinforced for extra durability and quality.  John’s now moved on to the remaining headlight bucket fab work.

The GTO is painted and just waiting on its engine to return from TyTech.  We will be very pleased when we can get it back on the road!  The Pantera is also going home soon.  All of our work is complete; we are just waiting on the owner’s garage to be completed before he can drive it home for good!

In other news, we’ve entered the Challenger in the Texaco Car of the Decades online contest.  Please take a minute to go register and vote.  It only takes a couple minutes, doesn’t require a ton of information to register, and it is free.  You can only vote for each car one time, so it really doesn’t take long at all!  In the one day since voting opened we vaulted into the top spot in our category and overall (as of the time of this posting) and it is because of everyone’s support!  We truly appreciate our family, friends, customers and fans and all you do to help spread the word about Team Witt!!  So, go vote for the car by following this link:

http://texacocarofthedecades.com/cardetails.aspx?Preview=False&CarDetailID=249&Era=Muscle&Decade=1970

Additionally, a couple months back we had a lovely lady from Ohio named Nikki Forte request a shoot with the Challenger.  She has a deep love of Muscle Cars and used to work on them with her dad growing up.  Through local photographer Ray King (who has taken other pictures for us, including some of the Charger you see on our site) she found us and our car.  Photos from that shoot will be published in Vintage Ink Magazine’s upcoming 2^nd Issue, so be sure to check her out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cssWz6jGwI

We have several more photo shoots tentatively scheduled in the next several weeks so hopefully we have some really great photos to share with you soon!  Kirby has been making progress on his Rat Truck on weekends and we hope to have that on the road by the end of the year!

Last, but not least, we only have three weeks until SEMA!  Looking forward to it, and so are all the guys!  Just a reminder, too: since we are taking all our guys to SEMA this year the shop will be CLOSED from Monday November 2-Friday November 5, 2010.  We will reopen Monday November 8 at 9:00am CST!!!

Whew!  What a busy and HOT week we’ve had! 

We have some new pics of the Charger posted, thanks to our friends at 3 Kings Photography!  They rock!  Be sure to check them out at www.3kingsphotography.com.

We also took in a 1967 GTO back in June that was damaged in a collision.  After some headaches and red tape with the insurance company of the other driver we are finally started on that repair.  While the car is here being worked on, and the whole front end if off, the owner decided to have Tyree from TyTech do some engine and transmission work on it.  Check out those pics and check back in a few weeks for the finished product!

In addition to the GTO, we took in a 1971 Volvo this week from a customer who was having the work done elsewhere, but due to unforeseen health circumstances of the shop’s owner, the shop is closing.  We will finish up some mechanical on the car, round out the body work and get the car into paint.  It’s a really neat looking little car, not like the “Soccer Mom” wagons of today!  Pics will be up next week.

Finally, we’ve been doing mechanical repair to a 1971 Pantera that was damaged in the floods back in May.  Talk about one super sweet car!  It’s been fun having that in and around the shop the last couple of weeks.  Hopefully we’ll be sending it down the road soon but are getting hung up with the radio antenna.  It’s those old pieces of “technology” that can be the biggest pain sometimes!

Next week is MOPAR Nats and we’ll be leaving Thursday morning for Columbus.  With any luck I’ll have all of next week’s updates on Wednesday of next week instead of Thursday (and in this case, Friday!).  While we are gone I will FINALLY FINALLY get my Jeep finished, and if you can’t tell, I’m super excited about that!

This past Saturday, June 19, we loaded up the Challenger and attended the 2010 Tennessee Valley MOPAR Club Show in Huntsville, AL.  The car wasn't 100% completed, as we still need to modify the rear door panels (wrapping them in leather added just enough material, that with the adjusted body lines the doors won't shut!), the trunk still needs to be finished out, and a few minor mechanical tweaks are still in order.  But, it was 98% complete, I'd say, and we didn't want to pass up another opportunity to get the car out there and to see what type of reaction we'd get.  It was a smaller show, but all MOPAR, and we just wanted to get a feel for what other people thought about the car.

When we got up Saturday morning it was pouring rain.  The forecast had been for sun and temps near 100 all day, so the downpour was a bit of a shocker.  We waited it out a little while, then headed over to the show when we talked to the people who were meeting us there who said it wasn't raining at the show location.  We arrived, parked and had just pulled the car out of the trailer and started wiping it down when it started storming again!  The bottom fell out, and we got the car back in the trailer just in time, right before the worst of it hit.  After about another hour of waiting the rain seemed to be gone for good, and we got back to getting all the dust off the car, etc...  Both times we pulled it out of the trailer it immediately attracted crowds of onlookers.

