Learn Auto Body Repair for Fun and Profit

I've been thinking it would be great to learn auto body repair so I could drive my own vintage muscle car. Somehow it just would not feel the same to drive it if I hired all the work out to someone else. On the other hand, it might be done better if by a more experienced body man, but that is what a hobby is about, isn't it?

I can only imagine my bald head shining out of a convertible '69 Chevy Impala with blinding chrome rims, a paint job that looks so deep it looks like you could run your arm into it up to the shoulder, and glossy wood accents in strategic places on the dash and interior. Is that how you would fix it up? What if you found such a car in a field with a mouse nest under the hood and a tree growing up through the floor board, flat tires and a torn top?

What if the car you found was yours if you could just get it off the land? Could you fix it up? Without the proper instruction and a good set of step-by-steps, you or I would be better off just wishing we could do something with it, rather than sinking money into it and being not only disappointed but broke (my wife would KILL me).

I have to tell you, though, the educational material to turn such a machine into a dream machine is available now on the Internet. It does not look like an easy-breezy course, though and I would warn you based on my experience and background that there are good reasons NOT to take up this hobby.

Have you ever had asthma or COPD? Have you had bad reactions to harsh or harsh smelling chemicals? In an auto body repair shop, also known as a collision center (why? do collisions happen there?) there may be vapors in the air from paint spray, fiberglass sanding, fiberglass or plastic bonding substances, or any one of a number of other caustic chemicals that could lock up your lungs if you were exposed. I had a guy working for me once that had taken auto body repair training in a local community college but could not handle the body shop environment due to his natural sensitivity to some of the things in the air there. He still had to pay for the college course if he didn't pay up front.

If you are the right guy or girl to learn auto body repair, I imagine it would be way too much fun to pass up.