Thank you Iain for your comments, video and support. Heritage Skills Academy had one employer and 8 mechanical apprentices in 2016. We now have 130 mechanical and 50 Coachbuilding apprentices and 150 specialist classic vehicle employers across the UK. It is a pleasure for the HSA Team to work with every one of them, we combine old skills and knowledge with cutting edge technology and produce outstanding problem solving engineers. I have no doubt that they will go on to be future leaders of this varied and fascinating industry.
As a kid I always wanted to be a mechanic, but a teacher once told me, so wrongly now I look back, that I “could do better”. Well now I work a job I hate & only wish I had stuck to my childhood goal. It’s so important to do something you love, not what you think is expected of you.
It’s so reassuring to see these young people getting a proper education. When “Harry’s Garage” was restoring his Lancia, a lot of concern was went into the fact, that there just wasn’t any bodyparts to be had, so they pulled out a very much mature gentleman who singlehanded created the bodyparts needed. Which was basically all of them. Painstaintly accurate and top notch in every sense. There’s a new breed af talents out there. 😊👌
The guy who did Harrys Lancia panels should be contacted by Heritage academy, his metalworking skills were absolutely brilliant, would be lovely if he were to pass on those skills to future generations
Well done, Iain!... Amazing Grace! Awesome to see the heritage skills being nurtured and bought back to a younger generation to ensure a future of the key skills. It's rewarding and a very well-paid career choice. Everyone, if you liked this, please spread the word and share this video please!
As someone who has worked as a mechanical engineer in Ireland for the last 38 years, I applaud what you're doing here. Apprenticeships in particular are key and I endeavour to employ them whenever feasible. I also had the privilege of sitting in the cockpit of a retired Concord many years ago in New York at the USS Intrepid exhibit. It and the Saturn 5 rocket were the pinnacle of 1960s engineering.
@@importanttingwei7747 I can only speak for the business I'm part of; our apprentices are treated fairly. Sure they're paid less than those fully qualified, as pay in our business is strictly performance related. We have engineers who were apprentices themselves decades ago, and who completed further education while working, which together with their vast experience, loyalty and commitment, now means they are highly paid (high five figures/ low six figures total package in Euro). Those same senior engineers devote quite a lot of their time to providing on the job training to the apprentices; passing on their skills is something they generally enjoy, and it's often done outside of normal working hours. The potential for unfair treatment or exploitation of apprentices is significantly mitigated in our environment. As well as having most of the rights and privileges as full time employees, their work experience is very closely monitored and assessed by their course training college. Detailed weekly logs of what went well/not so well in their work experience are submitted to the college, and the college has a named person responsible for reviewing any work related issues.
@Importanttingwei all newer apprentices get a bit of stick generally. You hold your own and it builds your character, then you prove yourself and win people over. It isn't for everyone. The newer apprentices tend not to have the same work ethic or impetus as previous generations, they seem to be more concerned with their phones and social media and far too quick to give up. Not to mention society now everyone generally wants instant gratification and don't want to work their way up it would seem. It's a shame really the country is crying out for apprentices in basically every field
Wish this had been around when I started mechanics, i went to nearly every garage in my area looking for an apprenticeship and turned away for being to old (21). Eventually got my break at a hgv garage, not the classics I wanted to work on and a very different trade. I bought my own classic and am now restoring it, you get there on your own way. Excellent to see the industry finally noticing the shortage of skills.
What an achievement, Iain. Seeing Grace and her colleagues gives me hope and inspiration that the "old school" methods are not abandoned. They are the building blocks of what we have today - the basics. And they deserve to be relevant.
Don't crash that Concorde, Iain! They're even pricier than Lamborghinis! I love the showcasing of up-and-coming talent in the classic car restoration industry. I don't see it so much as as learning a skill as enhancing a gift or pursuing a calling. As Iain's restoration videos reveal, many of these people are true geniuses.
