I decided to post a review of my experiences with the body shops I've dealt with in Austin, Texas.

My poor Porsche got a bit mangled several months ago (June '99) and I took it to California Custom body shop on Research Blvd near Burnet. They were recommended by some people I trusted. They were said to be the only shop in town with experience with Boxsters. I don't think that was correct, although I have no indication it is not correct. I don't think that their experience has been a benefit to them based on the quality of their work.

Here's an account of what happened (their side of the story may differ, but they can post an explanation on their website if they want).

Customer Service: Very poor. Whenever they were asked the status, including the first day I met them, they said they would have the car done by the end of the next week. Of course that turned out to be three months later. To be fair most of the delay was related to Porsche's inability to deliver parts. They almost always told me that the car was "in paint" or in the paint shop. This was invariably false because I could see it with a generous covering of dust and never moving in their shop. I never knew whom they thought they were kidding.

As I said, there were many delays due to a difficulty in getting parts. I always expressed my appreciation for this and never pressured them to cut corners. On four different occasions they offered to remove parts from another boxster in their shop to supply me with parts.

Of course this alarmed me because now I had fears that the reason the boxster that they had in the shop before mine might have left so quickly after mine arrived because they took parts from my car for it. I don't know that that happened, but it sure got me worried. These kinds of comments are not a smart way to deal with customers.

Quality of Work: When they proudly delivered the car to me, I was excited to be getting it back, but I was appalled at the horrible paint job. It wasn't just a few swirl marks, it was as if they had put their worst lackeys in the paint booth with it. Here's what I found regarding the paint job:

Minor swirl marks everywhere.

Major swirl marks on the driver's door, which they had no business even touching. These were very distinct half-inch diameter marks, similar to cuts made in steel by a milling machine.

A long stripe-like mark down the front hood.

Some kind of 1 inch by 2 inch discoloration on the rear hood.

Over spray (clear coat) on most of the car, but mostly on all the windows, the soft top window, the head lights, tail lights, and most especially on the right air scoop and the driver's door. It was as if they painted a car next to mine without covering my car.

Compound on many parts of the car, like the edge of the convertible top panel.

There was a major problem with the wheels. They bought two new wheels for the right side of the car, but one was received bent from the vendor (or so I assume, I don't think they would purposely give me a bent wheel). When the Porsche dealer did the alignment for them they notified them of the bent wheel. California Custom attempted to correct the problem, but they changed the wrong wheel. It was a simple, but sloppy, mistake. It was VERY noticeable when I drove the car at highway speeds because the car didn't want to hold the road very well at all. When they were told of this error, they took the other wheel that they previously removed and put it on the car. But they put a counterweight on the OUTSIDE of the wheel! If you've ever seen these wheels, you'd realize how incredibly stupid that is.

They replaced the right front quarter panel, and actually did a nice job on the paint there. But they delivered the car to me with a huge dent on that panel. It wasn't dented before I picked it up, so someone did it shortly before delivery.

They were missing various panels and some splash guards, etc. were not attached properly.

The rear end of the car was not straightened out right and the rear trunk did not close properly.

One reason the trunk did not close properly, beyond the fact that the spoiler was bent and the rear end was tweaked, is that they didn't attach the latch. Neither side of the latch was bolted in.

A side marker lens on the right head light assembly was broken off. Rather than replace it, they merely glued it on. It promptly fell off.

There were a few items that were scraped up (radiator grill for instance) that they did not replace for some reason.

They noticed the left radiator was leaking and replaced it. I applaud the tech for noticing it and taking the right action. I warned them of the importance of bleeding the coolant very carefully as it is a common problem to have air in the coolant system after work is done when it is not thoroughly bled. Sure enough, an hour after taking delivery from them I got a "check engine" warning light and as soon as I parked the car a gallon or two of coolant dumped on the ground. I got her towed to the Porsche dealership who corrected the problem.

While at the Porsche dealership, the very high quality techs noticed that the suspension components on the right side were not assembled correctly. They told me that some "lines were not routed properly" whatever that means. The dealership rebuilt the suspension and verified torques. Another superb job by the guys at Roger Beasley.

There were a host of other petty, sloppy errors that aren't such a big deal and easily corrected, i.e., missing fasteners.

Pavilion Lincoln Mercury on Research Blvd, not far from McNeil Lane took custody of my car after this fiasco. What a wonderful experience they were. They took great care of me and my car. Every discrepancy was corrected, they found a few I didn't know about and corrected them, and they presented me with a car in concours condition. I found two minor discrepancies which they immediately corrected.

These guys went the extra mile to do a great job. They replaced the entire convertible top because of the over spray on it. They repainted large portions of the car. They even painted some brackets that I had for my RTS without charge!

They called me periodically, without my prompting them, to give me status updates. If I ever did call them, they returned my calls promptly.

In all, they are a thoroughly professional outfit, and one I would gladly do business with again. I hope I never have to, though. Keep them in mind if you live in the Austin area and have need of body work.

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