Classic Auto Works

Buyer beware! If you are looking to get conned by one of the best, then do business with this man. Otherwise, steer clear.
I consider the day I walked into Mike Shambarger’s (aka Classic Auto Works) shop to be one of the biggest mistakes I have ever made. The court system agreed with me on that point when I was awarded the return of my vehicle (in parts at about 60% complete) along with a $ 20,000 judgment against him in Travis County civil court. This was after I allowed him 4 times longer than he quoted me to complete the vehicle and then another year of legal battles. 7 months after that judgment, I still have yet to recieve a dime of that judgment from the criminal.
This man has been getting by for years making a living off people who have more money than sense. If you have a desire to dump countless tens of thousands of dollars into the dream of maybe, possibly, someday, hopefully, if the stars all align, Mike has someone competent working for him, and you spend a lot of time praying that you have a slim chance of owning a restored classic before you kick the bucket. You should understand that it will cost about 3 times the amount that Mr. Shambarger leads you to believe that it will cost (even though he doesn’t give quotes, nuh uh, no way, no how!) and it will take at least 4 times longer.
Mike Shambarger is what I said he is, a con man. He does not do body or paint work (he won’t tell you this until you catch him), he has minimal mechanical skills and overall he doesn’t know the business he in which he purports to be an expert. I relied on him for more than a year to make recommendations on parts, mechanical setup and such. Since recovering my vehicle I have learned that he really doesn’t know much about anything with regard to vehicle restoration.
He will quote you a labor rate to get your vehicle. Then he will quickly strip it down to a pile of parts. Once he has done this and has you by the cahones, he will stop work altogether and start bemoaning his labor problems. Shortly after this, he will start handing you invoices that will attempt to charge you labor rates higher than what you agreed to pay (in my case it was a $ 10/​hour increase). He will charge you around $ 70/​hour while attempting to hire body and paint «professionals» for $ 15/​hour. He will keep you on the hook by playing to your emotions about how tough he has it and tell you that he will be happy to give you your vehicle (uh, parts) back if you don’t want to «stick with him». He will do whatever he can do to run up his in-​house labor costs. For example, he tried to bill me more than $ 2,500 in labor to restore a door and a fender that could have been replaced for less than $ 600.
I could go on for pages, but I will stop there. Look for a website soon that will tell the whole story of my and my wife’s experience with this criminal…