Publisher Driven to Help Car Owners : Glitches in Specialty Auto Kit Behind His Crusade to Assist Maker’s Clients

The World War I and World War II era helmets that sit on the bookcases of Curt Scott’s Santa Clarita office are supposed to be strictly decorative. But lately, the publisher of specialty car guides has been thinking it might not be a bad idea to start wearing one. He feels under siege.

In the insular world of kit cars, Scott’s “The Complete Guide to Specialty Cars,” and “The Complete Guide to Cobra Replicas” are road maps, giving descriptions of vintage car replicas that can be built in the family garage out of a kit.

But Scott, 48, in the past five years has become a consumer activist for those who allege they have been defrauded by a Florida kit car manufacturer, Classic Motor Carriages of Miami, which sells the chassis and other parts in a replica car kit that enthusiasts are to assemble with an engine from another car.

Scott’s efforts, and those of a consumer activist, Stuart Rado, have led to charges filed by the Florida attorney general’s office against Classic Motor Carriages, alleging deceptive and unfair trade practices and failure to acknowledge complaints when Classic’s customers demanded refunds. Hundreds of Classic’s customers have complained that their kits came without all the promised parts, according to Mona Fandel, an assistant attorney general in Florida.

Officials at Classic Motor Carriages concede that they were growing too fast and had some troubles making deliveries promptly. Classic Motor Carriages has also countersued Scott and Rado in U.S. District Court in Southern Florida, alleging that they have orchestrated a vicious smear campaign aimed at driving them out of business. Classic also alleges that Scott became angry with Classic when the company decided to pull its advertising from his magazines, a charge Scott denies.

Scott, who has put out car magazines for 13 years, said he is now handling his own legal defense because he cannot afford the $40,000 in legal fees to actively fight the suit.

Since taking up this consumer crusade, Scott says, his business has suffered, he’s received anonymous calls threatening him and learned that becoming a consumer advocate carries a heavy price. His small publishing business has slowed in part because he’s spent so much time fielding phone calls from Classic’s customers. And the downturn in the economy also cut into sales of kit cars, which has hurt Scott’s own business. Scott estimates his annual revenue has fallen by more than 50% to the low six figures.

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In the arcane world of kit cars, “It is an extremely rare thing for a small press guy to undertake this thing,” says Patrick Bedard, a columnist for Car and Driver magazine. “One of the things that gives [Scott] credibility is that I have seen so many letters from truly desperate customers” of Classic Motor Carriages. They told Bedard that when the kits from Classic Motor Carriages finally arrived, “a lot of parts were missing,” Bedard said.

In the early 1990s, Scott first began receiving a trickle of complaints about the Miami company. At first, he would send a note to Classic or make a phone call to the company, which had been one of his advertisers. Pretty soon more Classic customers were calling Scott, claiming that Classic’s aggressive sales staff pressured them into sending deposits for kits costing $5,000 to $10,000, and that when the kits arrived they were incomplete. Scott said that he felt almost like a counselor, as customers who felt wronged by Classic would call from 7 a.m. to as late as 10 p.m., seven days a week. “I couldn’t put the phone down without someone calling me. These people were being jerked around up to their eyeballs,” he said.

Scott began calling the Florida attorney general’s office, the FBI, the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Postal Inspector’s office. Eventually, he wrote about Classic Motor Carriage’s practices in his magazines, and gave callers a list of state and federal agencies to contact.

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Meanwhile, Classic had its own financial problems. It had been one of the largest kit car firms and had delivered 20,000 car kits in its 17 years in business. In Classic’s best year, 1985, the company says revenue reached $20 million. Its recent sales sank to half that, says Benedict W. Harrington, president of GGL Industries Inc., which does business as Classic.

Harrington blames much of the company’s delivery problems on the early 1990s when Classic came up with a kit that had car fanciers drooling: kit versions of the 427 S/C Shelby Cobra. The original Cobra, a sleek sports car whose body was crafted in England and had an engine by Ford, was described by car lovers as a jet engine on a roller skate when Ford sold it in the mid-1960s for about $7,200. Though a real one can now cost $500,000, Classic put out a fiberglass replica for $9,995. Customers could assemble the fiberglass body, drop it on a chassis with an engine of an old Volkswagen bug and have the car of their dreams for a fraction of the price.

“It takes off so well I start to get into trouble,” Harrington said as he recalled the rush of orders. But he estimated that 15% of the Cobra kits had to be back-ordered because of heavy demand.

Two unhappy Classic customers were Barbara and Gene Dunn of Ventura. They said they had heard about the Classic model of a 1934 Ford Coupe in a car magazine, called a toll-free number and were told that if they acted fast, they could get one of the few remaining kits.

After paying a $6,000 deposit and waiting four months, the Dunns said, they received the chassis. But they said it was welded crudely, with leftovers dripped over the components so they wouldn’t fit together. Gene Dunn said that when Classic described the car on the phone, “you were told it was going to be a show quality car. But it looked like it was made with an erector set.” After complaining to Classic, however, they got their money back.

At about the same time, Miami consumer activist Rado was swinging into action. Rado sent questionnaires to hundreds of Classic customers, asking them about their experience with the company.

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Then in July the Florida attorney general’s office sued the company, alleging that consumers “experience inordinate delays in delivery of all parts and their complaints go unresponded” by the company. As customers canceled their orders and demanded refunds, that ate into Classic’s cash flow, the company said.

As the court wrangling continues, Classic officials are moving to save what’s left of the company. Harrington said earlier this month that the lion’s share of GGL’s assets are being sold for $5 million to Advanced Plastics International Corp., a company headquartered in Delaware. Under the pending deal, a trust fund of $150,000 or more will be set up for aggrieved customers of Classic. “It will end when all the customers are satisfied,” Harrington vowed.

Still, Classic Motor’s problems may not be over. The U.S. Postal Service is continuing an investigation into the company, according to Rafael Rivera, a postal inspector in the Miami division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

Meanwhile, Classic’s suit against Scott and Rado will continue. Harrington said he had no intention of dropping that suit.

Scott counters that Classic’s suit was filed, “to harass me, to punish me, to silence me.”

Even so, he says it won’t work.

“There’s no way I can back down,” he said.