Quote:
Originally Posted by e015475
I wish I could have 'pulled this off myself', but it didn't quite come about that way.
My '49 was in a one-man body shop for a year and a half, and I finally asked the guy if it would get done any quicker if I came and helped out. I didn't expect him to say yes, but he said sure, come on in and work on it anytime you'd like. I'd just retired, so I started going to his shop everyday to work on the truck.
I'd always been a bodywork and paint hack, but between what he taught me and what I read from articles like yours I've learned a lot and improved greatly.
I'm on my second project now, a old MG with a coach-built body (metal over a wood frame) Same arrangement as on the truck - I show up at his shop to work and he fills in all the gaps for stuff I don't know how to do. So far I've learned the basics of metalwork, including fabricating new doors for the MG on the English wheel, making crowned patch panels on the wheel, shrinking/stretching/planishing/straightening with a hammer a dolly, welding with gas, and on and on. The latest has been how to perfect your metal work with fillers, so this post was timely.
The guy with the body shop hires guys to work but they last a couple of weeks and leave. I don't really understand why, as I have a lot of fun doing it - it might of even been a great career if I'd started it forty years ago.
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I was 15 when I bought my truck with paper route money for $200 (black and white photo is it's first day home). A few months later, and I was 16, I chopped the top. I loved this stuff so much and had all kinds of plans on cars to build.
I was delivering my newspapers and as I rolled up on my bike at a customers house he was getting out of his truck and going in and he had a shirt on with the name of a local Chevy dealer and "Body Shop" on the front of it. I was kinda confused, no kidding, I asked him if he worked at a body shop. He said yes and it hit me like a rock, I could do this stuff for a job? This man, owned a home and had a wife and all and he did this for a job? I was blown away, It had never crossed my mind that I could do this as a job, holy cow! I went to work full time a week after graduating high school in June 1977 and have fed my family and put a roof over my head ever since.
Few days I want to go home you know what I mean? I have enjoyed doing it for 40 years.
You are very lucky to have that guy! I hope you got him a nice bottle of his favorite wine or brandy or what ever for Christmas.
Brian