A career that goes unnoticed by many people is building classic cars is what I do. This is where the work that you do means everything and it can leave you with nothing. The business is not hard to get into, but surviving can have its difficulties. The people that make up the classic car world are all people that can work with their hands. Working with my hands is what I am best at and I love to show the talent I have through building classic cars.
These “classic cars” consist mainly of cars that are below the 1980’s. The cars that I choose to work on are between 1930 and 1980. That is a large time frame when you think of how long cars have actually been around. Through those fifty years there are different makes and models of cars, and thousands of very rare cars. Building a classic car can be done a bit differently, there are cars that are driven quite a bit and there are cars that are hardly ever driven. The cars that are hardly ever driven are considered to be the show cars. These cars are my main focus on building, because these cars cost a lot more to build.
With show cars there are large amounts of time spent on every little details of the car. And with a car that is driven a lot it is not perfected at all of the details because it is made to be used and not shown. Although cars are made to be driven the show cars have so much money and time put into them that they are not driven and their owners do not take any chances of something bad happening to the car. The choice of just doing show cars can be made based on the level of work a person wants to have to do. I choose to do show cars because I want to show my ability and craftsmanship by doing all of the little details. I am working towards becoming one of the best car builders. I will have to work hard and prove that I can produce some of the best built cars.
This job is very easily gotten; there are no tests other than knowing how to use the necessary tools. Education is not needed to be capable of working on a car; most of the things needed are learned through experience. To truly understand and be capable of doing virtually anything with a car will require learning about many different things. My plan is to study in the field of mechanical engineering. This field of study will teach about many things that are all involved with a car. There are more elements than most people realize to a car, all of the mechanical parts like the motor, transmission, and rear end work very specifically. If something is done wrong mechanically then the car might not run or drive at all. In mechanical engineering, structures are taught. The entire car is a structure; if the structure is wrong then the car could literally fall apart. Learning these things is key to being able to build a car the right way.
During my high school career I have taken every Engineering class available. Now that I have about finished high school I am going to go to Tennessee Technical University to further my learning about Mechanical Engineering. The area of education that I am doing will take four years. I will have to take many math classes along with classes that have to do with structures, and classes about drawing objects on the computer and how to manufacture products. When I am finished with all of the courses I will have a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. Once I have successfully learned what I need to know I will be able to apply my new knowledge to my work.
With my new knowledge applied to my work my goals should come at a faster rate than if I had not studied Mechanical Engineering. I will be capable of doing anything to a car that I need to do. Being able to do more things will allow me to produce parts and different objects for any car that people have not seen before or something nicer than everything else. Being able to do these things will bring about more business and higher paying customers. With all of the new customers that I could get I would easily be able to carry out my work for many years. While along the way I will be getting better at what I do and produce very amazing things. By doing this I would have a lifetime career that does make more money than most would think.
There can be a lot of money involved in building classic cars. There is no set salary and there is no promise that any money will be made. The most common method of payment that builders use is by the hour. This means that a certain amount of money is paid for every hour worked. In the building business though there are other costs. These are called material costs, which are the parts and supplies that it takes to complete the job. The builder purchases the parts and puts in all the hours required to finish the job and in the end the total is added up and customer pays what they owe. That is the payment method that is used by most of the car builders including myself. Since there is no set salary and money can only be made by the product that you can produce, there is no specific state or area that a person can live in to be able to make more money. The business will come to where the best work is being done.
The amount of money can vary very easily from making more than needed to not making very much at all. If jobs are not coming in like usual and I am in need of more money than a part time job would help. The part time job would help get me through any times that there is not much business at all. And when the car business picks back up I would simply go back to building full time. If I am successful at becoming the best classic car builder then a second or part time job would not be needed. Even if business does slow down some there will mostly likely still be enough to get by on. To be able to make more money I could build a car with my own money and with my own labor. When I could sell the car I built I would get all of the profit from it which could be a large sum of money.
There are some dangers involved in building cars as well though. Some of the tasks that have to be completed require using a number of different tools. If the tools are not used in the proper way, they can cause serious damage. If I am careful with the tools though then injuries will never occur. There are many steps in the process of building a classic car. The car has to be painted which requires fitting all of the parts of the body. While fitting the different parts on the car some of them might need to be bent or welded on to make them look good. The door gaps of a car and the gap around the hood and deck lid are a very crucial factor to the looks of the car. The doors, hood and deck lid are fitted very precisely to make the smallest possible gap while making sure they all still work properly. After everything is fitted then the car is block sanded to make sure it is straight. The car is then primed three or four times and block sanded each time. Doing this will create a very smooth and straight surface. The color is then sprayed on the car and the clear coat is put over that. Once the car has the color and clear coat on it then it is sanded more but when it is sanded this time it is sanded with very fine sand paper which actually gets even clearer and looks better. Once it has been sanded with the very fine sand paper it is buffed this makes the paint shine very bright and look very good. Then the motor and transmission need to be prepped and painted to be put in the car. The suspension and steering can go on the car now this is an easier step in building the car because these parts usually just bolt on with little hassle. Once the car has suspension and a motor it is ready to be wired. The wiring can be the hardest part of building a car it takes days and even weeks to do. The task takes good concentration and a lot of time spent just studying diagrams to see where the wires need to go. When the car is wired then all of the things that required wiring can go on the car. This is when the headlights and tail lights would be put on and the interior would start to be put together. Most of the wiring will be underneath the dash and with the wiring in, the dash can go into place and all the gauges, radio or anything else electrical can be put in the dash. With the car at its current stage it should be completely able to drive. But the interior is not done, the headliner will be put in at this point, and after the headliner is in then the carpet is put in along with the panels that go on the sides and on the doors. After the panels have been put in, the seats can be put into the car to complete the interior. With every car that is built from scratch there is usually little things that have to be tweaked and tuned until they are perfect. When the car is tuned and is reliable it is ready to be taken to the many different car shows. Every builder and every car owner have their hopes up going to a car show, hoping to be able to win a prize or just to be noticed and bring in more business. The car shows are what all of the hard work is put in for, when the car you have built wins a prize it is a very prideful feeling. When the car wins all of the hard work that has been put into it has paid off, and the drive to win again sets you up for another build.
The classic car building business is a business where the best of the best stand out and the people that just do not make top quality products fade away. My full intentions are to create amazing cars that push me to be the best in the business, I am giving it everything I have to make it. Being someone that just fades away is not an option and I do not plan on letting that happen. Only the future will tell if I am the best car builder there is or just another average builder that barely makes it. I have learned that life is what you make of it and that I intend to make it the very best that I can.