At noon we finally drove the car through judging.  I was a little nervous since interior was a category for scoring and ours was obviously incomplete (and what we have completed still needs some minor adjustments).  The judges didn't seem to spend a whole lot of time looking the car over, so I assumed they pretty much had their minds made up one way or another.  You never know what you are going to get at a show, particularly one that is make-specific, because you can encounter alot of "purists" who don't particularly like restomods and customs.

We parked the car next to a 1969 Dodge Charger that was really sharp, and the same color orange (just a little brighter).  The owner was really nice and both cars were getting plenty of attention.  About an hour before judging stopped the sun finally came out, and what was a comfortable but muggy day turned into blazing, scorching hot!  We were so glad it wasn't hot as predicted all day or it would have been just unbearable. 

We walked over to the awards presentation area, and even though some of us say otherwise, I don't think anyone was expecting to win an award on our first outing.  There were tons of beautiful cars, many of them painted the "high impact colors" like Go Mango Orange, Sublime Green, Plum Crazy Purple.  The majority were good, stock restos or survivors with the majority (if not all) of the customs geared toward racing.  When they finally started announcing our class, 3rd place and 2nd place passed us by, and then all of a sudden it hit my how nervous I was.  I imagine it felt alot like Miss America contestants feel when they are waiting through the runners-up!  But when they announced the 1st place winner it was us!

We were all so excited, we cheered and clapped louder than anyone did for any other car that won.  I felt a little silly, but it was a big victory for us to do so well on our first time out with the car, and with it somewhat incomplete at that.  Of course, the point of going to car shows is not to try and win awards but to have fun and show your vehicle with a group of like-minded individuals.  But for a shop it is always good business to have vehicles on the show circuit that are winning awards--that's one of the major ways you get your name out there and build your business reputation for quality and craftsmanship.  It was also a great win since it was a MOPAR-only show, so we know we passed the test of the most die-hard judges who truly love and respect these vehicles more than just about anyone out there.

Our next show is Goodguys Nationals in Columbus, OH in just a couple of weeks.  This show usually draws over 7,000 cars from all over the country, and we know that we will be in stiff competition up there.  We honestly don't have any expectations of bringing home a big prize (or any prize) from that show, but it is definitely one at which to see and be seen! 

Thanks to our client for all of his dedication to the build, and to our great team of guys who made this build and win possible!!  We love all of you like family!!! 

We just finished up another busy week here, moving the remaining collision jobs through and finishing up the Challenger details in time for the photo shoot Wednesday evening and the TN Valley MOPAR Club show this weekend in Huntsville, AL.

Wednesday night was tons of fun for everyone, I think, when we hosted our first photo shoot featuring the Challenger and model Nikki who drove down from Ohio for the shoot.  She was amazing at what she does as well as being super sweet and great to work with.  The photographer also did an excellent job and we look forward to collaborating with him in the future.  We can’t wait until we can share the images with everyone, so stay tuned for their release as well as any news regarding when and where they might be published.  The entire photo crew, including Brix who handled makeup and hair, were spectacular!  We really appreciate all they did, and the fact that they chose our car to use.  You can see more of the photographer’s work at www.pinupsandlace.com.

This week has been a welcome change of pace for us all, after the hectic weeks leading up to the show and the craziness of getting back into a “normal” routine last week.  Tommy is off on a well-deserved and much needed vacation and we actually took Memorial Day off!  We almost never take any of the holidays besides Thanksgiving and Christmas, so that was a big deal for us!

Final details are still being finished on the Challenger and we are on track to have it finished for the Tennessee Valley MOPAR Club Show in Huntsville, AL June 19^th.  It will be a great relief to finally “debut” the car, and at a MOPAR-only show at that.  It should be lots of fun, and we’re really pleased that our first show won’t require a ton of travel since we are still somewhat in “recovery” here at the shop!

We have also made some changes to the upcoming summer and fall show schedule.  We had planned to attend the Goodguys Chicagoland Nationals September 17-19 but have scrapped that plan for a show closer to home.  The YearOne Braselton Bash on September 18, 2010 will be benefitting the Hot Rodders Children’s Charity and will be co-hosted with Chip Foose for The Progeria Research Foundation, with which he is very involved.  We have entered the Challenger in the “Chip Foose Select” group, which will consist of 100 vehicles personally judged by Chip Foose!  Just by entering this class you get a photo with your vehicle and Chip, so that in and of itself will be very awesome!  The winner gets to attend a dinner with Foose and the President of YearOne, in addition to having Foose sketch the winning car!  Of course Kirby is excited about the prospect of dinner with Chip Foose, but I’m plenty excited about the prospect of having an original Foose sketch of one of our vehicles!  That is truly priceless!

