Anyone own/work at a restoration shop?

[TUFCAT]

Well, If I lived in Iowa instead of Michigan, I'd definately give you my business. Fortunately (for me) I know Hemi Hampton --- and he's got first dibs on my resto business.

[Charger-Bodie]

Well, If I lived in Iowa instead of Michigan, I'd definately give you my business. Fortunately (for me) I know Hemi Hampton --- and he's got first dibs on my resto business.

Honestly We never go out looking for Resto work. There is so many people wanting MoPars done in this area that we have to turn them (and other brands too) away constantly.


And also our collision work load has gotten constantly larger year after year to the point where we almost dont have time for resto anymore anyway.

[hemi-hampton]

1hot68, Thought you were located in San Francisco California area, Or is that someone else? LEON.

[bear]

I had a feeling finding good people to work for me would be a problem. I would have to find somebody to do the body work because I don't have the patience to sand and paint a car and I am way to picky with my own work. And the two people that I know that have been restoring cars all their lives have both moved away due to family issues.

[Charger-Bodie]

1hot68, Thought you were located in San Francisco California area, Or is that someone else? LEON.

Ive been here in Iowa all the time.

[68RRFlyer]

This is rather long and winded ( I have a lot of Irish in me  ), but I think it may answer some of your questions.  I started my own part time restoration shop about 4 months ago.  I've been restoring cars for over 15 years and have worked on all the big three autos.  Now, this is not my primary means of income, so my  may be a little different than the rest who've started a shop full time.  I decided to start a shop for several reasons.  First and foremost, I love working on these old cars (no matter the make or model) and found myself always buying, restoring, then selling my cars and almost never driving them.  I enjoy the build WAY more than the driving.  Taking a rusted hulk and restoring it to showroom new, or taking a custom idea and making it become reality is really my cup of tea.  I thought to myself, "Self. You should start working on other people's cars that way it's not me always buying a new car all the time for something new to work on."  The second reason for starting my shop is a fallback plan.  In this economy (and my particular field of full time work) it's best to have something else you can do just in case one thing falters.  And the third reason I started a shop was to achieve a personal goal of being my own boss. 

How did I start my endeavour?  I really just opened up the phonebook and started calling around for rental shops.  I also kept an eye out around my area for commercial rental sites.  Can't have a shop without a shop!  Why rent?  With it being a part time thing for now, I wanted to give it a trial run for the first year to see if it was a worthwhile venue.  If it turned out not to be, then all I was out was rent for a year (and it's month to month, no lease) so I wasn't going to be stuck with a long term lease or worse yet, land I had to pay a mortgage on!  I finally found a shop I liked then took the next step.   I came up with a name and registered it at the court house.  I designed and sketched my own logo then made business cards, and the last big thing was the website.  I decided to design my own using Yahoo Small Business.  Maybe in another year I'll have one designed by a big name guy, but for now, it fits the bill and looks professional.  I have a friend who runs a t-shirt business so I made some t-shirts and some work clothes all sporting my logo.  You can still look the part even with a small budget!  .  I started with the tools I had in my garage from years of working on cars and as money started to come in from jobs, bought more tools. So that in a nutshell, is how I started my restoration shop.   

I'm a one man shop and advertise as such.  I have no employees so I don't have that headache to deal with.  All work is done by me.  I do everything except major engine/trans rebuilds.  I only take on two full time cars per year, and about three or four smaller jobs on the side.  That's it.  Someone mentioned about offering something the others do not.  Couldn't be more spot on than that.   I offer my customers the assurance that their car gets worked on and not tucked into a corner and will never be put behind a higher dollar job, and a HUGE thing that everyone likes: constant communication with the customer.  Weekly calls, detailed invoices, and regular emails.  The feedback I've gotten from that has been overwhelming.  Some guys want the smaller shops to do their work which allows more interaction with the customer.  That's the customers I tend to attract and I have been turning business away as a result of being a smaller shop.  Right now, I have a 1968 Charger R/T and a 1972 Ford Bronco getting full restorations.  I also have a 67 GTO, 70 Chevelle, and a 69 Super Bee lined up to get some metal work done at three month intervals all year. 
     

What about specializing on a certain car?  That's both good and bad.  The good is you can really concentrate your knowledge on one make.  The bad is you may turn away more business than you get.  I take a different approach to it.  I look at it all as a learning experience.  I was a die hard 60's Mustang guy for a long time.  Then I bought a 68 Road Runner which I replaced more metal on than Pittsburg can smelt in a week, it seemed.  Anyrate, I learned a ton about dates codes, deciphering markings, etc. that I had no clue about in the Mopar realm.  The enthusiasm I showed toward learning, researching, and the quality of work I showcased on my cardomain sites, landed my first customer and his 68 Charger R/T.  The opposite spectrum: The 72 Bronco.  My second customer saw that I don't just cater towards one make and specialize in all old cars.  He was looking for a small specialized shop and one that he could deal with on a one to one level.  That and the showcase of work I have, led to taking on my second full restoration only after being in business for two months.   The jist of that would be if I specialized in one make, I may or may not have another fulltime car right now.  I find passion in all the old cars which keeps the motivation high.  Do what makes you happy, but sometimes that may not be the best business sense.

Hope that helps and maybe gives you another shop owner's perspective on things.  Good luck!!

Cheers

       

[69bronzeT5]

1hot68, Thought you were located in San Francisco California area, Or is that someone else? LEON.

Leon, I'm pretty sure you're thinking of Alex (Rolling Thunder)

[Rolling_Thunder]

1hot68, Thought you were located in San Francisco California area, Or is that someone else? LEON.

Leon, I'm pretty sure you're thinking of Alex (Rolling Thunder)

I'm in Los Angeles...    He's thinking of the guy with the flat black Charger that he just got on the road (name escapes me) 

[Charger-Bodie]

1hot68, Thought you were located in San Francisco California area, Or is that someone else? LEON.

Leon, I'm pretty sure you're thinking of Alex (Rolling Thunder)

I'm in Los Angeles...    He's thinking of the guy with the flat black Charger that he just got on the road (name escapes me) 

SFRT?

[hemi-hampton]

I'm thinking of the guy that has the Black Charger that looks like the Bullit car & I thought he lived in San Fran & Always talking about the bullit movie, ect. LEON.

[69bronzeT5]

1hot68, Thought you were located in San Francisco California area, Or is that someone else? LEON.

Leon, I'm pretty sure you're thinking of Alex (Rolling Thunder)

I'm in Los Angeles...    He's thinking of the guy with the flat black Charger that he just got on the road (name escapes me) 

My bad Alex Then yeah, it sounds like he is talking about Frank (SFRT)

[Charger-Bodie]

I'm thinking of the guy that has the Black Charger that looks like the Bullit car & I thought he lived in San Fran & Always talking about the bullit movie, ect. LEON.

LEON, I have a black 68 Charger R/T clone (it has red interior though) and it was used to do some shooting for a TV series where they built a Bullitt Mustang for Chad Mcqueen . But I dont really talk about the Movie bullitt that much nor is my car really supposed to be a Bullitt clone.

But as I said before Im not real sure how you got Cali? As Ive been here freezin in Iowa.

[bear]

Thanks for all your answers so far guys I am sure there are a ton of other questions to ask but I just cant think of any now.

[hemi-hampton]

Yeah, Thats the car & shop, Sorry, For some reason I thought you were in San Fran Cali? My Mistake. LEON.