LOL He sounds a bit like me.
It's kinda embarrassing to say this sorta stuff to people I don't really know. I am having a 4th one built, but I have 3 'barns' already. They're 80' x 100' metal buildings that look like barns from the outside. I'm actually a licensed used car dealership because I sell enough cars and am required to have the license. Well, technically one of my employees are.
The positive note is that I get a half-dozen dealer plates. This means I can avoid registering them all. They're obviously well insured.
I make enough selling cars to be able to pay for two full-time mechanics. Basically, I cheated. and hired both of them straight out of a 4 year automotive engineering college. They both had employment agreements before they even got their degree.
Life has been good to me so far.
This coming year, I'm looking to bring in a photographer to do my entire collection. I figure it'll take a couple of months, but having the pics as documentation will be nice.
Oh, I stick pretty much exclusively with Mecum auctions, but I'm done doing what I had done. I'd go to an auction and end up with a dozen Pilot trucks delivering cars to me. My collection is complete - more or less. Now I'll restrict myself to one or two cars at a time, plus filling in my collection with more brand new cars.
And now you know...
Damn, that's awesome! As they say, variety is the spice of life lol! Didn't know such good money can be made doing that but it makes sense thinking about it.
This guy had the same idea going in terms of having a full time mechanic, although he only collects them and never sells them haha. I'd imagine you'd need one though considering there's so many cars and you don't want to have any of them sitting around for too long without starting them up. If I was a full time car mechanic, working in an environment like yours or in the photos I shared would be ideal hahaha.
Getting a photographer would be a great idea imo. I always try to take before and after photos of all the cars I've detailed. I think it's nice to have just for memories sake and to show off what I've worked on in the past lol. It's also fun to go back from time to time and browse the collection of photos because a lot of them have a story attached, either about the car itself or the client.
Lol its definitely a good thing you don't have to worry about neighbors or HOA because if u had that many trucks pulling up in an area like mine, you'd have every asshole calling the association or the city up hahaha!
LOL I had a small collection (like 23 cars/vehicles licensed for road use) but then I just went apeshit and started splurging. Initially, I sold a rather fancy beach house in FL. I spent all that and then some. So, I liquidated a bunch of (mostly commercial) property, most of which is on the left coast. I used that and some additional funds to do one more last 'great auction' - where I spent stupid amounts of money.
I buy and sell. I haven't sold that many as we are just getting into it and they're almost all collector cars. So, it involves some leg work to get the car out there. I belong to a number of car clubs, so we're often able to get someone into the car they have been dreaming about. I sell a lot of Mustangs, actually. Like half of my sales have been Mustangs - some older and some newer. I'm not actually a huge Mustang fan. I do recognize their value and place in history.
My collection is strange. I don't just have Ferrari, Porsche, and McLaren cars. I own two dozen Toyota FJ models, a bunch of Bimmers, some historic race cars, and stuff like that. I try to have something in my collection that represents a genre that interests me.
Also, my cars are driven. Very, very few are trailer queens - and even those get driven.
It probably explain a bit more if I mentioned I own a farm. So, the mechanics have plenty of work to do. We've also taken on a couple of restorations for other people and done some jobs for other people. The goal is that the mechanics should pretty much pay for themselves.
I'm looking to find a teenager to apprentice under them this coming summer. I'll pay 'em for the hours they put in, as I don't believe in unpaid internships.
What was your favorite car that you detailed?
What was the most expensive car that you detailed?
How much of this detailing is your income - do you do it exclusively or have other jobs?
Haha man thats rad! So many cars lol! Glad to hear your cars are driven, I always appreciate the clients that actually take their cars out and drive them. There are a few that just keep them garaged and I think it's a shame considering they live in an area where it's almost always perfect weather to go out on a cruise + the beach is less than a 20 min drive away for most of them. It's funny because the clients that do that tend to be much more stingy/douchy but I guess that shouldn't come as a surprise.
That teenager is going to be one lucky bastard hahaha! Thats cool you'd pay them during an internship, that is pretty much unheard of around here, unless it is the bosses son or something haha. Maybe its a West Coast thing but generosity is very hard to come by around here imo lol.
My favorite car that I've detailed was a 70s Chevelle, only because thats basically my dream car haha. They are damn beautiful! I was just about ready to drive off with it afterwards lol jk. I wish I could share some photos of it but I can't seem to find them at the moment.
In terms of most expensive, hmmmm that's a good question. I did do a Lamborghini Aventador with a custom blue paint job from the dealership, but I feel like maybe I might have done a classic car that would be worth more nowadays. Im pretty bad a valuing high end/ classic cars just because I'm not even close to ever owning one lol! I guess I'll stick with the Lambo for now but if I find a photo of something else worth more I'll be sure to share. Here's pics of the lambo, personally I'm not a fan of them but to each their own. I remember being so damn attentive and diligent when detailing it! Considering how much they cost off the lot, the last thing you wanna do is screw something up lol
https://files.catbox.moe/nufpo9.jpg https://files.catbox.moe/e8gycb.jpg
I used to do detailing full time a few years back, but nowadays it's a side hustle. The work used to be more consistent but I had a few good clients pass away over the years and I kinda got tired of it. Lots of ups and downs + I feel I have a lot more potential in some sort of tech field. I've always liked working with computers and messing with drones, 3d printers - that sort of stuff. Also, I have a lot of experience in warehouse logistics and being that i turned 30 not too long ago, I figure it wouldn't be a bad time to shift my focus back to that and get some certifications so I can make some good consistent money. I still like to detail from time to time, and I love detailing/ working on my own car lol but I don't really take it beyond that. My brother still does it pretty consistently though, I'd say he's probably the better exterior detailer too.
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