We have also added Kool Deadwood Nites in August.  We are looking forward to this show, despite the two-day trek it will take to get there because it gives us an opportunity to showcase the car way outside our local region, as well as visit with some family in the area.  I’ve also only spent one afternoon in Deadwood, even though it is one of my favorite places historically-speaking, so I’m totally jazzed about the chance to see more of the town.  The live music line-up is also looking to be super cool, at least for a Doo Wop nerd like me!  Hopefully the owner of the Challenger will be able to fly out for the weekend and meet us at the show, too!

As soon as the Challenger is 100% complete and we have some good photos (both amateur and professional) to work with I’ll be getting them out to magazines and other media ASAP.  Keep checking back to see how my PR efforts turn out for us and where you can find or see the car this summer and fall!

I’d also like to take a little space and wish Tommy a happy birthday—tomorrow June 4^th!  That is also my birthday, as well, so happy birthday to me too!  His wife’s birthday and their wedding anniversary is also this weekend, so congrats and happy birthday to Jen!  It’s a big milestone weekend for some of our team members!  J

Despite everyone's extremely hard work and unwavering dedication we were not able to make the deadline for the Goodguys show this past weekend with the Challenger.  We did have the Charger complete and it looked fantastic!  It drew lots of attention and compliments and it felt good to finally have a completed car out there, even though we were terribly disappointed that the Challenger was not ready to show.  Much thanks to Andy for being an excellent customer and coming out to the show to support us.  We also appreciate all our friends and family who came out to support us at the show and who stopped by to see the Charger and say hello!

Still, it was a huge letdown to not have the Challenger completed.  It had been our goal for over a year to have it ready to show in this year's Goodguys Nashville Nationals.  The first issue we encountered was that the show was moved up five weeks from previous years due to the fact that it had been scorching hot each year and that was affecting turnout.  Last year less than half the cars returned on Sunday because of the extreme heat.  Being in the city and mostly on asphalt with only small tree cover makes it an inhospitible location for a car show when it is much above 80 degrees.  We had known this was a possibility since last year's show but the date was not confirmed until early 2010.

We still would have been well equipped to finish on time but again things would not go in our favor.  In January 2010 we experienced some upheaval with our team, having to let go one team member who was not performing up to par and who was actually setting us back significantly.  We had hired another team member in December so the loss of the other wasn't a major setback in and of itself, but after being with us only a few weeks and just finding his groove within the group the new team member had to leave indefinately to deal with family issues.  Kirby was also taken off working on cars for a full four weeks to deal with unanticipated issues with the shop and equipment that had to be dealt with immediatley.  Given the gravity of the situation we were extremely flexible and a few weeks later we picked up another new team member--John.  We quickly made up for the lost hours, and even gained some ground with some overtime worked by all our guys.  But what we expected to be a four week absence turned into ten weeks due to circumstances beyond anyone's control.  We did not wish to hire someone else because hiring is costly and time consuming, and after some discussion with the team member we had an agreed-upon date for his return.  Yet again fate would not fall in our favor because just two weeks after his return Nashville experienced the devistating floods and his house was one of the casualties.  Unable to return or to give us a probable date of return it was agreed that we would need to hire another new team member, but with the extreme overtime being clocked by everyone in the shop at that point it was not something that could be done at that time.  We all remained focused on getting the Challenger completed before the show before addressing hiring.

We were so grateful to have friends and family pitch in when and where they could, and everything seemed to be coming together despite all the previous setbacks.  Many all-nighters and many close to it were logged as we sprinted toward the finish line.  Our guys were averaging somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 hours per week and we were on target to get the car completed on time.  It got into paint a full two weeks late, but the painting went smoothly and quickly and Gary Mizar was able to work around our schedule to get the emblems done within our timeline.  Three weeks ago we encountered what would prove to be the fatal blow to the deadline when our interior shop (who for the time will reamin nameless here) failed to deliver a critical interior piece--the dash--on time.  It was absolutely necessary to get the dash beacuse it needed to be installed prior to the wiring and glass.  When we did finally recieve the dash eight days late, after much hounding by us, it was less than adequate to put it nicely.  Now, just nine days from the deadline we were back at square one with all of the interior, and the crucial dash piece.  Two days of hectic phone calling and multiple pickups and deliveries later we secured another shop who was willing and able to do the work to the quality we required within our budget and time frame.  Despite two days being lost to that fiasco, we still thought we would make it.  Tommy completed as much wiring as he possibly could sans-dash, and when we got the dash back for the second time we were just one week from the deadline.

