Although I am happy for the moment as a teacher, I am curious about earning a living working with Corvettes in some capacity (maintenance, salvage, sales, almost anything). Does anyone have any suggestions? Thank you.

David

 

If it were so easy everyone would be doing it

:D
MIKE

 

I think there is money to be made in some way with corvettes. I think if you pick a specialty item you can make money on it. I also think if you're knowledgeable you can buy and sell corvettes at a profit.

 

Stick with teaching; it is steady!

 

If you have lots of money you can customize and sell and if your good, you will get lots of business. Vette guys are very good at knowing what's good so it becomes extremely hard to break into the market.

 

:iagree: But I'll tell you, I have really enjoyed selling parts on the side. I bought a parts car (80) last year and this past winter I decided to give parting it out a try. It went pretty dern good. Having 10 years experience running a business I can tell I wouldn't want to do it full time. The overhead would eat up all the profit. And in any other sector like corvette repair, or customizing, I think that NON-PROFIT situation would be worse. But as with anything, you can do it if you want it bad enough.

 

hi david,

I hear you, man. I'm lookin' for a way. In fact, I even applied for a job with Justin Bell Driving School......just to be around them all the time. :chevy some of us just have it worse than others!!! btw.....they haven't called yet. Guess that demand for a 'company car' was just too much :jester

i'm not giving up tho......will let ya know if i find the job....one that pays, that is. i'm starting a vette club.......that will be fun....but gonna have to keep my day job(s) :rant:

 

I hear you that would be fun- you get 3 months off you can start something up in the summer buy/sell go on e-bay you'll make a fortune---good luck

Vin

 

I too have pondered with the vette career. I thought about sales at a Chevy dealership or as others have mentioned, buy/sell parts or complete vettes. Need lottsa cash for that though. And a decent sized workspace. Start small and go from there. Good Luck!!

 

OK, here is the plan: Join your local corvette club. Get very active in this club. Involve your club in national events, especially events that are sponsored by the National Corvete Museum. Volunteer to coordinate events with the NCM. Get involved in NCM events like the National Corvette Caravan. Eventually you may be able to run some of these events from the club angle. After spending several years and countless hours on these activities maybe you can get hired by the NCM..... as Events Manager...
OK, this may be a fairly unique and hard to duplicate career path... but hey, you never know! :) MJ

 

Overhead is a killer in any business, but a real threat in the Corvette business. The local vette shop is becoming somthing of a relic. With the advent of the internet and things like the Corvette Forum the expertise and parts of the local shop are generally available elsewhere. People don't want to pay the top dollar for the local part, when UPS can deliver it in three days. If you are going to get into the business you need to do it with as little overhead or try and diversify. Its really the story of business everywhere today.

 

I always think it would be cool until the next time I have to remove some rusty bolts or crawl around under the dash. Then I really apreciate the guys who do this for a living. Making money on mechanical repair can be tough and has been suggested will require you to diversify. Body repair and painting of classic cars may be an area where there is a lot of value added opportunity. A lot of us can turn a wrench. Body work requires more craftsmanship and skill for good results. Fine tuning and problem solveing require a lot of experience and are another opportunity. You may want to buy a project car and see if you can make some money fixing it up over the summer and grow your involvement and reputation that way. You could also start working with friends on their cars. It will take several years to buildup a reputation and customer base. I suggest stick with the teaching for benefits and retirement and grow your involvment with cars on the side. Keep in mind that you can spoil the satisfaction and enjoyment you are getting now by making it your lively hood.

 

I have worked for a used Corvette dealership since 1985. We are a two man operation that stocks about 30 Corvettes from 1967 to 2002. We sell about 100 Corvettes a year. From an outsider point of view it looks like an easy, fun, money making career, but it is getting harder to survive.

Now this is how the struggle for survival begins.

1. You need inventory to sell. Everyone thinks you just go to the auction and buy cars. This may be true, however when you specialize in just Corvettes there are other dealers doing the same. At the auctions I attend there are sometimes as many as 15 dealers fighting for the same car. This drives the price up.

2. The old cars(what I call 82 and older) aren't at most auto auctions. These cars don't get traded at new car dealers, so they don't show up at the auction. So if you want to sell the older cars you either have to trade them or buy them private. Now that means searching the newspapers, auto traders, car shows etc. This means spending hours on the road and lots of wild goose chases.

