Art & Inspiration Tech School Students Doing Good

thanks for the PM
got to talk a little on plexi glass shaping methods
definitely going to have to at least shape a cool windshield. We are still drawing on the roof, the students really like the bubble top stuff from the 60s. All my students know who Ed Roth is anyway.

 

uh oh
looks like it started

 

we started mocking up today
working out how we might graft the 2 pieces together
going to try to align the body line under the fin with the top edge of the fender

 

a friend of mine needed some work on his 33 Plymouth deck lid
students straightened, prepped and primed it
plan on painting it this week
cool thing is that the bulk of the work was handled by first year students
not bat for some 14 and 15 year olds
we do work on newer stuff, but I will fill in with older stuff as well

 

we made the front of the local paper with the bus today....again
we are 'cleaning it up' for the Birmingham World of Wheels this weekend

 

The layout designer forgot their pull out quote in your story, but its AWESOME to see a good program getting big press!

 

local TV news guy just called and will be here in the morning for an interweave on the things we are doing at school

 

Mentioned before
Do you sill have the rear doors?
That's the part that has the magic in it
Graft 3 pieces together

 

yes, we still have them
we may use part of that rear door
we figured out the transition by moving it further back We moved it from the cowl to in front of the rear tire tire/shoulder area of the cockpit
not shortening the fin but going to cut the qtr vertically in front of the rear
the last 36 inches of the fins will be parallel then turn inward and transition into the fenders
it has a better flow this way

we just set the rear end under it
plan to post pics soon

 

Had a great weekend. We displayed our projects at the Bham World of Wheels.
The students that were able to make it had a blast
The response was more than I expected. Our stuff had folks around it all weekend. The look of shock when the realized high school students were responsible was awesome. Many business talked to our students. One shop even did an on the spot interview with a student followed by a job offer. One shop asked if they could donate equipment. I had several shop owners inquire about hiring students. We won a small award from the show but the coolest was Miller Welding choosing us as their pick.
A large truck dealership asked us to bring the bus to their upcoming open house.

 

Sounds like you are doing a good job. I hope the school board is aware that teck schools do work. A job offer and others asking to hire students. I bet you felt very good. That first job means a lot. Keep up the good work. I will add a club I am in had a display I will get input from them

 

Hi Mr Myrick.Looking good sir.Keep up the good work.Outstanding.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1856405311037951

big thanks to Garage Bound, LLC/ Miller Welding
students were super stoked

 

some better pics from the show
this is 2 of our electric cars built and raced by students, the paper box we won state with, a custom tricycle and 2 Taylor Tot strollers

A couple of the bus and one for the cool "trophy" Electrical students built the conduit fence


we made a lot of great contacts
Our school director (principal) got to see a side of this industry he has never seen. I introduced him to shop owners and he listened how this industry is in need for new techs.
Our school superintendent, state Ed department, congressmen, representatives, local business council, local workforce development, all county principals and tech ed teachers have all seen the videos and news reports from the show. Many of these have shared this info with friends and colleagues through social media.
In one week, our tech school has been in 2 news reports, a front page article and numerous social media posts.
Hopefully this will help promote and help focus the need for tech ed in our area and state.
All this is made possible from great students, great feeder school teachers, supportive staff at WCCT and a school board that isn't scared to allow a couple crazy teachers do what they know how to do.

 

Hi. Back in 1955 - 56 I took auto paint & body half a day for two years in Shreveport, La. Loved it and had a great shop teacher. Was not any Bondo in that class.
After High School I went to work for Dowell Oil Field Service maintaining their fleet of service trucks. Gravy job for me. Did that for a few years until that region had a big cut back & got laid off. Got hired into a factory job and went thru Electfrical apprenticeship and did that the rest of my life.
I had a really nice custom 53 ford convertible an have been trying to locate the one photo I still have of it. No luck so far. Good luck with your class. Jimmie

 

good example of how tech schools can help young folks.
not every student I teach will work in a collision shop.
but a foundation can be built to help them succeed in other fields.

 

Couldn't have said it any better!
Congrats on the WOW Show.

 

Mr Myrick, you are what is right in our schools and thank you for being that "one teacher" that makes a difference!

 

thanks
its a team effort
Luckily our school administration allows us to do these things. Not every school system can say that.
We are a county school yet we have partnered with the city school system to serve all students. This is extremely rare in education.
I just hope we can continue what we are doing.

 

Wow! This is beyond cool!

 

we won gold at district in student project with this display for the refinishing process

we also are preparing to restore a 23 T body
just picked up the replacement parts from Howells
we still have a few parts to fab
will start posting pics

and the caddy is about to start having its chassis tacked together
stay tuned

 

started back on our model t today
going to to replace the lower portion of the body and rear panel
sourced the parts from Howells sheetmetal, not perfect but better than nothing
the tub currently has patches (one side has double) tack brazed over the original rusted panels.
students will remove the poorly executed patches and replace. So far students have learned how not to repair rust. I guess the old saying about serving as a bad example is true.
We will have to fab the rear lower portion of the tub sides, luckily there is a current HAMB thread covering this

 

Got our wood kit for the T
No instructions but we figured it out


We have a couple brackets missing I hope we can find

 

Automotive students will build the 500 caddy after we tape it up and epoxy it
This will replace the 350in the bus
Now we got to pick out a Chevy trans adapter for this


The 350 will end up in this

 

Haven’t posted here in a while. Been busy but not hamb friendly busy

 

any expertises from anyone that has assembled a T like this would be appreciated

 

i put a 340 buick in front of a chevy th400 a few years back, i used 1/2" plate and made my own adapter then machined some spacers to move the converter. same pattern as the caddy.

 

Thought about making one but they are not very expensive either
Some come with this hub adapter for the torque converter (circled). I have used an adapter like this but not with this part.


Wonder if the trans adapter will space the trans out enough to use this?

 

We displayed our bus and other projects this last weekend at our World of Wheels show again. Met a lot of people shocked trade schools still exist
Met more businesses looking to hire students and met one of our state commerce board people. Will any of this help, don’t know but never hurts to try

 

I dang forgot about the WOW show! I haven't been in several years, went for something like 25 years straight then just quit going, it had deteriorated so bad and it got to be the same cars, year after year.

Good to see that y'all are still getting out and about. Maybe we can get together again somewhere this year.