explain your background to him. talk up the military as old geezers from iowa like that kind of stuff. make it ABUNDANTLY CLEAR that you have no plans to ever go into the body business professionally and that this is just for your personal edification.
then just feel it out. he might be scared to work with someone new, but may be able to be turned. he might just love the idea. he might just flat be anti social and threaten to get the shotgun. only one way to find out On Sat, Mar 21, 2009 at 12:37 AM, Wonko the Sane <don.b...@gmail.com> wrote: > We have two body shops in Jefferson who specialize in collision > repairs.Always very busy. And another one, out in the country (if you can > be > more "country" than Jefferson) owned by an older guy (in his late 60s) who > makes his living fixing up vintage cars for collectors. He works sort of > slow but is rumored to be a bit of a perfectionist. > > Now, I have 120 hours of vacation available. I have had 120 hours of > vacation available for at least the last five years, since 120 hours is the > max we can carry and we get vacation time added on every paycheck. In other > words, I rarely take any vacation and just lose whatever is added on every > two weeks. > > Here's what popped into my head while watching some basketball in the > kitchen. > > I am a fairly intelligent individual, spent eight years in universities, > spent six years in the Coast Guard as a skilled technician (both avionics > and mechanics). I am good with my hands and know my way around tools. And I > am a bit anal when it comes to doing a task. > > What if I presented myself to the old guy who fixes up vintage cars (I've > seen his work -- he is damn'd good -- worked on my brother-in-law's Edsel) > and offered him a deal: I work free for him for two weeks, doing whatever > he > wants me to do to help him out (such as wet sanding primer or sweeping) IF > he will teach me a few tricks: (1) basic welding, (2) basic body filler & > sanding, and (3) how to mix paint to match faded Benz colors, and then > spray > it correctly. > > I will lose no income, since I have the vacation time available. He will > get > someone to do the dirty work for two weeks, and, if he is the craftsman > that > I think him to be, he will be happy to pass on a few secrets of the trade > to > someone younger (by maybe a decade) who will carry on the tradition of > keeping old cars looking good. It isn't like I am going to take any > business > away from him, because he already has more than he can handle. > > I am pretty sure this guy isn't doing this for the money, but for the love > of old cars. And maybe he will let me "train" on my own cars! > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: < > http://okiebenz.com/pipermail/mercedes_okiebenz.com/attachments/20090320/f0db6cea/attachment.html > > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://okiebenz.com/pipermail/mercedes_okiebenz.com/attachments/20090321/40b042e5/attachment.html> _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
