FBBO member "Bruzilla" has a idea?

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OldmanRick

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Hopefully he won't have a problem with me posting this here, but it got my juices flowing.

I'm way out of bounds to fund anything like this myself, but I sure would love to have the opportunity to work at a place like this.....Having 16yrs of Florida residency under my belt, I'd have no problem moving back to that state, or any other for that matter, if it would give me a "last gasp" to do what I really love.

His thread is getting a little long, but a lot of good opinion there.

http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/showthread.php?98100-Thinking-of-Opening-a-Vintage-Garage

What do you guys think of trying a business like this? I really hope he can pull it off!
 
That is sorely needed in the industry, Rick. The guy I worked for ,is the only guy in the area that does his kind of vintage muscle /race street rod kind of work. He doesn't advertise, work finds him( at his leisurely pace,lol). If someone had the investment capital, not a bad concept I.M.O...
 
I get into a lot of shops that work on older cars. There are many old car owners that have the money to buy them but no place or expertise to work on them. There is a market for that. tmm
 
Great idea , my friend runs a shop like that , takes in some new car repairs as well . No idea what I'll do when he closes shop .
 
I have a decent amount of Mopar & GM experience, and while some, a little less on Ford's & AMC's. I would love to bring all of them under the umbrella of a shop like that. As a perfectionist, I'm not sure I could keep up if it was run like a production shop? But maybe a service manager/sales position could be in my future. :D
 
I dream of one day opening a shop for hot rods. The problem is it's a huge investment with little profit. Most guys that own a hot rod shop had money to begin with.

Your talking about ALOT of money for start up and with such a speciized client base you will struggle for at least the first few years.

I have a friend that I grew up with that is the ultimate success story for this though. He was always into street rods like his dad so when he turned 16 he got an old vw bettle since it was the closest thing to a street rod he could afford. He souped it up and made it look real good. Then he had guys walk up to him at shows asking for his help. He would have guys bring over cars here and there but nothing serious. Then he moved to denver. Rented out a small shop with a couple of bays and learned how to work on new volkswagens and Audis. He started to get a reputation as the go to guy for those cars. After he saved up enough he moved into his current shop which has 4 lifts, a chassis dyno for awd cars, a engine dyno and a room for vinyl wraps. He has built a VW Golf for the guitarist of Acdc and built Audis for the HRE wheel booth at sema. He also holds land speed records in his VW ar 224 mph. He is proof that it is possible but very difficult.

http://www.bwperformance.com
 

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Certainly not a new idea by a country mile. I've dreamed about it ever since high school. Maybe he can do it.
 
no offense but I think it may only work with the vintage car owners who are "checkbook rodders". Most people in the hobby build their own cars and wont have a need because if they built it once, they can do it again.

From what I have seen around only the "checkbook rodders" ever talk about or look for good shops to take an old car to.

I run my own mobile mechanic outfit and everything I work on that is profitable is the late model stuff. Every time I get a potential job for something old, there are usually so many reasons why I am better off declining and leaving it where it sits.

again no offense to anyone but just trying to be real. However best of luck to anyone who tries it, I tried it and it didn't work here.
 
I think it's a great idea. You know all the old guys {i guess I aint getting any younger myself} that know anything about these old cars are kickin' the bucket at a steady pace. I think as long as the business has the right advertising and can build a reputation, the state of Florida would be a perfect place. I too used to live in FL. You can basically drive your old hot rod year round. This reminds me of the time a young fella I knew needed his quadrajet rebuilt. {for a 4WD chevy pickup} I told him it would be 100 bucks plus parts. He thought that was too much money. He ended up having me do the job about a month later.
 
Rainy Day Auto said:
no offense but I think it may only work with the vintage car owners who are "checkbook rodders". Most people in the hobby build their own cars and wont have a need because if they built it once, they can do it again.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily true.

There's a lot of guys out there who have the raw ability to build a car, but not the finesse. I have a co-worker who makes some decent pocket change on the side, re-curving distributors and overhauling and fine tuning carbs. For some guys, even those who have built their cars from the ground up, the finesse tuning is voodoo.

I know a lot body men in my previous incarnation as one, who can shape sheetmetal, lay down paint, but when it comes to the mechanical end of building a car are at a complete loss.

I got a hot rodder friend who can "build" the car, but is completely lost in building what it takes to build the car. I just hauled his Falcon to the local trans shop so the shop could R&O the trans for him. He's looking to me to build the brakes for him as he's at a complete loss as to how to switch the car over to disk. I hauled this car out of a field for him. The car was an empty shell when got it.

I serve a local exhaust shop who custom bends pipe. Not everyone out there can open a catalog and have a complete exhaust system can delivered in the mail, not when this guy can bend up a system that comes in cheaper, including mufflers.
 
HemiMark said:
as long as its not Mopar only I think its a great idea.
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Exactly. Why "limit" yourself to one brand? You can "specialize", and still service all brands. If your in it to make money, and you're good at what you do, there are plenty of 50's 60's and 70's (unchoked) cars around with owners that can use some help. Eveb the mid 70's and 80's non computerized "chockers" are classics, now.
 
Another thing to consider is can you make enough? Is there enough potential jobs where you could make a steady work?
 
my guess is it all depends on location!!!! lot of difference in suburbs of Jx ville Fl vs say rural Missouri, or Ks or Ga.
and out here in the sticks I can drive 20 mi in ant direction and find more than a few garages that can and will repair anything on an old car, even Mopar.
i'm sure it is altogether a different world in Fl.
 
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