I cant imagine it would be hard to look up "new rotary shops" in FL. Hell, even check in on that section of the board here. see if anyone there has seen a new shop come to town. No one disappears in this day and age if they are in business to make money. Either he is dead, or is keeping way off the map for reasons beyond a single engine. Backed rent or bills seriously come to mind.

Id find out who owns the building he was in at the time of your engine rebuild and it may very well be sitting there while he skipped town for money reasons.

I say this all hap hazardly, but... you don't just up and go in this small world of rotary. If you go, you are gone.

 

It's been a year since I pulled it and shipped it last time I had contact was over 6 months ago and he simply asked what color I wanted it and that it would be shipped that week

 

I have tried the other shops in the strip mall say they can't give me the owner of the buildings number for some reason I am in ND it is in Vegas so I can't personally be there or I would have slept in front of the building until someone showed he has not logged in on rx7 and more then one person said he moved to Florida ! His phone is still active I have hit him up on every media outlet avail so maybe it's time to hire some help I even noted here there is a 500 buck reward for help with a successful return of this engine !

 

Its a long shot but any chance he shipped it and it got lost? I can't remember if you mentioned if he was paid for the work. Anyway either way you would have actually be able to contact him to find out the shipping company so it doesn't really change anything if he did.

 

Any way you could catch a flight to Vegas? Could you get the building owners information if you were there in person? You could at least verify the shop is vacant.

 

That would be pretty pointless, especially if the building is vacant...he isnt a p.i. and would probably spend more money going than if, say, he bought a engine

 

The point was they won't give the property owners information out over the phone. Being there in person might make a difference. Not sure where he is in ND. but round trip from Fargo, ND is about $750. More than I expected. I can fly there out of Nashville for less than $500. Hotel is less than $100 a night. Less than an engine but could be a big waste of money. Hey at least it's Vegas could make it a mini vacation and stay a couple nights.

 

thinking a member in vegas can assist him with that. Check regional forums or if there is some kind of local facebook group

instead of asking who is the landlord Im trying to track this guy down why not ask who is the landlord you are interested in one of the properties

 

I rent units to businesses/people and I do not give out peoples information very readily. I think that this advice is pretty fubar.

Spending 1K to go to vegas to find out nothing just adds more to the loss.

I'd listen to Rob and find someone that worked with him/had business there done before and look for him.

Also to the buyer, do you any evidence you send him the motor? Any terms of sale between Rotary Evolution?

This sounds like another shady shop ******* over a customer.

 

Ok. Bad idea. Forget I mentioned it.

 

Not sure how I ended up at this thread.

I have to say I had an engine rebuilt by Ben over a year ago and his communication was excellent the whole time. I would be just as concerned if not more if this was my engine so thats understandable, my two cents is something tremendous had to happen for Ben to go awol.

Good luck getting in touch,
Al

 

Yes I have a copy of the check with his signature as well as copies of all our text e mails and pms
I sent him 2840 for the parts and was expecting to pay another sum for labor and shipping

Never heard back from him after he mentioned it just needed paint and would be ready !

I have a friend in Vegas who has stopped by his little shop and no one was ever there until boom it was empty

 

I have a feeling he passed away and nobody in his family bothered to let anyone know.

 

I'm sorry about the loss of your mechanic and your engine. RIP.

 

I have been unable to find even a shred of evidence that Ben has passed away !
If anything as other members have mentioned he was planning on moving to Florida . Reward of 500 is still being offered

 

Does he have a last name?

 

its on his website, but when you google search about 10 people show up between vegas and florida

 

I dont get this. Ben was always a good guy, i cant see him doing something like running off. I guess you really never know people though

 

i did some googling, and found no info either.

 

I believe his names Ben Blankenhorn
that what popped out when I would Pay pal him....
better yet can you get a hold of a CS person on PayPal and see if he's still Active??


he's done some great work for me and my buds, cant say nothing bad but just hope guys ok

 

From his website

"My name is Ben Blankenhorn, i started in the automotive industry in the early '90s as an auto repair technician for Chrysler corporation and had worked with their dealers for about 10 years. "

 

"Content copyright 2011-2015. Rotary Evolution. All rights reserved."

So he's updated his website at some time

 

Unfortunately same thing happened with Japan2LA. Was a solid member for longer than I had been around and then things simply went bad.

I didn't mourn him too much cause he thought a lot of his parts, or so his prices would indicate.

RotaryEvolution seemed like a good guy, hopefully this gets sorted out.

 

Other than his web page being updated (the copyright may be automatically updated with year changes?), seems like no one knows for sure if he's alive or not.

I thought maybe OP could check death records for Nevada or Florida, but I checked the Nevada site, and you have to apply/pay, and I'm not even sure if anyone can request this info.

Doesn't seem too extreme at this point to save the cost of looking for him, and file a claim and let the police look for him. They have more power and tools for the job. Having said this, I hope if/when he's found there's a good explanation and he doesn't get in trouble. Just saying to use police tools to find him.

But unless it was something very sudden, I don't understand the lack of communication.

 

police wont look for anyone, you know how many of these calls they get a day?

Even if he was sick it still takes a few seconds to convey a message to someone.
if he was locked up he can tell a relative - hey go on RX7 club, facebook, text this guy and tell him where the engine is or tell him I had to sell it for an attorney and Ill make good on it one day

or he is dead- which would be the only "excuse"


last time he played the "oh poor me" line when a deal had not gone well- after that he changed his screename