How did the repairs drag out this long?
Many of us car enthusiasts dream of one day owning and restoring a classic muscle car. However, many people just simply don't have the budget or time to do so. This leaves us with two options, either we abandon other parts of our lives and give all of our spare time and cash to the car (a perfectly good option) or we get someone else to do it. In this particular case Geoff Kelly, owner of this beat-up Holden, took the latter option. Unfortunately, it appears that Mr. Kelly found the wrong repair shop to enlist for this project. While many restorations take months to complete, this “build” has resulted in little to no progress at the expense of over six years.
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Our story begins with a 1966 HR Holden. This viscous vehicle was commissioned to be restored to its former glory by a local Australian mechanic, Mark Rasmussen. The original agreement involved Geoff Kelly paying the amount of $10,000. $7000 of which was paid via bank transfer, another $2000 was paid cash. For six years the owner had been promised time and time again that his beloved beater car was mere months away from completion.
These promises were often put aside with Rasmussen claiming “serious illness”. This went on for far too long and eventually devolved into full-on theft (kind of) after Geoff Kelly moved and was only able to communicate with Rasmussen over the phone. This gave the “builder” just enough wiggle room to move the car to an undisclosed location. The tricky part of the whole ordeal is the fact that when Kelly finally found Rasmussen's address the car was completely torn to shreds. This was most likely the result of a failed attempt to upgrade the car to go above and beyond with the restoration. However, instead of fixing it, Rasmussen decided to, in his own words, sit on his ... for five years. It is incredibly easy to point fingers in this situation however it is worth pointing out that, out of the $10,000 which was agreed upon, only $9000 was paid. The fault is on both of these men, Rasmussen for not finishing the job, and Kelly for not paying up and trusting an inexperienced builder.
With Rasmussen now stating that Kelly only paid him $5000 of the agreed-upon $10,000 things are getting even more complicated by the second. It also becomes very clear, upon examination of the ridiculous $3000 storage fees, that Rasmussen may be looking to scam some extra money off of this frustrated man. While the two will have to settle this in a court setting, it is quite interesting to imagine the outcome of this event. Will Kelly get his car back? Will Rasmussen get the money he believes he deserves? Find out next time on… no, I'm just kidding, we hope to see this case unfold in a desirable outcome for both parties as the blame seems to be evenly cast here.
Source: A Current Affair
