VERMILLION, Alta. – Forget about Alice Cooper screaming that school’s out for summer.
A new program at Lakeland College in Alberta makes me wish I could enroll.
The Street Rod Technologies course is the brainchild of instructor Stuart Ribey.
“This has been my project for the last couple of years,” Ribey says from his office on the Vermillion campus. “The college had been expanding into some niche (instructional) markets, and I thought this would be a good fit.”
Vermillion is 60 kilometres west of Lloydminster, and 192 kilometres east of Edmonton.
Ribey has dedicated his life to automotive mechanics and auto body technology, and has been restoring cars for more than 20 years.
But, in 2011, Ribey thought he’d increase his own training and attended the Street Rod and Custom Fabrication program at WyoTech in Laramie, Wyoming.
“It was primarily about sheet metal shaping,” Ribey says of the WyoTech program, “and that’s when the light bulb went off for me. I pitched a program to Lakeland that would be longer and more in depth.”
Ribey spent three months at WyoTech, yet he envisioned Lakeland students taking eight months of in depth training that would give them a good start in the street rod and restoration industry. Now, Street Rod Technologies at Lakeland is a certificate program, with students on campus full-time.
Classes first began in September 2013, and Ribey says while the students arrived “fairly green, they’ve got an intense desire for the trade and they’re quite focused.”
The program begins with a study of vehicle safety systems, including steering, brakes, electrics and suspension. Mornings are filled with theory, while afternoons include welding labs – starting with oxy/acetylene, moving to MIG and finally TIG. Instruction includes welding specialty metals, such as aluminum and chrome-moly.
“We then move to basic sheet metal shaping,” Ribey says. “With the basics, we can become a bit more advanced with forming and shaping sheet metal on the planishing hammers and English wheels.”
Next, units begin on auto body substrate preparation, including how to remove old paint. Instruction includes working with fillers and primers, leading to final painting.
Tuition, according to Ribey, is close to $20,000. (Visit www.lakelandcollege.ca — across the top, there is an A to Z index, click on the S to go to Street Rod Technologies.)
The tuition fee encompasses all materials for the entire course, including those used on personal projects.
Students are allowed to bring in a vehicle of their own – and it could be a car, truck or motorcycle.
“As long as it’s got to do with restoration or customization, we’ll work on it,” Ribey says.
Currently in the shop, one student is building a custom motorcycle. There is also a 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner that needs quarter panels and rust repair and a 1950 Chevrolet truck being modified with a new driveline – a project otherwise known as a ‘resto-mod’.
“It’ll be a modern chassis with a classic body,” Ribey explains.
There are three Ford trucks, a 1957, a 1967 and a 1974; all of them are being restored to stock condition. Although Ribey says projects might not be completed by the time the students graduate, they will have been given a tremendous head start.
“Right now the course doesn’t include anything to do with performance drivetrain, we just don’t have the time,” Ribey says. “If the course proves successful in the next couple of years we’d like to take a look at expanding it and including engine rebuilding and modification.”
The course is 870 hours long, including a few test days. Students who pass the street rod technologies course are eligible to write the autobody prepper Alberta apprenticeship exam, if that’s a direction they choose to travel.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” Ribey says of his course, which he teaches alongside instructor Matt Newman. “The students are all gung-ho, and with the work they’re doing, they’re the envy of the campus.”
Greg Williams is a member of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC). Have an auto related item to share for the column or What’s Next? Contact him at 403-287-1067 or gregwilliams@shaw.ca. Visit his website at gregwilliams.ca.
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