Young guys and hot rod shops

Some bad dudes are opening one right here in Columbus, OH right now. I am pretty stoked. It will be like my tattoo shop to hang out at and annoy them.

 

well im a 23yrs chick, not a guy. and im going to be starting school in auto refinishing and hope to open my own shop. i have a job lined up once i get out of school, working for this old guy who restores cars on the side.

 

im 21, got the keys to my shop today.. Im pretty excited..

 

I'm really liking how this thread has taken on a life of its own, and the positive stuff I'm seeing here. Makes me want to start up a little place...Any more young shop owners out there???

 

Yes and no, depending on what "young" is. I'm 34 and have a shop. We sell parts, but have started about 3 months ago building, repairing customs. We have done well thus far, having a full build on a 57 Nomad, 49 Plymouth, 57 Ranchero, and some smaller repair jobs like rewiring, and front end stuff. So far so good, it definitely has to be something you like to do, because of the long hours and cash flow!

 

Yikes! I turn 30 this year.. I dont and I feel like a young guy anymore..

just like packrat has said space is my biggest problem. If I had space to store all of the "great deals" I could have bought last year I would need a warebouse for 20 cars..

second biggest problem (as reiterated by deuce roadster) is the "comfort" afforded by my day job..

BUT alas.. this past weekend a simple rust repair job on a 57 ford made me more money than my "day job" pays in a week.. (worse yet my "day job" required a degree, and continuing education.. "Sawzall's shop" requires that I own a welder.. .)


why dont more people start there own shops? cuz its tough, sometimes you have to do things you dont like to do, and there are easier ways to make a living..

but hey good luck if you try..

Jeff

 

low springs is somewhat of a young buck, but he is showing his age at 31... he needs a cane and is constantly bitching about his hemroids.

all seriousness aside, he has alot of experience in bodywork but he lacks funds to buy things to make his job easier. that doesnt stop him from cranking out some awesome shit, he improvises without compramising quality AND he understands the importance of deadlines and knowing that his time is worth the cost.

i believe anyone that wants to open their own business NEEDS to have certain qualities.. SKILL being the obvious first, motivation, dedication, punctuality, responsability, excellant communication skills, patience and financial smarts.

you dont need a fully stocked shop to have a business but i believe you DO need to get out there and make connections... a flagship car showing off your workmanship is always the best advertisment. most importantly, get the work in

 

My buddy has been trying to get a business going for a while , my car is at his shop and try to help when I can, it seems to me the biggest problem is actually getting shop in a location that will be easy for people to get to. Its a pain in the ass to drive way out of the way to get something done. How have some of you gotten loans or leases to get a shop set up?

 

I think there are a lot of people (all ages, really) that enjoy building their own cars, but wouldn't want to take directions from customers. There are many who like to keep it a hobby, not a livelihood. They are likely concerned that making their beloved hobby their vocation will take all the fun out of it.

I know when my dad was taking a trailer full of aftermarket parts to all the big events east of the Mississippi, he got to where the events were no fun and all work. He has since gone back to building cars instead of selling parts, and he is enjoying that a lot more. And the events he attends are a lot of fun again.

On the other hand, when I worked for my dad's shop, working on other people's cars just fired me up all the more to work on my own!

 

A friend of mine Rich Shores in his mid 30's now started out at a body shop about 15 years ago and did some work out of his garage on the side. Got noticed by POSIES and worked there for a couple years (early-mid 90's helped build the Extremeliner). He left there a couple yrs ago and started his own shop back on the eastern shore of MD. He did most of the body and paint on my 59 Elky.
He is currenly building a 34 Chevy 3-window coupe for his father (pictured in the background behind my elky).Other cars he built are the 49 lincoln (his grandfather's) and 39 chevy sedan (his uncle's), and red 38 chevy coupe (another uncle).The 35 ford sedan was his own that started out bone stock. He is currently owns a stock 50 ford sedan that will be converted to chopped/mild custom. I'll post progress pics of the 50 when available.

 

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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.

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I can tell you right now why you don't see too many young people opening up custom hot rod shops..........

You see more people opening up Motorcycle shops because that's where the money is at..... I worked at a Bike shop owned by an old timer owned hot rod shops also and he told me Hot Rod people don't pay right away like Bike people...

