The Piston Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public charity that funds skilled trade education and provides tech-school scholarships to students who are taking their first steps and vehicle restoration apprenticeships to technicians who are ready to build a career.

The Piston Foundation is excited to announce the first ever group of Piston Fund Scholars. This is a great milestone for the Foundation as well as for the 10 young recipients who have impressed us with their dedication, passion, and drive for the skilled trades.

The 10 inaugural awardees come from across the U.S. and were selected on the basis of their demonstrated interests in a skilled trade career in collector car restoration and their related experiences, as communicated through their applications, personal statements, and video essays. 

Their academic records, letters of recommendation, and financial needs also contributed to the selection. Each awardee will receive up to $5,000 for an academic year. Awards are for undergraduate study only and each awardee may receive a scholarship up to two times.

The Piston Foundation was formed in 2021 by entrepreneur Robert P. Minnick who had heard the stories from fellow car enthusiasts: there were simply not enough accessible means for today’s generation to become restoration mechanics and the collector car industry was hurting as a result. 

Forming the Piston Foundation meant a commitment to solving this problem and, alongside a group of talented volunteers, Robert set out to do just that. 

Next year's goal is to provide scholarships to 50 students so they can further their skilled trade education.

https://pistonfoundation.org/blog/piston-fund-scholarship-recipients-2022/

one of the sponsors of the foundation, is Magneto magazine, launched in February 2018 at Rétromobile  and it has won multiple awards in the UK and US, from the PPA, SPD, Guild of Motoring Writers and Newspress.   https://www.magnetomagazine.com/articles/