Is There A Travelling ZR-1 Mechanic/Guru?

[Erik]

Seeing as how the world is starting to open up a bit, and Marc Haibeck is still far away from me up here in Canada, I was wondering if anyone had ever heard of a travelling Zr-1 mechanic. I'd almost bought a early 2000's Aston Martin Vanquish last year, and had arranged with a Scottish mechanic to fly to Canada to give it a good going over and setting right. Qualified Aston mechanics were rare up here, and qualified Vanquish ones even more so. He apparently travelled around Europe and North America, fixing Astons, aside from the work he did at his own garage. He was also surprisingly reasonable in pricing. Travel costs, plus a very reasonable hourly rate.

Anyhow, I have found a very competent mechanic up here who works on all types of exotics, but, he doesn't have a ton on ZR-1 experience. I'd love to get someone who know them well to give it a good going over also. Yes, Ideally I would take it to Marc or Graham, but they are a heck of a distance away with Shipping being be a few thousand either way.

Just wondering if anyone had heard of such a service for the ZR-1.

[GOLDCYLON]

Originally Posted by Erik

Seeing as how the world is starting to open up a bit, and Marc Haibeck is still far away from me up here in Canada, I was wondering if anyone had ever heard of a travelling Zr-1 mechanic. I'd almost bought a early 2000's Aston Martin Vanquish last year, and had arranged with a Scottish mechanic to fly to Canada to give it a good going over and setting right. Qualified Aston mechanics were rare up here, and qualified Vanquish ones even more so. He apparently travelled around Europe and North America, fixing Astons, aside from the work he did at his own garage. He was also surprisingly reasonable in pricing. Travel costs, plus a very reasonable hourly rate.

Anyhow, I have found a very competent mechanic up here who works on all man over exotics, but, he doesn't have a ton on ZR-1 experience. I'd love to get someone who know them well to give it a good going over also. Yes, Ideally I would take it to Marc or Graham, but they are a heck of a distance away with Shipping being be a few thousand either way.

Just wondering if anyone had heard of such a service for the ZR-1.

I have not. Where the LT5 is concerned it's a you travel to them experience...

Unless you are independently wealthy and also have all the tools and equipment to pay somebody for that luxury to come to your home.

[Erik]

Originally Posted by GOLDCYLON

I have not. Where the LT5 is concerned it's a you travel to them experience...

Unless you are independently wealthy and also have all the tools and equipment to pay somebody for that luxury to come to your home.

Where I am, it's scary expensive either way. Probably more expensive to get it shipped to a guru, then shipping a guru up here.

ZR-1 service and repair, outside of the US, during Covid, is not an easy undertaking.

[WARP TEN]

Erik, it seems that you are a little bit between a rock and a hard place on this. If you are talking about a need for normal maintenance items or relatively simple things like a plenum pull, injectors, coils etc. you are probably best off with your strong local guy and getting him help via the Net Registry or direct calls to guys like Marc, who will almost always take the time to talk to folks about how to do things. If you are in need of more major surgery, like transmission repair, an engine rebuild (or better, a Haibeck 510HP package) or other significant needs, then shipping the car or major component out might be your best bet, regardless of the extra cost. Much depends on your actual needs, but I know many folks with situations like yours who simply shipped a car or component to Marc for work. I remember back quite a few years one of the three ZR-1 owners in Spain at the time could not solve an engine operation problem despite many attempts, so he crated up the engine and shipped it to Marc. Marc worked on it then finally figured out that the factory service manual had an incorrect wiring diagram in it--several wires were miscoded with the wrong colors, a fact that had tripped up the car's owner. Once he figured that out, it was an easy fix for him and he shipped it back in good shape. But not many in the world would have figured this issue out, so it was worth it for the owner. Good luck with the ZR-1 and I hope it keeps running well for you. --Bob

[DRM500RUBYZR-1]

Whenever a vacuum exists; something always eventually fills it.
I concur.
A "traveling" ZR-1 Guru, could likely do quite well.
Of course there are those that would be offended by or pooh - pooh such things, but Erik cites the economic factors that support such an enterprise.
Many fix their own misbehaving toilets.
Others pay the plumber, and pay handsomely for their value add.
Long live capitalism, I love it so!
Such an efficient mechanism.
If only I were younger and had an aircraft......................

Marty

[GOLDCYLON]

Best ad I ever saw for a plumper was "your crap, is my bread and butter"

[Erik]

Originally Posted by DRM500RUBYZR-1

Whenever a vacuum exists; something always eventually fills it.
I concur.
A "traveling" ZR-1 Guru, could likely do quite well.
Of course there are those that would be offended by or pooh - pooh such things, but Erik cites the economic factors that support such an enterprise.
Many fix their own misbehaving toilets.
Others pay the plumber, and pay handsomely for their value add.
Long live capitalism, I love it so!
Such an efficient mechanism.
If only I were younger and had an aircraft......................

Marty

Apparently, travelling exotic car mechanics are not an unusual thing, in the exotic car world. There are lots of rare cars in all sorts of places in the world, and those folks are willing to have their cars worked on regardless of where they are. Likely, the lack of such a ZR-1 travelling mechanic is a symptom of the low value of the cars currently. If they were up in the few hundred thousand range, the situation would be different.

[dredgeguy]

Not to fear, as Wazoo sorts out the ZR-1's in our local area and within our group, what are we going to do once everything is sorted and all the mods are done? I can see "road trip" being the call of the future! Only drawback I can see is bringing or having all the items needed to do the job. When we were working on Dimitri's car this past weekend, Jim needed to make the short drive home to pick up some missing small parts. We can always improvise...the rubber end of the dip stick tube was missing. We did not have a spare one so 2 O-rings worked to take up the space and seal the area and will do the job. But then again, the way Jim packs for his month long trips, guess a larger "go bag" could be developed. With such talent in our group, would be fun but then you always have the liability issue.............