Worth Mentioning; One Fella To Avoid

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   We are always taught that if we do not have something good to say about someone, we should just say nothing at all. However, I would like to relay what happened when I dropped a CA off at someone's shop in 2007 as this tractor was to be gone through.

Monies were left with the tractor up front, along with motor side weights, SC claws and brand new Firestone rear tires (loose). When a fella is obviously busy, you know they cannot drop everything and stay on your tractor exclusively as they must work on multiple projects to keep the flow of money coming in.
Before this, I had viewed a number of tractors this fella had restored and felt confident that I would receive a quality restoration in say, 12-24 months time max? I even went so far as to advise this person that I had a number of units that I would like to have restored, from a D12, up to and including a solid D19D and I could keep him busy for some time. I grew up with an A-C dealer in the family and we had a CA on our dairy.
This CA was my first A-C and I wanted it done up right for sentimental value.
Prior to dropping the tractor off, I had found over a dozen A-C natural gas power units in North Texas, called this fella with the information and he came down from OK and scooped them up quickly; pictures of them were posted for sale on his web page within two weeks (someone else many of us deal with on this site then purchased those engines and ironically, I received a valvetrain for my D12 resto from one of the few engines he took posession of). I believe the purchaser of those engines only received two of them and he is one of the prominent vendors on this site.
Repeated attempts to contact this fella were in vain and I spoke with him only twice since dropping the tractor off. E-mails originally answered (seeking parts/machine work for other A-C friends, as well as updates on my tractor) stopped over two years ago.
When I heard his shop burnt down late last year, I had no choice but to write the affair off until I heard a few months ago that one tractor was left; it was a CA with no rear wheels, and was apparently left right where I had unloaded it in 2007 (now on blocks).
I decided to make the five hour trip and tie this in with visiting Dave Maddux and a trip to Austin's Salvage on my return. I removed my spare rear tires/wheels from my D12 going through restoration locally, hooked onto my trailer and hit the road with printouts of all e-mail correspondence and cancelled checks to Bob "okieboy" Hough since 2007. 
I can send someone a picture if they want to see what I brought home, but frankly, I believe just getting the word out may save someone some aggravation.
The CA was complete and ran like a top when dropped off, but was missing some parts when I went and pulled it onto my trailer recently; no rear rims/tires (the new Firestone rubber left with him was obviously long gone), no SC claws, no hand crank, no motor side weights and no carb ............. 
I discovered last night that the motor is in-fact now seized.

We are all trusting soles in this world and I have always considerred myself a pretty decent judge of character. Still, when you get bit, you tend not to forget it.
A number of folks on this site had past dealings with this fella from Chelsea, OK and know darned well who he is; now you all do as well.
I have met some great folks on this site, including outstanding vendors that are always willing to help.
This experience has made me appreciate the good A-C folks I have met over the years even more.
I will get the old gal running someday, but the monetary cost to me on this one is over 2000.00. If you are wondering if I considered legal action? Only fleetingly as "you can't get wine out of a rock" and he is also in another state. Legal costs and all just did not seem worth the effort and putting the word out about this is good enough for me.
Ironically, I will have to keep all information about this tractor as I keep everything in a file for each unit and I will always have a reminder of him and what happened.
Sorry for the long posting, but I hope it just might save someone else some grief.
Thanks

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