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Ways To Make Money?

17WithaCoronetRT

Well-Known Member
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8:18 AM
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May 24, 2011
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Location
San Jose, CA
Im 17 years old and have a project car, but i dont have too much money for the project, ive been looking to get jobs, but no luck so far, i want money to get the project going, any ideas?
 
you already answered the question yourself. You will just have to find a job. There is no easy way to make money. When I was your age (16) and was restoring my first car (1970 Dodge Challenger RT/SE) I just put the car into a storage shed and slowly bought all the parts I needed for the car. SEVEN years later I had everything I needed to build it. Which took me another 2 years to get together. So when I finally "finished" the car I was 25 years old and then my wife wrecked it 4 months later. Fixing these cars up is not cheap by any stretch of the imagination. Take your time, collect the parts, stash them away carefully after you have documented everything. Once you have what you need to get the car to where you want it to be...THEN dissassemble, strip, paint, and reassemble.

Another way to do it, is to take it apart 1 piece at a time and either restore or replace that piece before you take the next piece off. That way you are always making progress and you have something tangible for your work.

I dont mean to be a bummer and I apologize if none of this makes sense, im working on about 14 hours of sleep for the week.

With what ever you do, good luck with the build....just dont ever lose the fire inside.
 
i thought thatd be my answer just wanted to see if anyone had a one in a million idea, i knew itd take a long time, and i wont give up on it, my dream is to have a restored classic like the project i own, thank you for the input, i wasnt expecting anything too great answer wise, im sorry to hear about that challenger, you had an amazing model of a car
 
It's simple physics, meaning you must put energy into something if you want something out of it. Put some real effort into getting a job and you will find something. Chances are it won't be your dream job but whatever it is do it the best you can and something good will come of it.
 
Dairy Queen here hires lots of HS kids under 18.
Just may have to try fast food for a while before getting into a better line of work like auto parts.
 
Landscaping, pool cleaning, lots of co.'s to look into. On a side note Cougars love having young lads running around. LOL
 
American secret from WAY back... find the job no one else wants to do, then do it better than anyone else does it. Word gets around and you will be overwhelmed with work. Grass cutting, gutter cleaning, car washing, anything like that. Even climbing into the trees and cutting branches. Walk your neighborhood and I bet you will see a few neighbors that could use some help. It might carry you thru till you find a job job.

Be ready to give them a price for what you will do, and if you find it's too little, suck it up, do it anyway, and you both will remember it. You will know to charge more next time, they will pass on that you kept your word, and if they are good people, they will pay you closer to what it was worth (Not too likely).
 
I was working at the taco bell inside of target starting when I was 16 and didnt throw in the towel til 19...not a dream job by any means but was making 14 an hour and met my high school sweetheart while working there. Understand the job market isn't great now but just don't give up hope, you've got youth on your side and age discrimination is not a myth but it's in your favor.
Check your local Craigslist too, always people looking for a young person to help them out with moving or yard work and it's going to be cash under the table.
 
All good suggestions. Just an Idea to try is...just going to body shops talk with the owner, tell him you want some exp. in exchange for lower wage. If impress he might hook you up with some work, plus you can learn some things. Most body shops are always looking for labor . or..... start splitting wood.
 
I'll offer to you the same advice I gave to my 18yo. But he's too lazy to put down his guitar and get off his *** to get a job (he thinks he's gonna be a rock star). The most effective way of finding a job is networking. Treat looking for a job as your job. Get out there and get face time (not e-mail) with the managers, owners, friends, friends who know people... Exchange your labor for parts and/or services. Darkhorse made a good suggestion. Find a shop, see if they can use a shop monkey to clean up or do prep work even if it's for nothing more than learning.
 
Tell everyone you know that you want to work and are looking and don't let up. Most jobs are usually found by referrals and not by cold calling but that doesn't mean you can't find one by cold calls. At 12 I was a yard mowing fool and did some sweeping and clean up work at the local auto repair shop but I still managed to have time to play some and get in trouble so my dad made me work for him when I was 14 working construction building houses where I stayed until I got drafted when I was 20! That was a bummer. You sucked back then if you were a vet but now, it's a lot different and the military might could be a choice too. I managed to slide out of the draft and get into the Air Force.....btw, that local auto repair shop did my first long block for me. The price was very good because during the times I worked there, I worked for free and the owner treated me well for that.
 
