Saw a Dick Harrell car today, must say I am very disappointed by the quality...
05-31-2008, 11:18 PM
#1
Saw a Dick Harrell car today, must say I am very disappointed by the quality... I have only seen these cars in pics on line and they look INCREDIBLE... Read online Edelbrock was having an open house/free tour today and I went in hopes of seeing Vic's Dick Harrell...
Well, I saw the Dick Harrell... First of all I must say Edelbrock is AWESOME!!! They had free donuts and coffee for breakfast, took us on a great tour of their facilities (learned A LOT about how parts work, get made, even saw an experimental LS1 intake getting made on a parts "printer") then back to the museum for a really good free lunch. Good times, I'll post a thread with pics later...
Back on topic, saw the DH car first thing in the morning and was amazed by it. I thought it looked fantastic. The curves are AMAZING in person absolutely amazing:
Then, after the tour, we came back and I drooled over it a lot more. Started looking closely at the body work, it is pretty friggin horrible
The back flared fenders look like it was someone's first time doing body work... Visible lines, and I am not talking about distinct shape lines, I am talking about sh!tty bondo like blend lines that look like a winding road and are pretty clear under the wetsanded and buffed paint...
The paint wouldn't have won any shows either but I think that is just because he actually drives the car (saw change in the cup holder
) which is very cool but it did look like a driven, undetailed car.
That's not the bad I am talking about though, the back fenders just looked like really poor workmanship... The fronts looked good (but they were one piece fiberglass from what I understand, not blended onto metal) and the bumper looked really good. Then they popped the hood...
Let me just say, they would have been smart to retrofit their cars with VFN hoods because the FINSH quality (in other words looking like a finished piece, not a prototype) is WAYYYYY higher than the design on this car, check it out...
Here's the bottom of my VFN hood:
Here's the Dick Harrell car:
It is painted and shiny, just looks like it was built by someone in their back yard, not a high end top dollar shop...
Hard to see it in the pics but it was basically an, almost poorly shaped even, carbon fiber top skin mated to another hood's fibeglass (I assume it is glass) bottom skin. Not even completely open where the cowl is AND to carry the "look" over it had carbon fiber "plates" put in the corners to LOOK like they were cut out as well:
I could be wrong, but that's what it looked like to me. Really odd...
Engine bay was dirty but that is cool because again that means it gets driven...
It is weird, as Mike (sommer86) pointed out, that we little guys do wire mods and stuff to look better but the high dollar cars don't...
...but the weirdest thing was that we had to call a guy over to let him know, in case the car was running like crap (or better that it should have), that the MAF actually needed to be connected to the lid for it to work...
That was just weird... Maybe it is just a torque beast and torqued it out though.
I was just very surprised when I caught the right light angles and could see all that body work. Maybe it just cured bad and didn't leave the shop that way? Paint didn't really look all that red (as you can see in the pics) either...
Oh well, I'd drive the living ***** out of it and over all (staying a good foot or so away) it looks cool as hell in person
Well, I saw the Dick Harrell... First of all I must say Edelbrock is AWESOME!!! They had free donuts and coffee for breakfast, took us on a great tour of their facilities (learned A LOT about how parts work, get made, even saw an experimental LS1 intake getting made on a parts "printer") then back to the museum for a really good free lunch. Good times, I'll post a thread with pics later...
Back on topic, saw the DH car first thing in the morning and was amazed by it. I thought it looked fantastic. The curves are AMAZING in person absolutely amazing:
Then, after the tour, we came back and I drooled over it a lot more. Started looking closely at the body work, it is pretty friggin horrible
The back flared fenders look like it was someone's first time doing body work... Visible lines, and I am not talking about distinct shape lines, I am talking about sh!tty bondo like blend lines that look like a winding road and are pretty clear under the wetsanded and buffed paint...
The paint wouldn't have won any shows either but I think that is just because he actually drives the car (saw change in the cup holder
) which is very cool but it did look like a driven, undetailed car.That's not the bad I am talking about though, the back fenders just looked like really poor workmanship... The fronts looked good (but they were one piece fiberglass from what I understand, not blended onto metal) and the bumper looked really good. Then they popped the hood...
Let me just say, they would have been smart to retrofit their cars with VFN hoods because the FINSH quality (in other words looking like a finished piece, not a prototype) is WAYYYYY higher than the design on this car, check it out...
Here's the bottom of my VFN hood:
Here's the Dick Harrell car:
It is painted and shiny, just looks like it was built by someone in their back yard, not a high end top dollar shop...
Hard to see it in the pics but it was basically an, almost poorly shaped even, carbon fiber top skin mated to another hood's fibeglass (I assume it is glass) bottom skin. Not even completely open where the cowl is AND to carry the "look" over it had carbon fiber "plates" put in the corners to LOOK like they were cut out as well:
I could be wrong, but that's what it looked like to me. Really odd...
Engine bay was dirty but that is cool because again that means it gets driven...
