Hot Rods LEARNING HOW TO DO REAL METAL WORK????

I think there has been a growth over the last 20 years of people doing metal shaping. Tools such as English wheels, plannishing hammers and so forth were not readily available prior to the average home shop. There is a big difference in metal work for vintage cars and modern cars. Modern cars are now various alloys, thin tempered metals, etc. panel replacement is typically the norm.

 

Bad Chad is teaching daily on the internet.

 

Sure he is.

 

There are a lot of places that do workshops for a few days, Wyotech has a 3-month program, etc. Cornfield and Wyotech links below. Near me, there is a college that does Street Rod weekend workshops and there is a large museum that does week-long workshops on restoration. The kid could check if there are options like that in his area.

Street Rod 3-Month Course Program | WyoTech
Classes – Cornfield customs (cornfieldcustomsltd.store)

 

You need to watch what the courses are offering as well as far as training. If they are spending a bunch of time on power hammers, pullmaxes etc. all of that information, although useful and interesting, will not really translate to a home user as most don't have the room or funds to acquire the machines. Hand work and wheeling are the best subject matter for a home user to get into for a reasonable amount of money. If I am spending $1000 on a course I don't want half the time spent on machines I will never own even if the principles translate to other machines.

 

This.

The instruction is all freely available. The rest is practice, practice, practice.

 

after over 40 yrs in business... i'd say you are spot on...

 

X2 for Lazze. Teaches classes, and has videos, some are on Youtube. He is amazing.

 

There is something called an apprenticeship. The young apprentice would go to work for the experienced workman, start off by sweeping the floors and doing menial tasks, but keep his eyes open and learn, then the experienced man would teach him how it was done, over 4 years or so the apprentice would become a journeyman, that meant he would go around to different towns and work at his trade broadening his experience and learning how they did things in other places. Finally he would be a master workman himself able to teach his own apprentices.

Some countries have an official apprenticeship program for various trades with regular examinations and licenses for those who complete the apprenticeship and pass the tests. I don't know if they have that in the US but they do in Canada and all European countries, Australia New Zealand and I don't know how many places.

 

as been said already....what they teach now is collision on new cars,,,, damaged cars now are easier and faster to replace the metal and what they teach now is how to drill out spot welds and work a porta power..

@ 17 I chopped a 32 5 window,,,only tools I had was jig saw , side grinder, stick welder and wood working clamps...took for ever, but got it done... got it close enough for a skim coat of filler....
40 years ago I sectioned 4'' out of the center of a 51 chevy pickup, pancaked the hood and took 4'' out of the fire wall to make a roadster pick up... got the body done and a guy traded me a whole bag of fun tickets and my old 58 that I had sold him... last I heard he sold it out of the states.. I was going through a nasty divorce and every night I would just head to the back garage and work till I could get some sleep...lot of times in a lounge chair in the garage...most stuff I learned was from trial and error, magazines , and looking at how others did stuff... working on my 58 there's a lot of flash backs of back in the day...blocking mountains of feather fill to the garage floor...life was easy when I was a broke***** try'n to have something nice.... as now @ 70.... I can buy any car I want thats done.... but the joy goes away quick when you can't say..... I did it.... the gobs here are quick to criticize the look what I did... it has to be belly*****on to what they would do.... for me, it can be a horrible mess that some one did.... and I would think... bet he got a lot of enjoyment doing that car... In my short time here I've been told that I ruin every car I touch, I don't know nothing about cars... my 40 year business should get shut down. only stupid people would let my guys work on their cars.... but.,, all In all , I enjoy it.... some of the work done here is amazing.... and would be nice to see the skill taught to the next, and many generations to come...

 

My thoughts on this would no to find an old body man who’s semi retired but still dabbling and apprentice , that’s how I learned the majority of the little I’m capable of. Getting an education and being paid, can’t beat that.
As a young man trying to figure out what to do in life I was considering auto body, so I signed up for pre- employment autobody through the localish college, course was put on at the jail, an eye opener in itself for a young fella. While did enjoy it and I did learn some basic stuff, it was nothing compared to what I learned from the instructor working for him over the six months till school started up again. He was into buying write offs and repairing them for sale, mostly early 80s ford trucks with the Swiss cheese frames. No frame table, just chains potted in the floor, straighten and fish plate frame , jack out the cab, little bodywork and partial paint, done and up for sale. He would also take on some collision repair for friends so I believe I recieved probably a fairly complete auto body education compressed into six months and paid to boot

 

All of this reminds me of a time a few years that I was talking to Rod Covell at a show where he had a booth set up. I was still teaching at the time and was trying to get him to donate one of his tapes for my program. It didn't work and I ended up buying the tape. But, while we were talking, a young guy was all eyes watching a video of Rod building a sprint car nose out of aluminum. All of a sudden, he is all excited and interrupted our conversation. He said to Rod, "You're gas welding aluminum!". Rod responded yes and the guy said that when he welded aluminum, all he got was holes and puddles. Rod replied with, "so did I when I first started". A wise statement that some of us forget from time to time. Few of us are natural born craftsmen. Almost every thing we do has a learning curve of some type. Something to remember.

 

I am a big believer in the printed page. My Dad always said information and knowledge in any subject is a distinct advantage. Always interested in metal working I obtained a tome by the late Ron Fournier. He at one time offered work shops, I seem to recall. Mr. Ron was a Indy Car body and mono type chassis builder. His book called
Fabricators Handbook is excellent in explanation and reasons why direction. I first learned of hammer forms and their use from his tutorials. This has enabled me to develop useable skills in sheet metal work. So far I have done all my own panel work on my plethora of rusty bent old as me stuff. I have several metal working volumes from various craftsmen. Mine are tattered from constant reference use.

 

I know people who went through the apprenticeship program here and learned how to straighten panels. Not building custom body’s from scratch but certainly far more than drilling spot welds and a porta power. Now that will vary depending on country.