Served my Apprenticeship at British Aircraft Corporation. BAC at Weybridge Brooklands, as a Welder between 1974 to 78. First projects I worked on was spares for the Vanguards then BAC 1-11s, and VC10, but mainly on Concorde.Left Weybridge in 1979 to work at Roll- Royce in Bristol mainly working on the Pegasus for the Harrier. Still working ( just ) on Airbus wing parts. Has been a good interesting career and I have never had a day of unemployed in 48 year's of working life
This first thing I thought of one when I saw this video was the amazing chap who did the bodywork on Harry’s lancia. And Iain covered those skills first!
Funny, I came here because of Harry''s Garage which I enjoyed so much. I now find Ian's channel so much more interesting. All these new supercars are getting a tad bit boring now, they all look, sound and drive similar and if you're in the London area, they are everywhere now. anyone with a deposit to put down and a few grand a month can buy a supercar and manage to insurance it. I so much more enjoy these videos dedicated to classic car cars with so much more character and these videos demonstrating the engineering behind them. Thanks so much Ian & team.
This brought back fond memories; I was an apprentice back in 1980 and spent the 1st year doing all facets of engineering from fabrication, welding, machining and electrics . These skills have stood me in good stead in later life maintaining old cars initially as a student and also knowing when somebody was trying to take the pi55 ; most recently a Ferrari main dealer quoting £980 to change 8 spark plugs and £240 for a windscreen wiper, never mind £120 to charge a battery 🤨. Sadly, not all in the car profession are as honest as Tyrell’s . So nice to see a younger generation finally acknowledge that “not everyone needs a degree” to have a career 👍
I remember as a teenage boy in mid 70s being fascinated by Concorde and also the Vulcan. Being a scout, earnt my mechanic badge with a fellow scout restoring a Triumph Spitfire , driving my mother mad coming home covered in dust/oil etc. The car was sold to pay for the construction start of a new scout building, which still is in use today. I'm a great believer in apprenticeships, skills learnt and earnt, positively going towards the future technology. Great vid.
The world has been on such a high for so long we seem to have forgotten where we are going next, the reason we cant afford the basics atm maybe, i will never forget my YTS training, i hope England dosnt forget what made us so proud and successfully.
The art of fabrication, ie...how to "make" something is a key skill needed if we are to retain our classic cars in the age of disposable electronic modules and video screens. How to repair and remanufacture such exotic parts such as suspension components, gearboxes etc is something we can not afford to let perish.
Very commendable. Grace demonstrates real passion and she clearly knows what she's talking about, at the same time she's humble enough to admit that there still much to learn. Like these youngsters, I left school at 15 and with no qualifications. I too went to college and learnt the basics and these skills have remained with me right up to today at nearly 70 despite moving out of the industry after 6 year. Now retired from my commercial life I have rebuilt several motorbikes in my well equipped workshop. It's almost like a full circle.
I reckon you can definitely draw a direct link to youngsters working with their hands on more simple things such as the English wheel, and these great engineering achievements that really push the edge of the envelope, such as the Concorde. Which by the way, as a joint development between UK & France is a real testament to what can be achieved when countries combine their resources to work together in a way that advances humanity. In a documentary they showed all the work that went into fixing the metal fatigue/creep issue - mind boggling stuff, all analogue human intellect. It was the sort of project that makes an entire generation of people actually want to study engineering and should result in benefits filtering down through to other things. That’s why these sort of big keystone projects are so important for society at large, it leads to widespread advances beyond the initial. Terrible the loss of life, but only one major incident in 27 years and it wasn’t even due to a defect in the design. Who would have known to mitigate the risk of other planes dropping pieces of metal onto the runway, Concorde really was a masterpiece.
Fantastic to see young people engaged in learning old manufacturing techniques. Not to nit-pick, but it is known as a wheeling machine, the term English wheel is an American term reflecting the origin of this machine. The remarkable thing about panel beating is the simple tools used to produce works of art, Geoff Moss of RPM motorsports in Cornwall probably one of the finest wheelers in the world produces perfect panels using his wheeling machine, a sandbag and a tree stump. The last two mentioned are skill sets that go back tens of centuries from the days of producing armour yet are still relevant today.
