Young guys and hot rod shops

I see and hear about alot of young guys opening up bike shops and building some cool scoots, and thats cool, but you never hear much about young guys opening up hot rod/custom shops, I'm sure they are out there, do any of you guys have a shop or know someone who does? maybe you can post some of the stuff they have built.

 

Man I'd love to open a Rod Shop, but there's just not much of a demand for that kinda stuff here in Southern Tucky. We do occasionally get some kool stuff in the shop though.....
I'm most known around here for engine detailing and engine compartments (until I unleash my '49 to the public....hehe). I dont have any pics on my PC but so far I've done : '69 Impala (engine and compartment), '70 Nova (engine and compartment), '71 Dodge Dart (engine and compartment), '73 Z28 (engine), '40 Chevy P/U (Vintage Air A/C), '60 Olds 88 wagon (airbags).....and thats about it for now......

 

I have grown up around hot rods, customs, and lowriders when i graduated dad gave me three options go to college, work for him, or open my own shop... well at the age of 17 i opened my own shop mostly painting friends cars and cuttin on my own stuff..... now we have a good shop goin doin air ride hydraulics chop tops shaving frenching and all the other stuff that comes with custom cars... ill throw in a couple pics... and by the way im 25 now....

 

i dont know how to put them all in one post..

 

put the new top and side on

 

6" out of the top..

 

In my town, we have a young guy building really zowie, swoopy (full custom) modern-style bikes, and gettin' huge money for them (can't remember his name - not my scene), and a friend of mine who's about 30, building killer street/strip (60s) cars: Charlie Allin. He's featured in the new Car Craft. Has a booming business. And his best friend, who I know only as Chris (might be a HAMBer) runs a crusty little shop with tons of personality and attitude, building down and dirty early rods, and seems to be making a go of it...However, there seems to be a rod shop on every corner around here, so maybe the young guys are shy about jumping in - the pond is only big enough for so many ducks...

 

and a 70 440 6pack 4spd car i done about 6 months ago... this car was warped bad from sand blasting and ended up with about 6 gallon of rage gold to straighten it out.

 

Heres a pic of a '48 AUSTIN I finished for a customer in oct. This is one bad ass gasser ride. fiberglass flip front.
Custom color. www.MSNUSERS.COM/48AUSTIN

 

So Tim, are you considering becoming the fabrication king of Sussex County? Were you touched by the magic of the shop class at High Point High School??? What are your intentions?

 

6 Gallons? And yet you admit it?

 

hey sometimes more ends up on the ground than on the car...

 

Oh yeah, outside of my town, I know of a few shops flirting with violating child labor laws - T-man works in one! Care to share your insight, T-bone? (for the record, I'm 48, so I seem to fall into the grey area in between young and old guys, unless you're young, then I'm old, and if you're old, I'm young)

 

Yeah, I know that. Just bustin your balls a bit. Good to see your delivery coming back to life.

I am 35, is that young? And I dont own the shop, I just act like I do .

I think the reason you dont see more younger guys starting shops is threefold.

First, anyone can order up a bike roller kit and hire out for nice paint and call themselves a "chopper builder". Not so with cars. You cant order a kit to chop a 50 Merc. It takes skill. Thats not a huge hurdle, lots of young guys have the skill to pull off nice custom and hotrod work.


That leads into the second point, cars are more costly than your basic bike package. More paint, more parts etc. Lots of guys can scrape up 15-20K on a gamble that they will be the next Jesses James. How many of those same guys can gather 100K to build a custom of the level of say, Richard Zocchi? Loose analogies I know, but true.

Thirdly, goes to the customer base. I dont know of a lot of rodders that wanna risk 30-100K to let some young dude cut his teeth? Guys that spend that kinda money want a track record from the shop. They want stability and maturity.

The young guys I have seen like Jimmy White for example got their start in larger shops and THEN opened their own in their late twenties or early 30s. AFTER they got a good all around education in the business.