Work continued around the clock and the interior shop who failed on the dash seemed to be stepping up to the plate with the remaining items we left with them (headliner, carpet and seats).  We had used the interior shop for over two years and had been more than satisfied with their previous work and wanted to give them the opportunity to keep our future business.  After installing the carept and headliner on time the seats were still MIA.  We got the other critical interior piece--the console--from the new interior shop on time.  We did encounter a few small issues here and there but the extensive mock-up we did with the car and parts before paint was really paying off.  Somehow the wires got crossed again, and the new shop wasn't able to deliver their remaining pieces (kick panels, trim and door panels) until Friday morning.  By Wednesday we had already resigned ourselves to the fact that the car would not be ready Friday morning, and the forecast called for rain all day, so we planned on having the car completed Saturday morning for the show.  The other interior shop, with the seats, however were never told about that decision and we were supposed to have delivery of the seats on Monday when the carpet and headliner was installed but we only got the driver's seat that day.  All of the other outsourced work was falling into place and getting completed on time but on Thursday morning we still had no other seats.  After placing a call to the interior shop owner who played dumb with us claiming he thought the show was on Saturday (and not Friday) we were guaranteed the reamining seats "first thing Friday morning." 

First thing Friday morning turned into early afternoon on Friday and we still didn't have any seats.  Another call to the shop informed us they were being delivered, and sure enough they showed up with the seats just a few minutes later.  I was presented with a bill at that time for the balance due after our deposit and it was significantly more than our customer was willing to pay given the work that was not completed by them and the inexplicably horrible customer service we recieved on the entire order (which they had in their posession with the deposit since February 22), not to mention the inexcusable delays.  After a couple phone conversations between myself, the interior shop owner and the customer, the owner informed his employee to take the seats back.  He escaped with one but not before I was able to lay across the other two and prevent their removal.  A few more irate phone calls and a threat to involve the police led to a compromise on the amount due and the absconded seat was returned.  Despite working all night yet again, we were still far from the finish line come Saturday morning.  We loaded up the Charger and I went to the show with it, while the guys got a little rest and resumed work on the Challenger hoping for a Sunday morning debut. 

The cascade of small issues just didn't stop.  This hole wasn't cut right, this hole in the door panel wasn't cut out at all, the padding on this interior piece is too much so the trim panel doesn't fit, or is blocking another part, etc...  Further, parts we had ordered and reordered were still not correct.  The trunk of the car still needed interior work--that had been abandoned for the time being as we could keep the trunk closed for the show and deal with it later.  The list of small issues had just added up to a pile that could not be addressed with the requestie quality needed in time for the show.  We don't take shortcuts and we don't slam things out period--let alone on a car of this caliber.  We did not want to "fake" some elements just to get the car in the show, only to have to go back and completely redo them afterward.  It doesn't matter if the wipers worked for the show, but all components would have to be removed again to hook them up properly after, etc... 

We don't make excuses for our work.  It will be right or it won't leave.  That is the foundation of our business and one of our core values--and what makes us so much different than many other shops.  And in this case it cost us our deadline and a major local and  national show.  We also aren't completely blaming outside circumstances for not making the deadline because there were certainly things we could have done differently over the last five months that might have put us ahead of schedule, even though we didn't anticipate the need to be ahead of schedule.  But had none of those things happened, and everything gone according to plan, the car would have been completed for at least two weeks prior to the show deadline.  Just being down the one team member for the two weeks prior to the show cost us between 100-120 man hours alone, and that's ALOT.  It probably wouldn't have made up the complete difference but it would have come damned close. 