It's great seeing people being enthusiastic about improving their skills and knowledge. I'm working in the steel industry for over 17 years now, learned mechatronics and work as an electrician maintaining all sorts of systems at the steel mill and now blast furnace. And over the years apprentices have become rare in numbers and sometimes very dodgy in terms of their commitment - I guess classic cars spark a lot more passion than general mechanic and electronic systems detached from a hobby you can enjoy in the free time ;-)
At a Ferrari holiday event this past weekend, I met up with a master restorer friend of a certain age who sadly stated he was closing the big shop. Opening a smaller one behind his house only because he can't find the new apprentices to carry on the resto + mod business he has excelled at over the decades. Projects like Jay Leno's Cunningham, and a '56 Corvette restomod that was THE first modded ever to be displayed prominently 6mo. at the Bowling Green National Corvette Museum. Looking forward to sharing this vid with Keith Irwin. Kudos to our generation for carrying the torch, and especially to these youngsters who will preserve a remarkable legacy! Cheers, Iain.
Just wonderful to know that there are young people who want to do creative hands-on work, and keep real craftsmanship alive. This is where art and craft merge.
Being a young classic car enthusiast and a fresher of fall 2023 for Bachelor's of Automobile Restoration at McPherson College, i think this place can provide people the opportunity of learning various skill sets to specialize in restoration of classic cars.
This is something I've been I've been talking about for years. Encouraging not just young people but anyone who is interested in learning the "old skills" . As a point of interest, I immediately spotted the Ranalah English Wheel. These are now being remanufactured by Dominic Chinea of the Repair Shop TV series. He discovered a very old original, in a garden in the South East of England. The wheels were in a sad state but they have been used as patterns, digitally scanned & are now also being manufactured. If my memory serves me correctly, these English Wheel machines go back to the late 1930's and were used to fabricate panels for aircraft of the second World War. The company seems to have closed its doors after the war. Perhaps the HSA would be interested in contacting Dom' for more information. He has a RU-vid channel with contact details. Thanks for sharing the visit to Brooklands Iain, it's been a pleasure to see young people learning the old skills. I'm off to put my archaic feet up👍👍
Great to see this. Ex SAAB Master Technician here. I did my apprenticeship at Saab and still work with them now 35 years later, so was cool to see a 900i in the training center !.
Refreshing indeed! Great to see a new apprentice program and more pleasing a group of young people choosing this vocation. Too many vocational schools have closed because the youth of today don't want to get their hands dirty and funding has died. I'm a product of 1970 Mercedes-Benz apprenticeship, and my training never ended right to the end of my career attending one to two model year introduction update training sessions for my nearly 50 years servicing M-B, Rolls Royce, Delorean, SAAB, Jensen, and BMW motorcycles. Congratulations young technicians👍👍✌️ CD in New Hampshire ✌️🇺🇲
Absolutely outstanding I am so enthused to see this going on. So often in my industry we see corporations just abandon dated skill set’s instead of up skilling people to the new standards by investing in the single true value of their business. ‘The people’ Then cry out to government saying we can’t get the staff can they import them and ditch the skills and people, leaving them on the crap heap of life, when in truth the very best engineers come from those who have the holistic knowledge of the past combined with the new. Treating people as a commodity is today at an epidemic level of destruction and undermines things like trust, locality and is not surprising why people only care about how much they earn and nothing else.
One wonders if this should be regulation for kids who cannot find employment but who are intelligent enough or want to learn. Computers have taken over the world as, when selling computers and parts many years ago, I predicted. But I also said that there would be jobs that no computer could ever do. Thanks Iain for superbly making just that point. There will always be employment for age old skills which need the human touch. Thanks for this video Iain....just what British Industry and Heritage requires. Cheers, Bob
"mature" at mid-30's 😅 I know how you feel! What a brilliant video, bang on with the theme. So glad to see that the traditional skills are being maintained. Well done Ian!
