Vandals hit Pineapple Racing and GT Garage in Portland last night. We are confident this was some sort of childish payback, though we have not a clue who would be mad at one or other of our businesses. Damage was fairly modest and confined to vehicles and property outside, but it's still disconcerting to know these low-lifes are out there on the loose. If anyone can provide information leading to their aprehension, I would be very grateful and may be willing to provide a reward. People who do this sort of thing are likely to brag about it and this is, afterall, a fairly small community. Keep your ears open.

What they did was:

(1) broke the rear hatch glass on my "half-RX-7" trailer


(2) broke the side windows out of an RX-4 parts car


(3) broke down our compressor shed


and (4) tore down and bent our metal sign in half, out by the street
[no picture because we had to send it out to be repaired]

Because they went to the trouble, not to mention increased risk, of tearing down the sign in front of the building (everything else was away from the street) and the fact that no other vandalism was apparent in the neighborhood, we believe it was targeted at us (Pineapple Racing or GT Garage). Again, please let us know if you hear anything about it.

--
Blake Qualley
Pineapple Racing
(503) 233-3878

 

freeking bastards!

 

Sonsabitches!

 

Will keep ears open for you.

 

****** pussies, hope you catch'em!!

 

Yeah, I go with people who feel they've been screwed over on engines in the past 2 years, getting their heart felt revenge.

Tim

 

This is a coward act! they should confront the owner not the property. I hope they get caught & dealt with.

 

thats so fucked up... really sorry to hear that... rob's a really respectable and nice guy, didn't deserve that

 

that is fucked up, hope the idiots responcible are caught,

on a lighter note i really like that FB trailor it looks hella tight, is that street legal as a trailor??

 

That realy sucks. I hope you catch the jerks. I'm glad they did'nt get into the shop though....that would have been realy sad. CJ

 

god damm kids. man that sucks.

lets catch um and cut there hands off

 

Just thier hands?

 

Ya know it might of been one of those salesmen that Rob turned away, or that company he mailed the 12A core to... But I would go with the whole Unsatusfied with their rebuild thing. I don't know why they would thou, Rob's engines are bullet proof

 

Don't want to bash Rob or pineapple or anything here, but I've heard of more than a few "issues" lately. Like bonzaitoyota (name on this board as well as nopistons) had a pport motor built by pineapple and had to send it back more than a few times due to it being built improperly or having problems.

That being said, though, vandalism is never how you handle a dispute about service.

 

There is a right and wrong. What they did to Pineapple was flat out wrong! What they did was a childish/coward act.

 

damn!! how much for the half 7 trailer?

 

I agree completely, never said it was right at all.

"That being said, though, vandalism is never how you handle a dispute about service."

 

We caught the serial buglar in Seattle last year. The news put the video from our new security system on TV. Video technology is alot better than it used to be.

 

It's on sale: Half off, of course

Back to the vandalism issue:
I don't think there is any need to speculate on the reasons why. Every business, no matter how good, has a few unsatisfied customers...with or without cause. The sign of the better businesses is not that they are perfect but, rather, how they handle a screw-up. Frankly, customers are not always right and some flat out lie to cover their mistakes (or their mechanic screws up and blames the engine builder, rather than his own incompetent installation or tuning). But, once in a while, there is a problem that is our fault. This is inevitable and we take great pride in how we take care of our customers. But we also don't let ourselves be made scapegoats for problems out of our control, and those who wish us to be tend to be very vocal in hopes of cowing us into yeilding to unreasonable expectations. This is also inevitable in business. If we had more profit margin, perhaps we could afford to settle even the unreasonable claims, but we don't so sometimes that means making a stand. And, don't forget that GT Garage is just as likely the target of the acts of vandalism as Pineapple Racing. Service customers tend to get irate when they come in for something they thought was minor and are told it will be expensive or, by coincidence, fixing one problem causes another problem to pop up. Very easy to **** people off, deservedly or not. One other slim possibility is that a new customer of GT Garage was made aware of the incompetance of his former mechanic (very shoddy work!) and, out of anger, the customer confronted the old mechanic...it could be the other mechanic is striking back at GT Garage, below the belt. It could be a million things! Including that it's just random vandalism afterall. Perhaps we will never know, but that is not the point. There is never an excuse for vandalism. It denotes a complete lack of respect for personal property and the same delinquents who practice this brand of vengance are likely the same kind that would lie and steal and cheat.

Let's forget the various possibile motivations for the crime and focus on the criminals. If they are among us, they will slip up and brag too loud one day. All we ask is that you keep your ears open and let us know if hear anything. Even if it's not an outright admission, we can look into their possible motivation and investigate the matter until proof is established. As a former downtown high-rise property manager, I've aprehended a lot of vandals and thieves. Some were prosecuted and others persecuted, but few got away clean. I'd hate to tarnish my record now. Until the security cameras are installed next week, I will sleep at the shop with my .45 Baby Desert Eagle under the pillow.

 

It can be very helpful, I agree. A few years back, I helped prosecute a burglar who had the misfortune to pick my building to break into. The video of him breaking the door glass was a key bit of evidence...and the shot of him running back out the front door with me chasing him, swinging a Ted Williams signature baseball bat was priceless. That case went all the way to the Grand Jury, but most plea out sooner.

 

Considering how things are going in portland right now unless they killed some one they will face no punishment at all.We just had a meth cook go through nine arrests before he got any jail time.

 

i'd loan you my .45 colt but that never leaves my side

 

I have a Carl Yaz/ Jim Rice signed bat by my bed (which I got before the world series win last year). Been a fan since 1978.

As far as the vandals, it'll more than likely cost them in others ways. Maybe the next engine they think is great (that they got from Japan) pops on them in less than 5 miles.

Tim

 

That sucks, blake.
I still need to run up there and thank rob and chris for helping me out.
I have some very good friends around here and will try to get some local input for you guys if I can.

Spyder