AMD Installation Center/ Auto Metal Direct

[Chaos-N-Mayhem]

Thought I would try to start a follow up post regarding the AMD Installation Center from a couple months ago. I wanted to share my experience in the event it helps any fellow members out who are in a similar situation to where I was when I was trying to figure out how to kick start my project and move it forward.

Hopefully this. Video YouTube link will work that I added to our facebook group.

[Cuda Cody]

You have to be super excited to have your car back.  looks like they did a wonderful job on the metal work.  Do you have a place picked out to handle the paint?

[Chaos-N-Mayhem]

Not yet, why you wanna collaborate...lol
I am going through the process of determining if I should farm it out or take a stab at my first full paint job. Guess it will ultimately come down to price and timing. A number of years ago I took a night school class in painting. It was valuable as I say you can never stop learning. I bought my own gun and since have done a few little jobs. The biggest so far was painting the spoiler on my wife's SRT8 BC/CC inferno red. It actually took me two tries and still did not come out perfect but I learned so much by doing it over. I was literally one paint stroke away from a perfect paint job, but I looked down mid-stroke on my last pass of clear, to ensure my foot did not accidentally kick the stand that the spoiler was on and the gun got too close and created a little run.  :barf:Oh well, next I learned about fixing a run. 

[Chaos-N-Mayhem]

Speaking of which that PPG class you spoke about earlier really sounded interesting. Bet you will learn a lot.

[Cuda Cody]

I'm sure you can paint the car yourself, but much like your wife's spoiler there will be little set backs and hiccups.  If you are up for the challenge, then I say go for it.  But being it's your first time it will most likely cost you more to do yourself then to pay someone to do it.  If you could find someone local to guide you along it would help a lot.  I can help with tips and tricks, but there's only so much I can do over the web.

[Chaos-N-Mayhem]

I can accept that about the cost for the sake of learning. However, the quality and end result are what worry me. But I supposed I would be worried either way.

[Chaos-N-Mayhem]

So I will add to this topic as I go and try to add additional details on my experience with the AMD Installation Center as well as the process and answer questions as we move forward.

Just to give some back ground, this stage of bringing the car back started in April of 2016. After a conversation with fellow member, Gabes Hobbyshop, he convinced me that the market for 1970 Dodge Chargers were hot and if I ever thought about parting with my "project" charger, now would be as good as any. So I put an Ebay ad up to test the waters. I figured I would put a relatively high price on the car and if it sold, great. If it did not sell, then it was meant to be that I rehab the car back to life. Well, the car sold in 30 mins and I had multiple offers. I was surprised to say the least or worst maybe I didn't ask enough. lol

I had watched several shows and read a few articles on the AMD Installation Center over the years and was curious about their work. I had already seen and purchased quite a few Auto Metal Direct (AMD) sheet metal pieces for my Convertible from Stephen's Performance at the Mopar Nats and thought the new parts were great. So with the sale of my Charger behind me I went to the AMD Installation Center's website. Craig Hopkins is the owner and took the time to post videos on the site showing you how to properly evaluate your project car to determine what work would be needed.

Once you have looked your car over and decided what it needed the website allows you to punch in each item. It gives you a price for the body panel and associated cost to install it. Pretty easy. So I entered all my information and it came back with a online quote. After reviewing the info for a few days I decided I was serious enough to contract Craig with the online estimate info. The contact feature also allows you add pictures. So I sent a whole host of pictures to him showing the state of the car.

[Chaos-N-Mayhem]

Craig reviewed the information and pictures I sent him and called me back the very next day. He was very polite and casual. We talked for a while and I asked a lot of questions. The majority of it was pretty straight forward, but I had concerns regarding the convertible body panels I needed that are not readily being reproduced and how that part of it would be tackled. The AMD Installation Center specializes in full panel replacement. They try to avoid doing little patch repair areas in favor of full panels, but will do some of that when there is not another viable option. Craig advised of a gentleman that he is aware of that converts AMD quarters into convertible quarters and believed he could also assist with the convertible windshield header piece that my car is in need of. He advised he would reach out to him to get a price on those parts. I was also familiar with the name and open to going that route. However, it was a significant cost added to the estimate.

