anyone had work done by a vocational school?

This thread from 2012

My father had his Miata painted over the winter at a vocational school in Mass. In the end, he said that the whole thing was done at cost and the work was very good. Summer is (slowly) approaching and I'll be finishing up the Subaru as spring rolls in. The shell is darn rusty, but everything mechanical is pretty solid. I merely covered up the rust holes, they weren't actually 'fixed'. Call it the "inspection special." After hearing the voc school success story from my father, I'm considering just dropping the car off at a local voc school to get all the rust fixed and to be sprayed with a simple (single stage?) white. I think that they could do a much better job than me, to be perfectly honest, and I wouldn't have to worry about storage while it was getting done. I'm not exactly chomping at the bit to get the car back either. I figure worst case scenario, I'd have a rust free eg33 swapped impreza wagon that would be ready to sell sometime during the winter. Anyone have experience with getting stuff done at voc schools?

My brother has had a few cars done that way, mostly just for paint, but also one for pretty extensive body damage.

He was quite happy each time. Granted, it will generally take a bit longer than having something done professionally, but you can't beat the price.

I'm hopefully going to be dropping my track Miata off at my local Vo-Tech in the near future.

It's been a while, but I've had some work (Mustang floor pan and frame rail replacement and motorcycle tank, fairing and fender painting) done in a prison shop. Everything came out really nice. All I had to pay for was parts and paint.

hmmm.. maybe I will drop my TI shell off to get done.

mad_machine wrote: hmmm.. maybe I will drop my TI shell off to get done.

I had that thought too about the e30. You can get rusty shells around here pretty darn cheap. Just drop it off at a voc school and I bet for about $1000 total investment you could have a rust free decently painted shell. That's real good if you ask me.

Whenever the AC needs worked on in one of my cars I take to a local Community College and have had good results. I supply the parts and they supply the labor and the R12 or whatever.

I actually had not really considered that. We have a CC right near the house that has a really good auto tech program.

I called the local voc-ed school and left a mesage, but they never called back.

Road Warrior had his black Miata done at the local voc school (Blue Hills in Canton, MA). It came out really nice. I think he had to pay for materials.

The tech i went too in Mass had great auto and autobody shops they even had a gas station.

The first time I stopped by the shop and talked to the teacher, that is where I would start.

I've only had bad experiences with having a "vocational " school paint or work on my vehicles. But to be fair they weren't vocational schools in the traditional sense per se. My first experience was in 1986. I had my 1968 Shelby GT350 painted in a prison vocational program. The program was supervised by a certified instructor and they had the latest technology. The problem was the students weren't motivated to perform and they really didn't give a crap how the job turned out. Most or at least some of them weren't graduating anytime soon, if you get my drift.
My second experience was to let a friend's son work on my 65 Mustang fastback in HS automotive shop class. Same story, the kids just didn't care. I thought for sure here is a real opportunity to work on a classic. But none of them had a grasp of the opportunity at hand. I got the car back in way more parts than I gave them. I'm sure most vocational shops have their reputation on the line so to speak and they would have a vested interest in the final product. Before I committed my car to be painted I would at least want to see their workmanship.

triumphcorvair wrote: I've only had bad experiences with having a "vocational " school paint or work on my vehicles. But to be fair they weren't vocational schools in the traditional sense per se. My first experience was in 1986. I had my 1968 Shelby GT350 painted in a prison vocational program. The program was supervised by a certified instructor and they had the latest technology. The problem was the students weren't motivated to perform and they really didn't give a crap how the job turned out. Most or at least some of them weren't graduating anytime soon, if you get my drift. My second experience was to let a friend's son work on my 65 Mustang fastback in HS automotive shop class. Same story, the kids just didn't care. I thought for sure here is a real opportunity to work on a classic. But none of them had a grasp of the opportunity at hand. I got the car back in way more parts than I gave them. I'm sure most vocational shops have their reputation on the line so to speak and they would have a vested interest in the final product. Before I committed my car to be painted I would at least want to see their workmanship.

Both are not the best examples of a vocational school. I think what most people have in mind are college level or stand alone vocational schools where people will likely be graded on their work or receiving valuable experience that can be applied to future projects/work.

I have a friend who is a high school shop teacher. He can do it all. Engine, transmission, body work.....you name it he can do it. He literally begs me for a car of mine or if I know of anyone that has a car that needs to be fixed. He needs these vehicles to teach his students. I hooked him up with another friend who had purchased an old 90s 5.0 Mustang that needed a new motor put in. Presto!! They were both ecstatic with the results. One guy gets a new motor put in for free (aside from supplying parts) and the class gets a good project. I trust him completely and think it's a good way to go for a lot of people.

In case you are wondering why I haven't done it yet.......I currently have vehicles that don't need any major work and I enjoy doing the simpler jobs myself.

Depends on the schools. We've hired "graduates" from one chain of vocation schools, and they barely knew which end of the screwdriver to use to stab themselves. The last few have actually had some knowledge and motivation to work, so I guess the economy is starting to affect the output.

Term Paper spam deleted

In reply to John Welsh :

Heh. When I read the spam that told us that the poster now has a good job, I was beginning to wonder if hawking dodgy term paper websites qualifies as a "good job" these days .

I've taught in two vocational automotive programs and seen work done by a few others too. Definite mixed bag! You will almost certainly get more than you pay for, but there are tons of variables. I agree with talking to instructors first. That will give you the best 'gut feeling' indicator of whether any of them are interested or feel accountable to the results. 

I supply probably 10-20 cars per semester of live work to my classes (usually suspension and steering type of work because that's what I teach the most of lately) and for that type of work I've never seen students create big problems other than me finding loose bolts here and there which could have been big problems if i didn't QC them. I have however also let students do headgaskets on my cars and had them rip threads out of my cylinder heads, rip wires out of the back of connectors they didn't see, etc. I'm also doing finishing work on a 51 chevy truck on a ~75 blazer frame that was assembled and painted by a local high school i have nothing to do with, and that has paint cracking all over, runs etc. 

Mixed bag. The price is right, but there'll be no guarantees and likely no warranty. I would decide based primarily on how good of a vibe I got from talking to the instructors. Every place is gonna have some that take pride in what their students do under his/her tutelage, and some that either don't or just don't even know how to do a good job of it themselves anyway! 

Regardless, there is a good feeling that comes from putting opportunities in front of people who are willing and eager to learn. But you should definitely buy them pizza afterwards!