It is utterly discouraging, to be completely honest, to have worked so hard and demanded and recieved so much of our team members and their families to get this far and fail to meet the deadline.  Its embarassing, too.  We aren't proud, and its not going to feel good come Monday morning when we all go back into the shop greeted by our bright orange failure sitting in the middle of the shop.    We had so many people take time out of their lives--nights and weekends--to come and help us keep the car moving forward.  It feels like we have let all of those people down and that their hard work and sacrifices for us were in vain.  It is not easy to even type this, because no business (or individual for that matter) wants to just own up and say, "Yes, we failed."  But we did.  But we only failed to meet that deadline.  The car did not fail.  It will still be completed, and it will be completed on our terms from here on out and it will be completed right.  This is still going to be one of the most stunning cars on the road in Nashville, and even the country.  There is no change in that fact.  Sure, we have to wait another year for the next Goodguys Nashville Nationals, but that is not the only Goodguys show there is, and it is not the only one on our planned show circuit this summer and fall.  And Goodguys isn't the only car show around, either.  There will be many, many more.  And ultimately we'll have a car out there that we can be proud of, and won't have to make exucses for--and neither will our customer.

Because of the immense interest in this project and the weekly updates that have been given I felt we needed to offer an explanation of what happened and to tell the story like it is.  It has been a valuable lesson for us, and we now have eliminated untrustworthy vendors and have a better understanding of how to approach and schedule outside work on a vehicle, especially the work that has to take place at the end of a build.  Unfortunately you don't know someone is going to fail you until they do.  As our first complete, ground-up custom build we have learned so much in general and it has enabled us to streamline and perfect the process for the future.  We have done many completes, and even complex projects and Kirby certainly has plenty experience in that area, but this build was completely new terriroty in that regard and went above and beyond what anyone on our team had dealt with in the past.  As you can see from the pictures, this car was taken down until there wasn't another bolt, screw or panel to be removed and almost all of it was replaced with new and often custom components that were not specifically manufactured for any specific make or model vehicle.  That is quite the unertaking and there seems to be a limitless number of variables to consider that you can't learn until you actually take on a project like this.  We are eternally grateful for our customer's patience and understanding, and his willingness to even come out and lend his hand to the work when needed.  We appreciate that he was understanding--even demanding--that work stop at this point so we could regain our sanity and approach it with fresh minds and bodies on Monday.

At this point we aren't yet sure when it will debut.  The other lesson we've learned--or already knew but been strongly reminded of--is "make a plan and God laughs."  Sometimes there is simply nothing else you can do.  Our guys who worked on this build--Kirby, Tommy and John--did nothing wrong, and could not have given any more than they did.  I personally believe that everything happens for a reason, and despite seeming completely incompreshensible to me today, there was a reason this car wasn't to be completed and entered in this show here this weekend.  We can only hope that God does show us the way, and explain exactly why this weekend turned out the way it did!  We will be sure to keep everyone updated as we plan the debut for this car, and we are actually happy that it will not be a rushed, half-hearted effort that it was turning into as this weekend approached.  Because that's not how we do things here at Team Witt.  This is an amazing car, that has had so many amazing people lend a hand, and it deserves a better coming out party than that!  We are also, again, grateful that we did have the Charger complete and that it was a stunner.  In every bad situation there is something good to come out of it, and we hope everyone else stays on the ride with us to find out what that is!  Thanks again for your support! 

We are less than 24 hours from showtime now, and things are, well...going!  Fits and starts, ups and downs have been the name of the game around here.  The glass was just installed in the Charger and it is about to be loaded up on the trailer and taken to the alignment shop.  Once its back this afternoon its detailing time!! 

Had a little ignition problem late last night-early this morning with the Challenger, and after troubleshooting for quite a while it was finally late enough to call Tyree for some help.  Fortunately it isn't anything major and should be remedied within the hour.  You always learn something new on these builds, it seems like almost every day! 

The most frustrating and daunting part of this stage of the game is scheduling, organizing and implementing all of the big and small things that need to be done, most in a particular order--particularly when it is someone other than us that is responsible for that particular task.  My head has been spinning trying to keep it all straight!  Kirby's been buried up to his eyeballs in it all, and fortunately found a few shortcuts for us to take that help keep the car in the shop longer so work can continue, rather than be on pause, while certain things can get done. 

Window tint is supposed to be happening shortly for the Challenger and I'm about to head over to Kings to check on the remaining interior peices and drop off our final piece for them to work on!  Nothing like the last minute, huh?!

While we'd love nothing more than to be completely wrapped up and have a full weekend at the show it is looking like rain tomorrow.  Our customers don't want their cars out in the wet weather, and we certainly don't want to sit out in it either!  So...for better or worse it looks like we get an extra day to cross our "t's" and dot our "i's."  We look forward to seeing everyone on Saturday!!

**Note: no new pictures will be updated today, due to the tight schedule, and the fact that we want to upload the completed pics after the show this weekend.  Sorry about that, but I promise it will be worth the wait!  :)