It takes good old hard work. I grew up with a single mom and wanted stuff my friends had. I wanted a Redline BMX bike so at 9 I started pushing the mower around the neighborhood. By my early teens I was mowing lawns all over and making my mom hall me over to ones on the other side of town. At 15 got a job at a resturant busing tables. I started getting in to air cooled VWs and dragged one home and got it running in time for my 16th birthday driving test. Since I knew how to fix that one I halled another one home and got it running. After putting it in the paper and selling in a few days I was hooked. Since I had been doing yards so long I knew where all the old VWs were parked (there were a lot in the mid 80's) I kept flipping VWs into my early 20's before graduating to American v8 cars. I also got a job at 17 with a restoration shop as a grunt and ended up learing a ton even though I was not paid much.

I know times are not the same a 20 years ago but if you make the effort you can do whatever you want.
 
If you live in a farming community, I don't know of any farmer, be it fruits, or animals that would turn a young lad down that goes there and asks for any work at all, When i was 13 I bugged a farmer 3 times a week i said id work for any amount he would give doing anything he wanted, every-time he would say no he just couldn't do it but i persisted and finally i said let me work a week for nothing if you like me just tell me the wages ill do it. He told me to be there a 4 AM every morning and taught me to put milkers together when he came out to the barn he taught me how much grain to give each cow and other things, soon i was full time as much as a 13 year old could be. Don't give up.
 
autozone sounded like they wanted me but i have to be 18:/

That is BS. I use to be a AutoZone Store Manager. There is NO rule saying you have to be 18 years old to work there. I had a two 17 year olds at my store and 1 of them was my hardest worker. What you CAN'T do until you are 18 is go out into the parking lot to deal with a customers car like checking batteries and check engine lights. But any 16 or 17 year old can work the counters and registers.

Now with all that said, most store managers dont want to deal with someone that is under 18 because then they would have to staff another body to do the outside work and there is sometimes complaints from the other employees about why you never have to go outside. The manager has discretion at who he hires, he may simply not have liked you and used the 18 thing as a copout and/or doesnt want to deal with the hassles of having a 17 year old work there.
 
that is bs. I use to be a autozone store manager. There is no rule saying you have to be 18 years old to work there. I had a two 17 year olds at my store and 1 of them was my hardest worker. What you can't do until you are 18 is go out into the parking lot to deal with a customers car like checking batteries and check engine lights. But any 16 or 17 year old can work the counters and registers.

Now with all that said, most store managers dont want to deal with someone that is under 18 because then they would have to staff another body to do the outside work and there is sometimes complaints from the other employees about why you never have to go outside. The manager has discretion at who he hires, he may simply not have liked you and used the 18 thing as a copout and/or doesnt want to deal with the hassles of having a 17 year old work there.

i manage a parts store and you have to be at least 18 to work here but we deliver parts also there is different labor laws for minors so thats probably why we choose to employ 18 and older.
 
That is BS. I use to be a AutoZone Store Manager. There is NO rule saying you have to be 18 years old to work there. I had a two 17 year olds at my store and 1 of them was my hardest worker. What you CAN'T do until you are 18 is go out into the parking lot to deal with a customers car like checking batteries and check engine lights. But any 16 or 17 year old can work the counters and registers.

Now with all that said, most store managers dont want to deal with someone that is under 18 because then they would have to staff another body to do the outside work and there is sometimes complaints from the other employees about why you never have to go outside. The manager has discretion at who he hires, he may simply not have liked you and used the 18 thing as a copout and/or doesnt want to deal with the hassles of having a 17 year old work there.

Could be a state regulation in his part of the country.
 
Could be a state regulation in his part of the country.

Thats a good point, I never thought about that. It was AutoZone policy so I just assumed that meant for ALL AutoZone stores. But it would make sense if a particular state did not allow for someone under 18 to be employed at certain types of companies...then for that to be the case. Sorry for any confusion.
 
he said it was new policy, he said as soon as i was close to 18 to apply and id probably get a job, he was the manager and liked how i was talking about my coronet and was pretty intrigued, he said hed rather not dig himself a hole by not following the rules, he said he suggested getting the age to be 17 but had no luck, hes cool even though you guys probably wouldnt like his cars as much as a b body, he has a 67 chevelle ss and a 69 camaro, pretty sweet being chevys haha. but thank you guys all for the advice, i knew i wouldnt be able to dodge just having a long search for a job, i like that shop idea, my parents want me to have a job so i havestuff to do over the summer but i want the money for my new project, but thanks everyone for the good suggestions, ill let you know what comes up!
 
Young man;you've got some good advice from this crew,and you seem to have your stuff together. Glad to see that you have goals and are willing to achieve them. DON'T let less-than-well-meaning folks deter you. I'm sure I speak for many here in saying we're proud to have you aboard!
 
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