There seems to be a lot of accusations flying around in the ongoing saga of the demise of Unique Performance, and at the center of it is Douglas Hasty, the CEO and founder of the company.
In an article with the Dallas Morning News Hasty defended his actions stating “I have a vehicle for every single deposit a customer has given us” and that he also was in possession of a title for every car the police confiscated.
Hasty also defended that alleged title washing drama saying that VIN numbers were stamped back onto the cars after some cars had rust repaired or damaged aprons where the original VIN numbers were located. “If we had to replace those aprons [where the VINs were stamped] – and we’re talking about 40-year-old cars – we had instructions to notify the state and Farmers Branch and told our employees to do so,”. “We assume they did. But I can tell you I have a bill of sale or a title for every car” that was seized by the police.
There are approximately 106 custoemrs who had their deposits taken but received no delivery. This is estimated at between $10 and $15 million dollars! and while this is quite a substantial amount of money Hasty does acknowledge that Unique experienced financial problems which in turn slowed the progress of many of the cars.
Unique “just grew too fast,” said James R. Bartee, 50, a retired Secret Service agent in Clemson, S.C., who paid more than $100,000 toward his car’s $150,000 price. “Doug just went too fast from a working-class guy to someone with money.”
“We have nothing to hide,” said Mr. Hasty, who was running a workers’ compensation insurance business in Irving five years ago when he decided to begin building the Eleanor Mustangs.
It’s certainly going to drag out for a while. The police claim they have “so much evidence” it will take some time to mount one large case.
Look what I found digging through some court docs on the Unique
Performance Vehicle Seizure, no wonder they canned the head detective
on the case.
The whole mess with customer cars being seized was caused by
insinuations from John Luft and a truck driver?
AFFIDAVIT FOR SEARCH WARRANT
THE STATE OF TEXAS [338 DESVOIGNES RD]
COUNTY OF GRAYSON [Denison, Grayson County, Texas]
The undersigned Affiant, being a Peace Officer under the laws of Texas
and being duly sworn, on oath makes the following statements and
accusations:
1. There is in Grayson County, Texas, a suspected place and premises
described and located as follows: A barn, located at 338 Desvoignes
Road, Denison, Grayson County Texas. The barn is red with white trim.
There is a white picket fence around the barn. There are three barns
on the property and the barn in question is the second one from the
residence. According to Grayson Central Appraisal District the
property is listed as Property lD 113345 (Real), Geo lD 074 1311010,
G-1311 WRIGHT WILLIAM A-G1311.
2. There is at said suspected place implements or instruments used in
the commission of a crime and,/or property or items constituting an
offense or constituting evidence tending to show that a particular
person committed an offense, to wit: Titling records, sales records,
customer files, vehicles with incorrect VIN numbers and any other
document or instrument used to facilitate fraudulent activity.
3. Said suspected place and premises are in charge of and controlled
by each of the following persons: Linda Davis, owner as listed on
Grayson County tax rolls.
4. It is the belief of Affiant, and he hereby charges and accuses that:
On or about the 2nd day of October 2007,at 13950 Senlac D rive Suite#
300, Farmers Branch, Dallas County, Texas, Unique Performance was
found to be in possession of a red 1967 Ford Mustang fastback bearing
VIN 7F01C216874. Said VIN belongs to a 1967 Ford Mustang hardtop and
did not belong to the car in which it was assigned. During an
investigation into this vehicle, Douglas Hasty, the owner of Unique
Performance, ordered that it be removed from the shop and concealed on
private property in Denison. Texas.
5. Affiant has probable cause for said belief by reason of the
following facts: On October 2nd 2007 Farmers Branch Police contacted
Douglas Hasty with Unique Performance in reference to a complaint that
his company was not returning a customer vehicle. The customer had
provided a faxed copy of the title to his vehicle. When Douglas Hasty
showed this defective the vehicle in question, t he VIN number
(7F01C16874) did not match the VIN number on the title issued to the
customer (7F02C127565). On a 1967 Mustang VlN, the 3rd and 4th
character of 01 means that the vehicle is a hardtop. If the 3rd and
4th character of the VIN is an 02, then the vehicle is a fastback.
This model information was verified using http://www.decodethis.com and the
validity of the information was verified by Sgt. Rex Wilemon of the
Texas Department of Public Safety Since the fastback vehicle in
question is bearing the VIN to a hardtop, it is displaying an altered
identification number. Douglas Hasty initially stated that they had
replaced the front clip of the vehicle. To do so without a TXDOT
formVTR-68A (law enforcement vehicle inspection form) is a violation
of section 31.11 of the Texas Penal Code regarding Tampering with
Identification Numbers. A TXDOT title history of this vehicle revealed
that no such form had been filed by Unique Performance. When informed
of the potential violation Douglas Hasty stated that the wrong title
had been issued to the owner and that the vehicle had not undergone a
VlN number change. During my investigation into this event, I was
contacted by John Luft, an attorney for Carroll Shelby Enterprises,
informing me that he had a former employee of Unique Performance that
was willing to provide information. This employee was employed by the
company for approximately two years as their transport driver and was
very recently laid off from Unique Performance due to budgetary
restraints and the loss of the Carroll Shelby licensing. This
informant states that Douglas Hasty ordered him on October 17th to
haul this and two other vehicles to a barn located at a private
residence located at 338 Desvoignes Road, Denison, Grayson County
Texas. The informant did show this detective where this residence was,
to include which barn the vehicles had been located within. The
informant also states that he was ordered to remove 17 additional
vehicles, which he relocated to an abandoned warehouse located at 811
Betterton Circle, Dallas. He also states that he is personally aware
of over 30 additional vehicles that were relocated to 11607 Denton
Drive, Dallas. Additionally he states that numerous other vehicles
(unknown number) were moved t o a building leased by Unique
Performance at 13995 Diplomat Drive Suite # 200, Farmer Branch. The
informant state that these moves were done to prevent law enforcement
from locating the vehicles for inspection.
On 11/01/2007 search warrants were executed at the Betterton Circle,
Senlac Drive, Diplomat Drive and Denton Drive addresses given by the
informant and all of the information provided by him proved to be true
and valid.
WHEREFORE, Affiant asks for issuance of a warrant that will authorize
him to search said suspected place and premises for criminal evidence
and seize the same.
___________________
AFFIANT
Subscribed and Sworn to before me by said Affiant on this ____ day of
November 2007.
_______________________
MAGISTRATE,IN AND FOR
DALLAS COUNTY. TEXAS
Check out where Turner is hanging his hat these days, why doesn’t the
media jump on this and get to the bottom of why he was really
terminated from the force?
http://spacebrew.com/blog/?page_id=88
http://spacebrew.com/?p=1315
Turner wasn’t fired, you moron. I heard he’s stuffing Myra’s muffin right now!
I’m writing this letter in reference to the very poor customer service at your
Scottsdale location.
My daughter purchased her very first car at this location with promises that
were never met.
After we stood up to all our promises and had Five Star Ford’s total full
payment for the car in hand the day promise and still to this day Five Star has
not given us what we paid for.
This has been the worse experience I have ever witness and I do plan to make it
known nationwide.
If you specialize in cars at least have the knowledge before selling someone a
car and give them what you promise.
Please forward me the names of anyone and everyone that can help me with this
matter.
I would like the names of Supervisors, Managers, Directors, and the CEO of Ford.
Hi Nicole,
Sorry to hear about your encounter with UP. I wish you all the best in your pursuit of justice. As of today i still have not heard from Mr Hasty regarding his side of the story he promised to give us. As soon as i do it will be posted here.
Thanks again for posting your comments.
Cam