I started as was Saturday lad at a Suzuki dealers in the late '70's, and then to an apprenticeship. I followed with a degree in electronic engineering and a lifetime passion for classic vehicles. So few teenagers appear to have a passion for the practical skills needed to ensure the future of British engineering. It's good to see the apprentices learning about metal forming and finishing, such a rare skill these days.
Fantastic Iain and that comes from a then young Engineer in BAe at a time lucky enough to meet and work with some of the original Concorde Engineers albeit when it was already 17 yrs old and attended the 20 yr celebration in France as well. A project unlikely to be repeated. Great to see those youngsters being trained in fundamental skills.
Great comments Iain from the flight deck of Concorde, how could those achievements not inspire the youngsters. The country can’t afford to loose these skills 👍👍👍👍
In industry today, it seems that the employers are reluctant to take on apprentices. The employers seem to hold the view of the apprentice as "What if I (spend time and money to) train them, and then they leave?" The response to this is "What if you don't train them, and they stay?" That is to say "How many jobs/ processes will they ruin through lack of training?" Once the apprentice has reached an industry standard of training - hopefully with City and Guilds/NVQ etc. the newly qualified individual becomes a "journeyman". However, this is just the beginning. The real training experience begins in the chosen trade and is life long learning. Real tradespeople are developing their skills all their working life and "keep walking towards the light".
Thank you for making this video which highlights that there are foundations such as Brooklands leading the way in encouraging the youngsters to learn these otherwise to become forgotten skills.
This is great and reassuring! Also compliments for Grace, she really knows where she is talking about! Thank you Iain, this is crucial for bringing the skills to the future!
Nice to see the "younger" generation, getting to grips with the techniques, that are ALWAYS beneficial. With the RAPID change to the Reusable Energy sector, I can see the need for the highly advanced Electrical Engineers being needed, (Wind and Solar Power), to drive the revolution forward. I see there is a lot of interest in converting/simplifying mechanical systems, into electrical systems, which can be more powerful, and cleaner at the same time. Let us hope that the world, will get simpler than the dash-board facing you, as you ended the Video. Thanks, Stuart
Great to see the skills of a time when the work was done by people power are being passed on to a new generation. Full marks to those younger folk who have enough interest, enthusiasm, natural ability and energy to work with their hands.
So, what happened? Careers in engineering became ever less interesting in the UK, property/finance speculation is the name of the game. Sad, so much unused talent - and Britain now is where it is as a result . Having just watched the video, it is inspiring to see young people interested in this kind of work, hope their careers develop. Thanks Ian for this!
I am so inspired by Grace's views and comments, this young lady should be a leader in our industry, well spoken, very well knowledgeable and in processes, good on you, i hope to see you make it big time in the future
This was a really, really heartening video with a sense that eminently worthwhile skills, all the more noteworthy for being hard to master, are being passed down. Slightly uncharitably, I always assumed that they were being lost and that young people were wholly uninterested. I know now that isn't true.
Great video Iain ! I work for City & Guilds who have a long history of being involved in Automotive and Engineering Apprenticeship Training and Assessment. Its great to see you celebrating and promoting all things around skills, learning and Apprenticeships. This will certainly help the Heritage Engineering Sector as the numbers coming forward from employers for this type of Apprenticeship are still quite low, compared to Vehicle Technician Apprenticeships and Damage Repair Paint, Panel and MET Technicians. Keep up the good work
Firstly , great video !! 👍( as is the norm from Tyrrells Classic Workshop ) . Secondly , isn't it great to see the enthusiasm and interest from the students + mentors in the video . A credit to all involved in the Heritage Skills Academy at Brooklands Museum 👍
That is comforting to see so many people embarking on careers in classics. As someone who completed a multi-skilled apprenticeship 30-odd years ago I know how those skills have helped me throughout life, not just in the workplace.
