they still stated that the exhaust was their's and it wasnt.....lying to us

If there was truly testing being done....why did they immediately take the product offproduction when i asked about price? It hadnt been up long enough to possibly get the required statistics. You dont just sell $6k bodykits in the multitudes in just a few days.....they clearly would have kept it up longer had they really been doing a test. There is no way they got any sort of reading from this "test"

I'm sorry, but with the lies about the exhaust, the lies about the wheels.....i just dont see why we should believe this story.

Passat....i actually just got finished installing my gallery showing (yes, i have gallery showings too, maybe i should "design" some sportmax wheels and sell them for lots of extra money)...so the next free time i have will be test fitting my wheels to determine the custom size lips i order. After that the refubrishing starts.

 

Rally--

Along with Sportmax's don't forget the axis's.

This was just posted the other day in the Palo forged wheels thread.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...t=86126&page=2

 

see exactly.....i dont want people regretting their wheel purchases or any other purchases when they find out that they were lied to about the origins of such parts. The sportmax wheels are said to be of great quality because they are "designed by the famous artist, Palo Uber, and developed by a special wheel developer in Munich". How will people feel when they find out that their wheels are produced by some import tuner company and can be found on many of the riced-out civics and scions. Not to mention that they could have gotten them for much less money.

Seems like a lot of people would feel pretty bad thinking that their special rims were of high quality and worth that much money and then finding out that they are lower quality wheels and cost much less. So i just want to make people aware of the possible dissappointment. People can continue to buy from PU, just be aware that the parts may not be all they are cracked up to be.

 

RallyMINI
We the Whole Mini Community appreciate your concern!
Motor On!

 

Except that they listed it on their site, complete with a price and an "add to cart" option, without mentioning that their kit didn't exist yet, and without acknowledging Konigseder as the true designer/marketer of the kit that was pictured on their site (with no modifications to the picture *at all*, except for editing out the "Konigseder" name on the side and back of the car, and to drastically lower the resolution of the photograph.

And then there's the conflicting statements from PU - on one hand, they "never reached an agreement" with Konigseder to license the kit, but on the other hand, they've already "spent thousands of dollars" making unspecified changes to the molds.

 

Well, PU has now posted a list of "art gallery exhibitions" of Palo Uber's work, so I thought I'd post a little more information on each one:


1) STUDIO GALLERIES, IRVINE, CALIFORNIA - This is neither a studio nor a gallery. The correct name of the company is "StudioGallery", and it's an artist-representation firm "bringing art to the people" by arranging for artists' works to be shown in "non-traditional spaces", such as restaurants, cafes, and airports. If you've been in a restaurant where the art on the wall has price tags, you know what I'm talking about. This is the art-world equivalent of the kiosks in the middle of shopping malls that vendors set up when they can't afford/justify a brick-and-mortar store.

2) BISTANGO GALLERY, IRVINE, CALIFORNIA - Actually, it's "Bistango Restaurant/Gallery", and it's one of the restaurants that StudioGallery works with. They rotate artists out every three months. Palo Uber is listed as one of the artists for their current exhibit, but it's not a juried exhibit, so you can't draw any conclusions about the quality/legitimacy of the works or artists participating. It's entirely possible that they'll take anyone that's willing to pay the hanging fee and agree to pay a commission on any works sold. Regardless, "alternative spaces" such as these are hardly the venue one would expect to find works by "one of the greatest living expressionists".

3) STANFORD GALLERY - No physical address given, showings are "by appointment only", the phone number is the same as Palo Uber MINI, and Carol's maiden name is "Stanford" - Draw your own conclusions.

4) PALO UBER, Bournemouth, England - No physical address given, the phone number listed is a cellphone, and up to this point, the only address we've ever gotten for any part of the Palo Uber "enterprise" that's located in Bournemouth is a "MailBoxes Etcetera" dropbox.

5) PALO UBER, Amsterdam. No phone number given, and no address, other than "NIEUEWE SPIEGLESTRAADT ", which looks like a street name, but neither "NIEUEWE" nor "SPIEGLESTRAADT" returns ANY hits whatsoever in any of the search engines, except to point to the Palo Uber MINI website.
EDIT - turns out, it *is* a street name - PU just misspelled *both* parts of it. It's actually "Nieuwe Spiegelstraat". Without any more information, such as an actual building number, it could be a gallery, it could be a coffee shop, or it might not exist at all.

 

hahahah wait....so as of now, there is no real proof as to him being in REAL galleries? I guess if he was claimed to be the greatest living abstract expressionist due to his gallery showings, i may be able to take over that title now as I have my work on display in an actual gallery space meant JUST for art, not to add atmosphere to a coffee shop

 

might as well add:

Ensure Wheel
9568 Richmond Place
Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730 Phone Numbers:
Toll Free: 800-647-7462
Local: 909-980-5700
Fax: 909-980-8668

This is the importer for the rebadged wheels, sorry, wheels 'designed by Palo Uber' and 'made by Dieter in Germany' or whatever corny BS they made up. Heck, a social engineering phone call and I'm sure you'd get confirmation that Palo Uber buys from them.

