What's new
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

73-87 chevy resto shop idea

79bonanza

79bonanza

1/2 ton status
Joined
Mar 31, 2010
Posts
2,524
Reaction score
2,563
Location
Georgetown, Kentucky
well i didnt know where to put this thread so i figured id put it here.
ill be out of school in about a year and i was thinking about my career choices. when i graduate ill have a degree in high performance motor sports. iv already done the dealership thing, being a mechanic working on new cars and trucks, good money and fun but gets boring in a hurry. so i was thinking maybe i should open my own shop. based on 73-87 chevy 4x4's and the ocasional 2wd hot rod. prolly doin resto's and some 4x4 work just to sell and make some profit on and eventually move into a full on 4x4 off road shop. what do you guys think good idea or not so much
 
There's a place in Cali that does it.
http://www.gmtruckcenter.com/

In the hot rod/muscle car/old car world there's oodles of shops doing it with more opening every day. Not so much with trucks.
You'd need some examples of your good work and also good reviews. Get some attention. Seems like a lot of the newer shops try hard to get magazine attention. That gathers customers and probably investors.
 
contact discovery channel, theyre always lookin for some new show to dump money into. give em a good hard luck story for a background, and they will give you a blank check to get started, you just have to live with cameras in your ass 24/7
 
Helps if you hate your coworkers and fellow man.
 
True.

There is definitely interest though. The newest of these trucks is 20 model years old now and a lot of 30 somethings have fond memories of riding around in them like me.

The market might be an issue though. Not as much profit to be had on a $4500 truck than a $45,000 muscle car.
 
now a 4x4 that specializes in 73-87 i can see, and then you could also do restorations on the side or customer requests.
 
I dont see there being enough demand to keep the lights on, its too small of market, that compared to other resto type business that deal with muscle cars, vettes... whatever, that are insanley expesive and hard to find. 73-87 chevy trucks, as much as we love them, are still littering the country.

You would have a constant stream of redneck hacks asking "how much ya'll charge to fix all this dang rust?"... "WHAT?! I can buy 9 more trucks for that. Ill just self tapping screw this tin on and bondo over it for $40" "Well, how much for a 12 inch lift kit?"... "F that, Ill stack cheap lift blocks and square tubing instead of an actual lift kit." Not to mention all the 16 year old kids with no money what so ever wasting your time daily.

Maybe start out as a small repair shop, but have a bay reserved for some sort of resto project and try to pick up that type of client through general customers that walk in, or word of mouth through the gearhead type customers.
 
79 has a point.

When I got out of the Marines in '01 there was ONE good offroad shop in Grand Rapids, MI. The guy could do anything from put a lift kit on your old Chevy to SFA anything with IFS. Actually did some of the suspension work on Ted Nugent's Bronco and also had a Jeep CJ-8 built as a tough truck stadium racer. The problem he faced was the market...he could fabricate and build all kinds of stuff but most folks came in wanting a super tall lift on their half ton and the biggest tires they could wedge under it. Then when they figured they could get it cheaper or easier somewhere else they left. He was barely surviving when I was around putting lifts on trucks and fixing lifted trucks. He closed in '02 or '03
 
yea you guys make alot of good pionts, to many 73-87 chevy trucks still out there and way to many people that want cheap lifts put on. i was also thinking of maybe just a offroad shop in general anything from fj cruisers to crew cabs and jeeps nonbrand specific just a custom shop for like installing lifts lockers bigger wheels and tires some rust repair and minot body work, then later on down the road if everything goes as planned try to build and sell custom trucks and buggys. i think it would have a better chance being open to all 4x4's instead of one certain truck.
 
Definitely. Not much in the Lexington area either.
 
you'd be outta biz inside a year... the guys with coin to do real resto work ain't paying to have trucks done... Muscle cars, thats where the market is.. now, as mentioned, a 4 x 4 shop, that does it on the side as a speciality, that might be survivable... installing lifts and gansta rims on new rigs'll pay the monthly bills...
 
I wouldn't be so fast to poo poo the idea. Google waggonmaster. He's been doing grand waggoneers for quite a while and making a good business of it.
 
Its not just something you start and make money at. I think there is a market for it but you are going to have to find something else to do till your reputation becomes solid.

Prepare for 26 hour days and alot of crap for the first couple years, don't get a partner
 
A local tire shop near me used to be one of few places that would install lift kits and large tires,but they have slacked way off the past 10 years,mostly due to liability issues after a few "customers" rolled their rigs and tried suing them for "faulty installation" or selling them "unsafe modifications"...now they just sell tires and rims,and will still sell lift kits but wont install any --a "Mister Tire" 4x4 store here didn't last too long either..

I cant say I have seen any shops specializing in 4x4 or old pickups in general,but lots of body shops take on the occaisional "sport truck" upgrade/restoration...I dont think there would be enough customers or profit to make a go of it here,not with the econmy still in the crapper anyway...I think a salvage yard specializing in these trucks would be much more profitable,seeing there aint many parts trucks here any more,most of the few being scrapped go directly to the crusher without being stripped now...and its much easier to take a truck apart and sell parts than it is to restore one,and cheaper too!...the used old parts trade is profitable enough for one salvage yard owner to make several runs to AZ to haul back rust free vehicles from other salvage yards in AZ every month--he'll bring back a nice cab or tub for about 2K..and he gets a lot of trucks to sell whole for road use too,he's always busy and I dont think he's hurtin for money either...spends every winter in Florida,AZ or CA looking for more trucks to haul back..
 
blazinzuk said:
Its not just something you start and make money at. I think there is a market for it but you are going to have to find something else to do till your reputation becomes solid.

Prepare for 26 hour days and alot of crap for the first couple years, don't get a partner
Click to expand...

:waytogo:
 
Won't ever work, being a 73-87 specialty shop. Too small of a market. Very few people out there want a full restoration done on one of these trucks. Different conversation with people when I mention I'm restoring an '85K5 and have $25K into it, they are looking at me like "why?"

10 years from now, it could be a possibility. These trucks are just not old enough classics yet, they are still too young to be desirable to most people.
 
It's all in how you market it. If I was in the market for a brand new truck and could buy the current over-plasticed garbage for $40k or a mint, showroom fresh 87 K10 for $25k, I'd be all over the K10. If someone were doing a few of these at a time, it would be much cheaper then doing a one off truck, especially if it was a stock or mostly stock resto.

Again, marketing is key in something like this. You could do top notch work, but if you don't create the demand, you won't ever get off the ground. Lots of guys would love a no frills, rugged, dependable as a hammer truck...they just don't know it yet. They've been told they need navigation and heated leather seats to go with their car like ride.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Posts

Top Bottom