Shop Class in Schools - Jared Hincher's 1971 Chevy Camaro

Text by Wooley Photos by Ben Whiles Car owned by Jared Hincher Issue 44

Believe it or not, I bought this ’71 Camaro when I was 14-years-old.

When I found it, it had just gotten a fresh new coat of paint (as seen now). It was a looong way from drivable… but it was the best I could afford. I took ‘auto shop class’ all through high school, and they let me bring the car in & work on it. Routinely, I would come in for night classes after school – just dreaming of the day it would run. A learned a lot in that garage – about mechanics, and about commitment.

Early senior year… VA-VROOM!! Old girl finally came to life. It was vindication time! And all the nay-sayers could eat dust. Haha. Me & my buddies (all of whom drove imports) burned past the school buses one day after school raisin’ hell. One of the bus drivers called the principal & ratted us out… and we spent the last part of senior year in detention. Worth it? Absolutely!

-Jared Hincher

It makes you kinda wonder. What are we doing to our future generations… when we take shop classes out of schools? What’s filling this void? More classroom time? More things to memorize & recite? C’mon.

We don’t necessarily need more information in 21st century life. That’s the one thing that we have at our fingertips. What we NEED to do, is pair it with more real life experience – what we’re lacking. As a people, we need to get more perspective from our schooling. Get our hands dirty a little bit. Learn who we are. And prepare ourselves to succeed.

For some kids… SMART kids… a shop class can truly end up being a lot more than just another ‘class’. It can be an outlet. It can engage kids that ARE NOT engaged by freaking common core, or any of this PC safe-space, dumbed-down nonsense. Intelligent minds often get bored & ADD’d in hands-off, (let’s be honest) purposeless classes. And our schooling has become ineffective in a lot of ways. They are not supporting, celebrating, & engaging the various ways that different people learn. Instead they’ve become… conformist. That’s not what America’s about, and it needs to be checked & rethought. Is this what we want for ourselves, our kids, and our future?

I’m sure shop classes were removed from schools because they were ‘dangerous’. Someone somewhere cut a finger off because they were looking at Becky’s butt instead of the chop saw. But the real danger is not a shop class, it’s boredom & lack of stimulation. Boredom turns into trouble. It can turn into drugs, theft, gangs, vandalism, etc. Or worst of all – gaming, vaping, and sneaker collecting. heh just kidding I guess. But seriously, if shop classes could give kids an outlet, and inspire/save a couple lives… what are we doing?!

Let the youth channel their energy in a positive way. Let them develop skills that could actually earn them a career… in a field other than ‘crunching numbers and selling debt’.

Wake up & pay attention. When we keep our youth in a blanket NOW… we set us ALL up for danger & failure LATER. Kids today are full of information, without capability. They can tell you HOW to change a tire… but they can’t DO it. Hell – they’d just as soon not even have to drive anymore. If it takes any more than ‘finger muscles’… they’re out. Idleness, laziness, and self-entitlement is at an all time high. And we criticize this generation for how they’re turning out. But WE’RE the ones who made this bed for them.

And if we don’t come together, cut the shit, and start making changes at the youth-level… then we’re all going to watch this negatively affect the entire world as we get older. And we’re gonna realize our mistakes too late, as we watch America forget how to create & inspire.

ENGINE

Original 350 small block

Edelbrock performer intake

Edelbrock 650cfm carb

Edelbrock valve covers

HEI distributor

BeCool dual core big-block aluminum radiator with dual Spal electric fans

Hooker longtube headers

Flowmaster super 10 mufflers

700r4 transmission

4.10 rear gear ratio

Huges Performance 1800 stall torque converter

B&M shift kit

Has a pretty good size cam in it, but I have no idea what size it actually is, cause I didn’t install it lol. When i put the engine in time, it was chopping pretty good haha.

Eventually I’d like to swap in a carbureted LSX 454 with a T56 or some sort of manual trans behind it. I’d like to cage it also ,but those will be later on down the road.