What's with shop teachers playing with acetylene? Probably where most of us discovered acetylene bombs. In a balloon is one thing, try a large leaf bag for a bigger bang! Bob
Mu auto body teacher was the real thing. Showed up my soph. year driving a 54 F100,260 sm.ford,3spd. overdrive. I liked his class so well I took it every year, including going back a extra year after high school. This was 2 4hr classes a day. When I moved back a few years later we became best of friends, going to F100 shows and Street Rod Nationals. He could do more counseling over a hood than any doctor and make it applicable to your situation. Used to outrun the track team in the 100 once a year. There is not a day that goes by that I dont think of him. I have his daily driver 56 F100 that was given to me by his family, that I am redoing. Sadly he passed before his time. R.I.P. O.D.[Ole Dog] Lewis, my friend.
I think our shop/ mech drafting teacher enjoyed tormenting us in a fun way. In shop class he was teaching us the importance of turning off the power. So he had the class stand in a circle holding hands he had one kid grab one wire and had another grab the other wire. Another time in mech draw he we were working on an assignment he goes to the back of the class room and fires up the old blue print machine I've never seen a classroom clear out so quick
this lesson I will never forget ..Our shop teacher had us write the safety rules in our "shop notebook". Everyday started with a new tool and a safety lesson. This day he held up a bastard file...9th graders in 1959...all smirking...he then says " this is a bastartd file" if you don't know how to spell" bastard" put your own name down...a sense of humor...yes indead..we all about feel off our stools..same routine with a "prick punch" ... funny guy
Mine had lost an eye in the Marines, apparently in a fight with a wire wheel. Drove a Prius, too. All around an excellent dude, still using the old Craftsman top chest he gave me. Thank you, Mr Casillas!
One afternoon after class in 1969 Mr. Jackson rolled his brand new black Coupe De Ville into the shop and as we watched proceeded to wet sand it with 600 Blew our young minds. He was a true rodder having owned, while in high school, a 40 coupe featured in one of the mags at the time. He really knew the biz and was an excellent metal man. R.I.P. Roger Jackson.
Thank You Mr James Marvin Mackey You enabled me to make a living by your teachings. 2 years well spent . Glenn Vocational High school grad 1964. Another thing a lot of people in his classes did well in life. ...............................................
Another HAMB member who teaches is Anthony Myrick from the Jasper area of central Alabama. You should check out his thread on the excellent bus that his students put together. He is a good mentor to the youth of today. In fact THANK YOU to all vocational teachers..
Gas balloons might be ok for a demo but to get someones attention you take a light bulb, the large 300 watt type, light up the torch and melt a small hole in the big end,snuff out the torch and fill it with that mix, then screw it back into the overhead fixture, our ag shop was a tin building, when someone came to shop and turned on the lights you'd hear that explosion all across campus
1970 Auto shop was Mr. Howard, nice guy very knowledgeable. We did our fair share of tune ups and brake jobs on the faculty's cars.
