Nowhere Man

We all heard about them. But I never really looked over a car they restored. But I was looking on eBay and one of there cars they did show up. A 67 327-300 4 speed convertible. White on red, with a hardtop. Looking at the pictures it looks all nice and shiny but. Why do they miss all the little details of a fine restoration, there are too many small things wrong. But they are asking top dollar. Am I missing something? I know ever one is not into NCRS style cars, but if you are going to restore a car close to original, and ask top dollar why cant they go the extra couple of dollars to make it correct.


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1967-...em130191361383

ZRGator

Are you referring to the wrong valve covers for a 350 horse (you said it was a 300hp car) motor or did you have some other specific items in mind?

65 vette dude

How about the intake manifold? Motor looks like a 300hp.

62Jeff

Well, their cars score extremely high scores at NCRS events.

Perhaps there's a reason this particular car is inconsistent with a perfect score at NCRS. Maybe the owner wanted the car done a different way. Maybe the owner changed it after it was restored. How long ago did Nabers do this car? Heck my own 62 scored a Gold score at Bloomington, but it wouldn't today in part because the definition of correct and incorrect is different than when my car was completed.

I think it'd be a sad state of affairs to judge their work based on a bunch of pictures of a single car that appears in an auction with the phrase "was restored by the renowned Nabers Brothers Restoration out of Houston, Texas"

But I won't make excuses for them, I happen to think the quality of their work, which I've seen for 30+ years, speaks for itself.

unreel1967

I have an all #s matching red/red '67 vert w/24K miles here in Guam and interestingly enough, was about to start my own thread about this very car on ebay and thoughts about the Nabers Brothers restoration quality/prices?? I have family in Texas and thought they might be the most practical choice for me. Anyone have a contact # or web link??

BLee

Nabers Motors
5111 Ashbrook Dr
Houston, TX 77081
(713) 664-1967

Nowhere Man

The obvious things I see wrong are:

A replacement front end. Look at the headlight openings
They cant replace a $10 windshield washer bottle
No screws in the door panels.
Wrong master cylinder, but the correct bail wire tag
Not even close radiator cap
Dip stick appears to be wrong. ( I could be wrong)
Wrong distributor
Reproduction bolt on wheels
They have inspections stickers all under the hood but none on the underside
Bolts on the bumper brackets are on wrong
No label on the oil canister
The steering leakage is not all one color
The rear in is all black

And of coarse the add does not mention any numbers or a picture of the trim tag

I know I am picky but if you are going to restore a car right and put you name on it. Do it right.
My 2 cents

62Jeff

They didn't "put their name on it", the place running the auction did.

And again, this isn't a Nabers auction, don't condem Nabers because this place that is selling a car doesn't put trim tag pictures in the auction.

How do we know they restored the whole car? Maybe they did the paint and body work and the owner of the car did the rest but now the auction lists their name in order to get more points with buyers?

I think it's very dangerous to make a judgment based on a single data point, and almost no facts.

If we're going to play that game, then I'll claim that All Nabers work must be almost perfect because after all the Last Stingray scored something like 99.7% at it's first NCRS event.

But that wouldn't be a fair judgment either because again, it's a single data point and I think we know that car was built to the highest standard that people were willing to pay for.

Chicago Pete

Can you elaborate on the replacement front end?

I want to see if my car has one.

Nowhere Man

the dead give away is is the head light opening. see how the one is te auction is squareish but originals are more round.

Im not trying to put down or say bad things about them. I just dont see how you could restore a car and miss so many things, and then have someone ask top dollar for a 300hp car. I do relize they are not selling the car.

kenba

I have two 1967 Corvettes with origional front ends & the radius in the corners are no more than 1/4 in. Maby NABORS gave the guy what he ask & paid for. Do you know he wanted a NCRS resto?
KEN

Nowhere Man

no I dont but when your that fair into and your reputation is on the line dont you think you would go the extra mile.

62Jeff

No I don't. I think as a business owner I wouldn't try to sell my customers something they didn't ask for that cost more than they budgeted.

Sean Dunshee

I would have to say that from everything I have heard, seen etc as a general rule..Nabors would be where I would take my vette if I had that kind of money. Every customer is different and may ask for things that Nabors may not agree with but the customer is always right..right? All of the cars that I have personally seen that have come from them was as close to perfect as you can get. Just my .02

0Road-Race Vette

I can try to answer that one since i own a restoration shop. Ultimately
any restoration shop (that has the right talent)can restore a car as well as someone is WILLING to pay for.

Ultimately we wish that everyone of four customers will have the means to allow us to do our best work. Most of the time they do but sometimes due to different factors they fall short. At that point we have to make a decision. Do you kick a customer out of the shop,or do you do your best to accomodate them, knowing that the car will be short of your best work and someone might see it and critique it not knowing the full story???

A 50k restoration cant happen for 10k etc....

Another thing that often happens in our bussiness is having owners that are hands on,and do some work on the car on their own after we are done doing what we were asked to do. At that point the car is still done by us, but if the customer decides to paint his dash hot pink to match his new wheels and it looks stupid,does it still reflect on us to the uninformed spectator???? Probably so, but there isnt much you can do about it.

In our shop we try to accomodate customers as much as possible, helping them in any way we can build a great car.Some times when the funds fall short ,we allow them to take breaks so they can recover a bit and not skimp on the car.We advise patience in car building ,as there are no short cuts to a good job.

Most of the time this works and the results speak for them selves.

Now, the other alternative is not to take any work in that we consider to be below our standards. That only happens if the potential customer is completely un realistic in their expectations pertaining to financing a project.In all other cases we work with the customer to make things work with their budgets and time lines.
If all our customer were billionares it would be easy.However we try to build great cars for everyday people and some times that takes a great effort in money and time management.



I am a car guy first and shop owner second so I will always do my best to educate people on the right and most cost effective way to produce great results on their individual projects.

However what they decide to do on their cars after that is their choice alone.
Just a view from our side of things

Stan
http://www.2ndgenrestorations.com

jackcasa

Aren't these the guys who restored "The Last Stingray" for Terry Michaelis (SP?) of Pro-Team?

62Jeff

Yes

Romulus1960

Ya know - I had lunch with the Nabers Brothers at Bloomington last year. Sat down at a random table to have a burger and in no time they had thrown a couple jokes at me and kept the table laughing. Didn't know who they were until someone said somethng as they walked away.

Otherwise, I agree with the other posters. The auction is from a dealership using the Nabers name to further their auction. People love to use names. In reality, we don't know the story unless those who restored the car chime in.

JohnZ

I would seriously question HOW MUCH of the restoration was done by the Nabers' shop; those details are NOT typical of their restorations. They didn't get their reputation as the premier shop in the country by missing all the "correct" details (like an L-79 tach in a 300hp car). Their attention to detail is legendary. I've judged 67's at Bloomington Gold for years with Ken Nabers as a partner, and I'm sure he'd have something to say about the claim in the auction info.

kenba

JOHN I am with you.I have been around Gary & Ken Nabers for 30 years, Ken judged my 66 425H at bloomington. If you read my post I questioned this.
KEN