There are exceptions, Trepanier and Tim Strange are two that come to mind. But, in general it is a long row to hoe for a young buck starting in the rodshop business. I do howevver like to see a younger guy with the panache to pull off a successfull business. That IS the American dream!?

 

i'm opening up my own shop. is 30 still young? still working out of my garage. i'm looking for a location with decent rent. i did this a month ago.

 

[/image]

 

I'd like to open up an old rod shop out of my garage this summer. Probably wont go any further than working on friends cars and stuff but hey it should be fun!
-Dean

 

Well my name is Rodger and I'm 28 and I own a hot rod shop in Bakersfield Ca. I have been in business for about 4 years. We are now in our 3rd shop. We have a web site www.ironworksspeedandkustom.com if you want to check it out. It has not been updated in a while. I will now attempt to post some pics of some current work in our shop. The model a coupe that is chopped is mine. I guess this means I now have to do an intro. Short bus just hooked my photochop so I can do the intro with some pics. Talk at ya guys later Rodger

 

All right lets see if I can get more than one pic to post at a time.

 

Well I guess one at a time

 

All right a sight you don't see to often more than one car with paint.

 

Ok 1 more for the gasser guys. This one gets a blower tommorrow.

 

I have started a very small bike shop. Just got done building my first bike from the ground up. Sold it. Now i am starting my first ever hot rod build up. Don't pretend to exactly know what i am doing but learning alot. I guess that is how you get started. Take a look here for my chopper, sportster, and Kustom. Check back often as i will be posting pics of my Hot Rod build.

http://community.webshots.com/user/tankwilson

Thanks

 

Joe Myers runs Myers Customs down in Palmer, Mass. He's had it open about a year and a half and he's about 25. Said he had a rocky start, taking in general body repair work, but just kept at it and now focuses exclusively on bodywork for classics.
d

 

I'm a young guy. I always thought it would be cool to open an old type speed shop, you know, with bubble skirts, club plaques, and tube grilles on the wall. Polished intakes on the shelf. It'd be cool, but half the stuff that would make it cool you wouldn't even be able to get anymore.

 

Was a young guy once, opened my own place at the age of 25 and ten years later I am still at it. Probably won't ever give up but I will change direction from manufacturer to custom fabricator once again.

 

I'm 30 now, and would really like to open up my own rod/custom/fab shop.
It's actually something i've thought about since i was in my late teens..but my skill level wasn't where i wanted it to be if my name was going on something..
Biggest problem i have now is room..and of course lack of money.
i've had to pass up a a LOT of work over the past number of years only because i had no place to do the work..
If i do something, it's going to be in the next couple years, if not sooner.

 

I am not young anymore......( 56 ) but I did a lot of work for others (paid work) when I was younger..........but then a wife, house payments and the like made me go to work for the government. No layoffs, great insurance.....retirement

Now that I have put in my time.....can retire anyday now that I want......I feel I did what was best for me and my family.

Security.......

That's what keeps a lot of young guys from opening a shop......

.

 

T-type: once again, you've crystalized my thoughts eloquently. Wrench on, young guys! The American dream awaits you...(FWIW, it chewed me up and spit me out)...

 

I opened my upholstery shop when I was 22 (I'm 31 now). Been really fortunate over the years and have only worked on rods & customs... with the occasional muscle car thrown in for good measure.

I always wanted to work on cars for a living and when the opportunity arose (it was sink or swim... the shop I worked for was closing!!!) I opened the door to the shop. It's been a learning curve all along the way. You've all heard the term "feast or famon"? Very true. There are good weeks and bad, but it sure beats a real job (Although 12 and 14 hour days get old some weeks during a thrash!)

Oh, and the older guys (yes your customer base) are skeptical of a youngster workin' on their pride and joy... but I've found if you know what the hell you're talking about and do EVERYTHING you tell the customer you will, word will spread quickly without advertising.

My advice to a young guy is go for it! You won't know till you try and you always have a plan B (the 9-5 for someone else). Here's a pic of my stuff.... Stitch