Post by dentdaddy on Jan 3, 2012 11:35:55 GMT -5
Years ago I met a pin stripper at a local car show.....He was drinking beer and working out of a tackle box with a minimal investment of a few cans a paint and striping brushes......It took him about 15 minutes to do a car with pin stripes, swirls, and maybe a little lettering.
After each car, with an audience watching, you would immediately see another person come up and plunk down $50 cash and beg him to do "their" car next.......The guy ended up taking in about $500 and then told the rest of the waiting crowd that he was "done for the day".....I couldn't believe it - this was back in the mid 1980's.
As a young man, I followed this guy around and asked him if he would show me how I could learn how to pin stripe.....He gave me a partial can of one-shot stripping paint and a camel hair brush and a quick lesson.
"Now you know it all kid" he told me, get yourself a piece of glass and sit down and make some parallel straight lines, circles, and S's while you watch TV...and within a few thousand hours you'll be as good as me As you can guess, to this day, I can't pin stripe a car.
Fast forward twenty years, I run into some PDR guys working in a tent after a local hail storm hit our area. Having a bodyshop background, but not knowing anything about PDR, I was amazed at the money these guys were making.... and they were hacking these cars horribly. I quickly went online to try to learn all I could, and bought some tools and was soon making some very crude pushes in my garage at home.
I have been at this "on and off" for over a year now. A lot of trial and error - experimentation with different light and reflective sources - some DVD training, and a few precious minutes of help from an experienced tech. There just hasn't been any extra money available to get some good one on one training, but with perseverance and patience, I am confident that I will get better.
Participation in this forum keeps me motivated. The promise of "big money" in the future to stay motivated soon fades, and it is apparent that many have tried, and many have failed, when it comes to PDR. For those just starting, I have found that as I get better through practice, my motivation to push more dents increases. Keep on pushing . Bob
After each car, with an audience watching, you would immediately see another person come up and plunk down $50 cash and beg him to do "their" car next.......The guy ended up taking in about $500 and then told the rest of the waiting crowd that he was "done for the day".....I couldn't believe it - this was back in the mid 1980's.
As a young man, I followed this guy around and asked him if he would show me how I could learn how to pin stripe.....He gave me a partial can of one-shot stripping paint and a camel hair brush and a quick lesson.
"Now you know it all kid" he told me, get yourself a piece of glass and sit down and make some parallel straight lines, circles, and S's while you watch TV...and within a few thousand hours you'll be as good as me As you can guess, to this day, I can't pin stripe a car.
Fast forward twenty years, I run into some PDR guys working in a tent after a local hail storm hit our area. Having a bodyshop background, but not knowing anything about PDR, I was amazed at the money these guys were making.... and they were hacking these cars horribly. I quickly went online to try to learn all I could, and bought some tools and was soon making some very crude pushes in my garage at home.
I have been at this "on and off" for over a year now. A lot of trial and error - experimentation with different light and reflective sources - some DVD training, and a few precious minutes of help from an experienced tech. There just hasn't been any extra money available to get some good one on one training, but with perseverance and patience, I am confident that I will get better.
Participation in this forum keeps me motivated. The promise of "big money" in the future to stay motivated soon fades, and it is apparent that many have tried, and many have failed, when it comes to PDR. For those just starting, I have found that as I get better through practice, my motivation to push more dents increases. Keep on pushing . Bob