 

(Note to self: never try misrepresenting myself to THIS crowd!)

Interesting stuff. My instinct when I see things like this is to spare everyone the negativity and just let a "buyer beware" sentiment rule the day - after all, it's ALWAYS the case that "one man's overpriced junk is another's bargain" and I think that everyone SHOULD be wary of claims of uniqueness in any product that costs much more than other, similar devices. that's just common sense. But in THIS case, I think all this discussion is relevant and valid.

Honestly, all of the purple prose and gushing adjectives that I see on the PU site turned me off to that vendor right out of the gates - the astronomically high prices simply sealed the deal. As an artist, I can understand his reflex to self-promote his art with all of the "greatest living obscure abstract yadda yadda" stuff (even if I wouldn't do that myself - I prefer to take the tactic of humility but what do *I* know?), but honestly none of tha't relevant to this discussion - I don't feel that selling art in a gallery/restraunt is the same thing as getting a mall kiosk personally, but that's neither here nor there.

I'm not going to engage in speculation about whether or not PU really DID sell his paintings for the prices listed and I don't think that anyone here should as well - beauty is in the eye (and wallet) of the beholder and patron and it's not my place to put a value on someone's art.

However... when it comes to auto parts like this, I gotta admit that if it were ME, and I learned that I paid double or triple for something that I thought was custom made, and then later found out that it's a simple rebadged item, then yeah, I'd be steamed. I'm not speaking to the items' QUALITY (because those that have PU items all seem happy enough with that aspect of the purchase) - I'm talking about the fact that the evidence seems to be mounting that Mr. Uber did NOT make these himself or have them made custom for PU but he still claimed that he did.

Pretty disgraceful IMHO. Of course in the end all I can do is "vote with my wallet" and that's what I'll do.

 

"a fool and his money are soon parted"

 

interesting... i hear they didnt have their own representation at AMVIV.
minimadness was showing PU's rims but no PU reps

 

ADR Wheels are imported from Golden Apple

Not for Sport Max

 

yep...you are right, my bad. My head is spinning with talking to importers this week. Sportmax:

Ensure Wheel
9568 Richmond Place
Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730 Phone Numbers:
Toll Free: 800-647-7462
Local: 909-980-5700
Fax: 909-980-8668

 

They were away visiting their London office and hosting Palo's latest gallery opening. They were also going to stop in Bournemouth to renew their mailbox rental.

 

And having a meal while they were at it, I bet.

 

Sir Patrick was there atleast on one day. I talked to him about my antenna turning purple. They did send me a new one that now looks painted. He claims it is a different anodizing process that they do in the UK now. I still think it is painted.

Edit...

Went and took it off the car to show to metals guy. One look at it and the orange peel and he said it's painted. Then we looked the other side and saw the paint chiped off from a run across the desert. I'm mildly annoyed at the BS from them. Not even worth my time to call them. Just document it all and send off to Mark, maybe it will help with getting them removed from NAM.

 

We had dinner there recently - linkage - with some friends.

The food is pretty good, if not a little pricy,the 'feaured artist' then was Shmavon Shamovian another Studio Gallery artist.

So, yes, you guesed it, PU's work is available for sale in restraunts !

StudioGallery have a web site here

You can draw your own conclusions - but I can stop off at the Bistango 'gallery' with my cameraphone one evening to see if I can find any PU work if you like

 

a real person? did he sound like a Brit?

 

Yes a real person that did sound like a Brit. All the others were dressed in Madness swag, he was not. No P.U. swag either.

 

I wonder who 'Sir Patrick' is then ?

There is a very, very limited number of people that are 'allowed' to use the title 'Sir' legally in the UK.

In order to use the title, one must be knighted thus gaining an 'OBE' or Order of the British Empire

Any mere 'MBE' or similar is not allowed to call one's self 'Sir' but one is allowed to use the letters after ones name. My grandfather was awarded an honory MBE for his services in two world wars and the rebuilding efforts that he managed post WWII.


So, who is 'Sir' Patrick and if he is not a Knight, why is he impersonating one ?

Perhaps he bought his knigthood from ebay ?

 

Or he's merely a pretentious twit. Shocking to contemplate, I know, but...

 

someone in the art world....pretentious?!?! NEVER!!

 

Folks, it's his first name, okay? He also has a sister named Dame.

 

So now you're asking for donations as well? (unless we think children should go hungry, of course)

How about this - Show us some evidence that you've filed with the IRS to receive charitable contributions. After all, that is the absolute *least* that any legitimate charity would do when soliciting donations...

 

Who owns the rights to those wheel molds ?

Does it have to be on the internet to be real? There is another world beyond the net you know?!