Would you trust a pair of 15 year olds to work on your car?

[Dean C]

I was rebuilding deisel CAT, Cummings, & GM engines at 16. At first alot of the truck drivers didnt trust my work until they saw my work and drove the trucks with my engines in them, then they started requesting for me to work on there trucks. Its funny how things turn around.
Just take pride in your work and it will show, goodluck with your new adventure.

[MotherNatureVer2]

My eldest was only 16 when he started his apprenticeship in the mines as a heavy vehicle mechanic, the youngest ever taken on in that mine.

He went from being told that his 2nd yr selections wouldnt happen until this year, he was offered the position he wanted(engine room) back in October last year. The bosses in there were that impressed with him they grabbed him there & then.

As has been said, its all about attitude, presentation & basic hard work. Anyone can do anything when they put their mind to it.

I would let you do work on my car, but alas you are a bit far away for me ....... I really want a boot setup. One day ........

Good luck with it all ;)

[[Tonko]]

Originally Posted by MotherNature

I would let you do work on my car, but alas you are a bit far away for me ....... I really want a boot setup. One day ........

I live near Jack, so i'll look after the Sprint for you

[phill_33]

im 15 and can mig, arc, and oxy weld dont have a tig so bit hard to learn that but ive done all the rust repairs on my car, and my dad trusts me to do work on his cars, he axculy perfers me to do the welding on his xy bodyshell then him. i would trust you to work on my car, as long as your work was good and you respected my car :

[Elks]

I thinks your attitude is great and willing to work for nothing (owners pay for materials I get that) to get started proves that. The key thing you need to do is not stuff the car.

Get changeover trim parts so the early users have nothing to lose.

I'd let you have a (closely guided) crack at doing the boot in my Fairlane but your there and I'm here and I'm not sending it that far away.

[AlbertM]

Getting a good reputation will be harder than the work you will do. Stay professional and let your work do the talking.

If I saw you work was good, why not let you have a go.

Amatures built the Ark, Professionals built the Titanic.

BTW don't get carried away with the early discounts, people will expect it all the time.

[Hunter]

I think you will find it difficult to convince people to trust you. Personally I wouldn't be happy if I found a shop I sent my car to was letting unsupervised 15 year olds work on my car. In fact I'd probably be upset if a supervised 15 year old was working on the car. Its nothing against the 15 year olds its just that they don't have the experience. When I did have my car serviced by a mechanic I had it worked on by an old guy in his 60s - he was as old as the earth itself but by god did he know his stuff. And he was very customer focussed - often did little extra here and there for free. I stopped using him when he retired (unfortunately) and now, I have to rely on myself to do it all. I will not let another soul touch my car unless it is absolutely necessary.

My only advice is to be PROFESSIONAL. If you can master being a professional then you will go far. I see it at work even in people who are old enough to know better. If you can master it at 15 AND know your stuff, you will be fine.

Originally Posted by AlbertM

Amatures built the Ark, Professionals built the Titanic.

Ahh yes but we know the Titanic existed.... :

BTW don't get carried away with the early discounts, people will expect it all the time.

Aint that the truth... customers - you give em an inch and they will take 3000 miles.

[MotherNatureVer2]

Originally Posted by [Tonko]

I live near Jack, so i'll look after the Sprint for you

Your funny

[FordFella]

Sure you can trust 15 year olds to work on your car. Provided that I'm not one of them. I pretty well know were everything goes, its just the application. I envy those who are brought up in the sort of environment where you can fix a car by the age of twelve. Which means if I ever work in the auto industry, it'll most likely be in design.

[SeXC]

i dont think i would let a 15yo work on my car, because my thought would be that if a 15yo could do it, then why cant i do it myself?? But apart from that, i will give you one piece of advice.

You DO NOT want people to see the half done pictures you have up the top of this page, only the finished product. As a chef, i know that if people saw inside the kitchen, ie like when you pluck the chook, gut the fish, blah blah, it looks disgusting, and could turn people away.

Show them the final, finished product polished to absolute hell! So when they see it, they say "HELL YEAH MUDDA , thats what i want!"

my 2c anyway.

Chris

[JACK250]

Originally Posted by SeXC

i dont think i would let a 15yo work on my car, because my thought would be that if a 15yo could do it, then why cant i do it myself?? But apart from that, i will give you one piece of advice.

You DO NOT want people to see the half done pictures you have up the top of this page, only the finished product. As a chef, i know that if people saw inside the kitchen, ie like when you pluck the chook, gut the fish, blah blah, it looks disgusting, and could turn people away.

