Oh Boy . . . Don't get me started on their 18 month "journey" through mess up after mess up . . . That I finally gave up and said enough . . .
They never got it right and never delivered on their promises . . .
Well, there have been 3 notable interactions with American Powertrain since the first time we met and made a deal on a fairly large purchase.
It's only fair to recount the initial meeting:
Last day of Cruisin the Coast, the 8 day, 7,000 plus MASSIVE classic cars event that is already in the 22 plus years of being "a thing" and I was going before it was "a thing", just as an observing fan who wanted a classic car, again, although in 78 when I bought my 71 Charger R/T it was a "cool older car"...
Anyway, between my wife's '65 421 cu in Tripower GTO and my Roadrunner, we had quite "the list" and I figured it would take a few years to check off the boxes. When the financial manager (wife) said that we had paid down the bills and that we should look at buying some stuff, and that my Roadrunner really needed front suspension work (I already had that in my friend's garage) I did a Thursday afternoon/evening reconnaissance mission, and I found that with 100 plus vendors at the Coast Coliseum, there were only two that we really needed to do business with to check off practically all of the boxes!
Being as Friday was going to be the LAST day of the booths at the Coliseum, and from personal experience knowing that they always like to make a few MAJOR sales to make the investment in time, space leasing cost, etc, that Friday was going to be the BEST day and the BEST venue for me to get the BEST deals I may ever see. I went to the American Powertrain booth, happened to get the owner as the sales rep, and told him to just cut the absolutely best price on everything so all we had to focus on was speccing everything out, not holding back, and not leaving anything we've been wanting unbought. We discussed all of the options, and got the TKO600 lined out, went ahead and selected a really nice HP street/strip clutch disc and pressure plate, even though the one in her car was only a couple of years old, and the absolute tip top shifter upgrade-the White Lightning shifter. Since I was on the tail end of a week of working (it is WORK) the 2,950 pound pressure plate in my car, in stop and go traffic, and I was keen on the HitMaster launch control system, I figured I'd piggyback the major purchase and get a sweet deal on the Hydramax T.O. bearing kit. I got it for $525!! Summit has them at $629.
FIRST NOTABLE INTERACTION after the initial sale:
When I decided a few months ago that I should get the Hydramax for the GTO, because I expect the HitMaster to be great and I'd like the GTO to be ready to get one if it's as good as I expect, they said that the owner sold me mine under cost, and that they couldn't sell me another for that price, but we were able to come to terms at $595, still a little less than Summit, but no where near the $525 I had paid.
2ND NOTABLE INTERACTION:
I asked about a chromoly steel driveshaft for my Roadrunner, since they have a chunk of the initial purchase total set aside for a DOM steel driveshaft for the GTO, I figured I'd give them a shot on quoting the Roadrunner. American Powertrain had the HIGHEST price out of everyone I checked with for a chromoly driveshaft, just over $800, and that's $100 more than anyone else! I told them Strange Engineering had a MUCH better deal, and I asked them to refund the money set aside for the driveshaft. (appx $400 some odd dollars) I'll buy the driveshaft for the GTO from Strange, and even get a few bucks off their deal, which was the best deal out of everyone!
THIRD NOTABLE INTERACTION:
Was today, and I've already been through the details.
All I can say is I hope I don't have any or too many reasons to call or email American Powertrain once we are ready to install the TKO600 in the GTO. I got some truly great pricing, but I think that if I had to do it again I'd check out Liberty Gears, mainly because they know how to spec high horsepower compatible transmissions, and not grenading the trans is the most important thing to count on!!
=ME!
