I'll bite and be serious. 2 years vocational training in high school, 1 1/2 years college (GM ASEP) then combined 5-6 years of Sears, Chevy, Ford, Subaru, Jeep dealership experiences.

 

I'd have to say everything I've learned is from helping my dad and learning on my own. I'm by no means a master mechanic and I still learn new things every day. I use a lot of references if I'm unsure of how to do certain things weather it be forums, or write-ups online, or manuals. I took auto shop classes in highschool which was good because the teacher just let us bring our own cars/trucks in to do what ever we wanted to on plus all the shop trucks/cars/motors to tear into just to see how things work. When I either retire or get pushed out due to PTS or High Year 10 Year I'll go to some of the technical colleges just to get certified so I can open up my own shop.

The best way I know to learn is buy you a beater or something that needs repairs for cheap and teach yourself how to fix it.

 

Listen to this man. SERIOUSLY. This is a great way to get started, and in reality pretty much how I did (except for still taking delight in trashing HonDuhs....).

 

QFT
I took two years at TNCC didnt learn much myself. I got a job as a low man on the totem pole type in a small shop. The master tech there took me under his wing and just took off from there.

 

Really about who you know sometimes, my girlfriend's dad is/was the #1 Mazda tech on the east coast, number 3 in the nation, he got me a job at Mazda and i learned a ton from there.

 

Try being a shop bitch for a little while and see if this is something you really want to do first. its not all magazine and time attack builds. Its a lot of hours spent away from fam/friends to make a few dollards. Some times the worst thing you can do is turn your hobby/passion into a job. Ask me how I know. Also experience comes from tearing into things and figuring stuff out. Things like the internet has made a lot of people successful by researching and building cars. You dont need 4 years of college to work on cars. If you eventually own a shop the only thing customers might care about is if you and your mechanics are ASE certified. Which to me means shit........Any person with patience and common sense can build a bad ass machine. Your name, work attitude, product, and good experience will keep people coming to you. Remember that it only takes one asshole to ruin a business online.

-Danny-

 

It came naturally...I live my life a quarter mile at a time

 

only happens if you drive an FD

 

Buy a garage first. Buy a DD. Then buy something you can tear apart, leave for awhile, come back to, an hope you are doing it right.

 

Basically, you really have to have a general interest in cars to begin with. Anyone can stand around and listen to people talk about parts while someone else is working on a car, but it takes a certain person to want to get under the hood and learn piece by piece, slowly over a period of time.
I got started by riding in my uncles 57 Bel Air as a kid, and helping him do basic maintenance when I was young. He used to drive it in parades around my home town, and I would ride in the back and watch all the people stare and awe. I then realized, that I wanted to know why it was such a bad ass ride.

Sadly enough, that car was absolutely destroyed by a flood, along with his 67 Camaro with a Supercharged BBC