You waste too much time trying to sell hot rods compared to Bike stuff which sells very quickly... He said he was sick of people being "tire Kickers" and so the short year that i worked for him we strictly made and sold motorcyle frames/parts that we fabricated. We literally could not keep up with the orders. But the cool thing is that he still had tooling and equipment to make hot rod chassis, and he taught be alot about that stuff.

you can only make money making hot rods if YOU ALREADY HAVE A NAME for yourself... thus people seek you from all over the country..... Just the shear labor involved with custom hot rods makes them available to only a few people when it comes to paying for Someone else to do them.

Now if someone made a hot rod shop that specialized in tuning up hot rods people already have like olds rocket engines and flatheads, that would be cool... i guess in the right place that could make money...

kinda like the Gas Stations that still sell high test gasoline for car enthusiasts, there are only a few and they are always by a high society location... like Vale colorado or etc.....

 

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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

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damn, that thing is sweet man!!!

 

This is an interesting thread, I have already been mentioned by tman, and thank you. This is a subject close to my heart, I have been lucky enough to have been running a full time hot rod and custom shop for around 12 years and I am still fairly young for this indusrty at 33.
It is probably easier to start a bike shop, there is a bunch of joke bike shops around me, some even advertise in magazines calling themselves "master builder" but I know they didn't even have a welder in the shop for the first three years, maybe "master parts assemblers", they all watch TV and think they are OCC or that other guy. They have burnt all the other places around when they farm out paint, or fab work then don't pay or give bad checks. That crap gives that whole industy a bad wrap. The hot rod thing takes a bigger shop and a little more money to do it right. I have been through a bunch of crap in the industry, dealing with supplies, closed minded possible clients and so on from being young. But, I keep going, this is all I have ever wanted to do (except for the normal little boy things of being a rockstar or a porn star!)hell its probably all I can do, sure I worked in collision shop as soon as I was 16, but I always found someone that would let me work on their old stuff, and I got real, real, lucky, I built a car for myself, got some magazine ink, and got just barely busy enough to go full time. I have still been extremely lucky to receive many awards, and ink, but you know what, that don't pay the bills, or hardly even make the phone ring. I know on this site I have been called a goldchainer in the past, and man sometimes I wish I was, this hot rod deal is a hobby for most of our customers, its not their total life like most of us on here, so that means sometimes the customer thinks its your hobby also, and don't make a priority to pay, hell we didn't have heat in our shop or house for 2 weeks around christmas, some goldchainer, huh? But then again I am also guilty for turning work away, when someone asks to build a red such and such with a billet small block and American five spokes, you know just like the one their friend has, and it don't get me excited, well maybe I should shut my heart and brain off, do a mindless build, to pay for heat...but then again this isn't about money is it? You can not buy that feeling when you spray that perfect custom color, stitch that perfect pleat, fab that bitchin bracket, tune that carb just perfect, and so on, you know that feeling?? If so then you get what this hot rod thing is about, and that is why I do it, sometimes the 100 work weeks get numbing, but its cool, you know because of this I actually get to create for a living, even getting to work on a Westergard car, thats cool, and you know what its pays the bills also, if you hold out long enough it will come around. I was asked by a kid once as he was asking for an autograph, he wanted to know how long it took me to make it...I told him I will let him know when I do...but I wish more young guys would go for it, the young guys are not afraid to try some new and different, they are not set in their ways, or wanting to build a car just like their buddies. We all need to carry the torch of this hot rod life, for all the hard work the guys before us have done, I only hope we can do it justice...sorry for the rambling hope I didn't piss off too many...keep cutting
Tim
Rodbuilder

 

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My buddy has been trying to get a business going for a while......How have some of you gotten loans or leases to get a shop set up?

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I assume that you buddy is in Colorado.

The first thing I would do is take a few classes through the SBDC (Small Business Development Center) at Front Range Community College. They have three very good classes; Intro to Business Start-up, Tax 101 & Business Plan Writing.

The classes are partially funded by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), and none of the classes are over $35.

Then, write a good, solid business plan. This is important, you NEED to have a good plan.

After that, start talking to banks! Keep in mind that no one will loan him 100% (there is no "free" money out there). So he will need to have a good stash of money available.

This is just a FEW things to do, but you get the idea.

