Thread: It's either the end or a new beginning. Only time & money will tell

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Well as of right now I have a pile of trash & junk. EVERYTHING and I mean everything that Rich of Purple Monkey Kustoms worked on is JUNK. My rebuilt motor and transmission is a paper weight. They both had water in them, the trans had about a half gallon in it. The rear frame section above the rear axle was hacked up for a axle drop, using what looks like angle iron or old frame section, crude body mount out of of same stuff, gas tank had holes cut for lines in it & the sending unit siliconed in along with it has steel & brass shavings in it, the gas straps can't be removed without raising the body or cutting them off. One of the rear shocks can't come off because of the battery box that was welded right in front of it. He used old battery cables with holes in it w/tape rapped around the exposed areas, No cotter/split pins in any of the ball joints or anywhere else, all the rotors are rusted to the point the need to be turned, brake lines ran up and over the frame, wiring harness wrapped in electric tape, hood bolts that don't fit the holes, lock nuts put on backwards & silicone used to hold emblems on, steering joints welded on to the double D shaft, the frame hacked up with a hammer and or a chisel to clearance for the exhaust and left w/about a 3-4 inch hole between the frame & a welded in boxing plate. He stole one of my 1 ton bumpers, hacked the other one up to put my tail lites in & bent the bumper brackets up to make them fit & one was broken. Broken bolts in several places, one door closes but the door handle stays down even with all new parts, passanger doors hangs down about an inch & won't close at all unless slammed. The accelerator cable into the fire wall was siliconed into the firewall, there's an extra hole from a "mistake" that was used to put the steering column through && no brace at the fire wall, only silicone. Found it odd that I have wiper parts paint blue on my truck sine none of the parts I sent were blue, plus when the wipers are turned side to side you hear a clunk noise, looks like there are missing parts (again) even though I had bought a wiper motor & parts to install it. Electric sending units had red RTV used to seal them. Door felt not installed in door correctly and steel frame around window have silicone oozing out, looks like garbage. Side window & gasket not cut & fitted correctly to the point I can put a screw driver between the glass & gasket to the inside of the truck, he reused to use the mirrors I wanted & the ones on the truck hit the doors when opened & the passenger one is basically useless. Both headlight were broken, interior that was in it had been wet & looks like cr@p, the wood floor was untreated plywood, there were gaps everywhere around the wood to the point I could put my hands in the gaps. Cracks, rust holes & unrepaired sheet metal work every where, with paint over rust & the unrepaired areas. Lots of parts missing, parts from truck that aren't mine was used and the list goes on & on & on & one.. I'll tell you this if you bought something like he did to me & I know at least 3 others he took, you'd be a fool to buy one of his pieces of garbage. He took advantage of all four of us I believe because we were out of state & thought we'd never show up at his shop. Not only did I show up I was staying about 50 miles from the shop & he only allowed me to come on the property a few times a year & the last 6 months I told him if he didnt want to finish it I wanted my truck. It was then I realized I had been taken to the cleaners. I have been told by a few people who did get on the property that every time they showed up my truck was outside sitting in the weeds even though I was told it was inside the shop.
The noise is about to get louder because one guy had a lawyer send him a letter and I'm sure more will be coming from elsewhere. Plain & simply put Rich has conned, lied & stolen from people like myself and others .....joe

Joe don't know what to say except how sorry I am to see this happen.

Problem with suing is most guys like this don't have a to to piss in and just move on leaving you out attorney fees to boot.


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Mike, I am going to the AG, the FBI, the BBB, the local authorities and am posting this in lots of places. I don't want anybody else screwed by this guy....
I'm not done yet on the truck or making him famous....joe

Crikey Joe!
What a mess it must be.
And I thought we had problems when we built the bus.
So I do to some extent know how you must feel.
You have our sympathy mate.
No-one should be treated like that.

You can't shoot the SOB, but maybe you can make him wish he had been. Good luck on making his life a living hell. I hate liars, thieves and crooks.

A question please, just to help me in my upcoming build:

Please elaborate about the brake lines being run up and over the frame. I can't quite picture the problem there, a photo would probably tell the story nicely, but what is wrong, and what is the correct way? Is it mostly a problem of forming a trapped air bubble that can't be easily bled?

You have my condolences on your situation, it's about the worst I've heard.

Do you see how he ran the brake line.. From inside the frame to up and over the frame to the brake line fitting on the rear end

Joe, sorry to see you're still dealing with this. I thought you got the truck back last summer. Have you had a chance to make any progress on it since you got it back from Broken Monkey?

Originally Posted by TooMany2count

Mike, I am going to the AG, the FBI, the BBB, the local authorities and am posting this in lots of places. I don't want anybody else screwed by this guy....
I'm not done yet on the truck or making him famous....joe

So sorry to learn things are still dragging on. But good for you in pursuing the wrongs and hopefully stopping more innocent folks from falling prey to that scum!

If this continues until spring maybe a few of us can make a road trip and see if we can convince this guy to get his shit together. How about it Denny, maybe we could talk Jerry into joining?

This really suck for you and the others.

Originally Posted by 40FordDeluxe

Joe, sorry to see you're still dealing with this. I thought you got the truck back last summer. Have you had a chance to make any progress on it since you got it back from Broken Monkey?

I did get it back from Broken Monkey Dick last summer in the middle of June. Joe,Jr tore the motor down & thats when he took pics of the water damage that was in it. We didn't even think of checking the transmission since the dip stick was in it when we got it. Fast forward to this past weekend is when we found the water in the transmission. With all the damage & crap work that was done to it I'm either going to build a frame using a 78-87 Monte/Regal style front suspension so I can use my front suspension parts I have, OR find/build another stock style frame OR put it on a 73-87 Chevy square body Suburban frame & use shortened control arms & 6"rims to tuck everything inside the fenders.
BUT on a side note Joe,Jr & I started a 425 Caddy mtr he had bought. It ticked a bit but after letting run a bit it quieted down. So who knows what may happen. Or there's the 472 I have at home. Might put all the good parts from my paper weight mtr in it but the pistons which are different.
I also have a 2006 GMC truck that is a rusty mess but runs great. We may use the motor/trans/wiring/gauges & everything else but the frame & suspension in & on Marge or should I say "Mr Crabs". When starting up the kids 425 mtr a claw from a crab flew out of the exhaust & we decided what ever gets the 425 Caddy mtr will be named Mr Crabs because of the claw & we're going to embed the claw in acrylic & hang it on the mirror & have a cartoon of Mr Crabs from Spongebob put on it missing one claw...lol

I think you need to bury them in a clear epoxy and use them somewhere in your build.

Originally Posted by 53 Chevy5

I think you need to bury them in a clear epoxy and use them somewhere in your build.

Shifter knob....

The crab claws are sure something else! I agree, incorporate them in the build some where! I'd almost stay caddy power and square body frame IMO. You could go with the LS since you have it, but that Caddy engine under the hood will pretty unique.