TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Antique cars can be worth a fortune, and a Polk County couple’s quest to restore and upgrade a 1923 Model T they inherited turned into a nightmare.
They said repairs dragged on for years and then suddenly they learned the repair shop they were using stopped answering messages and abruptly closed. When they located the car at the same building, they said they got a runaround getting it back.
Stephanie and Hannibal Snipes said the car means a lot to them because generation of their family enjoyed it and they want to pass it on to their children and grandchildren. When Hannibal’s father passed away, they hired The Rod Shop of Central Florida to give it a fresh look.
The car was running back then, in 2021.
“We’d like to have the upholstery redone, kind of keeping the same interior , a new windshield and a seat on the back,” Stephanie Snipes said.
They paid $4,000 toward the estimated $10,000 and said owner Rhuppert Toledo told them it would take six months to a year but they say COVID-related delays and a slew of excuses came next. Years later, in October 2023:
“He tells us he had sold the shop and had to be vacated with all of his equipment by Oct. 1, 2023, said he would deliver the car to us, in the current state, before Oct. 21,” Stephanie Snipes said.
That didn’t happen and he stopped returning messages and they say new shop owners, who rent the building from Toledo, first told them the car wasn’t there. When they found the car dismantled in a back bay, they say they were told it was a civil matter between them and the previous shop owner and to hire an attorney.
They called Better Call Behnken. Consumer Investigator Shannon Behnken went to the shop and found the car. After hours of discussion and waiting, the new shop owners agreed to release the car to the Snipes.
Stephanie Snipes says she and her husband are thrilled.
“We’ve been dealing with this for over three years,” she said. “We’ve been trying to get it back for over three months and you get it back in three hours. How amazing is that?”
