The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop high school doing body work?

My nephew is in 11th grade at the York County Vocational High School. He taking auto body and from the little bit of his work I seen already, he's done some perty good work. I was thinking about letting him do my fenders and he said all I have to do is call the school to arrange it. I think this would be a good opportunity for him to have a small part in restoring my truck. It'll be a while til I was gonna get to working on the fenders anyway so if it takes some time to finish it's no big deal.

Has anyone ever takin this approach before with their truck? As long as I know Isaiah(my nephew) will be the only student working on it, I'd be happy with that. My fear is that another student won't show the same care as my nephew...maybe I'm just stereotyping!

This subject was discussed a while back and one piece of advice I thought was worth repeating was to talk to the instructor. He runs the shop and if he's on board, you're more-or-less protected.

I think you have a valid concern. It takes a long time to get good at bodywork. These are students and if my past experiences still hold true you have a good chance of getting a repair that is less than perfect. Obviously I've not seen Isaiah's work but with his level of experience I wouldn't be surprised if the job isn't "perfect" when he's done, even if he's the only one working on it. If you're willing to live with some imperfections go for it. If you're as picky as some of us about how the finished product looks you might want to think twice.

I had the local Vo. Tech High School put some floor pans in our Nova about 10 years ago. They did a great job. The instructor was an excellent body man and even better a teacher and discplinarian. They did a great work for me and the price was very little in comparison to a body shop.

Rolling the dice...
While one school shop might do an acceptable job a bunch will do a less than acceptable job. If your not too picky and willing to finish off some of the work, it is sure cheap enough.

I posted a simular subject awhile back. A local Jr. College has a program that I thought about letting doing mine. I think the consensus was to do your homework. While it would be a good learning experience for the young people, it may or may not be for your truck as the results are not guarenteed. But if you aren't building a show truck, go for it!

I did my brothers car fenders in my highschool shop. Just make shure its just your nephew or someone who cares doin it because i had a bunch of people in my class that didnt really care and didnt want to be there anyways so i didnt let em touch the car. It was pretty fun and since you would have to do the fenders anyways might as well let him try and help you out. But talk to the instructer and find out how much he can help your nephew out if he has any probloms along the way.and like mobileortho said if its not going to be a show truck go for it