I have a friend who makes a profit on his passion by building locostesque cars at around $4k in materials per (nevermind labor), and he also does partial restorations on the occasional vehicle. That's one way. What other avenues are there to subsidize this thing? Which vehicles are out there which respond well to a little TLC in terms of resale value?
Subsidize by doing regular repair and maintenance until you have enough business to do the fun things. I was also at a shop a few days ago who subsidized by "renting" an empty bay to a detailer. The shop already had the space and tools, and they occasionally needed someone to clean cars, so the two went together like peas and carrots.
Miata resto-mod shop? Maybe E36's? Find distressed cars at auction and go from there, keeping costs and ambition in check.
I've done very well with parting VW's through the local and national forums, this requires you to have space for the car to sit without angering the neighbors or local city officials.
bmw's have treated me well with resale value, it's all about finding a car which is distressed enough to be cheap but not so mangled as to be an un-profitable flip. So far I've just been lucky with having cars land in my lap, being well connected with local car people/shops is key to finding the deals.
A friend of mine buys motorbikes on ebay and either breaks them or does them up and eventually resells the ones that he's done up. He's a journo though so part of the money came from writing about the odd home restoration...
He mostly buys a single type of bike and knows both the bike and market very well so he can usually figure out if they're worth breaking or not.
My coworker is on his fourth car this year having bought low, invested a little money and know how, and sold high. He used the money to pay for the parts for the car he was planning on keeping - a crx he got for free.
I'm a good amateur body man/painter, but the idea of painting in my garage frequently is unappealing. I have thought of paring up with a good shooter and doing all the prep at home. He can just dust off and shoot.
I think of various CL cars that I see which look like E36 M3 on camera, where a bit of bondo and a spray would improve them 300 percent.....
Like this one:
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/cto/1458782579.html
been sitting out there for most of a year....
If you are good with older technology like carbs and points there's a area of the hobby that needs support. Not too many shops want to deal with tune-ups and troubleshooting on collector cars. A large percentage of current mechanics have never worked on either.
A buddy of mine does some side jobs on restored '50's and 60's cars for owners that aren't as mechanically inclined.
-Rob
^ What he said.
I make enough money to pay for my car hobby without reaching into my paycheque.
I have a distributor machine and I know how to use it. I rebuild turbos, sell resto parts for Pontiacs and wrench on classic cars for other people.
Shawn (anybody wanna buy a '81 Y84 trans-am? It'll be ready in the spring)
I've found the electronic aspect of things to be fairly profitable. Aside from building MegaSquirts and the like, engineering unique and even small projects that serve single purpose over a broad market can result in a bit of income. The time involved, if available however, can be significant.
kcbhiw wrote: I've found the electronic aspect of things to be fairly profitable. Aside from building MegaSquirts and the like, engineering unique and even small projects that serve single purpose over a broad market can result in a bit of income. The time involved, if available however, can be significant.
You need to speak to me I have a project (944 related) that would allow MS to be plug (conditioning the signal from the speed and reference sensors to something that the MS can use)
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