My introduction to the "English-wheel" went like, "this is the English wheel, it is very good for two things, removing thumb nails and shaping metal, we only use it to shape metal, use it for anything else at your own peril"
It’s encouraging to know that this type of quality training is available. What a brilliant set up . Those young people are very fortunate to have such dedicated and enthusiastic mentors. I did an apprenticeship in the aviation industry over 30 years ago now and it’s stood by me very well indeed. I firmly believe in hands on , vocational training . I wish more young people were encouraged to go down this route.
Can't agree more with others. Apprenticeships are a vital career path and have been in decline for 30 years. This is why channels like yours Ian are key to getting young people interested in Engineering and Science and seeing that there really are no barriers to getting started. that's what I wanted to say when I met you on Saturday in Llangollen, only my wife said I was waffling too much. Sorry if I disturbed you.
What a wonderful insight. I wasn't expecting this Ian, thank you. I am a (ahem) more senior also, just on a journey of discovery myself and learning how to renovate a modern classic car over the last four years. I shall certainly being looking at some of their courses myself. Love the aviation link too. Concorde, built using slide rules and gents with pencils! If you want an eye opener for another TCW, have a trip to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight hanger up here in Lincolnshire. Those boys take restoration to another level...
As a car collector, this is something that makes me really proud and brings me comfort that, despite all of the propaganda against cars, the motor culture is still thriving that will go on for the foreseable future.
Keep in mind that the youth of today do not have the Cortinas and Morris 1000s that we had at their age. We had it easy, driving our first cars during the week and spanering them at the weekend. So these courses are vital if we want our heritage cars kept on the road. Good stuff Ian.
Brooklands is well worth a visit or two, there is always something going on. I was just discussing this question just the other day with a mate, so good to know the younger generation is taking an interest in the old skills.
Nice job Iain. Working with our hands is great fun. I've spent a career designing business database systems, and that can be fun too when you're going head to head with another company, but it does mean staring at screens for a lot of your time. Working with our hands is the door way to being an artisan, and you're clearly embracing the role of patron, which is great.
Great video. Its great to see a well run apprenticeship scheme, industry went through a decline in apprenticeships in the recent past and now has certainly realised there will be a massive skills shortage if it carried on like that. As an aircraft engineer i can can really appreciate the skills those apprentices are learning.
I joined the oil industry in 1974 as a graduate trainee. I was one of the last that BP took on - not my fault lol. We asked who would be doing our engineering when we were about to retire, the answer was we would still be doing it probably. At 71 and retired I still get job offers with crazy money because there are so few of us that had the chance of education and experience needed for the work. I did maintenance and reliability; it was a fascinating world. Wonderful to see these young folk loving what they are doing. In the oil industry as an engineer and later senior manager I would always be happy to hire car mechanics to work on the massive oil industry equipment. If you can fix a car which is actually a very complex item, you can fix almost anything. I totally blame the demise of industry and especially of training on the rise of the MBA. Academics with zero industrial experience should not be teaching management to people who have no compassion for people or real interest in the products and too often no knowledge about the engineering. Worse still, the MBA people I have met are amongst the most supercilious and toxic to deal with.
Me too Ellis! City & Guilds are still gong strong and are involved in thousands of Motor Vehicle Apprenticeships around the UK and Internationally as the Assessment Organisation and Qualifications Provider
It is very important to train younger people to take over when the older people are No longer around, so vintage cars trains aeroplanes etc can still be around and kept running!!!!
Thank you, this brings back memories or nearly 50 years ago entering the Ford Engineering Apprenticeship system at Harold Hill, 2 years basic training combined with lock release at colleague as in your video then a lucky placement in product development good to see this has restarted
The anti-union movement in the United States from the early ‘80’s through 2020 almost destroyed the apprenticeship programs for plumbers, welders, electricians, mechanics, etc. Hopefully that is changing. The work you just showcased is critical to the historical facilities throughout the world. Thank you for showing us all is not lost.
