How to get into car restoration?

[madinjeck]

I want to get into car restoration, classic to be exact. I want to know how to get into it. I've always wanted to make it a hobby and just restore cars on the side and sell them for profit, but should i pursue it as a career since i have a huge love of classic cars?

What will i need to begin meaning should i buy tools first or start getting books or should i go to college for it or what?

For reference, i am about to go to college and i just want to know how you would possibly start this. I kind of want to make a business out of it, but i'm still deciding.

[mcperson2k]

If you have absolutely no idea where to 'begin', I highly suggest not pursuing it as a career.

[420sx]

If you enjoy it as a hobby, dont make it your job.

[jpalamar]

It isn't something that you can really start out full time doing. You need income from somewhere. Def do it on weekends and learn as much as you can about it. Get a name. And sometime far down the road you might be able to make something of yourself.

Unless you know someone, its really hard, if not impossible, to just jump right in.

You can always sell the cars as you finish them too while your going to school/working.

Originally Posted by 420sx

If you enjoy it as a hobby, dont make it your job.

I agree on this for most professions, but restorning cars is more of an art. The cars aren't something you see everyday, finding parts alone would be an exciting challenge, and you have a HUGE varity of cars and styles that you can work on. Being a mechanic and doing the same thing over and over again would be crappy.

[RSX Type-Slow]

buy something that looks like sh!t and doesn't run. Then make it not look like sh!t and run. And if you think you can make it a career with no experience your bound for failure. Do it for fun

[cavillac95]

[i_ride_fieroGT]

Being i have restored a couple cars i have to say its not easy and its not cheap. The key is what car your going to restore. I started with fiero's because there is a huge following to them the parts are not to expensive and parts are still obtaniable. You dont want to start off with somthing like a ford fairlane as parts are going to be hard to get and when you do find it its going to break your bank for the part. The other rule in it is know what your getting into with it... Old cars are hit or miss items It might look perfect from the outside but getting into the trunk pan and floor pans and frame rails you might be getting into a whole heap of trouble thats not even worth fixing. If i were you id start off small get into somthing like an 70's camaro or firebird or even mustang. These cars are popular and will still have a decent amount of parts avalable and if you buget yourself right you can sell it and move onto somthing bigger and better...

Car restoring isant easy but if you get into it it can be fun.

[lownslow95]

Originally Posted by cavillac95

[420sx]

Getting into car restoration, 101:

Step 1: Buy a car.
Step 2: Fix said car.
Step 3: Profit.

[evomike]

Making a profit on restoring cars is really hard, if you really have no idea what your doing you'll get in way over your head really fast. You'll have to get training somewhere first that's really expensive, then you'll have to buy mechanics tools, body tools and paint tools not to mention find somewhere to do it. My advice to you is keep it a backyard thing that way you won't lose your ass and find yourself $50,000 in debt real fast.

[EklipzGSXkid]

I do this some-what, But not on classics. If you plan to do full ground up restorations on classic and muscle cars, Expect to easily spend $100,000 on a single car.

You need a large enough garage , an unliminted supply or supplier for every part you can ever need or want, And alot of knowledge. You need all different types of tools and equipment, And you will definatly need alot of money to start. As with anything, I use the saying " You need money, To make money ". If you have alot of money that you aren't afraid to ''invest'' or ''blow'' up front, Then I'd suggest trying it.

Although, If you have NO idea what you are doing, And don't know where to start or what to do, I'd advise against it. There are months where I spent $10,000-$20,000 in a single month, And don't see my money back for months on end. It's a very risky, And very scary thing to get into and start doing, Especially if you are an adult and live on your own, And pay all the normal ''life expenses'', Most of us pay.

I would start talking to people who are doing what you want to do, And are making money doing it. They might be able to give you some advise. I've seen people stop by my garage and think " wow that's easy, I'm doing this", And they spend $5-10k on a few cars that need ''fixing'', And realize they have no clue where to start, what to do, no money to actually get them in 100% condition, And they have no idea where to get all the stuff from for cheaper then your normal guy walking in a store off the street. They end up in debt, And in the negative on their ''investments''.

[EklipzGSXkid]

Edit: Evomike beat me to it. I can't edit my original post as there is no longer an edit button ETC on this site for me for some reason.

[FocusDude]

I know a guy who started restoring a one truck at a time while he was in tech, he is incredibly talented and now at age 26-27 is running a resto shop. it was not easy

Originally Posted by EklipzGSXkid

Edit: Evomike beat me to it. I can't edit my original post as there is no longer an edit button ETC on this site for me for some reason.

I dont have one either... WTF

[DC2.2GSR]

If you actually want to make it a career, walk into a body shop and ask for a job.

