Young guys and hot rod shops

I just turned 26 years old. I started a bicycle store(360 Cycleworks) when I was 23 and this year have started a hot rod/kustom shop(South Ausitn Speed Shop) with a few compadres. While I haven't had the time to find my talents for building these cars myself (which I'm working on)...maybe I'm talented at bringing people together that do have the talent and helping them set up a sound business in the industry I LOVE. This way the talented SOBs with the skills (Texas********, Fat Luckys, Mercury Charlie and crew) can focus on their talents and the rest of us can focus on everything else. I'll post some pics soon of the stuff we're working on...and my first SOLO hot-rod build.

To answer the question about the lack of young guys starting hot rod shops, It is hard to take care of the back end (running a sound profitable business) AND being the artist/talented builder of all the cars. It's a more than a full time job to learn to do either of those well, which would take up most of ones youth. For those few out there that do both well, I take my hat off to you
-John
Austin, TX

 

22 yrs here and about to graduate college. I hope to be able to save enough to build a shop in the next two or three years to work out of. A friend of mine and myself have always wanted to have our own shop, but finances always f'd it up. We both have some really bad*** ideas and are both working on our skills. I want to work on anything that is cool. That could be a plus or a drawback; I don't know which. Maybe some day! Knock on wood.

 

i'm an unemployed young guy in columbus who's into old cars...where's it at?maybe i'll fire up the chevy and check em out
creepy

 

You just need to take a sweeping glance of the plowboy shop. Here is a man of vision. However skewed it may seem. He does turn out some wicked ****. He also is self taught. Hooray for all those people who decided to go to wyotech and stuff. The cold hard truth is you can learn much more just doing it. If I am not sure, I ask. He has helped with more than one hurdle in the Gunn project. If he had a cow prod I would already be done with it.

I thought if I really ****ed up here he would let me give him a tingler later.

 

Gas Stove Bolt and I spend lots of time in his garage drinking beer and working on his Chevy. He is a dreamer, always thinking up some cool plans to start a business of some kind. One was a microbrewery, another was a custom shop that built little Track T's. He figured they might sell well and would be easy to put together and still make a profit on them. He thinks the custom cycle fad is just that and will fade away, then the public will look for something else to spend their "fun" money on. Will they be hot rods? Who knows.

Anyway his dreams rarely take fruit, probably because neither of us are willing to gamble on the uncertainty of them, as someone already mentioned. And, we are both over 50 so we aren't as able to put 14 hour days in like we used to. So, it's back to the mines for us both, to our "regular" jobs that pay the bills. Oh I wish I was young again.......................

 

Opening a shop would be an exciting step for me, but ... right now is not the time. I really enjoy working metal, fabricating and making cool customs. I do it "off and on" now and again to make a few bucks to fund the "habit."

My buddy is getting a new building and Im hoping to get something small started as well. Sometimes you have to start your dreams slow, and that's what im going to do.

After he's settled, I plan on renting some floor space. I want to take on a project or two...and hire a body/metal guy to ***ist w/ the efforts.

I have always wanted to open a place where I could make the dreams come true for all walks (financially) of life. Someday...

 

I'm 23 and run a small rod shop. My friend owns it, but I do all the ordering, managing etc...

 

i am 24 and own a hot rod shop we have put a alot of nice cars and a few hot rods we only work on 1957 and older because i got real sick of looking at 1965 ford mustangs . any ways here are a few pics of what we have done. you can also see more on our web sight www.kikinstreetrods.com

 

I'm only 22 years old and i started owning hot rods when i was 15 in Michigan I always wanted to work at a hot rod shop but didnt have the rescorses (yes im a bad speller) in michigan i was working at a Jeep deelership as a body mans ***istant in high school i didnt even go to school my senior year i got school credit to work at the deelership!!! when i graduated i knew i couldnt stay in michigan so i joined the NAVY i thought this would be a good way to get out to California to "hot rod heaven"!!! 1.5 years in i got a break a hot rod shop opened in my town in Central cali i got a job there and worked there between deployments out to sea till it closed down this last spring know i rent out a 2000sqr ft shop down the road and since opening i have more customer cars than the other shop did its entire 2 year span !!! even if majority are restorations. the bad side is i work nearly 18 hours a day working for both navy and my self which puts a toll on ones self oh well ill try to post picks this week

 

Like Oldsguy said I'm a dreamer, but at lest I dream. The real story is my dad owned a small busniess and spent every waking hour on the company. He had 4 kids who never saw him. So I went to work for my uncle's motorcycle shop. 6 days a week, 10-12 hours a day. For some people that would be heaven, not me. I like to play, drink beer and hang out with hot cars. When I was young I wanted to work on race cars. That dream came true. Only problem was not enough time for the rest of the stuff.
Later

 

Well I am 15 and plan on starting a business with my dad as soon as I have my University Business degree. He will do resorations, and I will cover the hot rods, and anything that needs to be modified. Hopefully I will have skills with some bikes then and I can do that too. I have already started to pan with my dad so I just need to get out of school and I'll be set!

 

Ok well I want in, Im 25 and own my own kustom hot rod shop, Its a ton of hard work Just to keep the doors open I have been doing it for 3 years starting in my back yard to now haveing a 6000sf shop !!!!! its a real kicker being young and tryin to get anyone to trust you, there a lot of shops f---in people everyday and then it makes it hard for us young guns , but we can do it !!! Im not stopin im full steam ahead

 

Man this thread is old