Buyer Beware
 

I purchased a restored starter from a guy in the Phoenix Arizona area named Ron Burke…his business name is Chevy Cool . Phone number is 480-720-8000. I paid $350 for a “Real” original restored starter. Like all smart guys that restore cars ….you buy your parts ahead of time before you need them to help the process/progress along. I purchased it 18 months ago and put it in my pile of restored parts ready to go. In the past 2 weeks I was going thru all the parts and getting ready. I looked at the starter and noticed the case was spun and smooth which is an indicator of a restamp as the originals have a more steel texture to them ….so I miched it and compared it to a real case and sure enough it was 70,000ths thinner. Not to mention he put the wrong screws back in and they were not recessed as originals are. So I call him to discuss ….he said he may have bought the case from John Pirkle….I said regardless of were you got the case ….you still sold me a restamp and I paid up to get an original. He said he generally deals with Corvette guys and that is acceptable and no one is going to crawl underneath your car to inspect it….I told him on the contrary that at the Camaro Nationals for Legends judging that cars are put on lifts and this would be noticed and was not acceptable. He instantly gets aggressive and defensive and says that he won’t take it back and for me to put it on eBay and sell it. I waited a week for him to calm down and called him again…..this time he hung up on me after he answered and introduced myself. RON BURKE IS A CON MAN. I look forward to delivering this RESTAMP starter to him in person. I stand by my above statement and reiterate that Ron Burke is a CON MAN.

Can you post photos of what your re-spun case looks like compared to an original?
I'm in the market for an original factory one,and want to see what you see.
Thanks.

I bought a water pump from him years ago. Won't go back......I'll say that much

Interesting. I bought a hard to find, date correct, starter and for my 1969 corvette 427 L89 at what I thought was a great price from Chevy Cool.
$350 for a restored starter from Ron vs $1000-1200 on EBay.
I had personally heard from a reputable source that alluded to it possibly being a re stamped starter. It was a sort of “wink wink” type comment.
I looked mine over after hearing that and it appeared to look ok, but I’m no expert and I couldn’t figure out how it would be done. Know I know!

There are three ways of which I am aware that starters can be restamps.

I won't elaborate, as I don't want any potential scammers to find a "new" way.

OP already stated one of the ways. The case can be put in a lathe of some sort and wither tuned down on the lathe, or spun and the the case smoothed down with something like a belt sander, moving from course to fine sandpaper.

Just a matter of stamping characters after that.

Rick, I am not good at photos. If you would just send me your email address and I will forward you what to look for.
614-203-1272

When someone says that they had to spin it in a lathe, there’s only one reason that is done and that’s to remove the old characters and stamp new ones

Agree.

Rick….I sent you photos and described all 3 item to identify when looking for a restamp.

After you spin a case using a lathe…..at the top where it meets the bullnose (I call it) they become the same thickness. Whereas an original case is larger in this same area where they meet.