fbekholden.com

Hi all

Can anyone provide recommendations for good/reliable Mechanics in the Sydney metro area?

(Of course - must be FB/EK friendly)

cheers
Jamie

Yep , send a PM to dr. Terry .
He has a workshop in Sydney and is an old Holden guru.

Thanks for the tip Blacky ...

But Im thinking that there must be more than one person in Sydney willing/wanting to do this sort of stuff? Maybe Im wrong?

Other than the work that you do yourself, where to you go for the larger mechanical type repairs.

Maybe it would be good to compile a list or such repairers on a State by State basis and place it as a "sticky" topic somewhere on the Forum board. Im sure Im not the only one that would find this helpful ...

Actually/ Also, while I think of it - in a similar way, a list of Spraypainters, Panelbeaters, Autoelectricians etc would also be very helpful. Sort of like a yellow pages of tradesman specially for our beloved FB/EKs ....

Sound like an idea ....

cheers ...

similar to this site FB60:

http://www.classicgarage.com.au/

???

I must agree with you on this point FB60 this would prove to be a very useful resource ontop what this site already provides, with the added benefit of knowing that someone has used them before and approves of their workmanship.

Cheers
Robbo

Robbo ...

Yeah - exactly.

But as you point out - would be great to get an opinion from FB/EK drivers and owners on these tradesmen and the quality/pricing of their work.

cheers
Jamie

Hey Jamie and Robbo,

Like you guys I have found sometimes it 'challenging' to source places that are sympathetic/friendly to FB EK's.

Here is my two bobs worth:
Listing businesses on an internet forum like this is a bit dodgy as people reading it may feel that it is some kind of service/product endorsement from the forum. What happens if they then go to that service/product and get crappy results? Bad vibes all round.

What happens if someone gets crappy service and starts mouthing off on the forum about a business? Possible litigation?

Keeping a list like that updated (eg changing phone numbers/addresses etc) would be constant and would easily get out of date.

Your state FB EK Club is a great place to make extra contacts and to find out what and where other FB EK owners are doing. Speaking from a NSW point of view a lot of our members arn't actually forum members here. Message here is join up and get along to some Club meetings and Club runs. I know you're seriosuly thinking about it Jamie.

I went and bought an A5 size A-Z quick find index from Officeworks and started building up my own list of 'Suppliers and Services' and any other good tips/advice I stumble across. If anyone posts up a specific question on the forum of "where can I find/get" I'll always check my A-Z to see if I have a lead and answer the question to the best of my knowledge.

Anyway that's my slant on it. Maybe others have different ideas. it would be good to hear them. I realise there is a few 'what ifs' in the above. Sorry to be such a wowser about it. Just don't want anyone to get burnt.

Regards
Stewart
"Feelin free in a '61 FB"

PS After going to a local mechanic that was reasonably FB EK friendly I too am looking for someone else. If I find somethone I'll let you know.

I'm finding it a whole lot easier to do it myself with a little help from good mates. Recommendations are just that, some places will treat you better if you say who sent you, but it is still no gaurantee. If I have to send the car out I'll pull the part off first and send just the part. A few bad experiences with my FC years ago has made me very wary of where I leave my cars unattended.

parisian62 wrote: Listing businesses on an internet forum like this is a bit dodgy as people reading it may feel that it is some kind of service/product endorsement from the forum. What happens if they then go to that service/product and get crappy results? Bad vibes all round.

Hmmm .... I dont agree. I say this, because aren't we already in fact doing this??? (I remember a single post a while ago now that contained a list of about 10-15 product/suppliers for boot mats, carpets, door rubbers, sun visors etc - of course I cant find it right now though when I need it). I can also recall many individual posts already on this Forum where Products and Companies suppling them are mentioned (check them out - they're there!). Here are just a few that come to mind:

Engines = GEM
Brakes = Hoppers
Engine = Dinkum Spares
Seatbelts = Mobility Engineering
Exhaust Pipe = Parramatta Exhaust
etc

parisian62 wrote: What happens if someone gets crappy service and starts mouthing off on the forum about a business? Possible litigation?

