Al and Axel at Foreign Auto Service in Madison, CT

[Jay Zollinger]

Has anyone dealt with these guys or know them by reputation?

[inaminit]

Hi Jay-I bought a car from Axel, and have been pleased with the transaction, including the post sale follow up.

[81turboporsche]

i use them both ,very inexpensive for service and very knowledgable always bring axel a 6 of heinekins after he has my car,been dealing with them for 3 years

[81turboporsche]

if you have any other questions feel free to ask i originally met them because i was going to buy a 78 sunroof coupe from them when i first was in the hunt for a 911

[Ron.G]

I had my 3.0 rebuilt by Axel. He had it done in less then two weeks!
I brought it to him in four large plastic totes. That is the way it came with the car.(long Story).
He knows these cars inside out and has been working on them since he was 13 years old in Germany. I brought him a case of becks and watched the motor fire for the first time.
He even took me on a little death ride to seat the rings

If you don't mind a few greasey hand prints here and there he and his son are great Porsche Mechanics.

[deathpunk dan]

I purchased a rebuilt 2.2 from Axel last spring, he even did the swap. While he was driving the car afterwards, a flex line went and he took care of it.

My car runs great.
I think highly of him and wish I'd known about his Heineken preference. Will have to drop some off for him.

[Rich76_911s]

Is that Al Conrad?

If so I bought an engine from him, that was advertised and promoted as in great condition, ready to install. When I had the chance to inspect the engine closer it had a destroyed gear on the intermediate shaft. Large chunks of metal sitting at the oil pump screen. Also had terrible leakdown numbers on one cylinder. Didn't want anything to do with making good after the transaction.

Don't know if it is the same Al, but my guess is that it is.

[81turboporsche]

don't quote me on the heineys i always go for the german beer i figured a german guy must like that but being an american who despises budwieser i prob should ask him when i run up their to pick up some tailights

[81turboporsche]

i deal with his father axel,al is a good guy though just the same im sorry to hear about youre experience with them hopefully they rectified it with you

[81turboporsche]

hm thats interesting that they didnt rectify it ,they solely work by word of mouth and past experiences of customers

[Rich76_911s]

I was very long distance at the time of the transaction 2000+ miles away. Maybe they are better with guys who are local. All I can say is they wanted nothing to do with me when poo hit the fan. Which is the time that customer service shows its true colors.

If it were me and I was Jay, I wouldn't deal with them.

[81turboporsche]

i guess thats true i had a 180 speedo crap out after 6 mos and he replaced it on the spot for me at no cost but then again 2000 miles is a bit farther than the 30 plus miles i live , im sorry for you just the same that really sucks

[SirAndy]

From a post over on 914world:

914World.com - A Porsche 914 Community / Forum / Club

Al Conrad (and his father Axel) of Madison CT., are the guys who sold me the 914 on eBay. If you've followed my progress over the past ten months, you know that they swapped the four lug chrome revered wheels that were on the car for a five lug set up. In doing so, they used two different sized spacers...1.5 inch on one side and 1.75 on the other. In fact, on one side they hammered two spacers together. There were no cotter pins in either the tie rod ends or ball joints. One strut is early style and the other is late. One tie rod end and one ball joint had sliced bellows.

I realize it's buyer beware, and I have no problem with the price I paid or the car itself. I do have a problem with a guy who represents himself as "a Porsche technician with 20 years experience", who is willing to send somebody out on a long road trip in a car so sloppily thrown together.

When I just emailed him to let him know that an experienced wrench should know to put cotter pins back into steering and suspension components, he said:

I wrote back and told him he was absolutely correct...that not only shouldn't he be touting himself as a Porsche tech, he isn't even able to cobble together a glorified VW.

[TSNOID]

Hi all does anyone know how to get in touch with this guy Axel in Madison? I have a 1978 SC in need of a lower unit rebuild,any suggestions would be appreciaited. I tried a search for Foreign Auto in Madison with no luck,Thanks.

[Ron.G]

I have since changed my mind about these guys.
When I bought my car the engine came in pieces. At the time I was green as far as Porsche engines went so I brought it to a Porsche expert.... Axel.

I had it totally rebuilt from the bottom up. Also bought a new Sachs power clutch while were in there and had the fly wheel resufaced. After having the car back for a day I noticed a slight knocking sound so I drove 50 miles back and dropped it off.
The next day He said it was all set so I drove it home only to find out the knocking was still there at Idle. called him back and he said he could not locate it and that some SC's do that......

Then I did a total restoration on the car and got it back on the road.
The clutch pedal was not right so I rebuilt the pedal cluster and adjusted the cable. still was not right. tried to adjust it several times still no good.

Then we noticed I have collapsible oil return tubes on one side and solid on the other side. A real confidence booster.

So a couple of good friends and a couple of engine drops later, we fixed what I had payed someone else to do.

My suspicions were confirmed when we separated the Trans from the motor and the original crusty clutch was still there..... So I dropped another 650.00 for a new clutch. to much time had past to call him on it.

Then after chasing the engine knock we found that the wrist pin bushings were not replaced.....Had to replaced them and have them honed at a machine shop...
that was fun trying not to drop the rod caps into the crank case.

So that is my real world experience with them.
PRICE reflects cutting corners to put it nicely. And to think I bought him beer............

[Matt Monson]

Don't know anything at all about the shop in question, but if you want a straight shooting family owned and run Porsche indie in CT, I would strongly recommend Dan Jacobs LLC.

He's inland a bit from Madison (Dan is in Oxford). There can sometimes be a waiting list to get a car in there because he services a lot of PCA race cars and just started his own Grand AM GS class Cayman team, but he and his guys are great people and great mechanics.

[deathpunk dan]

Yes. I too have changed my tune and never went back. PM if curious.

[TSNOID]

Thanks everyone for the replys. I guess I have a little thinking to do. They are nearby,and I dont want to drop ten grand into this car. Regards, Tony T Branford,Connecticut

[GaryR]

Originally Posted by TSNOID

Thanks everyone for the replys. I guess I have a little thinking to do. They are nearby,and I dont want to drop ten grand into this car. Regards, Tony T Branford,Connecticut

Tough choice, but I would sell the car before I had a half-assed rebuild done, you will end up in the same position or worse.. Ever consider a DIY?

[aualexa2]

Tony,

I used to live close to you. +1 for Dan Jacobs. It takes 35-40 min. to get to his shop from where you are, but it's a nice drive and he'll take good care of your car.