Pantera Limo Update - The Savior
After several rejections from body shops, I finally found someone that’s going to help us restore Vinnie Paul’s limo! One Saturday I was desperately calling limo repair spots. On my third attempt I spoke to Enrique Herrera, owner of Platinum Big Toys in Corona, CA. I told him my story of inheriting my idol’s limousine, starting the fundraising campaign, and the frustrations I encountered trying to fix Vin’s “hot rod.” He told me he knew my story b/c he saw the GoFundMe video on YouTube, and he was excited to have me come by his shop to discuss the project. BINGO!
I met Enrique and he had the same reaction to seeing the limo in person as most. The look of “holy shit this if fucked up beyond all recognition.” He tried convincing me to buy a used limo and pimp that out. He said it’ll be much easier and less costly than trying to bring this rusted to hell limo back to life. I told him that’s not an option. He kept on. Politely asserting his initial assessment that this thing is far beyond fixable.
After telling me how much he charges to fix/pimp/stretch limos my gut hurt and I felt like he was setting me up for disappointment. However, he told me that he loved my story and that he wanted to help. He wants to be part of Metal history by restoring this historical vehicle. He actually help build this exact limo only two blocks away at the place that originally stretched it. Enrique wants to finish what he started over 20 years ago, and we agreed on an extremely fair and generous price to completely re-build Vinnie’s limo.
I still need to raise a lot more money, as the expense is higher than we thought. Hopefully we can do that by the time it’s done being fixed. When we first set up fundraiser we used the cool Vin/Dime number of 33K, b/c we had no idea. Now after a half dozen rejections to fix the rusted body, we found a true pro that knows exactly what he’s doing. But that expertise comes at a price. I’ve already spent around 9K on limo, gave Enrique 16K deposit and owe him another 34K. I have faith that we’ll get ‘er done (fingers crossed!).
Happy to report that the limo is currently being worked on at Platinum Big Toys and will be there for another few months. We got some killer plans for this, and Enrique and his team have a shit ton of work ahead. I’m so stoked about the restoration, who we’re doing it with, and can’t wait to share more updates with you.
ThanX for supporting this mission to help bring Vinnie and Dime’s limo roaring back to life!!! It’s a labor of love, and I feel the love from all over!!!