Quote:
Originally Posted by Gene F
Yeah it is the know-how. I had a motor redone, and the machinist started doing it as a hobby when her retired. Then he found out he wasn't really retired because people were constantly brining him motors to redo. I was early 50s at the time, and thought hey maybe I can do this since I want out of corporate america, and he can teach me. Nope, he already presold his equipment to a close by machine shop. Guess what, all these years later I don't think they have done even one engine.
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That is likely. It is likely because that machine shop realized that rebuilding Model-T/A/B engines is not as profitable as doing other tasks in their machine shop.
In my own shop where we do all facets of the restoration in-house (i.e.: paint & bodywork, sheetmetal fabrication, wood work, upholstery, machining, etc.), the least profitable area of my entire shop is my Machine Shop. The reason is because of the cost of the tooling it takes to do quality work. If someone were to go purchase good quality machines (-not brand new but not worn-out machines either) to do the entire process in-house, they will easily have in excess of $150k. Compare that to the start-up costs of an upholstery shop, -or a wood shop, -or a body shop. All of these other disciplines can have start-up costs of less than ½ that amount ...and what makes it even more difficult those other areas can even charge more per manhour for their work when compared to machining. The main two reasons why we have an in-house machine shop is so I can keep my finger on QC, and because I was able to buy the tooling with the profits from the other areas of my shop.