Porsche Mechanic as a Career Choice

[Phil C]

Semper Fi!
My son got out of the Corps 2 years ago. Staff Sargeant in HMLC 369 up at Pendleton. His mos was Air Framer, and he wound up being quality assurance guy for the unit's new Hueys and Cobras. He's very skilled mechanically, but didn't want to pursue a career as a mechanic or turn wrenches for a living. He's a manager for a high end gun shop/ shooting facility here in N Atlanta, and makes money on the side buying and selling cars and guns. Adjusting to civilian life is tough. Make the money to support your family via contract management and play with your hobbies. You can make a good amount of money buying high end cars that need some tlc, fixing them, and selling for a profit. Plus it's on your schedule and not all the income is taxable😎.
Anybody can be a mechanic, only a select few can be a United States Marine!
Thanks for the sacrifices you and your wife made for all of us civilians.
Phil C

[husker boxster]

1st and foremost, thank you for your service and dedication.

There's already lots of great wisdom given, I can only add my similar experience. My Dad loved to restore old cars - Model Ts and As. In my early teens in the early 70s, we started buying late model wrecked cars and fixing them up. First it was for family members, then we started doing it as a hobby. I attended our local college and stayed home. This allowed me to work on our cars when I had time or do homework when I needed to. It was a fairly lucritive hobby so I didn't need a part time job during school. I'd work full time during the summer and work on cars in my spare time. My Dad was a postal carrier. He said it was a boring job but gave him time to think when we ran into a problem working on a car. When I graduated from college, it was the spring of '81 and we were in the throws of a pretty good recession. Most of my classmates went back for their Masters degrees because there were no jobs.

After a couple of months of job searching and coming up empty, my Dad said we could get a dealer's license and we could start a business rebuilding cars. He was about 5 yrs from retiring from USPS so I would be the main cog in the wheel. I was extremely honored that he felt good enough to make that offer. But at my young age, I had an inkling that turning a hobby into a profession may take the fun out of it. Plus I had ambitions to make good money and I didn't see enough value in it. We talked it over and I thanked him but kept on persuing other options. A month or so later I got a job in the Marketing Dept at Mutual of Omaha and I've sailed past my 33rd anniversary there last summer. I plan to retire in just over 6 yrs. I make a good salary. 5 yrs after I graduated from college my Dad retired and a mo later had a heart attack and passed away. Working on cars wasn't fun after that.

About 5 yrs ago Velocity started showing Wheeler Dealer and it inspired me to get back into the car hobby. I'm a golf addict but in Neb you can't play yr round. So for the last 5 yrs I've been buying a winter project and getting it ready to sell by spring. Gives me something to do during the "off season", is fun, and is generally lucrative. I started off with investors who would front most of the money to buy the car and I'd cover the fixing costs and the selling aspect. We'd split the profit. I'm to the point now where I don't need investors.

I'm sure your wife would approve of such a hobby since it will keep you close to home and out of trouble.

Good luck in your pursuits.