Are Porsche Specialist Repair Shops disappearing???

[ryans65]

Originally Posted by 930cabman

Yes, with every 'trade"

Many younger kids are simply not interested

This is simply not true. They have not been given the resources or time in the shop by their parents, school or community to get engaged in the trades. Most of the programs in high school were terminated by lack of funding for the tools and equipment necessary to teach with. I remember as a kid in the 90s being taught woodworking on machines that were probably built in the early 1950s, as good as that equipment was (and still is) I could tell even then that no one cared about trades being taught in school but we sure as hell had some nice computers in the computer lab!! Their parents were probably taught that only losers ended up working construction, or auto mechanics so in order to succeed they must get a degree and become a desk jockey. The people that taught their parents are now the ones that are complaining that there's no one to work on their classic car.

[HarryD]

Originally Posted by nickelplated5s

Kudos to Jeff for helping pass on knowledge. Harry, I'll PM you about a Brit shop I ran into the owner of, out the Sunset Highway.

Short answer is yes. Paul of Weber fame retired. Mark of MFI is taking 2026 off. Around here you have to schedule and be prepared to pay. Only two I'd recommend and one of you can't get into.

Indeed. We are lucky with some of our local guys. In some of the other local shops, I heard Tony has retired and George is just part time.

For my XKE, I am aware of the shop out west of me, but Barb and Ed are just 3 miles from me and are amongst the best.

[bigel]

This is a troubling trend indeed.

I am recently back in the 911 world and this time with a (clutches pearls) water pumper. I'm located in central NJ about mid-way between Somerville and Flemington in Somerset County. I'm looking to find a reputable and knowledgeable shop in the area to install the LN Engineering oil-fed IMS Solution as well as a few other bits while the transmission is removed.

Does anyone here have experience with Prestige Auto Repair in Berardsville, NJ?

If not, is there another you would strongly recommend in the area?

[OsoMoore]

In Milwaukee there are some good shops with younger owners. And my wallet says they are making a good wage for their skills.

They are also swamped and expanding. I hope more kids getting into the business, especially anyone related to me who might have a friends-and-family discount!

[nickelplated5s]

Harry, I was negligent about the PM but you already know the shop anyway, figured as much. The interesting thing is he said they could put floor pans in if anyone around here needs that. Jokingly his caveat was bring them in at night so the P car could be hidden.

[Brickwhite]

Sounds like I need to get out of IT

[GG Allin]

The Chicago area has more Porsche shops than it did 20 years ago. And the ones that were here 20 years ago are generally bigger now than there were then.

[kevingross]

Originally Posted by ryans65

This is simply not true. They have not been given the resources or time in the shop by their parents, school or community to get engaged in the trades. Most of the programs in high school were terminated by lack of funding for the tools and equipment necessary to teach with. I remember as a kid in the 90s being taught woodworking on machines that were probably built in the early 1950s, as good as that equipment was (and still is) I could tell even then that no one cared about trades being taught in school but we sure as hell had some nice computers in the computer lab!! Their parents were probably taught that only losers ended up working construction, or auto mechanics so in order to succeed they must get a degree and become a desk jockey. The people that taught their parents are now the ones that are complaining that there's no one to work on their classic car.

You make an interesting and important point. In my town (in MA) and the surrounding area, they has been strong upward trend in enrollment by high schoolers in vocational schools, for us Minuteman HS in Lexington. Strong to the point that there are fewer available openings for kids from towns outside the district. I agree that parents' influence plays a strong role, as does support and culture from the non-voc school system. I cringe every time I hear about parents unwilling to crush their kid's dream by telling them they won't take a second mortgage so the kid can study fine arts.

[jrwilson]

Here in Toronto there were three shops that could handle air-cooled. One is nearby but they only service high-dollar machines and charge way too much. The second is over an hour drive away and books months in advance. The third one I used was a little closer but easier to get in and did great work for a reasonable price.

That guy died. I'm fortunate to be able to do a lot of my own work and I had all the major stuff in my car done prior, but if I ever hit a snag I might be stuck.

