ironheadtom, I envy you! I think the same things almost every week at work, yet I keep going back-gotta pay those damn bills! Someday it'll happen...
Growing up, we didn't even have a car of any kind until i was almost 15. But i was hooked on them before i was 6 y.o. I learned paint and body work from some patient folks somewhere along the way and kept my hands in it as time allowed, thru a couple small wars and a career in the military, that seemed to drag on FOREVER. After retiring, opened up a shop in town and burned, out working for large car lots doing Paintless Dent Repair, airbrush touch up, etc., now i drag race when i feel like it, paint a few classics and muscle cars,and build an occasional engine for myself or friends. If its not fun i dont do it. By the way dont ask me to work on yer fekkin KIA, or other jap donkey---yer probably not gonna like my answer. LOL. But if you need help welding in a patch panel on a 41 Merc, or adjusting your carb to eliminate that "flat spot", i'm your guy, and yep i know im lucky, but if i was really lucky, some of the things that were thrown at me over the years would have missed---
I'm 52 and love to work on my project cars but I hate to work on my daily driver. Somehow, getting to the salt mine and the paycheck needs to be as painless(mindless) as possible. I enjoy working with my hands but not for a living anymore. Maybe cause they don't work like they used to. I've built airplanes for years but I won't be seeing any outside of work. Now Hydroplanes, that's a different story. I get to wrench one someone else's stuff and leave them with all the bills. Works for me.
Spent 30 yrs as a pipefitter workin my ass off to get retired early. I now spend all my time doing what I love to do. I won't build anything for anyone for money, then it becomes a job and some son of a bitch will eventually complain that it costs too much and this or that ain't right. Even if the asshole couldn't screw in a lightbulb hisself. But I will help anyone who is willing to help himself and constantly help where I can, it gives me a great sense of enjoyment. In the late 60's I helped a friend install a Vette rear end in a 32 Vicky, did all the welding for him and told him that where he wanted it welded wouldn't work, so sure enough it didn't, but that didn't stop him from badmouthing me to a bunch of friends, told him where to get off and haven't seen him since, go figure.........Course much older now and hopefully a little wiser.........maybe not........
My story has already been told here somewhere... kid of construction worker WW2 vet Dad. Raised is a stucco post war house in SoCal where we didnt lock our doors at night and at least one of the neighbor's hood was always up . Speedshops, cam grinders and jalopy racers all around us .... and I was just a wide-eyed kid of the fifties and sixties with grease under my nails. I am sure this story has been already told because I am gonna take a guess and say mega-folks here have the same history. ... but anyhow man, Welcome!
I did 21 years in Navy, no real time for building a car and moving every 3-4 years did not help either, then engineer with TRW R&D for 13 years, cars & trucks all day, no interest at night. Severely injured at age 53, put out on disability. With killer meds (same as people with late stage cancer) I can maybe function 3-4 hours a day, I get 8 hours work done in a week or two. My projects keep me going, my 4 post lift is my best friend and keeps me from bending & reaching. I am proficent at spilling my coffee and taking naps <grin>. Enjoy what you have, live for today, plan for tomorrow. Enjoy!!
Amen to that. I'm another one of those who thought I wanted to work on cars for a living and did for a number of years and did it well but found out that I actually didn't want to work on other people's cars but just wanted to build my own hot rods and customs. Looking back I wish I had spent more time with the recruiter for the computer programming school that contacted me in 1965 when I was about to graduate from high school. I could probably afford a really nice shop and a bunch of cars now if I had gone that way. I did spend a lot of years working all day on customer cars and many hours a night and weekends on my own projects before I got burned out. Now that the kids are grown and I am about to slow down work wise in the next year or so the enthusiasm is coming back mostly due to the build projects on the HAMB being contagious for many of us.
Welcome I know your story, I work as a mechanic right after tech school in the early 90, in my early 20's. Like you the more hours I worked on other peoples cars my desire to work and build my own slowly faded. I got to the point that I couldn't hardly stand to work on my own stuff after hours. Then one fatefull day I had a motorcycle accident and long story short I had to change professions because of massive leg damage. My second profession was no where car realated and it has rekindled my car building fire.
going through the same sort of thing right now. been pinstriping since i was 14, but have always worked a regular job to get by. now coming up on 50 i have decided to finally try to make a living doing what i love-striping. just have to knuckle down and do it!
The Jalopy Journal