Hello, By the time we were able to get into the Autoshop class as juniors (1961,) we had some knowledge of drag racing, modifying cars, customizing, etc. The teacher was impressed with my car knowledge. But, he saw the Impala in the previous years with my brother and his friends in the classes. He also saw our Impala in 1959 at Lions Dragstrip, with my brother driving, winning in the A/Stock class. The teacher was a drag racing fan and saw the 40 Willys that my brother and I built in early 1960. He told me that he had gone to Lions Dragstrip to see our car run and was impressed. Those two cars’ looks and performances gave me a slight edge in the teacher “likes” during my two years of Autoshop. With that in mind, I thought he was going to allow me to start on custom projects right away. But, like all of the students, he had class projects that were requirements before the custom stuff could start. Since he had two lathes, 2 drill presses, gas welders, and access to the next door metal shop class metal benders he was set up quite well. After finishing up the standard projects in record time, (threading a rod, inside threads, rod bending, various welding techniques) he allowed me to start my custom stuff. Shift kits for auto and stick transmissions, long curved levers, including lathe turned knobs, new metal floor panels, custom traction master type rear axle bars, and making those custom progressive linkage levers/brackets. He even allowed me to make an aluminum casting T shaped rectangular bar that turned into a multiple carb gas distribution block. (using the milling machine and drill press.) Most of the work was done on my classmate’s cars as I was already set up in my own car. There wasn’t much more I could do to my 58 Impala in 1961-62. It was no longer stock and not racing in the stock class or gas coupe class at the drags. In 1960, a C&O Stick Hydro was installed, a high performance cam and lifters were also added. So, I had plenty of time in the auto shop to do custom work for my friends to get a passing grade. The Autoshop teacher even allowed me to go get my 58 Impala to do a photo shoot during class, for the school newspaper. He had an ulterior motive, it would give his automotive class some needed validation. “Street cred” in today’s world. 1962 Jnaki If I could remember that auto shop teacher’s name, I would thank him for allowing me the time to experiment, learn, and get things done for my friends. His class was always fun and he was an easy going teacher. All classes should be fun and something to look forward to, everyday. That is high school. But, I do remember the metal shop teacher next door, because he was always on my case…He was always using the slogan: “You do high performance stuff on the athletic field, so get your performance up in my class and be a leader…etc…” “You know if you fail my class, you will not graduate…” (which was a lie, but it sounded good in front of other students.) The next thing I was waiting for was the saying…”it will go on your permanent record…etc.” Ha! But guys like Anthony Myrick here on the HAMB are the creative people that teenagers flock to for great ideas and teaching. Kudos, Anthony. His classes would make me want to go back to high school. Yikes !
My shop teacher was fresh home from Vietnam and a USMC vet . His moto was “ impervise and overcome , nothing is built that you can not repair it , but lots are built that Man can destroy given enough time “ This guy was brilliant , he could fix anything , from a “ pregnant Whore , to a Horserace “ , his job in the Corp was a door gunner . He rode an old hand jammin Knuckle to work everyday , opened the garage door to the shop and parked it right up front by his desk . Believe me when I say he would get your attention . One kid was doing everything but watching a safety film ( not a video !) , when all of the sudden an eraser went right up the side of his head . I learned many life long bits of wisdom from him . 1st never volunteer for anything , 2nd CYA “ Cover Your Ass “ , 3rd KISS “ Keep It Simple , Stupid “ I have always remembered this through out life , it does relate and work . His last little talk he had with me before graduation was ,” the Marine Corp is always looking for a few good men like you “ Remember the little bit of wisdom “ Never Volunteer for anything ? “ not sure that applied in this case .
never had an auto class in my high school, but took 2 years of mechanical drafting. The teacher was ok but occasionally a ball buster. Got my revenge though, dated his daughter for 4 years.
I will take this time to Thank You, all of my Shop teachers and teachers in general, I took Wood, Metal, Auto and they did make a difference in my youth and life. ( I was "Greaser Punky type kid" still a free spirit type and received some positive influences in Junior and High school ) For me, growing up in Milwaukee Wisconsin, shop classes were available from 7- 12 grades and I discovered things that I enjoyed doing, ended up an apprentice Tool & Die Maker At 18, Journeyman at 22, 26 started my shop, ran it till my retirement at 62, life has been very good to me.
I took auto shop, metal shop, and woodworking shop classes at Galileo High School in 1957-58. The auto shop and metal shop was Mr. Presoto, and yes, he drove a Desoto,1939 model. He would start the auto shop classes the same every year. We all thought we knew it all, and he showed us that we didn't. He would ask the new class this question, when packing the front wheel bearings would we use coarse or fine valve grinding compound. after getting several answers for either type, he would ask a student from a previous year what he would use. The student would answer, I use wheel bearing grease. With this question, he got our attention. He was a great, knowledgeable teacher.
Thanks for the kind words. I just happen to be lucky to work in a school district crazy enough to let teachers like me do outside the box teaching. I spent today with students showing off their hard work at our World Of Wheels car show. Lots of former students were there, most currently working in shops Some even with shops displaying cars. I had many shops inquire about hiring students. One shop even interviewed a student during the show. I had shops wanting to donate equiptment and offer shop tours for our school. We were also invited to bring our bus to an open house for a large truck dealership Here is a poor picture of our display.