[Billiam 911 2.8]

My mechanic is in his fifties and has taken a fresh approach to hiring apprentices. He graduated from college with a history degree. He loved to work on motorcycles and cars as a hobby. When he found out that the corporate world was not for him he apprenticed at any place that would have him. He decided to focus on Porsches, particularly air cooled. Skip forward a decade or more; after hiring a few people who just didn't cut it in the brain power department, he took a novel approach. He sought out apprentices who, like him, had liberal arts degrees and mechanical aptitude. It seems to be working out.

[Jeff Alton]

Originally Posted by bigel

This is a troubling trend indeed.

I am recently back in the 911 world and this time with a (clutches pearls) water pumper. I'm located in central NJ about mid-way between Somerville and Flemington in Somerset County. I'm looking to find a reputable and knowledgeable shop in the area to install the LN Engineering oil-fed IMS Solution as well as a few other bits while the transmission is removed.

Does anyone here have experience with Prestige Auto Repair in Berardsville, NJ?

If not, is there another you would strongly recommend in the area?

This is not a difficult repair/install for any competent technician with the correct tools.

Cheers

[DonNewton]

Contact John Rickard at Black Forest in San Diego. He'd love to have you. And, I'd like to see someone from the NOVA region out here.

[PeteKz]

Originally Posted by Brickwhite

Sounds like I need to get out of IT

Electricians, plumbers, etc, and auto or truck technicians are jobs that can never be taken over by AI or sent to India.

[Matt Monson]

Originally Posted by bigel

This is a troubling trend indeed.

I am recently back in the 911 world and this time with a (clutches pearls) water pumper. I'm located in central NJ about mid-way between Somerville and Flemington in Somerset County. I'm looking to find a reputable and knowledgeable shop in the area to install the LN Engineering oil-fed IMS Solution as well as a few other bits while the transmission is removed.

Does anyone here have experience with Prestige Auto Repair in Berardsville, NJ?

If not, is there another you would strongly recommend in the area?

Body Motion in Ocean. Mike Bavarro was one of the top race engine builders in Grand Am 2004-2014 when the 997 and 987 vehicles were being raced there. As Jeff Alton said, that’s an easy one for a real deal shop.

[bigel]

My wife teaches physics at our local HS, also the HS where my two children attended now seven years back for our youngest. Anyway, we have seen the HS change its curriculum many times over the years of my wife's employment. What has happened is that the 'shop' classes that many on this forum remember from our years in HS are no more. They have been displaced by weight rooms for the athletes, computer labs, etc.

When I attended HS in the 1980's our HS had wood shop, auto shop, culinary arts, etc. The students that attended the vocational school were those who either weren't interested in or weren't cut out for college, or were focused on a trade...usually because of a family member or friend in the business. I can remember a buddy of mine who was focused on industrial refrigeration and has been in that business since.

The programs at our local vocational school are highly competitive and many students get shut out of the programs. This leaves some kids SOL if they're not college prep students and also can't get into the regional trade schools.

Originally Posted by kevingross

You make an interesting and important point. In my town (in MA) and the surrounding area, they has been strong upward trend in enrollment by high schoolers in vocational schools, for us Minuteman HS in Lexington. Strong to the point that there are fewer available openings for kids from towns outside the district. I agree that parents' influence plays a strong role, as does support and culture from the non-voc school system. I cringe every time I hear about parents unwilling to crush their kid's dream by telling them they won't take a second mortgage so the kid can study fine arts.

[Louisieg55]

I’m in my mid-30s and I've been wrenching as long as I can remember ,dirt bikes, go karts, as a kid, then my first high school Blazer that I lifted in the driveway. I guess I was always that 1-in-100 kid who not only enjoyed working on things but could actually do it. Honestly, maybe even 1-in-1000 these days feels like. It really does feel like a dying breed know adays.

Now I’m in the trades. I own and run a construction company. I started out swinging a hammer, crawling under houses, sweating through summers like everyone else. These days I’m mostly estimating and running crews now at a desk lol.