...NOT a dealership... a local family shop. Tell them your goals (not 'open your own shop soon'.. they'll show you the door) and explain that you want to start from the ground up at a shop instead of going to a tech school first because you want to actually learn the trade from working professionals rather than waste your time and money at a pointless auto body school. Tell them you want to sweep floors, cut boxes, take out trash, etc. until you can gradually fall into a prepper position. From prep you can touch on just about every job in a body shop from full frame repairs to painting to finish/detail work to office crap. You can see what goes on and what it takes to run the shop and you can really learn the trade from a hands on perspective. You will learn the majority of restoration techniques from a collision shop by watching and listening and poking your way into trying new things and helping the body guys/painter out. You'll get to see just about every possible technique and method behind classic restoration just by working in a regular shop. Sweeping floors turns into prepping bumpers on busy days which leads to block sanding primer, taping cars for paint, priming, and eventually painting. Or.. You could end up on a 'body' track by asking to help out on a busy day by disassembling cars. That can lead to using morgan knockers and pogo sticks to help in tear down, then you'll be able to rough out repairs, use stud welders and slide hammers and regular hammers and dollies and body files, etc. to do metalwork, learn about and using different kinds of spreadable fillers, use spray-poly filler (like Slick Sand.. HUGE in restoration), block filler, etc. Eventually you'll find yourself watching a guy putting in a rad support or hanging a door or fender or pulling a frame or skinning a door and he'll ask for some help. That's more valuable than ANY school. As a prepper at a small shop, you'll probably end up more like an apprentice and you'll float all over the shop learning everything all at once. That's an incredible learning experience and that's how you learn enough to get into restoration.

One thing I absolutely DO NOT recommend is going to a tech school to learn auto body repair. Regardless of what they tell you in a school tour or on a TV commercial, you will not get true hands on experience in every aspect of the industry and you will not learn the most up to date techniques. The amount of experience you'll pick up by walking into a shop as a blank slate and learning the trade from the ground up will make 2 years at a tech school look like your first month in the shop. While you're gaining experience in the collision industry you can determine if it's really what you want to do with your life or if it's restoration that you really enjoy. You can get training and certifications while you're working. You just have to be hungry. In order to get anywhere in a shop you need to (respectfully) push your way to the top. You need to step out of your element and constantly ask to try new stuff.

No matter what you do, you need training first. If that training comes in the form of a tech school of shop experience, it doesn't matter. The point is that you can't just throw things into your shopping cart on Eastwood.com and spend thousands of dollars on equipment and supplies and just crank out classic restorations. If you want to try, have at it.. just be prepared to lose your ass on each car until you learn how to actually make the repairs and paint properly.

[EklipzGSXkid]

^ Best post this thread will see.

[itwillboost]

^ I second that, that is what I did with the shop down the street with me and it has been awesome. I remember when I had my friend help me install a wai, now the other day I completely remade a wiring harness and it all started by talking to the guys at the shop.

[bordin34]

I agree^
I bought a 74 Charger when I was 14, it needed floors and a roof and I realized I was over my head so I bought my current 73 Charger which didn't need any immediate body work.
My advice would be find a car that needs minimal bodywork ie no rust and learn on that. Then learn how to weld and do bodywork.

[DC2.2GSR]

Originally Posted by EklipzGSXkid

^ Best post this thread will see.

lol thanks. My post describes exactly what I did. I constantly watched shows on TV like Overhaulin' and really wanted to be a part of something like that. I had a crappy part time job and was bored out of my mind so I just wandered into a shop and asked for a job. I did something right I guess and I was hired on the spot. I swept up the shop and put away materials orders and whatever other random crap for the first few weeks. Within about 3 months I was cutting in all the parts and within 6 months I was spraying full no-name insurance jobs (not the direct repair companies that we had). That's not to say I'm some kind of prodigy, I just wanted it real bad and worked my ass off. I started out as part time and I would stay late off the clock for an hour or two just doing random crap that they needed. Eventually they just got sick of seeing me work off the clock and made me full time.

That was 4+ years ago. Since starting there I've been sent to PPG's training center multiple times, painted just about every color on modern cars, and done quite a bit of body work. I'm not really into the body end of the business, I'm more into paint so that's what I've done the most of. I've been in the office dealing with customers and insurance companies and their appraisers, I designed (am designing) our websites, and I'm very much into our offshoot company that is nothing but high end custom paint work and chrome. I'll be running that whole deal when we get our showroom and separate shop built in the spring. I've been told that within a year I won't be getting my hands dirty at all unless I want to, which is exactly the path I want to take at this point. I could have taken the head-painter spot and gone that route but I decided not to. I also could have gotten my appraiser's license and been that guy, but I decided that I don't like looking at deer fur on dented hoods and broken headlights day after day. haha

My point is not to brag, because I sure haven't "made it" by anyone's standards and I don't have that much experience, but really just to show that if you are interested in getting started in the business you can do it intelligently and really work at it and go wherever you want with it. You just really need the shop experience first. Again, you really can't beat starting at the bottom and learning everything you possibly can on the way up.

If you're really set on opening your own shop eventually and you want to on restoration work, I suggest that you forget any advice that you get about going to autobody tech school and just go work in a shop for a while to get started. Save your school money for business management kind of classes at a community college. Even if you want to keep it as an 'on the side' thing, you need to learn the ins and outs of running a business and developing professional relationships. Don't enroll full time so that your class schedule is taken up with nonsensical classes for writing, math, etc., but do it at night or part time so that you can select exactly the classes that you need to learn how to run a business and actually make money, because at the end of the day that's what it's all about. You can have fun doing what you love and that's great but if you're not making money with your shop then you might as well not even bother.