Hi, Every year, cl***ic car craftsmen and shops are decreasing. When I look at it today, many of the masters I know are leaving their jobs because they are getting old, but another problem is that new people are not trained to replace them, because they tend to lean to other jobs due to the hardness of the job. There are other professions like this, such as lathe master, body shop master, painter, welder. Unfortunately all are decreasing in number. America is one of the countries where cl***ic car restorations are carried out the most, so much so that when you look at everyone from the outside, it seems as if these jobs are done very easily and the most important reason for that is American cl***ic car restoration shows in TV, when you watch these programs take finish a restoration in 15 days which is definitely not realistic. Generally these type of program show very simple restorations, jobs that are not done very well. That's why I'm wondering, what is the latest situation on this issue in America? Do you think a car restoration is becoming increasingly difficult and the number of people doing this work is decreasing? Also is there new trained people to replace these people?
Unless you're a millionaire with an open checkbook, you're not going to get a car fully restored in less than a few years. The TV shows are totally bunk. They do not show the 15 or 20 guys that are working on it to get it "finished" in a few months. That's understandable...........who would want to follow a project that wouldn't get finished for the real-life 3 or 4 years? I certainly wouldn't want to take one of those TV cars for a drive until I had it thoroughly inspected. Yeah, craftsmen are getting hard to find anywhere, but they are still out there.
The hobby has shifted and shrunk but it is still alive and well. True, the younger generation is less interested and to make it worse, the affordable project cars are getting rougher and less complete.
There definitely is a shortage in my neck of the woods. 3 shops within 30 miles of me recently closed due to the experience retiring. That left a huge gap in vintage auto restoration here.
Dave Kendig hooked up with the auto college guys and is doing a program to teach - they had one of their cl***es on their show. We need more of the good people to step up and attract talent and teach them the right way to do things - and how to make money doing it. Even the sub shops - like guys I would take sheet metal or tubing to bend - they've all closed and taken doing some stuff from home. Prices are soooo high...but you gotta pay someone who knows what they're doin.
Not only are the labor prices "sky high" but these professional parts vendors selling NOS or good used parts are acting like what they have are made out of "gold". I am glad that I restored all but one of my cars years ago before greed took over the hobby. I am now almost done with what will be my last restoration and fortunately I ***embled all of the parts and had the chrome work done years ago when things were still reasonable.
Well that is so sad to hear, I purchased my 1968 Mustang back in 2008 and restoration, gathering parts, reading etc took years but now I have a complete car, with 1956 Ford Victoria that is also a different story I purchased it in 2012 and still trying to finish never gave up because I love the car, but today even if I was offered the car as a gift I would never start a restoration due to shortage of labor, prices are being too high parts, importing to Turkey has gone up, but above all unfortunately I am really having a hard time understanding the new generation, not only in car restoration, but they keep themselves away from labor intensive jobs, they just want to do simple jobs and enjoy the life, so it looks like the future is not so bright in that sense I guess.
The short reply to your question is YES! Shops here are closing due to owners retiring and no young blood coming in to learn and take over the trade. This is not a problem just for the cl***ic car industries here but ALL auto repair facilities and all trades in general. A group of "old time repair/restore " started a school of sorts here in Oregon that teaches high school kids the skills to build model T's and model A's everything from upholstery to metal work. Check it out here.http://nwcarandcycle.com/html/speedster_program.html They can only graduate a few students per year and is a all volunteer effort to keep the skills going. We could use a hundred of programs like this across the country. Mark
In my experience there is a shortage of craftsmen in EVERY field. I saw Mike Rowe say in a recent interview that for for every 7 craftsmen that retire they are only being replaced by 3 new ones entering the workforce. I'm 55, but my best friend Dennis is 77 years old and still works as a mechanic 3 days a week. His boss is dreading the day that Dennis retires because: a) finding anyone that can/will do mechanical work is getting tough, and b) He is the only guy in the shop that knows how to work on cars with no on board diagnostic computer. Their shop has a good reputation as a place that is willing to work on cl***ic cars. Here in Florida we have lots of older guys that enjoy having their cl***ics but can no longer do the work themselves. But once Dennis retires, that shop will likely start turning away the cl***ics car owners.
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