[Chaos-N-Mayhem]

Prompted by our conversation, I re-evaluated the information and the car and tried to fine tune what I think I needed. I added things to the estimate and took some things off after going and looking at each part. This is time consuming but will give you the best change of getting an accurate appraisal of what it needs and cost. It also allowed me to speak first hand to Craig about what he saw in my photos and what I found. After another conversation with him, he reworked another more formal estimate of what we discussed and sent it over to me in the form of a excel spread sheet. One spread sheet for the new parts I was buying and labor to install plus another spread sheet with the panels I already owned with just labor only. Additionally, we had to add in the convertible parts the car needed and labor for install. The info provided what right in line with what we discussed and really motivated me to want to act. This was around April/May 2016. After reviewing the info further and going over the website and info and telling the wife of my plans, I called Craig and asked if he would be there the 4th of July weekend (2016). I advised I would be heading down there in person with the car. I wanted to have him look the car over first hand and give me a "final" estimate. It would also allow me to get a good look at their operation and get a sense of who I am handing my baby over to.

[Chaos-N-Mayhem]

I picked up my buddy, Gabes Hobbyshop, around 11pm and headed from St Louis to Georgia in my very tired Lincoln Navigator. We drove through the night and literally hit the worst weather. We drove through ever monsoon possible. The poor Challenger had been blasted and epoxy primed and was on an open car trailer. Dolt!  :bricks:The AMD Installation Center is in Cleveland, GA (just north of Atlanta) and our route took us like 2-3 hrs through the mountains. At one point, while on a rainy two lane curvy mountain road I could feel the Lincoln starting to wain. So I pulled over at the first available area. Turns out it was a scenic overlook. At that same moment the rain stopped and it gave us the chance to stretch our legs and take some photos.

[Chaos-N-Mayhem]

After a long drive we made it. The AMD Installation Center is very unassuming place and the guys there are very humble. Coming from the Midwest I can appreciate that. The crew there was very friendly and all stopped what they were doing to come see the car. They were about to help take the car off the trailer and they mistakenly thought I was another customer coming in to drop the car off. That car came a few mins later and turned out to be a customer getting his Superbird worked on. Craig was there to greet us, as well, and quickly walked out there to go over the car. We spoke about each part needing a replacement and went down the list. We spoke specifically about the convertible parts needed and what he was quoted from Ken H. As expected there was a few areas that Craig's trained eyes were able to see that I missed that would need to be addressed. I was fortunate that my car was stripped completely, blasted and had the quarters opened up for inspection. Knowing that they do mostly full panel replacement, I wanted to focus our attention on the other areas that would need work. These were various other small areas that need a zip of the mig welder here or there or where patching was needed as the sensible (least work) option or where no other option existed. At first Craig was hesitant to give a price for that, however, I was firm that I needed a complete price before moving forward. He gave me a fair price for that and we then sat down printed out another updated spreadsheet and agreed to an agreed price to do the work. Once agreed I gave the go ahead on the spot. Craig only asked that I provide him a small deposit which I believe was a couple hundred dollars, which I did not have on me but mailed a few days later. Craig advised they were running about 6 months out and typically can do most cars in 30 days after they start. The expected start would be somewhere around the beginning of 2017. We made a deal but I was bummed when I could not leave my car there. His back shop was already packed full of other customer cars so I kept the car on the trailer and turned right back around and headed home. But not before hitting a Krystals for some tasty goodness. My buddy loves this place. It was around 24hr round trip and I was bushed. --more to come.

[anlauto]

So how much was the quote ?

[jimynick]

I have to admit I'm curious too and can you give us the Cole's Notes version of what all is included? 

[HP_Cuda]

Very cool writeup on the AMD installation center. It seems they are pretty straightforward and easygoing guys.

I wouldn't hesitate to ship them a project but from where I live I would need to source said project near Georgia!

[Chaos-N-Mayhem]

Thanks! There is more detail to come. I just got tired of typing for one night. Hope the info will help the community.