Vick AutoSport In Fort Worth Texas!

[Zunige]

I think it's good to retain a sense of humor in adverse situations, but I would like to ask members of this board to be considerate. Had I been the one spending a considerable amount of money on performance upgrades for a Spider that I bought new, and ended up losing power, I wouldn't find it funny to be made fun of, and I doubt that my family would either...

Best regards,

[genericwood]

While I haven't had business dealings with either John or Andy, I would prefer to see things like this dealt with off-line. The truth is rarely as it appears on the surface. I don't know who is right, and as a result, I'm not likely to ever do business with either the accuser or the accused. That's called a "no win" situation! For John's sake, I hope his accusations are correct. Unlike South Africa, the US is a very litiginous nation. If they aren't accurate, Andy has one hell of a good case!

Erik

[Seinista]

Saliboy, please refrain from using capital letters at every word.
Read the forum, understand in which section to post.
Use the search function, and learn and enjoy!
For specific questions, you can send a private message to those concerned.

[Denny164l]

Wow man lot of.....I was almost going to send my heads out to Vicks to get rebuilt. But if this is what its going to be.......NAAAAaaa. By the way Im in favor of keeping threads like this open to the public. THIS is how we look out for eachother so this and other bad things dont happen to us Alfists..When you regect or hide the truth or info you have nothing else to embrace but a lie. There are many examples HERE on the BB where many honest Alfists have been saved from frauds just because they happened to read a post from the BB.

[Jim Tyson]

As a resident of Houston and the owner of 12 Alfas(most of which have been serviced by Garcia Alfa Racing) I find myself reading this thread with horror. I am also customer #4 referred to in John's original post. The business relationship between John and Andrew involved a substantial amount of horsetrading. It's unfortunate that their business dealings have soured.I have not been privy to the specific terms of any of their transactions.Some or all of John's complaints may be perfectly valid but this website is absolutely the wrong place to air them.Business disputes that can't be resolved should up in litigation. I have known John for about a year and think highly of him I have known Andrew Garcia for over 15 years.I consider him a close friend. He is not a thief. He has tried for about a year to keep alot of balls in the air and he has dropped a few.Garcia Alfa Racing has many satisfied customers and I am one of them,notwithstanding the situation described by John(and his description of the facts is a little off). Richard Jemison's blast at GAR contained in this thread is proof that members of the Alfa community should remember that every dispute has at least two sides. I was at GAR when the spider referred to by Jemison was inspected by Micheal Keith.Jemison's comments are dead wrong.The business of Vick Autosport should not suffer based solely on John's problems with Andrew.

[aralfa8589]

I agree that this is an appropriate venue for these issues. I know that Andrew Garcia has done some good transmission work. I have had great service from Vick in the past 2 weeks. I hope this gets resolved with minimal suffering.

[junglejustice]

Jim, I think that you know from our interaction that I have the utmost respect for you as well! I respect the fact that you have a friendship with Andrew that goes back 15 years, but we should never let friendships place blinders on our eyes when "a friend" loses it!

I too considered Andrew a friend and tried to refer as much business to him as I could over the past 3 years, but evidently he did not have the same level of reverence or respect for me! He simply stopped returning phone calls, and would not reply to ANY emails the day he figured out that he owed me and Glenwood Motors SA money and I started asking him to pay up!

Top that with repair work paid for in advance by several customers, but cars not returned for 1-2 years! Leaking rebuilt gearboxes! Sand in transaxles! Slipping "new" clutches. USED clutches where new was ordered and paid for! 92 horsepower 13,000 dollar 4-cylinder rebuilds! On and on!

I think that this is more than just a few dropped balls. The man hides like a rat! I had no other recourse. What? Spend 10K on a law suit to try and get 5K back!? That's throwing good money after bad. He is broke - How will I ever collect any way?

By the way - I tried the diplomatic route BEFORE starting this thread, remember? After dozens of calls and emails to Andrew that came and went without a single reply, I called you a few weeks ago (as a neutral party/attorney/friend/customer also caught up in Andrew's web), to try and help us work this out! Nothing came of it, so I decided to let others know about some of the experiences with Andrew out there!

