If you're doing restoration work, the only way to make it profitable is to work with OPM...other people's money. Don't own the cars or tractors yourself. When a 4-bar Cub grille in reproduction is almost $400, you know you'll never make a dime doing it for yourself. BUT if you do it for the owner, and let him pay you, you'll get a return on your investment every time...unless you price your labor too cheaply. And to REALLY make some money, it's better to won the business...but to get to that point, working for someone else and watching them run their business is good experience to have.
With the economy where it is right now,work on restorations might get a ittle scarce for awhile; that's when doing just normal repairs, such as brakes and exhaust work and drivability stuff can pay your wages until the "nonessential" spending returns to more sustainable levels.
My advice is, even if the kid wants to go to college and get a degree in something else, getting trained in a trade such as automotive technology or welding at a local trade school beforehand is not time wasted. I only wish I'd have followed that path myself, rather than learning to weld after age 45 and getting the training to allow me to pass the ASE mechanical certifications after age 50. Had I been trained in these areas when I was younger, my options would've been a lot broader.
Go to the Tractor Tales board and look at Bouncer's pics from the Lanesville show in September...most of these tractors won't ever pull a plow again, except for display purposes. But another way of looking at it is, if push comes to shove, in times of uncertain economic conditions, which wstands a better chance of paying for itself...a restored Edsel, or a restored 8N? I'd bet on the 8N.
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Today's Featured Article - Restoration Story: Fordson Major - by Anthony West. George bought his Fordson Major from a an implement sale about 18 years ago for £200.00 (UK). There is no known history regarding its origins or what service it had done, but the following work was undertaken alone to bring it up to show standard. From the engine number, it was found that this Major was produced late 1946. It was almost complete but had various parts that would definitely need replacing.
... [Read Article]
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