Well this is what the moderators are for. Furthermore, if the listing was contained in a read-only post (eg 'Sticky), then feedback (good or bad) could not be posted (that is assuming that you dont want to allow feedback). Maybe even a LARGE notice at the top of such notices stating to the effect "we do not endorse these products and/or suppliers"?

Look, what I'm saying is, that "some" of this information already exists on the Forum. It would just be more efficient to clearly organise this information and present it in an easy to find, logical format.

Maybe the proposal needs refinement. But that is true of most systems. Let the discussions begin....

I remember about 12 months ago when I proposed on this forum (at a time when the forum was set up exclusively for the FB/EK of Victoria) that we merge this forum and make it available for all FB/EK clubs around Australia (in the same way as the FE/FC club had/has done). Well, that idea (at the time) was flatly rejected as 'not possible'. Well what do you know - 12 months later we now have a National FB/EK Forum (apparently it is possible)!

Either way - I dont mind. But if you want to keep improving on the site, encouraging wider interests in FB/EK's, facilitating owners getting their FB/EKs back on the road through recommending advice and suitable suppliers etc, -- then we need to be open to methods/ideas that will support this initiative.


Hope everyone has a safe and happy Christmas !

Cheers

Jamie

Here's my my view/opinion for what it's worth

Whilst I agree it is handy to have recommendations from people, we must be very careful when commenting on the poor value or the poor quality of the service on an open & very public forum.
In the modern day & age of litigation anyone can take offence to what has been said & that person does not need to be associated with the business that is being criticized to proceed with legal action – they may just object to the language used - silly but could happen.
An example of stupidity I refer to - although it was in USA - was a person stopped to get a hot coffee, accidently spilt it on herself & then took legal action & won because she was not actually warned the coffee was hot?

Providing a list of services so that a person can make their own decision is probably they way to go but forum comments may not be - unless it’s via a personal message.
As Jamie suggested maybe the list could be a read-only post with a notice stating to the effect "we do not endorse these products and/or suppliers" & while that is a good idea, it would not stop a person commenting via “got something to say” for example.
The listing of services is in my opinion is not the issue but people commenting on the forum is & that is the part that would be very hard to stop - other than deleting those posts - but even then the damage may already have been done by the time the post is deleted.

Probably sound a little over dramatic but this is something to be considered.

Cheers Nick

Hey Jamie and Nick,

Some good feeback there and food for thought. In the first intance I just want to say that I have the FB EK site best interest in mind and don't want the good work done so far by all members go belly up.

As you say Jamie...yep we are already posting up suppliers and services in one way or another. Organising them in an easy to find manner is what its about. As Nick pointed out its when people comment about quality of service and possibility of libel that is the real concern.

After checking with Adam (ValleyMistEK) this is what is proposed:

A locked sticky thread combining all the various suppliers and services known with clear statements of that it is not an endorsement. If members wish to add to the list they will be able to email the details to Adam or myself for inclusion. The proposal will be implemented over the next week or so.

I hope this is OK by everyone. Happy for further feedback/suggestions from members.

Regards
Stewart

Hi Stweart;

Just another thought ...

Have you had a chat with the guys over at the FE-FC Forum? That particular forum is VERY active (much more so than ours currently is), and they frequently post Suppliers - as well as associated reviews of such! To my knowledge, they have not had any issues to date. It might be worthwhile speaking with them to get their input/feedback on experiences as well - there might be some lessons that can be learnt from their implementation?

cheers
Jamie

Hi Guys
They've had a couple of issues at FE/Fc site in fact one very recently when a member passed a seemingly innocent comment about the quality of a product of a well known supplier of rare spares & whilst the comment was in the form of advice & not malicious - was seen by the moderator as an issue.
They have also recently banned a member for a language issue.

I'm not sure of the details but apparently legal action resulted after some comments were posted on a hot rod site.

The world out there is now becomming a legal minefield in every way & we need to be carefull - believe me - I'm in that invironment at my work place.

Anyway Stewart & co keep up the good work

blue ute wrote: They have also recently banned a member for a language issue.

Huh ?

What's that got to do with whether a list of Suppliers should be posted or not ?

Well nothing - was mearly passing a comment in relation to your comment -To my knowledge they have not had any issues to date