3. Don't sell junk! Unless you want a bad reputation.

4. Service your cars thoroughly. We drive each car for a few days to find what is wrong with them, how they start and run cold. Now when we service them, each car gets oil, trans, rear fluids and filters changed. We replace all brake linings if under 50%. Coolant systems are serviced, tune ups are done where required. Air Conditioning systems are serviced. Alway have good tires. Exhaust is replaced when needed. Fix what ever you can find wrong with in reason it will save you in the end.

5. Clean the car. A clean car has class. We put the cars on the lift remove all wheels and pressure wash the engine, and complete under carriage. Remove the spare tire and air up and clean the tub out. After the chassis is dry we either repaint the fender wells or frames on the 82 and olders or armor all the 84 and newers. Next we remove the seats and clean the whole interior. The body gets buff and waxed.

6. Now the car is ready for sale. When you sell it stand behind it. We give 3 month 3,500 warranties on most of our C4 and newer cars.

7. Remember if a customer has a problem always try to solve it. The last thing you want is someone bad mouthing you.

8. The things out of your control:

Insurance is getting outrageous in the car business

Taxes remember the IRS gets 37 cents out of every dollar you earn. Plus the state and local guys.

Bad weather and slow selling season. If your in a region where winter is a factor there are times when business comes to a halt.

9. Customers:

Some have never owned a Corvette and don't understand some of the common problems.

Corvettes as a profession isn't as easy as it looks.

 

Ed,
Well thought out reply! I considered the question about three years ago when I took early (very) retirement. When I ran the numbers in a business plan very little positive came out the far end. And I am talking parts, service, sales, etc. A person needs serious capitalization that I do not have or would not risk my home to acquire. It is difficult to break into the business. I was struck by the comment over in the Carlisle thread that Pro Team virtually monopolized the 1968-72 convertible auctions. You need money to compete. They have it; most of us enthusiasts do not. I have now started a consulting business in a completely different area. Pays very well and I work when I want. My Corvette remains a hobby...and I have the time and financial resources to enjoy it. Not curse them for a business failure.

 

Vette business means you drive from show to show, sometimes across country, and with a truck full of parts....fine, but you need a place to tear down the cars you buy....finding cars is not all THAT hard, and cheap too, BUT you need know what sells, what don't , and a place to store or cut up and dispose of all those frames and bodies that accumulate too much room...
the various suspension parts occupie space too....
IF you are paying commercial rates for that acreage, you are crazy....
you have to run it out of a farm type place, with lo taxes, and the business deals lots in cash too...so you carry a few grand with you at any show....typical and normal...you uncomfortable with that face....well it's not for you....hell at a contractor doing remodeling when I was busy some years ago a couple of grand in cash was the norm.....

you have to run it from your residence....no choice....

GENE

 

A sincere thanks to everyone who replied. Despite the apparent naivete of my question, none of the answers surprised me -- I know that breaking into such a specialized profession is very hard, and that staying in it is even harder; for example, I have a friend who is a flight officer in the Navy. Yes, it's fun catapulting and trapping on aircraft carriers (unless it's a moonless night and the pilot has a bad case of vertigo), but most of the time is spent doing paper work and worrying about details. As for Corvettes, it's easier and probably more fun to work on your own. I am looking forward to buying one as soon as I can.
David

 

Paul

The 53-72 Corvette pricing market is control by Pro-Team. Weather you like them or not it is the fact. Just go on their website and look at their prices. Now other dealers and private people use them as a measuring stick.

Pro-Team can ask and get these prices because they have the ability to stock over 150 cars. When they have a customer come in looking for a 65-67 car they can show them 70 different cars. When you have that kind of variety your sales staff will put you in something. They also buy everything up at these collector car auctions and if they don't buy it, the guy who did paid it all. Lets face the facts nobody else in the country has a inventory like them.

Here is another secret Pro Team and most of the other big name Corvette dealerships in the country all buy and sell to each other.

I couldn't tell you how many times I have gone to look at older Corvettes and the seller will say look what Pro Team is asking for the same year car.

 

Yeh, well the way I hear it from many a long timer vette person...many differant sources, Pro Team will sell rusted out crap, and rip people off something fierce......never dealt there myself, but from that many differant knowledgeable sources, something is fishy....

GENE

 

I see vettes for sale in the local (Atlanta) newspaper. Pro-Team has been around a while, at least back to the eighties when I first got into corvettes. I'm not too worried about them monopolizing the 68-72 market. There are still ones for sale from time to time. This thread inspires me to buy another '69.

 

It will be a very good investment.