soap box 2!
wanting a nice car not so long ago persuaded me to venture into fabrication
and paint. now wanting to vintage race has pushed me even farther into
chassis reconstruction and repair and panel fabrication. a few years ago
my friends stoped by and stared all slack jawed, pointing asking what is
that? (my '67 h-modified sports racer) as it grew from a rotted hacked up
space frame to a complete running car. now i have started on a 1960 saab
sedan and they still stop by but now just ask if i'm "doing another one"?
i do not see what is so special about what i do. i have learned it some
here from my father's racing in the 50's and 60's and the rest came little
by little. now i look at a basket case restoration and can see it finished
where most see it as impossible. i have found a skilled welding shop for
the really wierd stuff and a great radiator shop, and a really competent
machine shop are all the contacts i need .
i do worry about any of them closing though! it is true no one wants to
learn any of the old skills anymore. even the local kids who stop by from
time to time are interested in what i'm working on but seem to have no
mechanical aptitude. 1 or 2 seem to have some interest and talent and start
to hang out and get bored after a short while. i enjoy sharing what ever
the heck it is that i have, that seems to intrigue other people. progress
seems to not go fast enough and there seems to be a need for instant
gratification today. and fabrication and restoration are not an instant
anything at all. but at the end of a
project.....................................................at least you can
pat yourself on the back!
just my .02 worth?
chuck.
----- Original Message -----
From: mhenry <mhenry@uswest.net>
To: <Malaboge@aol.com>
Cc: <fot@autox.team.net>; <shop-talk@autox.team.net>;
<vintage-race@autox.team.net>
Sent: Saturday, March 11, 2000 4:15 AM
Subject: Re: Sign-o-the-times
> What a great soap box topic, allow me to climb on!
>
> > "In this disposable world it is becoming more difficult to find any real
> > artisans any more. "
>
> If you do find someone really good it's likely they'll have a waiting line
> several miles long, and be totally fed up with "wing-nuts" and all sorts
of
> unreasonable customers.
> A fabricator/welder/ex-sprint car driver/friend only accepts work from
"proven"
> customers, tired of not being paid, beat up over what he needs to charge,
and
> harrassed with demands for next day service from walk-in's, and this is a
guy
> with IRL level fabrication experiance.
> After over 20 years of fooling around with (now) vintage race cars I enjoy
doing
> a majority of my own work, engines, paint, fabrication work, and very
little
> for anyone else. Partly because of liability concerns, mostly because the
world
> wants to pay wages I'm not working for. If you do this sort of thing you
know
> what it really takes to make stuff, the skills needed, tooling, and how
much
> time. All it took for me was a few "special" people, and I forgot about
trying
> to do this for fun and profit. I wonder why my friend stays in business,
it
> takes something I sure don't have, sainthood maybe, or eating I
suppose...
>
> Jumping of the soapbox now, and
>
> Doing my thing in CO.
> Mike
>
>
>
>
>
>
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