Above 1200 Sq/FT Restored 1930's Auto Shop

[Brian R]

"Do you guys have ANY idea how much I enjoy our group here? ANY idea at all??"


Yes we do in the effort and enthusiam you put in each post and picture. The pleasure is ours - great work and thanks for letting us tag along.
Regards,
Brian

 

[charlief1]

Looks like we're going to have to wait till #5000. Guess Thomas has a lot more powder coating to do in the mean time.

I was typing a response and my best guess is that Hobbitss was typing at the same time. Wasn't my intention to take the honor away from Thomas at all. It just happened that way.

Hopefully he can ge the 5K post when it comes up though.

 

[BB767]

Chis,
With your early visits with the LCOC did you ever encounter a Hans Norberg from Tulsa? He was a good friend who passed too soon. His passion, besides automatic transmission Corvettes was the Lincoln 4-door convertibles. He once dragged me to a LCOC Regional in the northern suburbs of Chicago -- I am guessing here in the 1990 time range. I remember visiting a Ford/Lincoln collection in the Western suburbs that was awesome. Good times with him back then.
TErry

Hello Terry and thanks for the note,

I was at that LCOC meet in Chicago with my '66...

... as seen here. This was the lake next to the show field, quite a beautiful setting don't you agree? At that show we had a '66 four door convertible, a '66 four door sedan and my '66 coupe all displayed together and interestingly enough they were all the same color, paint code X, Maroon Metallic. It made for an eye catching display. Chris and I went on that same collector car tour as well. Very nondescript building from the street and millions of dollars of pristine, vintage classics inside, some of which were displayed at Pebble Beach at various times over the years. Who knows, we might have even sat right next to you on the bus?

I knew Hans very well for many years.

I assisted with his LCOC Authenticity Manual using my 1966 Lincoln coupe as a reference for many of specialty items that pertained to those cars. There are many special car folks, but Hans was unique unto himself. The Lincoln world lost not only a wonderful resource and a lovely, dear man. He is still missed.

Thomas

 

[BB767]

Had to stop and take a break to let you know this is the best read I have found on the internet ever. I'm two days in and 6 hours deep, made it to page 48. This is like every "guys" dream to purchase a piece of history like this and go through it like you have (I'm sure it's quite a ways a long since I'm only on p48 with no plans of skipping ahead) Time for me to get back to where I was, see you here soon... maybe in week.

(If Bob275 really doesn't skip ahead I'll have this reply waiting for him when he gets here.)

Hello Bob275 and welcome to our growing family here. I hope you enjoyed the read and aren't kicking yourself for spending so much time on just a single thread. Just be glad I posted pictures instead of trying to describe everything since each picture is worth a 1,000 words. Those pictures saved you hours and hours and hours of reading. As you might have guessed by now, there is more to this story, so for now, you're just at "A Temporary Pause" -ATP- with more on the way if your eyes can stand it! You should ready for the test, right?

BTW, what took you so long?

Again, welcome to the vortex and remember; resistance is futile

Thomas

 

[BB767]

Thomas,

Congratulations on GUS!! He should look right at home in the Center of the Universe.

Enquiring Minds want to know: What will Santa bring Miss Chris?

Now Sweet Old Bill, that would spoil it for her don't you think? For sure it won't be a lump of coal because she has been a good girl, even if she keeps putting off finishing up the test. However, I'm very certain I heard her mention something about her very own landing strip. Pretty sure about that or was it a Jeepster, I get the two confused all the time. Being the loving husband that I am, I wouldn't want to disappoint her now would I?

Thomas

 

[BigAl62]

I didn't really want to go off on a tangent about the '62 right now, but that's why I didn't get an epic #4000 post on here......I was busy, honest.


Thomas

If any one has the right to go off on a tangent here it's you Tom. I have learned a lot from this thread and I hope to learn more in the future! Keep the information coming!

 

[R1chy]

I was typing a response and my best guess is that Hobbitss was typing at the same time. Wasn't my intention to take the honor away from Thomas at all. It just happened that way.

Hopefully he can get the 5K post when it comes up though.

