Might there be a dearth of good air-cooled mechanics/shops in the next several years?

[Norm K]

I'm particularly interested in what the guys currently in the biz think - although others should feel free to pipe-in as well.

What sort of future might await a highly-skilled and exceptionally detailed young man (early 30s) should he decide to pursue a livelihood working on the air-cooled Porsche iron his father introduced him to a dozen or so years ago, iron that he quickly grew to appreciate and admire?

I look forward to some interesting insight.

_

[Tobra]

There is going to be a shortage of mechanics who actually know how to diagnose and fix cars.

This is going to be an exponentially worse problem for cars that have not been manufactured for 40 years or more.

[Cdnone1]

A friend of mine bought an Alfa shop here in LA last year from the two original owners that wanted to retire. While they do regular maintenance work on all cars they could easily just handle Alfa's. They take in the other work because it is quick and good cash flow. I would imagine that you will be able to ask a lot more for an hourly wage than an Alfa shop if you develop a good reputation. I know on the rare opportunity that my 911 goes to a shop I need to book weeks in advance and hope my credit rating is still good. Reputation will be everything when you start. Taking on maintenance and smaller work will help cash flow. Long term work will tie up the shop for a while.

I would think your future would be very bright.
Wish my son went into the "trades"

[Bob Kontak]

I think you need to get into a larger facility that does modern/retro P-car race prep and services street air cooled along with that.

Example: https://www.goldcrestmotors.com/

Smaller businesses are not going to be around.

[Tobra]

Bob, I think niche mechanics will always be around as small businesses

[Racerbvd]

The Porsche Classic program at select dealerships is a good indication that there will be a need for air cooled techs for a while to come.

[jhynesrockmtn]

There already are less and it will get worse. Spokane is the 2nd largest city in WA state and the two big euro indies won't work on the older cars. They have lost their mechanics through retirement or just can't hire anyone qualified. They refer to the one shop I'm aware of that does, and he's a one man show who prefers to work on 356 engines.

[Tobra]

Oh yeah, if someone can afford an old Porsche, they will pay to have it maintained, whatever it takes

[asphaltgambler]

We need more information to make an educated recommendation. While in their heyday, there wasn't a 911 shop on every corner in a metropolitan area. Hence, very few shops to pick from if 1 does not work out. Example: 1985 I had an opportunity to work for a small, but highly successful shop called "Autothority". Some older guys here may remember them as they had the first motronic mass air / chip conversion for sale and install. It would've been ( possibly) a great opportunity for me then at age 25. But the owner essentially wanted a 'free' service writer with his new Technician. Flat rate but I had to handle everything that a service writer did for no extra pay, so I turned it down as there were only 3 other 911 shops in the Northern VA area.

[GH85Carrera]

Getting older cars worked on of any make is a challenge.

As you all know my 86 El Camino is my daily driver. I needed an alignment and the upper A-arm bushings needed to be replaced. Those giant suspension springs scare me, and I don't have a spring compressor. I talked to a few local tire shops, and they had fancy new alignment racks, but the computers did not have the files for 1986 GM G body vehicles. Even if they did, they would set them up stock at best.

I had to call a lot of friends that have 60s and 70s cars to find a place to get the alignment done. It was actually a body shop, that has "a guy" that runs the new alignment rack. He has been doing alignments for many years and was taught by the "old grey" alignment guy I used to use before he retired.

Parts aer cheap for the GM cars, but I am happy I know how to fix most issues myself.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by Norm K

What sort of future might await a highly-skilled and exceptionally detailed young man (early 30s) should he decide to pursue a livelihood working on the air-cooled Porsche iron his father introduced him to a dozen or so years ago, iron that he quickly grew to appreciate and admire?

He can hope to win the lottery, work on air-cooled Porsche's until the money is gone, then get a job at a Hyundai dealership.

Just kidding.

Most of the people I know who started out as independent Porsche specialists have expanded to include BMW and Mercedes also. (Zim's, for example). I understand that the money is in BMW and Mercedes even if their hearts are in the air cooled Porsches.

[jhynesrockmtn]

Originally Posted by Tobra

Oh yeah, if someone can afford an old Porsche, they will pay to have it maintained, whatever it takes

I try to do as much work as I can myself. I enjoy it, most of the time, and I can't afford to hand the car over to a pro. It also engages the brain as I get older. I recently rebuilt the front end of my Bumblebee and am doing a bunch of other work.

[911 Rod]

I couldn't even find a place to install a windshield in my 86 911!

[ted]

Soon there may be fewer shops for an AC mech, sure there will be shops in big cities that hire green AC mechs.
There after you get some seniority you can do clutch jobs all day if you are lucky.
But all you need is one collector with a dozen or more cars to keep you fully employed. The really good AC mechs can pick their own clients.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by ted

Soon there may be fewer shops for an AC mech, sure there will be shops in big cities that hire green AC mechs.
There after you get some seniority you can do clutch jobs all day if you are lucky.
But all you need is one collector with a dozen or more cars to keep you fully employed. The really good AC mechs can pick their own clients.

For an G body 911 especially!

One of my local friends has a 82 911 SC and like all G body 911s had embarrassingly anemic AC from the factory. He went to the biggest Porsche specialist shop in town, and spent a lot of money, and ended up with a slight improvement and just a large invoice. He tried a second shop, and they did not really help.

He does not work on his SC himself. He just struggled to get to Palm Springs and back with the anemic AC. I felt bad telling him about the fantastic AC performance of my 85 911 due to the Charlie Griffith's Mr. Ice setup of 4 condensers, all new hoses, and variable speed fan controller, and temp controller and hurricane fan. 37 degree in 107 heat was wonderful. I had to do my install all myself, but it was easy.

That AC system is what brought me to Pelican. I read every AC thread in the tech section, and decided Charlie's system was the way to go. I am super happy that all these years later my AC kicks the heat out and makes me cold when it is well into triple digit temps.

[1990C4S]

Originally Posted by Tobra

Oh yeah, if someone can afford an old Porsche, they will pay to have it maintained, whatever it takes

Lots of people bought at the right time. None of my 911's were expensive by today's standard.

[MrBonus]

There already is. Most reputable shops have a wait list for anything that isn't basic maintenance and their best mechanics are often pushing past normal retirement age because they seem to enjoy what they do.

[Tobra]

The bottom of that Bumblebee is nicer than the inside of my 914

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by 1990C4S

Lots of people bought at the right time. None of my 911's were expensive by today's standard.

Yea, I bought my 911 28 years ago. It has over quadrupled in value. I don't think I could find a replacement for it. Every single bit of it works like designed, or way better. All the suspension rubber has been replaced with new rubber bushings, new shocks, and turbo tie rods, ball joings and so on, rebuilt engine and transmission, PBM refurbished the calipers, the paint looks great, and I just did a 3,500 mile trip solo through the very remote deserts of New Mexico, Arizona, and Southern California and the car ran like a new car. Dead on reliable and I did two 11 hour days in a row both going and coming. No issues.

What other mid 1980s car ever made can do that, and be worth over 4 times what I paid for it. All I did when I got home was do an oil change, and wash of a few million bugs.


This was 450 miles from home, so yet more bugs were added.

[cockerpunk]

the flip side is that older porsches are pretty wrecking grade engineering, so its not super hard to fix them, basically indefinitely.