And I’ll be honest — I think about this a lot. On one hand, the fact that fewer people want to do this kind of work feels like job security for life. But on the other hand, I worry whether I’m going to have enough skilled hands in the future. I’m around 20 employees right now, and while some stay with us for years, the younger guys (18-25) tend to bounce. A lot of them don’t want long days, physical labor, dirt, heat, crawling under houses, ladders, etc. I get it — it’s hard work. But it does keep me up some nights wondering if I’ll still have a workforce when I’m 60, when I’m not the one grabbing the shovel or wrench anymore.

Same thing with these old cars. I know project cars aren’t really investments, but the Porsche world is on a different level. A used 3.0 is $25-30k. Coming from the C2 Corvette world where a crate 350 is $3k and parts are everywhere, it’s wild. Porsche parts are getting rarer, more expensive, and honestly the pool of people who can work on them is shrinking too.

Right now I can lift my own car, fabricate lines, do a clutch, tune CIS, whatever. But my dad is 78 ,I do the bigger stuff for him now. I look ahead and wonder: in 20 years, who’s going to be doing clutches and fuel systems on these cars? How many shops will still exist? What will it cost? Will I be able to get parts? Or am I putting time and money into cars that may appreciate in value but become less drivable because you can't maintain them? or simple be useless because no one can work on them.

Maybe that sounds dramatic ,I’m not doomsdaying anything. I just really love this stuff. I love the hands-on part of life. And when you see that fewer and fewer people want to get dirty, whether it's construction or old cars, you can’t help but wonder where things go from here.

[junkman300SD]

I needed my 915 rebuilt in Nashville. The only person anyone recommended including PCA member, my German born indy, a client who is in the parts business and anyone I met on the road who asked about the car all recommended the same guy. It took a year to get into his shop and another 6 months to get it back. The guy is in his 70s and has been working on these cars since new - but it's a LOOOOONG process to get things done.

[Mark Salvetti]

Originally Posted by kevingross

Hey John, good to hear from you, albeit electronically.

Sadly, we lost two terrific Porsche people in eastern Massachusetts in recent years. My good friends Bill Pfister (Eurotech Advanced, Framingham) and Rene-Max Prepetit (Rensport, Framingham but more recently Stow) both passed way too young from health issues. There are still many good options in our neck of the woods, like Jerry Pellegrino (EPE, Framingham), Kenny Conway (Conway Autoworks, Hanover), Maurizio Cerasoli (MC Racing, Stow), Mark Cummings and his team (Auto Sport, Shrewsbury) and a bit farther but Pete, Dave and the team at Victory Auto Designs (Seabrook, NH).

Kevin,

Sorry to hear about Bill, I didn't know that. I first met him when he was still working for Jerry at EPE, probably 30 years ago. I used to attend the tech sessions at EPE, back when there were no water-cooled 911s.

Mark

[slow&rusty]

Let's talk body shops...along the same theme..

I’ve said repeatedly if you have a good relationship with a Body Shop that does quality work…you treat them like family.

Point and case, I live in Houston which has a huge car culture. I’ve restored lots of cars in my 16+ years here.

My go to “mom and pop” body shop that used to paint my old cars for years just sold out to a new owner after the original owner passed away. The new young owner after I approached him, made it clear he has no interest in working on old cars, let alone old cars that were rusty. His focus is insurance jobs, mini-vans, SUVs and new stuff.

So, there is a shift in the industry. If you can find a shop willing to do quality paint and body work on classics, many times you have to wait years in a queue.

Frustrating...

[proporsche]

Originally Posted by slow&rusty

Let's talk body shops...along the same theme..

I’ve said repeatedly if you have a good relationship with a Body Shop that does quality work…you treat them like family.

Point and case, I live in Houston which has a huge car culture. I’ve restored lots of cars in my 16+ years here.

My go to “mom and pop” body shop that used to paint my old cars for years just sold out to a new owner after the original owner passed away. The new young owner after I approached him, made it clear he has no interest in working on old cars, let alone old cars that were rusty. His focus is insurance jobs, mini-vans, SUVs and new stuff.

So, there is a shift in the industry. If you can find a shop willing to do quality paint and body work on classics, many times you have to wait years in a queue.

Frustrating...

have a look at this post - looks like prety solution...
Does anyone need a Paint Job or Respray in Southern California?