Classic car repair program opens path for at-risk youth
Natalia Montiel pulls on yellow work gloves and bends over a piece of notebook-size metal. The energetic teen with long black hair holds a cutting torch in one hand and places her other hand underneath. “Is this the hand that guides me?” she says, turning to Tom Forgette, her instructor in the art of classic and antique auto repair.“Steadies it,” corrects Forgette. “I’m the one that guides you.”
Forgette, an instructor of some renown in this part of central California, is nothing if not precise. Minutes earlier he instructed Natalia to wait until a feather of flame appeared, then to adjust it using the oxygen valve. Now Forgette watches as Natalia uses the torch to cut the metal, a skill she’ll need to perfect for auto body repair.
Read More Here
| 
