Classic Car Repair Shop

[Erik70rt]

Just posing a question here to see what the feedback would be.......

If there was a repair shop that specialized in classic car repairs/upgrades, would you use it? Anything from simple oil changes to engine rebuilds/swaps. Not a restoration or body shop.

Yes or no?

If no, why not?

I know a lot of us can do our own work but just trying to gauge if such a shop existed, would it have a chance at succeeding.

Thanks!

 

[AR67GTX]

I might for paint work. I don’t have a place to paint any more and I’m probably just about too old for it anyway. But a person doesn’t really need a full auto restoration shop for just paint work. It’s kind of sideline work.

 

[SIPLOWGUY]

I thought to open such shop at one time. A cousin of mine said every time he took his classic car in for service, the guy would not be happy. Reality is, if a part is needed the likelihood of the local parts store having it is slim to none. That ties up a bay or space waiting to locate the part. A shop that specializes in antique cars would be prepared for such scenarios.

 

[toolmanmike]

Just posing a question here to see what the feedback would be.......

If there was a repair shop that specialized in classic car repairs/upgrades, would you use it? Anything from simple oil changes to engine rebuilds/swaps. Not a restoration or body shop.

Yes or no?

If no, why not?

I know a lot of us can do our own work but just trying to gauge if such a shop existed, would it have a chance at succeeding.

Thanks!

There is a need for something like that. We have probably a half dozen shops in town owned by fellas that are in the car hobby. They will work on about anything but have a pretty steady business of old cars to work on as well. There is a lot of owners that can afford to buy a finished car and then pay someone else to do the maintenance and upkeep.

 

[ct71rr]

There's one right down the street from where I work. Nice guys too. I've seen a lot of Mopars go through there. They have a storage area beneath their garage with a lot of high end cars, pretty impressive.

Vintage Motorsports Garage

 

[68BabyBlue]

There is a need for something like that. We have probably a half dozen shops in town owned by fellas that are in the car hobby. They will work on about anything but have a pretty steady business of old cars to work on as well. There is a lot of owners that can afford to buy a finished car and then pay someone else to do the maintenance and upkeep.

My friend who owns the local Midas shop has a similar arrangement. Long time Mopar guy who still has the Little Red he bought from the original owner. At age 72, I'm done sliding under the car on cardboard in my driveway. Our arrangement is I supply the parts, but he'll let me work with him on the floor when the car is on the lift. Depending on the job, he makes himself personally available, or assigns one of his senior techs. Nice to have guys available who know how to adjust torsion bars. They had to reset the height on two of my last three GTXs.

 

[toolmanmike]

My friend who owns the local Midas shop has a similar arrangement. Long time Mopar guy who still has the Little Red he bought from the original owner. At age 72, I'm done sliding under the car on cardboard in my driveway. Our arrangement is I supply the parts, but he'll let me work with him on the floor when the car is on the lift. Depending on the job, he makes himself personally available, or assigns one of his senior techs. Nice to have guys available who know how to adjust torsion bars. They had to reset the height on two of my last three GTXs.

Perfect.

 

[Don Frelier]

When I was still a kid in high school I used to do repairs at my folks house.
Brakes, exhaust, starters, carbs and oil changes.
I didn't even have a license but I would test drive the cars around the block if my Mom wasn't home from work.
She hated my dirty clothes from working on stuff, I loved to get dirty and go to the junkyard.
My uncle used to be a full service mechanic and worked in the back room at the largest parts distributor in town so I got parts for almost nothing. Many times he would hold the bill and the car owner would just settle up with him.
He would give me advice and suggestions for things to check, clean and adjust.
Everyone who worked there knew me, I was able to go "shopping" in the rows of parts.
Pretty amazing people trusted me as a kid to fix their stuff, you could never have that much fun today.

 

[ckessel]

I've been wrenching on classics plus some fab work for several months now. Needed the income so I can get supplies etc for my own rides. We're on SS so our income is limited and just covers house expenses. I charge time and materials/supplies. No bottom line figure or date promises. Cash only. No invoices. $60 per hour, may up that soon. Also, I work from home so minimal overhead. I tell the people up front this and if they're ok with that, we move forward. Other than my friends VW, I don't touch imports. Domestics only. Big ticket purchases are on the customer. That way, I'm not hanging out with a cc bill. Small stuff I take care of and hand the invoices over to get reimbursed when I give my hours to the customer. I don't tackle just anything that comes my way. If it's something I feel I can do, good to go. If the owner gives me bad vibes, seems like a high maintenance pos etc, I stay away from them. My hours vary daily depending on what I have going on here at home, but I will generally get at least 3 hours of time in a day. It's great to have a stopwatch on my phone to use. Punch in when I'm working, out when I'm not. Since my automotive career was primarily parts, I hunt down what's needed and pass the shopping list off to the owner and tell them to fetch. Give them the contacts for who, where etc and tell them no deviations.

 

[Coelacanth]

I do most of my own work because I don't think I can trust most shops to know how to work on these old cars....but I can't do everything, either. I wish there was a place in my area (Edmonton, Alberta) that was reputable and trustworthy for some mechanical work on my car. I'd even pay for someone's hours to come to my garage and do the work. My buddy with the '71 Charger was a licensed mechanic and he's about the only person I know of that I could trust, but he doesn't want to work on cars anymore. Understandable, it can be a pain. I even asked a local mechanic who has worked on my '2005 Magnum a few times if he'd like to come out and help me with a few things with the Charger, showing him some pics to let him know it wasn't a rusty heap, but nothing but crickets...

