Swap Dilema...What would you do? Options

[Coomer]

Hey guys,
I just came into town yesterday, and I drove by my mechanic's shop, and he hasn't touched my car for three weeks. Three weeks ago when I was home, I went and talked to my mechanic, and I brought my dad along, and we all agreed that he'd have the car done January 1st, and I'd pay $500. Well, now it looks like my car isn't going to be done. My mechanic lied to me, and in fact hasn't even started the wiring yet, which is going to be very hard. Also, there is other stuff that needs to be done, such as the A/C, power steering lines, throttle cable, etc.

So I'm almost completely positive that my car will not be done on January 1st. When this happens, I'm going to bring a laywer and my dad with me, and we'll have a talk with Josh, my mechanic. So below are the options I'm thinking of telling him he's got.

1. Tell him that he needs to pay someone to come out and finish my car correctly, or tell him that he needs to pay to get the car towed to a competant shop where they'll finish the work, which he'll need to pay for as well.

2. Tell him that he needs to put my stock 7A-FE back in correctly, and buy the 4A-GE engine from me for the price that I paid for it and all the replacement parts.

What do you guys think? Are there other options I should be thinking about? Is there anything else I should do?

[snadman]

The fact is, verbal contracts are only valid up to a certain ammount. After that, if a verbal contract is made with no paper and higher than a certain ammount...if you take him to court, the highest you can get is that set ammount.

I guess I'd try for #1 and have it towed to a place that really knows what they're doing. Send it to a well-known shop in northern Cali or something. I'm sure there are bunches.