Al and Diane Reed

[sammyg2]

Great people. I just got back from there, I'm going back to exchange my wheels for loaners in a couple hours.

I've never met a couple who are so easy to talk to, I know all about their grandson and what they did over the weekend

There were three other guys with 911s there at the same time I was.

I also can't believe how cheap their prices are. $50 each to strip, polish and paint my 6&7 x 16s (polished lips and paddles, painted backgrounds). When Diane said she would polish and hand paint crests on my center caps for $15 each I thought she was joking. As soon as I realized she was serious I said SURE!

$1 each to polish the lug nuts, $50 for unmounting, mounting and balancing all 4 tires, free loaner wheels, I got off cheap. $330 for all that work. No way would I even try it for that.
PS, after they told me the prices I said that they are not charging enough. Sorry bout that

I mentioned Pelican parts and they said they get lots of buisness from this board.

[don911]

I have a pair of 8x15's that I need to refinish before I sell them. I need to get them down there before they change their prices. A place near by charges $112 just to polish a wheel.

[pbs911]

I agree, very, very nice people. And the last of a dying breed of small business owners where the owner takes pride in his work and its shows. I picked up my engine tin that was powder coated last Friday and have to go back for my fan, valve covers and fan housing in the next couple days. Everything powder coated for $90, including polishing the inner portion of the fan housing! By far one of the best buys anyone will ever make for their Porsche. The quality of the finish is second to none. BTW, Al does do the powder coating himself. Just give him a couple days to finish mine before you ring his phone off the hook. He runs a very small business so even answering the phone takes away from the work day.

[J P Stein]

[i]No way would I even try it for that.
[/B]

Candy A$$
What happened to the founding father of the SCCSOB club?

[sammyg2]

LOL the last time I polished and painted fuchs my finners bled for weeks and they only had 4 spokes. I figure the 5 spoke wheels would be 20% harder
I decided then and there that would be the last time I ever did that.
BTW Al said my wheels will be ready for pick up on Friday. I figured a week or two, not 4 days. cool.

Oh, and sitting on Al's desk was a print out of a thread from this board. Evidently one of our own gave it to them to show how famous they are.

[obrut]

Bad topic for me today - sent my spare set of 15x7 and 8 original Fuchs to be stripped and redone. First phone call, stipped the first 8, big cracks - throwaway. Second phone call - stripped the other 8, big cracks throwaway also.

Some days...

[rmurph]

I have an 87 with 15" Fuchs and would love to get the center caps painted. How do I get in touch with Al and Diane Reed? I live in NC, but could ship the center caps to them in So. CA. What is the name and address of their business. Thanks for the info. Great board, keep up the good work.

[Adman]

Al Reed Specialty Polishing
3010 E. Coronado # A
Anaheim, CA 92806
714- 632-3907
Great people. My polished and painted center caps will be here on Friday.
Matthew

[Superman]

JP, Sam's not SCCSOB founder. That would be me. I could easily be expected to stupidly take on a job like that. You're talking to a guy who reuses not only valve cover gaskets, but also cleans and reuses the nuts and washers as well. I'm WAY dumber than I look.

[sammyg2]

He he he, .....there's actually a club in Southern California made up of Porsche enthusiasts who regularly cruise junk yards, swap meets, etc. in search of parts that can be used on their cars. We are sometimes creative with what others consider junk.

It's called the CSOBOSC (cheap SOB's of Southern California). The only real requirement is to hate paying full retail on anything and to consider your own labor free.
Any time we find a deal or a trick to save money we post in on our e-mail board and everyone subscribed gets the post, kind of like Rennlist but on a much smaller scale. Not very much traffic but what is there usually saves us $$$. If one of us is getting ready to buy something we post it and others offer advise on where to get the best deal, etc. AKAIK there are about 2 dozen members, most of them are into 914s but a few have or have had 911s too.

That's the club JP was talking about, but it sounds like Superman would fit in real nice
I earned my membership when they found out I bought used spark plug wires for my 914 V8 project from the pick-a-part for $1 each, but they've been watching me real close since I bought the 911. I'm on double secret probation.

One of the members converted an electronic ignition distributor from a VW rabbit to fit in his very nice 914. I think his total cost was around $30 for a factory German EI.

Most of the members own sawz-alls and have parted out at least one Porsche.

Anyone interested in more info, lemme know.

[Superman]

I can see my reflection in your group, Sam. My motoring history: Always drove POS's. Always. Never paid more than $300 for a car I'd drive (wife gets something nice, of course). Salvage yards are good for almost anything but gas and oil. Points, brake shoes, anything. Then, I got to where I would shop around for the best POSSIBLE price on stuff like brake shoes (a guy's got to mature sometime), but I was still winning, bigtime, on the miles-per-overall-dollar category. Bigtime. My performance in this area rivals that of the cheapest mechanics (do you guys understand the kinds of car most mechanics drive?......they carry water in gallon jugs until the water pump seals leak to much for three gallons to get them all the way to work)

That's when I realized that, since my labor IS free, and since it is EXTREMELY difficult to get me to overpay for parts, I could probably drive nearly anything, efficiently. And I do take good cars of cars, or at least I know how, so why not drive something I can love? So, that's how I fell into Porsche ownership 3.4 years ago.

At any rate, I admire the efficiency efforts of your group. I think we understand each other.

[Dave Bell]

Yea... and we got a CSOBOSC patrol that is checking up on our members as well..... Sam... you are risking probation for that wheel expenditure... you are going to have to use your junk yard ignition wire set for a few weeks as penance....

By the way... do they fix up the 4-lug Fuchs as well for the 914... of course I would be asking for a friend.... not myself. ;-)

- Dave

[sammyg2]

Yup, they have a few of the 2 liter fuchs in the front office on display, look real nice. And if you take your own tires off you can save some more money! any you 914 guys don't have the crests on the center caps, there's another $60 savings. It just keeps adding up