[jontg428]

Having met John in person, I can say he is very adamant about things being done right. I also had a friend who ordered some poly bushings from Andrew and waited a long long time for them. So from what I have seen, John seems to be in the right, especially from the weak testimony from the other party on this board. I have known people who have got parts from John, all have been happy, so well, thats my .02 cents, just hope that after this thread we all learn something, best to all,

Jon

[tomp]

What, grow moustaches and wear hats?
-TomP.

[Zunige]

A few days ago I received a PM about my comment on this thread, which made me think about what I posted. In fact, it made me think about it quite a bit, and after considering what I wrote, I decided to remove my comment altogether. I have always strived to treat others as I would have others treat me, and while my post was not intended to judge anyone, I could not see how it was in line with this principle. Simply stated, I would not want anyone commenting about me, the way I commented, particularly if that person does not have first hand knowledge of the situation.

The only interaction I have had with GAR has been to benefit from their co-sponsorship of the driver events at the national convention. The last image I have of Andy Garcia is at the convention hotel parking lot, working underneath one of the well-known Alfa race cars. As a favor, he was changing an oil hose (a very nasty job) in 95+ degree weather.

I would like to apologize to Andy, GAR and Vicks. I certainly do not wish to cause harm to anyone’s business or livelihood, and much less to other people who work in such businesses. As someone who doesn’t live anywhere near GAR, I am not a customer, but I have ordered parts from Vicks. I won’t change any relationship and I will continue to patronize Vicks, as I have had nothing but a positive experience in doing so. Furthermore, as nothing more than one of thousands, I feel that I owe all my fellow BBers the courtesy of making them feel welcome to post, interact, and have an overall positive experience. Andy deserves no less from me.

This in no way should be interpreted as an opinion about what others have stated here, especially those who are privy to the facts surrounding this situation. I don’t doubt anyone’s sincerity, particularly that of JungleJustice and the gentlemen who sought my opinion on his car’s performance. In fact, I feel I must also clearly say that the gentleman who contacted me had only one focus, and it was to improve his car’s performance. He is a gentleman. Anyone directly involved in the issues expressed here has every right to seek a resolution, and as people privy to the facts, they are informed parties.

I would also like to express my sincere wishes that all of this gets resolved, and that our small Alfa community retains the camaraderie that has for so long underlined its existence. If there is anything I can ever do to help a fellow alfista, I will do so gladly.

Best regards,

[bshorey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zunige The only interaction I have had with GAR has been to benefit from their co-sponsorship of the driver events at the national convention. The last image I have of Andy Garcia is at the convention hotel parking lot, working underneath one of the well-known Alfa race cars. As a favor, he was changing an oil hose (a very nasty job) in 95+ degree weather.

[tectoteam]

Its a kinda of; TRANSAXLE IN YOUR FACE...
A well know french way, to make some new friends.

I would recomend this person for any Gearbox rebuilt:

[JoeCab]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tectoteam Its a kinda of; TRANSAXLE IN YOUR FACE... A well know french way, to make some new friends.

[Anfanuts]

Just to weigh in on GAR, I had a very good experience on my 69SV rehabilitation over the past several months. I let it sit for way too long and things kind of crapped out. This happened before on an overseas assignment so I kind of knew what was coming. Mike Keith did all the work with an assistant they had. Andy was involved with the Vicks deal. Mike gave me a very detailed estimate up front. Sticker shock. It was much more than what I wanted to see but knowing the situation, Alfas and good quality, it all made good common sense. Do it now or have an unreliable car and do it over the next 1-12 months a piece at a time. Mike knew the drill and had the integrity to let me know up front. Even at that, more failed than we'd optimistically hoped would (38 year old clutch, brake issues up the wazoo, boosters, etc.). But I digress. The work was done to a high quality and on the schedule we agreed. I was in no great hurry. I had no interaction with Andy other than the original contact and I saw him once in the shop during a visit. Mike was absolutely great. I hope he lands well after all this; he deserves good things. AS JJ said, he's a gentleman and deserves well.

I guess what surprises me about all this earlier diatribe- and it's really none of my business being the FNG - is that this reminds me of an abusive marriage. To hear all this carping, like someone who keeps getting beat and keeps coming back for more. I think Forest Gump said something about this . . and it wasn't the one about the box of chocolates. Anyway. There may now be no one left in Houston to work on Alfas with a credible reputation that I am aware of with GAR possibly closing its doors.

[jack_linguini]

hey tectoteam. Do you have a link to a larger file of that graphic.
It's awesome. And no. I don't mind hijacking this insane thread.