That was great fun to see all the new young guys, coming into your industry! It was lovely to see your passion too! Our family firm ceased in 1983! It had a wonderful old guillotine, which my grandfather brought back in 1948! It was second hand then, it used to be powered by a long learner belt? For years I used to wonder why did it have that belt! Then I realised it had to have been steam driven! It worked faultlessly in our firm! Sadly I could not get it into a museum! So it got broken up! It used to sound like a London Underground train arrive at the station! I tell you that as I loved seeing the rolling machines that create curves in metal and felt that had to be a similar age to this wonderful guillotine we once had! That was delightful and once again thank you! P.S I hope you enjoyed your flight too 😉
A most wonderful initiative. It is quite pleasing to see that these vocational skills, or rather heritage crafts amongst generations are being passed on. You’d almost forget that in an age of touchscreens and a society embedded in elaborate electronic high-tech, advanced science, the brains shown here are being very much required indeed, and understanding the very basics of these crafts of course does scale into a wide range of vehicle production from classic up to modern. Excellent.
Iain would make a wonderful Headmaster for Heritage Skills Academy. More so than his piloting skills, as he failed to announce "Clear Prop" prior to departure. 😉
Iain . I was the last apprentice panelbeater that South Devon Garages took on in 1970 and even that was curtailed from 5 to 3 years . I was extrememly lucky to have Alan Davies as my mentor and it's thanks to his skills that l too became the respected car restorer /panelbeater and painter that l am today ( albeit even older than you , you young whipper snapper ! 🤣 ) It is very unfortunate and short sighted that over the years bodyshops are not given the courtesy to afford the luxury of giving apprentices the proper training . When a shelf stocker at a supermarket can earn more than a skilled panelbeater or painter that is a poor reflection on successsive governments and it must be said,the insurance companies who share the responsibility to ignore the pre emptive collapse of the repair industry . I pride myself that the apprentices l trained became skilled and respected in their skills . I sacrificed the potential "bonus" they could have earnt me by spending time training them properly . The young James from North Devon ? I was slightly baffled to hear him say there was no proper training in his area . One of the leading specialists in building alloy bodyshells (ie AC Cobra's) resides in Barnstaple. I think Concorde was the worlds first "fly by wire " civil aircraft and unlike the Tupolev 144 could cruise without reheat which bizarrely , is used for test flights in the USA ! As always many thanks lain .
Brooklands is a fantastic place, well worth a visit for anyone with a passion for cars or aircraft. The Tu-144 is an interesting engineering case study. The team had access to a great deal of Concorde drawings and information from agents placed in the project in both France and UK. But they often didn't know why various aspects were designed the way they were or the effect of changing things to meet their own needs. Consequently their airframe was nowhere near as efficient and there were major problems with maintaining trim both through the transonic phase and as CofG changed with fuel burn. Hence the canards that appeared on the forward fuselage, although these were more a sticking plaster than a cure. It's main problem as an SST airliner though was that the Soviet engine intake design didn't allow the 144 to 'supercruise', that is to fly supersonic in dry power. Running continuously in afterburner both significantly reduced range and made the aircraft incredibly noisy, not helped by the engines being directly under the fuselage. Apparently, whereas Concorde was serene, the Tu-144 cabin environment was dire!
Really good to see this - many thanks for sharing this video Iain and good luck to all those going through their training. Perhaps a good place to spot potential employees for the workshop!
Absolutely brilliant to see that this is happening, and that the huge expertise and experience is being passed on . Well done to everybody involved in making it happen
This is Wonderful, I was lucky enough to go to a High School that had full Technical workshops, sheet metal, lath work, welding, wood working, technical drawing, etc. Wonderful grounding, that sticks to you for life. Unfortunately now all gone here in Australia.
My father was an engineering lecturer, having worked his way up from jobbing electrician via the RAF and Handley-Page. He would have loved this. I am an engineer. I love this. My son? Engineer (REME officer). He will love this. It’s awesome, and I can’t believe I didn’t know about it!
I'm a computer professional yet it's nice to see there's still a demand for hands-on industrial craftspeople. Also, it was fun to see Iain fly in the computerized Concord simulator. ;)