Show them the final, finished product polished to absolute hell! So when they see it, they say "HELL YEAH MUDDA , thats what i want!"

my 2c anyway.

Chris

Thanks for that chris, I'll put some finished pictures up soon.

[78XC]

I let a fiveteen year old work on my car that I know all the time... ME! HAHA! No seriously, it is alawys best to try your hardest to get a qualification, becuase then you can do so much more you know so much more and it will be leagle for you to do structual thing like welding in new floor pan's ect...

These days it doesn't matter how experianced you SEEM its how experanced you are REALLY and on PAPER. My suggestion is to seach out EVERY type of car that you can and learn about them. People want someone that is able to identify their car by a look at it. So what I'm saying learn as much as you can do what you want but STICK with school, get a qualification if you don't have REAL experiance like in a Job situation and good markes.
Or people won't veiw you as even able to lick the scum off their bum.
But all the same do good work and get experianced and get smart. Personally being a pannelbeater is third on my list of apprentiships.

Hope this helps... Porbubly not though...

[Hybrid34]

GOod luck buddy!,
Im witha ya,
If you got the mind and maturity, do it professionally and producce quality, you'll get somewhere..
Do you have anypictures of Subboxes with glass that youv'e done?! thanks
- Ash

[JACK250]

Here is a sub box I finished off today, it's not perfect because it's just going behind the seat in my ute but you get the idea.

[DoreSlamR]

Originally Posted by JACK250

Here is a sub box I finished off today, it's not perfect because it's just going behind the seat in my ute but you get the idea.

Mate you need to sell it, "it's not perfect because it's just going behind my seats" doesn't make me wanna use your services...ESPECIALLY with what you're doing, to do well you will need to be bold and make your work stand out!

[JACK250]

Yeah I thought that before I posted it, but figured I'd rather be modest because I know it's not 100% best I can do.
Edit; Ok, scrap that, the above sub is of excelent build quality, and will be even better for customers :P that sound better?!

[DoreSlamR]

Originally Posted by JACK250

Yeah I thought that before I posted it, but figured I'd rather be modest because I know it's not 100% best I can do.
Edit; Ok, scrap that, the above sub is of excelent build quality, and will be even better for customers :P that sound better?!

much better lol

[Ohio XB]

Here's something to consider.

I understand because this is for your vehicle and it is going to be behind a seat that you are not particularly concerned that it be perfect. It doesn't need to be, right?

But imagine if this thing, which is not really going to be seen, was perfect anyway? This speaks volumes about your professionalism, pride in yourself, and work ethics.

I've made hand tools for people working on an assembly line. The tools are going to be used extensively and are going to get beat up. Often times these tools get misplaced or, due to lack of caring, lost.

However, when I make the tools for them I take an extra 5 or 10 minutes to make the tool look really nice, besides being perfectly functional and sturdy. I might sand blast the steel to make it look nice. Sometimes I will even polish something, especially aluminum, to make it shiny. When the tool is done it almost looks like jewelry. Why would I bother??

Now, instead of people sometimes resisting working with a new tool, or losing it again, or abusing it they take pride in the tool. I gave them something that I took time to make nice for them. It doesn't look like a mundane piece of crap, though functional, like they are used to. Instead I gave them something that I took pride in, or at least it is perceived that way because of how the tool looks. Now the tool does not get "lost". They take special care of it. They also are anxious to work with it if its a new tool to the job.

All this because I took a few extra minutes to give them something that gives the perception of quality beyond what is required. Guess which Toolmaker they ask for?


If you always make everything as if it is going to be given to a King people will take notice and acknowledge this as your standard of quality, what they can depend on. Wouldn't it be nice to hear....

"This thing is just going to be hidden behind a seat and it still looks perfect! Evidently this is how he does everything."



Steve

[JACK250]

Thanks Steve. It wasn't so much that I didn't do my absolute best making the box, it's just that that box is the first I've made, and while still good I could tell it wasn't perfect. To someone else it might look better because they don't know the faults I'm not sure, but I'm pretty much a perfectionest when it comes to things like this generally.
But I can see where you're coming from, especially seeing as it is what the potential customers would see, and therefore expect (whether good or bad)
Jack

[gozza]

Originally Posted by AlbertM

Amatures built the Ark, Professionals built the Titanic.

Only difference is the Titanic was real and not a bedtime story...Nice analogy tho :togo: