[AT] the 2004 Valu-Bilt catalog

[Larry D. Goss]

Right, Mike.  When we ran up against that problem, we started pricing
things based on recent eBay auctions.  It takes a bunch of work to stay
on top of that sort of thing, but it was a reasonable estimate.

If you have time to read a long story related to this, read on.
Otherwise, hit the delete key now.

We were doing a restoration on an old large Cub Cadet that had been
rolled at 40 mph.  (The owner hadn't tied it down on his trailer and it
flipped out sideways as he rounded a curve.)  The aluminum front casting
ended up in several pieces, and of course it is no longer available as a
new part.  We missed buying a couple used ones on eBay, and finally sent
the parts out to a man down in the neighborhood of the Cumberland Gap
who specialized in restoring Cub Cadet castings.  He had quoted a price
of $200 to restore that one casting.  We didn't hear back from him for
several weeks, and I finally was able to contact him by phone.  He said
he had been sick, and he sounded like death warmed over.  He promised to
get the part back to us as soon as he felt a little better.  Several
months passed and we heard nothing back.  There was no answer when we
tried to contact his business phone.  Finally, we sent a registered
letter to him and a few weeks later the original package came back to us
by UPS.  The man hadn't recovered from his illness, and he died.  So we
would have something to work with, we finally sent it out to a local
welder (something I'd wanted to do in the first place) and he welded it
back together, replaced sections that were completely missing, and
ground the welds back down to the original contour and finish.  The
total bill was $35.

Larry


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