Taig
Enthusiast
Five years ago I bought a brand new 2001 Viper GTS and sent it to John [******]--along with $142,500--to build what I hoped would be one hell of a Viper. Many of you will remember that fiasco. I won’t revisit any of that history here, not because I have any moral or legal compunctions restraining me from doing so but because I lost interest in fighting this fight quite a long time ago.
So why this post? Simple. To tell the rest of the story and more importantly to give credit to a couple of exceptional guys who took up the fight for me and who fought until the end without any expectation of a reward other than the feeling that comes from helping someone out. Also, since expressing that gratitude here wouldn’t make much sense without at least a brief conclusion to the story of my experiences with John [******], I need to make that happen. Along with the good, of course, there were a few other guys who deserve credit of a very different nature too, but they know who they are so we’ll just let that pile go unstepped-in.
Just to recap my story, I sent $142,500 and a brand new Viper to John [******] after reading Motor Trend’s gushing article on [******]’s Venom 800 in April 2001. It took three years to get my Viper back from [******] in a “dynoable,” if not “drivable” condition. In fact it ran just long enough to make a strong run on the dyno in Salt Lake City in September of 2003 (for which I was not present) before the first turbo blew 50 miles later. The car was also missing over $85,000 of parts and upgrades I’d paid for two years earlier: Brembos, Penske suspension, HREs, Quaife, etc. Without going into specifics, a legal “settlement” was reached which stipulated that I was to receive the missing parts over the course of the next several months with the promise that the car would be tuned to actually run.
Well, to make a very long story very, very short, I spent a total of $315,000 (the new Viper and [******]’s fee plus the attorney’s take of 33% on everything recovered from [******]--including the car itself--plus miscellaneous expenses) for a Viper made up of parts from at least two different cars that wouldn’t even start. I confess, at this point I simply gave up.
But that wasn’t the end of the story.
Most of you know a guy named Bill (aka MANA) who can frequently be found wherever there are exhaust fumes on the net. Most of you also know, or have heard about a tuner named Jason Heffner (8.75/168 MPH). Simply stated, if it wasn’t for the collaborative efforts of Bill and Jason, I still wouldn’t have a Viper that ran today.
I met Bill in 2002 not long after I realized things weren’t quite as they should be in Houston. After receiving an anonymous message on my cell phone urging me to “look into the forums and call [******] again about your car” I began delving into the Viper and other forums. After I’d read a few of Bill’s posts on the Corvette forum, I sent him an e-mail with my story. I didn’t expect anything, it just felt good to get it off my chest. It wasn’t like I wanted to talk to my wife about it yet, after all… Bill and I have been close friends ever since. Every single time progress was made in trying to get information about my car from [******], Bill was behind it. He was the reason I even got the car back three years later. Bill proved to be an exceptionally loyal friend who never gave up the fight, even long after I had. I owe him a hell of a lot and I won’t ever forget it.
Some months after I’d given up on the car altogether, I got a call from Jason Heffner. I’d heard of Heffner’s cars and Bill spoke highly of him but I didn’t know too much about him other than that. Jason told me Bill had talked to him about my Viper and he wondered if I would be willing to send the car out to him to work with. He didn’t talk about money, he just said maybe he could help with the car. I sent it to him (plug for Gary Almond here--Thanks Gary!) and assured Jason that he could have it as long as he wanted it since I’d had it for five years already without it running for more than a few hours.
Again, without going into the details of what he found under the hood, Jason worked and worked and worked. He called and updated me consistently every step of the way. In the end there was a lot of work that had to be done, parts to be replaced and/or modified (the second turbo was also blown) to make it all work but the day came when he called and told me the car was finished. He felt bad that it wasn’t perfect but he said it ran “pretty well” and that he’d done everything he could do. A week later, Gary Almond delivered it to me and I can honestly say it didn’t look like the car I’d sent him. Not only had he fixed the engine and turbo system and installed all braided SS lines instead of the rubber ones it had came back to me with but he’d added an AEM EMS, installed Penske suspension (one of the many things I never received from [******] despite the legal settlement) and had the whole car wet sanded because he felt the paint “just wasn’t quite right.” When I asked him what I owed him he just asked if I’d feel comfortable covering his cost for the AEM and the Penskes. He would not take money for anything else and insisted that he just wanted to help out.
That was six months ago now. The Viper runs like I imagined it would when I sent it to John [******] five years ago. To say I think Jason Heffner is an honorable man who went way beyond the call of duty to help out a guy he didn’t even know is an understatement. Hell, he went way beyond what anyone else even offered to do for me for substantial additional money. And his work--including that on a turbo system he can’t vouch for--is exceptional. Needless to say I have nothing but the highest praise for Jason Heffner.
I realize that if I had hung out on the forums instead of just trusting the car mags before my adventures with John [******] that I probably wouldn’t have the experiences I did. But hindsight is 20/20 and I’m not complaining. What I can’t let get swept under the rug, however, is the recognition and credit for the way Bill and Jason have fought in my corner, not because they had to or were paid to, but because that is just the way they are. I said in the beginning there were many players in this story; many who turned out to be self serving, deceptive, or even downright nasty, those who turned out to be genuinely interested and helpful, and a few who were extraordinary in giving their support and giving of their time and effort with no hope for reward or compensation other than my friendship.