It is weird, as Mike (sommer86) pointed out, that we little guys do wire mods and stuff to look better but the high dollar cars don't...
...but the weirdest thing was that we had to call a guy over to let him know, in case the car was running like crap (or better that it should have), that the MAF actually needed to be connected to the lid for it to work...
That was just weird... Maybe it is just a torque beast and torqued it out though.
I was just very surprised when I caught the right light angles and could see all that body work. Maybe it just cured bad and didn't leave the shop that way? Paint didn't really look all that red (as you can see in the pics) either...
Oh well, I'd drive the living ***** out of it and over all (staying a good foot or so away) it looks cool as hell in person
05-31-2008, 11:23 PM
#4
Sorry, I didn't take good pics of the poor workmanship in the quarters, didn't notice untill we were leaving... ALTHOUGH, something I forgot to type about that I just renoticed in the pics is the horrible hood gaps 
Not as noticeable in the pics but they reminded me of it, it was pretty bad in person... Maybe Mike (sommer86) and Jason (he was there, don't remember screen name) will chime in...
Not as noticeable in the pics but they reminded me of it, it was pretty bad in person... Maybe Mike (sommer86) and Jason (he was there, don't remember screen name) will chime in...
05-31-2008, 11:30 PM
#6
While it wasn't "right" it wouldnt have made it run bad disconnected from the lid as all the air leaking in there would still be passing through the MAF before entering the engine. The air temp sensor would have still worked fine too...so except for some unfilter air entering the engine and ruining it, it wasnt hurting anything.
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05-31-2008, 11:39 PM
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Thanks for posting the pics Mark. I'm surprised that the quality is as bad as you're saying. You'd figure for the $$ you lay down for one they would be PERFECT. So is the rear quarters fiberglass over the stock steel or is it a complete steel replacement quarter panel?
06-01-2008, 12:18 AM
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Damn. you better have your flame suit handy. anyway, that is all believable to me. but, i saw a red one in person in the summer sunny afternoon, and it all looked incredibly clean. there is a collector in town who owns many camaros, and that one was at super chevy. i was impressed. after all, this is what everyone here basically tries to imitate. nice pics too, not too many people take that many.
06-01-2008, 01:12 AM
#11
While it wasn't "right" it wouldnt have made it run bad disconnected from the lid as all the air leaking in there would still be passing through the MAF before entering the engine. The air temp sensor would have still worked fine too...so except for some unfilter air entering the engine and ruining it, it wasnt hurting anything.
??? I don't think "it wasn't hurting anything"...Besides. the "not running right comment" was just a sarcastic joke as we pointed it out... Hence me putting in paranthesis "or running better than it should" (since it would be getting MORE air than through a filter)... I'm not a retard
06-01-2008, 01:38 AM
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of corse its dirty the guy drives the car. and no the dick harrell cars do not have full sheet metal quarters. definately molded fiberglass. its hard to tell about other details but the hood doesnt like u good.
06-01-2008, 02:59 PM
#18
Again, my impression is he drives it, is out of town, and they brought it in just for our tour... Looks like it had a quick exterior wash and that was it. Most of our cars, unless we just came off a car show weekend, look close to that after a 6 months DD deployment...
I just still haven't get over the workmanship "finish" though. It was like finding out Santa Claus isn't real for me... I loved these cars and looked up to GMMG through the magazines and then you see one in person minus photoshop and good lighting and you realize, while the innovation is top notch, the finishing workmanship is pretty subpar...
I mean seriously, if I would have gotten my car back looking like that just from my local guy who sprayed my front clip you better be d@mn sure I would not have taken delivery of it untill is was corrected...
I could understand if this was the prototype or even the second or third car, which is what it feels like, but this was car TWENTY SEVEN
I just still haven't get over the workmanship "finish" though. It was like finding out Santa Claus isn't real for me... I loved these cars and looked up to GMMG through the magazines and then you see one in person minus photoshop and good lighting and you realize, while the innovation is top notch, the finishing workmanship is pretty subpar...
I mean seriously, if I would have gotten my car back looking like that just from my local guy who sprayed my front clip you better be d@mn sure I would not have taken delivery of it untill is was corrected...
I could understand if this was the prototype or even the second or third car, which is what it feels like, but this was car TWENTY SEVEN
06-01-2008, 03:14 PM
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He was in one of the large magazines with that car and he said that's the car he drives to and from work everyday so yes it sounds like it gets driven quite a bit.
About the quality, I have seen the Dick Harrells in person and all the ones I saw were very high quality builds. No waves in the fenders or anything, looked like it cost what it does based on the quality.
BTW the hood scoops are added to the stock hoods not on a fiberglass one.
About the quality, I have seen the Dick Harrells in person and all the ones I saw were very high quality builds. No waves in the fenders or anything, looked like it cost what it does based on the quality.
BTW the hood scoops are added to the stock hoods not on a fiberglass one.