For the past several months I have been working in a restoration shop in Damascus, MD. How did this happen? I was looking for someone to paint the Sunbeam and found that regular shops are not interested in repainting 
classic cars; they would rather focus on repairing dents and scrapes. MAACO, a chain of body shops, is an exception. I visited two franchises, and both gave me estimates in the neighborhood of $1,200. Judging from cars in the parking lots, either would do an adequate job. Would it be worth over $1,000 for a less than perfect result?
I found a classic car restoration shop on Craigslist and decided to see what an upscale paint job would be. The photo to the right shows a 1962 Willys truck that was being restored. The paint was absolutely stunning. I learned that the paint–four+ coats of 
color and eight+ of clear coat–was $8,000 in materials alone. While I could see a beautiful Sunbeam in the end, such an effort was not in the cards.
The owner, Marty, loved my Sunbeam and offered me a tryout as an body shop intern. Why not? He started me off scraping and sanding paint. The truck body on the right will eventually be fitted to the Willys. Before body work could begin, I was tasked with bringing the floor and sides down to bare 
metal. Very messy.
After a few weeks of dirty work, I was shifted to assembling electrical and mechanical parts of the truck. Marty did have me sanding body filler on another project, but honestly I wasn’t catching on very fast. By chance he discovered my mechanical skills and reassigned me to areas of comparative advantage.
Sunbeam 