In any event, that’s the rest of the story. I felt it was necessary for me to finally clear the air about what really happened and to give credit to those who worked to make things right for me--especially to Bill and Jason. I’m very grateful.
Taig Stewart
So why this post? Simple. To tell the rest of the story and more importantly to give credit to a couple of exceptional guys who took up the fight for me and who fought until the end without any expectation of a reward other than the feeling that comes from helping someone out. Also, since expressing that gratitude here wouldn’t make much sense without at least a brief conclusion to the story of my experiences with John [******], I need to make that happen. Along with the good, of course, there were a few other guys who deserve credit of a very different nature too, but they know who they are so we’ll just let that pile go unstepped-in.
Just to recap my story, I sent $142,500 and a brand new Viper to John [******] after reading Motor Trend’s gushing article on [******]’s Venom 800 in April 2001. It took three years to get my Viper back from [******] in a “dynoable,” if not “drivable” condition. In fact it ran just long enough to make a strong run on the dyno in Salt Lake City in September of 2003 (for which I was not present) before the first turbo blew 50 miles later. The car was also missing over $85,000 of parts and upgrades I’d paid for two years earlier: Brembos, Penske suspension, HREs, Quaife, etc. Without going into specifics, a legal “settlement” was reached which stipulated that I was to receive the missing parts over the course of the next several months with the promise that the car would be tuned to actually run.
Well, to make a very long story very, very short, I spent a total of $315,000 (the new Viper and [******]’s fee plus the attorney’s take of 33% on everything recovered from [******]--including the car itself--plus miscellaneous expenses) for a Viper made up of parts from at least two different cars that wouldn’t even start. I confess, at this point I simply gave up.
But that wasn’t the end of the story.
Most of you know a guy named Bill (aka MANA) who can frequently be found wherever there are exhaust fumes on the net. Most of you also know, or have heard about a tuner named Jason Heffner (8.75/168 MPH). Simply stated, if it wasn’t for the collaborative efforts of Bill and Jason, I still wouldn’t have a Viper that ran today.
I met Bill in 2002 not long after I realized things weren’t quite as they should be in Houston. After receiving an anonymous message on my cell phone urging me to “look into the forums and call [******] again about your car” I began delving into the Viper and other forums. After I’d read a few of Bill’s posts on the Corvette forum, I sent him an e-mail with my story. I didn’t expect anything, it just felt good to get it off my chest. It wasn’t like I wanted to talk to my wife about it yet, after all… Bill and I have been close friends ever since. Every single time progress was made in trying to get information about my car from [******], Bill was behind it. He was the reason I even got the car back three years later. Bill proved to be an exceptionally loyal friend who never gave up the fight, even long after I had. I owe him a hell of a lot and I won’t ever forget it.
Some months after I’d given up on the car altogether, I got a call from Jason Heffner. I’d heard of Heffner’s cars and Bill spoke highly of him but I didn’t know too much about him other than that. Jason told me Bill had talked to him about my Viper and he wondered if I would be willing to send the car out to him to work with. He didn’t talk about money, he just said maybe he could help with the car. I sent it to him (plug for Gary Almond here--Thanks Gary!) and assured Jason that he could have it as long as he wanted it since I’d had it for five years already without it running for more than a few hours.
Again, without going into the details of what he found under the hood, Jason worked and worked and worked. He called and updated me consistently every step of the way. In the end there was a lot of work that had to be done, parts to be replaced and/or modified (the second turbo was also blown) to make it all work but the day came when he called and told me the car was finished. He felt bad that it wasn’t perfect but he said it ran “pretty well” and that he’d done everything he could do. A week later, Gary Almond delivered it to me and I can honestly say it didn’t look like the car I’d sent him. Not only had he fixed the engine and turbo system and installed all braided SS lines instead of the rubber ones it had came back to me with but he’d added an AEM EMS, installed Penske suspension (one of the many things I never received from [******] despite the legal settlement) and had the whole car wet sanded because he felt the paint “just wasn’t quite right.” When I asked him what I owed him he just asked if I’d feel comfortable covering his cost for the AEM and the Penskes. He would not take money for anything else and insisted that he just wanted to help out.
That was six months ago now. The Viper runs like I imagined it would when I sent it to John [******] five years ago. To say I think Jason Heffner is an honorable man who went way beyond the call of duty to help out a guy he didn’t even know is an understatement. Hell, he went way beyond what anyone else even offered to do for me for substantial additional money. And his work--including that on a turbo system he can’t vouch for--is exceptional. Needless to say I have nothing but the highest praise for Jason Heffner.
I realize that if I had hung out on the forums instead of just trusting the car mags before my adventures with John [******] that I probably wouldn’t have the experiences I did. But hindsight is 20/20 and I’m not complaining. What I can’t let get swept under the rug, however, is the recognition and credit for the way Bill and Jason have fought in my corner, not because they had to or were paid to, but because that is just the way they are. I said in the beginning there were many players in this story; many who turned out to be self serving, deceptive, or even downright nasty, those who turned out to be genuinely interested and helpful, and a few who were extraordinary in giving their support and giving of their time and effort with no hope for reward or compensation other than my friendship.
In any event, that’s the rest of the story. I felt it was necessary for me to finally clear the air about what really happened and to give credit to those who worked to make things right for me--especially to Bill and Jason. I’m very grateful.
Taig Stewart
