"BZiel" (bziel)
06/01/2016 at 14:45 • Filed to: None
2
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"BZiel" (bziel)
06/01/2016 at 14:45 • Filed to: None | 2
| 9 |
Torch, I know my comments will be buried in the hundreds of other comments but I feel compelled to respond anyhow.
I’ve seen literally hundreds of tuners, restoration outfits, parts suppliers and other automotive companies through the years which have turned out to be either incompetent, blatant frauds, or just plain scam artists. Sometimes they are a combination of all three. Usually they’re spotted and vetted out pretty quickly, either by burned enthusiasts or disgruntled customers, or, occasionally, by the automotive press calling them out for their bullshit.
What I just can’t seem to wrap my head around is this:
Despite nearly twenty years of continuous customer horror stories in print, online and in courthouses around the state of Texas which include verified accounts of sub-standard or non-existent work, failure to meet contract terms, missing parts, vehicles being stripped and parted out without customer approval, falsified performance documentation, unauthorized parts substitutions, using “escrow” money on one vehicle to pay for the work on another, etc., I can find no record anywhere in the automotive press of someone actually holding JH’s feet to the fire to really account for his actions. There is, quite literally, a twenty year track record of pretty damn-well documented complaints following JH and HPE, and yet virtually every mass-media article usually has him quoted as saying something like, “Those troubles were all behind us in 2000-2003. It’s all good now,” and that’s the end of it.
I blame this on the continued media ass-kissing that JH has received for the past twenty-odd years, of which Jalopnik, and many others, have provided. For whatever reason, damned near every ‘automotive journalist’ that has written the word Hennessey seems to have bent over, gotten on their knees, and started making sucking sounds with puckered lips. It can’t be for the advertising that HPE buys, because from what can be seen, it’s not like they have any money to buy a classified ad in a ‘Steals and Deals’ much less in “Car and Driver.”
Torch, do you remember the amazing gadget that was going to revolutionize gas mileage management called the Fuel Shark? How is it that JH and HPE have been able to escape the same scrutiny? The only differences between them are the SCOPE and SCALE and LENGTH OF TIME the bullshit has gone unreported. Seriously. Think about it: You’d have to sell a metric shit-ton of Fuel Sharks to even get to the level of a “missing” HPE deposit. Multiply that time 20 years, times all the other shit that has gone on at HPE and you’ll begin to see the bigger picture I’m painting here.
Here’s something else to consider: If a “no-name” startup tuning company tried to lie their way out of giving a customer a $75,000 refund as you have documented, especially if, as HPE claims, the money hasn’t even been spent yet, do you honestly think Jalopnik (or any other automotive journalism channel for that matter) would let them escape microscopic levels of scrutiny for everything they had ever done? Because that is what has happened with HPE and JH...not just now, but dozens upon dozens of times in the past. Any other smaller or lessor known company would be absolutely crushed and decimated by the shitstorm of folks pouncing on it for blood.
There has been ‘smoke’ lingering around JH and HPE for twenty years, and now, the ‘fire’ has been spotted.
It’s time someone in the automotive journalism world grew a pair and started doing some real digging and fact checking. Stop worrying about free track days, test loaners, and pit passes for one damn minute and do something bigger than themselves.
Trust me, if ONE SINGLE WRITER would have called out JH and HPE twenty years ago for their bullshit, that writer would now be driving a fleet of very red cars (that catch on fire) and reading this from their Tuscan summer villa.
My speed3 is happy
> BZiel
06/01/2016 at 15:04 |
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Is what you’re saying is that Jalopnik published this article or did this research 10 years too late?
Also I don’t get this:
Trust me, if ONE SINGLE WRITER would have called out JH and HPE twenty years ago for their bullshit, that writer would now be driving a fleet of very red cars (that catch on fire) and reading this from their Tuscan summer villa.
Why? Why would that writer get rich? The magazine or blog that writer is working for will get a ton of subscriptions for one critical piece of investigative journalism on a specific tuner? I don’t think that will happen. Maybe Torch got an sweet year-end bonus for the traffic on the Fuel Shark article, but enough to buy a Ferrari? Doubt it.
Roadster Man
> BZiel
06/01/2016 at 15:06 |
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You seem to have mistaken Jalopnik for “journalism.”
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BZiel
> My speed3 is happy
06/01/2016 at 15:26 |
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Journalistic integrity and truth in reporting are what brings in the money long term.
A reporter/journalist/writer who calls fraudsters out on their obvious bullshit out from day one will be far more respected, and thus compensated, than any blog-subscription-whore or ad-based-revenue keyboard monkey.
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BZiel
> Roadster Man
06/01/2016 at 15:27 |
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It’s not just Jalop...it’s the entire automotive journalism community.
Patrick George
> BZiel
06/01/2016 at 16:58 |
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Yeah, we're all in this to get rich.
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Patrick George
> BZiel
06/01/2016 at 17:00 |
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“It’s time someone in the automotive journalism world grew a pair and started doing some real digging and fact checking. Stop worrying about free track days, test loaners, and pit passes for one damn minute and do something bigger than themselves.”
Let me ask you this: is that not what happened with this story?
You may be saying it should have happened sooner. I get that, and I’ll eat some shit over it too. But all I can say is there’s a big difference between forum chatter and angry comments and verifiable facts you can prove with sources on the record-and not get sued over later.
This story happened, at least. I'm glad we did it. We aren't done with it either.
haveacarortwoorthree2
> BZiel
06/01/2016 at 17:12 |
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Someone lied to you in J-school!
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BZiel
> Patrick George
06/01/2016 at 18:09 |
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“You may be saying it should have happened sooner. I get that, and I’ll eat some shit over it too. But all I can say is there’s a big difference between forum chatter and angry comments and verifiable facts you can prove with sources on the record-and not get sued over later.”
Patrick, I agree there’s a big difference between forum chatter and verifiable facts.
That’s why people like myself, people who have been in racing and automotive businesses longer than many folks reading Jalopnik have even been alive, have been screaming at the top of our damn lungs about this guy and his shop since at least 2002, when the first waves of fraud swept through the community.
I can’t count the number of events I’ve been to since 2009 where JH has ‘held court’ for the press and photogs, every time with the reporting world listening raptly about his ‘next new thing.’ Watching journalists line up to speak with this guy is utterly sickening.
There is not now, nor has there ever been, any shortage of verifiable facts about JH or HPE. The problem is that that not ONE SINGLE AUTOMOTIVE JOURNALIST HAS TAKEN THE CLAIMS OF FRAUD SERIOUSLY AND ACTUALLY DUG BENEATH THE SURFACE AND PULLED THE RUG OUT FROM UNDERNEATH THE ILLUSION.
Start at the court records and then follow the money...or, more appropriately, the lack of it...and an entire fantasy world will be revealed.
I hope you, and others, do finally dig. There’s a gold mine awaiting those willing to get dirty fingernails.
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Patrick George
> BZiel
06/01/2016 at 19:47 |
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Duly noted, and we will keep digging. If you have info, send me an email. We’ll keep you confidential. Thanks again.