Big update time! But first an answer and a story...
Clatter, The shop I went to is called Prosport Auto Body at Stevens Creek and Bascom Ave. in San Jose. Jewel is an awesome old car guy from the south and has done tons of VWs. He did an awesome job on my car and I've already sent a few people his way. He does have a waiting list and about a 2 month back log if you can wait.
And now a story...
I dropped the bug off at Jewel's shop at the end of march hoping to have it back in a couple weeks with the goal of having the bug fully restored and finished for Bugorama Memorial Day weekend. After 4 weeks I finally get to pick up the bug, now towards the end of April, and take it over to Bugformance, where the headliner and rubber will be installed. They sit on it for a week with a mad rush of cars that need work also trying to make Bugorama, but once they unwrap the fenders they find that 3 of them have deep scratches or chips in the paint.
So I call Jewel and since he wrapped them up he takes responsibility and offered to respray them for free. Another couple weeks go by and the deadline looms large. A week until the show now, fenders are back at the shop and the whole car is on hold waiting for the headliner to be installed. It's the Wednesday before the show and I have no illusions about finishing the bug in time, but I'm looking forward to a nice holiday weekend working on the GSR.
After a stressful day at work, I drive my Excursion and race trailer down to pick up the bug, get everything paid for, go out to move the tow rig, and the Excursion wont start. I do some troubleshooting with fuses/relays and it looks like the fuel pump died right there in the parking lot. Damnit. I call for a tow truck as I watch the shop close up with the GSR still inside and wait. The first truck that comes out can't drive me home because it'll put him over 40 hours and he can't have OT. Whatever. He calls a second truck and after another 30 minute wait I finally have a way home. We put the Excursion on the flatbed, and he tells me that towing the trailer home will be $250. That's cheaper than a new trailer and I don't want to leave mine behind with the good chance it would get stolen, so he hitches it up.
We get on our way and as soon as we leave the parking lot, the dip at the parking lot entrance causes the trailer to jump off the hitch and slam into the back of the tow truck. The trailer jack is messed up, the equipment box on the tongue is smashed in, and we are blocking most of a busy road during rush hour. While the tow truck driver, Jose, scrapes my trailer off the road, my phone starts blowing up with emails about databases going down, and various failures I can do nothing but watch because my laptop bag is in the Excursion. Once we get rolling again Jose and I chat about what a ****ty day I'm having, and hopefully my luck turns around. After nearly getting wrecked twice on the way home by inattentive drivers, we finally make it to my house in the mountains and park the trailer. Were in the middle of unloading the Excursion and my asshole neighbor starts causing a scene. He races to the edge of his driveway in his car with his brights on, and revs his engine like he's got somewhere to go. We have a history with this guy so I know he's just being a dick, and he does this whenever we block the road (moving trailers) or use the easement that leads to one of his driveways (he has more than one) to turn trucks around. Jose gets flustered by the guy's actions and moves out of the way for the neighbor (who parks in front of his garage with the car idling and won't acknowledge our presence). Unfortunately, the Excursion was in neutral but still on the winch, so it didn't roll off the back of the tow truck, but instead slammed into the steel light bar folding front of the hood on the Excursion nicely. Fantastic. I can't even get mad, this bizarre series of events is just unbelievable. We unload the Excursion, roll it into the driveway and I call it a night with a bottle of La Fin Du Monde, very appropriate. The tow company will cover the damages so it's just a waste of my time to get the estimates done, but now I get to spend the holiday weekend replacing the in-tank fuel pump on the Excursion instead of the bug.
Yeah, the jack is bent and that lid doesn't close any more...
...and the Excursion needs a nose job.
btw, Jose has been a tow truck driver for over 15 years and never had an accident. He had 2 in one day... in a brand new low truck, it still had paper tags. I know they were both preventable accidents but I just feel bad for the guy getting collateral bad juju by proximity.