 

I'm 31 and just started my own shop. I am a Union Sheetmetal worker by trade, Local#36. But have spent a lot of time layed off the past few years. I have always loved rods, and building them. The last car I built was featured in the Oct 04 issue of R&C, was also in several other mags, black 32 ford sedan. Currently I'm building a 56 ford panel truck, and a 34 ford pickup. Working on a customers 32 sports coupe, and a 39 chevy coupe wainting to be started on. Plans call for a bigger shop, more tools etc, but I want to wait and see if work stays steady. I'm in Central Missouri, so not too much work around here, but hope to pull some in from St Louis area. So far staying extremely busy. But have only been at it a couple months. I can do most everything but upholstry in house. I'm not the best painter out there, but I can do it. Here are some pics.

 

I'm sure there is plenty of work out there, just getting your name out is the trick!

 

last

 

My dream was to open a coffee shop/paint-chop shop where I could just go wild with the art stuff. For years, I've let these vampire bitch women suck me dry-spiritually and financially. Now that I'm on my own, I'm going to have a go at it, just creating for my own sake and the hell with everyone else!

 

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For years, I've let these vampire bitch women suck me dry-spiritually and financially.

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Not too bitter, are we?

 

Funny- I hear that alot What the guy said earlier about the name thing is so true. Like anything else, most people are label whores and marketing people know how to get the money and the fools parted. Most hot-rod/chopper guys are artists and it's hard to quantify things outside the hardware. The first thing I'd do is hook up with someone with a good business sense 'cuz I'd just make enough to fix up the car, buy more art supplies and spend money on the aforementioned vampire bitch women!

 

As soon as I get done with paint and body school at the end of this summer there will be a new Kustom Shop in Texas.

 

a word of advice... I graduated from paint/body school and it took me almost 3 years working in a production shop to get really GOOD at it.

theres alot to learn before you just "open up shop"-

getting the word out isnt a problem if you great at what you do- PASSION alone wont do it you need experience...

 

I've grown up in a body shop.....I've sold my soul to Hot Rods and Rock and Roll. I've built a bunch of shit boxes...... cutting my teeth. Soon I will finish something.

I'm almost ready to start my own shop..... almost.

I've still got alot to learn, and alot of hurdles to jump over, but my dream is bold and my passion runs deep.

Soon......

ACEHOLES INC.

 

My friend Kevin Frances is in his early thirties. Started KA Customs (rod shop in Huntingotn Bech) about 4 or so years ago. He has turned out some really nice work. He found an ideal situation as he is sharing a shop with a regular auto repair guy to keep overhead down. But, he is outgrowing this and will be in his own shop by the end of the year i would guess. His wife helps alot in the shop and in the office, and he has an even younger apprentice helping now too. I think his experience as a cabinet maker for many years previously helped as he knows how to make best use of his time to get jobs done. He eased in slowly transitionig from cabinet making to car building. I can tell you one thing. If you are gonna open your own shop prepare to WORK YOUR ASS OFF!


FONZI

 

Im guessing being 42 doesnt make me a young guy anymore
BUT after 25 years in the industry I finally have my own shop - going on the end of ots first year and we are still in the BLACK- getting a brand new location ,frame machine and spray booth all in the next month.
DAMN how do I pay for all of it? Will a credit card work?LOL

 

i'm 16 now, plan on running shop with my dad. i had planned on going to WyoTech until i found out how much it was gonna cost and i also heard it was way overrated. no school for me, learning it by myself with some help from my dad. cant wait to get out of school.....no really, i cant wait.

 

dont forget about me,..lol 28 yrs old. bought my towing company when i was 25/ expanded to a salvage yard, which gave me the means and the time to have a full shop in the 3 car garage, which has now expanded to an 18k sq ft building opening end of oct (or sooner) we are a traditional rod and custom shop on one side and a motorcycle shop on the other. with a paint shop in the back

 

i'm 23 and just getting things rolling now...i've had a custom bicycle company since i was 16...but i dont enjoy that anymore so over the past year things have been phazing into cars

heres the one i just finished
zach

 

actually I have almost the exact same story as him. Im 17 and i was going to go to wyotech until I found out it was a waste so now I'll probably go to another school, work in someone elses shop for a few years, then start my own. People tell me constantly that its a terrible idea and I should just give up now but fuck them. I paid my dues crawling around under dirty racecars for no money, and freezing my ass off in my garage for hours, so theres no way in hell I'm turning back now. I'm working as a race engine builder now which isn't exactly where I want to be but its close enough for right now and im just glad to have a job in the industry and im hoping it'll be my foot in the door to work in a hot rod shop once im out of school. I think I might do my first full custom, ground-up, hot rod build soon and then try to sell it to make a name for myself.