Newbie wondering how to get in to a life as a VW mechanic

[Agentdooper]

Hello all!

Ever since I went to the Sacramento Bugorama last year, I've become so in love with Bugs and such that I would love to be able to have a career restoring or working on classic VW's, but I'm not exactly sure where to start. What steps does one take to getting in to such a career?

Thank you for any info you can pass on to this excited newbie!
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'68 AS Beetle
'57 Panel Bus

[JonF]

buy a bug do a good job fixing it up and then sale the bug and repeat over and over. in time if your good at what you do people you deal with will tall all of there buddies and your yard will always be full of cars to work on.
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68 bug 1600sp 30/31
68 baja 1600sp 010 32ndix

when wishing for a type 2 make sure to include vw in the wish so its not diabetes you end up with!

[ned]

Its not really a job... its a lifestyle choice. But what he said.

[Dustin B]

A good entry level job is a parts cleaner. If you live near any vw engine/trans axel rebuilding shops. The jod can lead to service of rebuilding vw's.
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Wanted Victoria motors licence plate frame.

62 og paint L469 type 1
61 og paint L31 DD panel type 2

Original paint and patina extravaganza http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=187156

[L378]

This question came up recently. You can search for that thread. I say, look at it as a nice hobby and you might even make a buck or two, but you do realize that these cars haven't been sold in the US for over 30 years and the numbers in existence decline every year. I live on the wrong coast, but I've seen several ACVW shops close due to lack of business. The mechanics have good skills, but there just isn't enough work. As a hobby, find a local ACVW club, especially one that has a wrench day. Other things to look into community colleges that have either a body/paint program or even an automechanic program. Yes, buy a VW and work on it. Sure look for a gopher type job at a local VW shop, but again my point is that as a career, think of something else to do. Look through the classifieds and see what various VWs go for and you'll see that unless you are talking coachbuilt, split windows (bus/bug) and lowlight cabrios and a couple of others, there just isn't enough money in it to make it worthwhile IF you want to live above the poverty level.

[vwracerdave]

The eaisest way for a noobie young kid to get started is find a old fart ready to retire and buy his shop.
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2010 Sportsman ET Champion - Mid-America Dragway - Arkansas City, KS
1997 Sportsman ET Champion - Thunder Valley Raceway Park - Noble ,OK
Featured in Dec. 2001 HOT VW's Magazine page 63

Watch my racing video's http://www.youtube.com/user/okvwracer/videos

[joe56vw]

sorry to say but the money is in watercooled cars
if you look around at all the aircooled only shops they either are high end places with a good customer base
or they are barely keeping the doors open and are working there asses off just to get cars to come in
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56' panel made in wolfsburg(sold new project coming soon)
74' strandard(soon to be a class 11 daily driver)

one stock one slammed the best of both worlds

wth is the sarcasism button on here? lol

[johnnypan]

Good idea to become a mechanic...pick the right field,like diesel for instance, and you'll always be in demand and if you apply yourself you can earn a nice living in which you can indulge in the aircooled Vw hobby...

Bad idea...Vw aircooled mechanic..small market,low demand and in relation to what you could be working on,low value equipment..the higher the value of the equipment worked on,the higher the mechanics wage,with a few exceptions..

[Tyler 5447]

Back about 10 years ago when I got out of High School I thought the same thing. I started out at an Aircooled Shop taking parts cars apart, then moved on to several other aircooled shops learning mechanics and bodywork. It was fun for the first couple of years but the jobs were usually under the table and I didn't make much money. I ended up getting burnt out on VW's after a shop I was working at went out of business overnight and still owed me wages. I ended up going to school for Diesel Mechanics when I was 20 or 21, and it was the best thing I have ever done. Now I make enough money to build my VW's like I always wanted to and I don't have to worry about being able to find a job if the business I work for fails. Someone somewhere is always hiring diesel mechanics. I started out working on over the road trucks, but switched to working on oilfield equpment about 3 1/2 years ago.