If anybody in the area has recommendations, I'd appreciate it! I have things to do this spring that I lack the expertise or tools to do myself.

 

[The Rebel]

I've got one close by that I've used in the past when things needed to be fixed that l couldn't do myself.

Automotive Restorations, Inc. Automotive Restorations, Inc.

 

[Hey-O]

My friend who owns the local Midas shop has a similar arrangement. Long time Mopar guy who still has the Little Red he bought from the original owner. At age 72, I'm done sliding under the car on cardboard in my driveway. Our arrangement is I supply the parts, but he'll let me work with him on the floor when the car is on the lift. Depending on the job, he makes himself personally available, or assigns one of his senior techs. Nice to have guys available who know how to adjust torsion bars. They had to reset the height on two of my last three GTXs.

X2,
A friend of mine owns a custom car shop, where he builds high end cars. I used to do it all, except paint and body work, when I had the room and equipment. I don't enjoy it like I did years ago. He's not two miles from me and I trust him. All it takes is money, he knows me and charges accordingly. He's moving as we speak, three doors down and bigger. He told me Classic Car Studio is moving across the highway from us, about 3 miles from me. Business must be good. I was invited to his Christmas party at the shop and it was full of older guys...........Helping maintain a car is one thing, building one with them takes deep pockets. Every two weeks you bring a check or come and get your car.

 

[Erik70rt]

Thanks for the replies. It reinforces what I already thought. Yes, I am in discussions about opening a shop in south central area of PA, not far from Carlisle in an area that has good $$ and lots of retirees. We already decided we would not do body/paint as we don't want to get into that and all of the red tape that goes along with it. We see there is a demand and we don't see much competition in the area, esp since places like Totally Auto have shut down.

I've been repairing/restoring cars (mainly Mopars) since 1988, so I have a pretty good knowledge and a lot of tools!! After being an accountant for 37 years, it's time for a change to do something I actually like doing! LOL

 

[toolmanmike]

Thanks for the replies. It reinforces what I already thought. Yes, I am in discussions about opening a shop in south central area of PA, not far from Carlisle in an area that has good $$ and lots of retirees. We already decided we would not do body/paint as we don't want to get into that and all of the red tape that goes along with it. We see there is a demand and we don't see much competition in the area, esp since places like Totally Auto have shut down.

I've been repairing/restoring cars (mainly Mopars) since 1988, so I have a pretty good knowledge and a lot of tools!! After being an accountant for 37 years, it's time for a change to do something I actually like doing! LOL

Good luck.

 

[ckessel]

With the exception of waiting for parts, procedures etc, don't let projects stall in your shop because the owner doesn't have the funds/can't make up their mind. Do weekly, biweekly or monthly billing with progress reports. Anytime you have a discussion with the owner, write it down on a note sheet kept in the cars work file with date and time of said discussion noted. Any changes that occur due to discovery, project direction etc, write those down too and update the work order. Give a copy of the changes to the customer and have them sign it acknowledging the changes with their approval. If they hold back, give them a work weeks time to approve. If you have not gotten approval after that, either send the car packing or charge them to store it. Be sure the daily storage fee is not cheap. Dead/stalled vehicles take away valuable space and time you could use on something that will generate income. Dead projects can occupy the owners garage while they're dealing with Alligator arms.

 

[Coelacanth]

Every two weeks you bring a check or come and get your car.

Interesting...that's the same payment schedule I had with my body man. Instead of asking for a certain amount up front, he would let me know every month or two that he needed more money, depending on what issues he found while working on my car. He would also send photo updates of the progress. I liked that idea because it showed work was ongoing, which you might not feel if you paid a bunch up front, for example.

 

[ckessel]

Do photo files too of the project. When something comes in, do a full walk around. Scrutinize the entire car, write down any scratches/dents/leaks/rust etc plus photos of said issues and put those on your project notes. Make sure the owner sees you doing this. Will alleviate surprises later like "that scratch wasn't there when my car came in". One of the many lessons I learned when I ran a body shop. People can be sneaky shysters. Get them corralled. If they're squirrelly, send them packing.

 

[RJ Squirrel]

I think a guy proficient at front end alignments/suspension would be good to have around.

 

[torredcuda]

I think a guy proficient at front end alignments/suspension would be good to have around.

Yes! Most shops that do alignments are clueless when it comes to older vehicles. I had to trailer my Barracuda almost an hour away to a shop that I could trust that did full restorations but also mechanical work on classics.

 

[68BabyBlue]

Yes! Most shops that do alignments are clueless when it comes to older vehicles. I had to trailer my Barracuda almost an hour away to a shop that I could trust that did full restorations but also mechanical work on classics.

I've been lucky. The guy who owns the shop I use rebuilt the front end on Baby Blue in 1989, when he was just a few years out of tech school. Midas had just established a computerized system to record customer vehicles. Today, it drives the service writer crazy, because there are four GTXs I no longer own still in system.