Anthony .....Thank You for what you do ....Good instructors never seem to get the recognition that they deserve .....
Just doing my job. I'm lucky to have an automotive instructor as crazy as me. He is right ther with me through all this and is great with organizing, writing grants and serving our students.
Auto Shop teacher"Mike,you're retarded" Teacher meant the timing was retarded on the car Mike was working on, but we got a kick out of it and quoted it back to Mike many, many times.
We had a really good shop program in Jr. High that included taking apart and putting back together small engines (Briggs & Strattons). Our teacher taught us to check for spark by slowly rotating the flywheel while holding on to the spark plug wire. Of course some guys had to spin it pretty fast and got bit pretty good, but no real harm. I've run into this teacher several times since we moved back to town (now retired but still doing well), and he told me once if he were still teaching that way today, they would have him in jail. Gary
20 years in the classroom, and I still have all my fingers... Keeping these shop programs alive is a struggle.. often due to the "academics" and "politicians" who think everyone needs to go to college, or want to validate everything in life with a written test.. feel free to blame someone else, but who you vote for does matter...
The best defense for a shop program is the businesses the hire your students. All politicians need funds and votes they will listen to businesses that express concern about your class. The blame in my opinion is the school boards lack of knowing that the community is concerned about what is happening in your shop. This is why I publicly promote our school as much as possible.
My shop teacher,Bill Davis was the best. Wish I'd listened more to him. He was super smart. He was a big stout man. Played semi-pro football for Denver Colts. Auto shop was about 1/2 mile from school. He owned everything in it. He never married so all his time went into his students and building some badass engines. He had a 426 hemi with dual quads that i lusted over all the time. When I graduated I bought a house right next door to the auto shop and he bought the house across the street from me. He decided to retire and didn't want to have to move all his stuff too far. Sadly he battled cancer and passed shortly after. Most of his stuff ended up in good hands. He sold and gave away everything before he passed. I got a nice sbc he built and put it in my c10. He was a stellar guy. Oh and his 63 Buick invicta convertible still sits under a shed at the property. I've been tempted to buy it.
My shop teacher in high school was way cool. He was also a gymnastics coach of mine. We had what was called advanced auto. 2 periods long. I had it 1st and 2nd period. It allowed us to park on campus. I was always late to class. He never gave me crap. It was the mid 80's and we lived in a mostly affluent area. Most of the kids got new foreign rides for their birthdays. Me and my buddies drove cars kids could afford. We relished in working on our cars and then racing and beating the rich kids. My teacher we'll call him "Ed".... taught us to do valve jobs and other more involved things that the other students did not care about. I even got to do a full engine rebuild on a SBC of mine and the following year a Buick 455. He loaned me a school owned engine stand that I took home over the summer to finish the engine I was working on. Still have it to this day! He cut us a lot of slack and was a really easy going guy. He would tell us stories about him riding his motorcycle a 1970 Honda 750 four with a strap he rigged that wrapped around his back from one handle bar end to the other to allow him to steer while he drank his beer. He wasn't much of a story teller so I suspect it was true. He sold the bike to one of my close buddies he cruised to for sometime. We really appreciated him and I never really said it to him mostly because I did not realize the significance of it all when I was a 17-18 year old. We did all pitch in and bought him several cases of beer when we graduated and brought to school and gave it to him right there and then out in the parking lot on campus 10 feet from the building. He sheepishly accepted it. Try that now. Thanks Ed!
That reminded me of my Student Teaching Days. I was pretty much on my own for the semester and the kids didn't want me to leave. I had a couple of characters that were always late for class. On my last day, they came in about a half hour late. I hauled them in the office to give them a proper ass chewing. They listened and then sheepishly handed me a brown paper bag with a fifth of Gin in it. Their story was that they stood outside the liquor store for an hour before they found someone to buy it for them. Seems like no one would believe that they wanted it as a gift for their teacher. I don't really like Gin!
The Jalopy Journal
