Auto Hobby Shop !
 

Given the expansion south of 44, and vast amount of specialty new and classic four, three, and two wheeled vehicles owned here in the Villages; it's time for an Auto Hobby Shop to be built! Look how popular the Villages Carpentry Shop has become (? With Another Carpentry Shop planned?) ? Just think how popular a Auto Hobby Shop would be!:clap2:

We had them in the military. They were a great thing to have available. One of our coworkers planned to open one in the local area when he retired and after doing his research changed his mind when he got to insurance and liability coverage costs.

Great idea! I have good memories of rebuilding my Mazda RX-2 rotary engine in the the Auto Hobby Shop on Zaragoza Air Base, Spain, back in 1975! (Thank you, car enthusiast, Ssgt Rick Roig for a job well done!)

I worked part time at the one we had at Langley AFB when I was stationed there. Learned a lot about autos and had fun at the same time.

Having grown up on a military base and then serving 20 years in the Navy, I agree that the the auto hobby shops were a great benefit to have. My father was in Special Services (later MWR) in the Air Force and worked at several of the hobby shops over the years, and I spent many a Saturday at the hobby shops helping out while growing up.

What is overlooked in the discussion of the auto hobby shops on military bases is the reason they existed and were so popular. Military pay was, and still is, on the very low side of the pay scales, and the bases early on had many problems with cars being worked on in driveways and front yards in on-base housing and barracks parking lots. A lot of the solders, sailors, airmen, and marines had the skills necessary to do their own repairs but not the money or location to do the work. As a solution these auto hobby shops were created. For a just few dollars a day these base auto hobby shops provided a SAFE place, use of lifts, tools, manuals, and a place to dispose of fluids that allowed these men and women to keep their cars running in their budgets. I myself saved many hundreds over the years doing everything from oil changes to transmission overhauls at the hobby shop.

It would be a great benefit to have a place to work on our vehicles however in this overly litigious society we now live in it is unfortunately highly unlikely that we will ever see one built for our use. We are stuck with working in our garages on our wheeled toys and hoping one of the many village trolls don't come along and see us doing an oil change or break job and turning us into Community Standards for a deed restrictions violation.

I don't think it will happen. I approached the powers to be 2 years ago about an auto shop. One reason (there were a few) they gave me that they would not consider it, was a "liability issue".

(like the wood shop is not a liability issue)

If I recall correctly, there is a car storage facility in Wildwood that also has some arrangement for working on vehicles, sorry I do not recall the name now, but I think I posted it in a previous thread.

If there are so many that would support the facility, why don't you get together and jointly rent a space.....if there are a large number the cost per person shouldn't be out of line. Members could then share tools, expertise and not worry about the restrictions inside TV?

It must be doable. Sun City in AZ has a great one.
I worked 10 + years in a body shop, and forever with my father on antique cars. I would pay to join , to cover the extra cost.

This would be a great idea!

I'm surprised no one has built or rented such a club space yet.

I run a nonprofit automotive program up north. We teach high school students automotive skills by rebuilding or customizing a car annually. I wonder if the charter school would be interested. I am sure there are plenty of talented mechanics, body men, etc living in TV.

PS- We are Spartan Hot Rod on Facebook.