I'm sure Thomas would agree, no harm done. We're all just a bunch of guys (and gals) virtually standing around in Thomas' garage swapping stories and poking fun at each other.

Thomas' 5k post will come up soon enough, which will give him plenty of time to work on that epic story.

R1chy

 

[Terry454]

Hello Terry and thanks for the note,

I was at that LCOC meet in Chicago with my '66...

... as seen here. This was the lake next to the show field, quite a beautiful setting don't you agree? At that show we had a '66 four door convertible, a '66 four door sedan and my '66 coupe all displayed together and interestingly enough they were all the same color, paint code X, Maroon Metallic. It made for an eye catching display. Chris and I went on that same collector car tour as well. Very nondescript building from the street and millions of dollars of pristine, vintage classics inside, some of which were displayed at Pebble Beach at various times over the years. Who knows, we might have even sat right next to you on the bus?

I knew Hans very well for many years.

I assisted with his LCOC Authenticity Manual using my 1966 Lincoln coupe as a reference for many of specialty items that pertained to those cars. There are many special car folks, but Hans was unique unto himself. The Lincoln world lost not only a wonderful resource and a lovely, dear man. He is still missed.

Thomas

Yes Thomas that meet was at a lovely setting. Were it not for the urging of Hans I never would have known about it, and he was so kind to ****** me around and explain to me what I was looking at. But that was his way.

Edit add: You do know that what he used as his middle name (Peter) was actually his given name? Only his family and very best friends called him Peter.

Hans is sorely missed in Corvette circles as well. I still occasionally see his wing man John Bernardine. What I find remarkable is that it seems there are far less than six degrees of separation in old car (and sometimes not so old car) circles. It is indeed a small world.

Thank you and Chris so much for sharing your lives with us. We are honored by you both.

 

[markviii]

No, we are honored by all of you. Thanks for tagging along on our journey. It just gets better every day!

Chris

 

[bggrnchvy]

Well heck, that only took...the better part of a week of spare time (and not spare time ).

Thank you for sharing your progress and documenting all you've done to the property and saving so much history. I must say I thoroughly enjoyed the e-journey and will continue too.

 

[BB767]

Flash back to April 2010... Were the C-Clamps saved???

Tools!!!!

Joe, the clamps all were saved, the whole box of them, plus...

...this husky, beefy one which of course...

...was properly powder coated. I used a pencil sharpener for scale, but forgot to measure the clamp. It's really bigger than it looks here and is the thickest, heaviest duty one I've seen of this size. It's got a sense of old all about it. No manufacturers markings of any sort on it. Lost to history I guess.

Then there was this really interesting...

...little 3" Quikcet clamp on vice made by the Grand Vice Tool Co. At present I can't find any information about them either.

To be continued...

Thomas

 

[Brian R]

We are now taking a poll to see who can figure out what percentage of Illinois GDP Tom's powder coating projects accounts for.

Keep up the good work.

 

[BB767]

We are now taking a poll to see who can figure out what percentage of Illinois GDP Tom's powder coating projects accounts for.

Keep up the good work.

OK since you brought it up, it just so happens that today I was at my sometimes home away from home, R&B Powder Coating. The front rims on my John Deere were rusting on the outer portion...

...which I wanted to fix. Let's face it, we just can't have rusting rims now can we? I especially wanted to fix it before I install the snow blower this season, so today was the day. There was far more rust back under the paint than I had realized so I'm glad I didn't put it off any longer. The rust was all removed, any pits in the metal were polished out, a couple of small dents removed and then it was off to the powder coaters. I think I've mentioned before that they have an oven big enough to drive a bus in, well take a look.

That's Rick one of the proprietors (R & B) standing in front of their oven to give you a sense of scale. It measures 8.5' (2.5m) X 9.5' (2.9m) X 30' (9.1m) long. It's a beautiful oven!

They can do lots of large ungainly items, even...

...John Deere rims and wheel weights. With this project Brian are you now going to have to redo that poll?

Thomas

 

[caspian65]

I've been on GJ for a few years and just now came across this thread. I am only up to page 40 or so, but had to compliment Thomas on an amazing job restoring the shop and property. The thought of tackling such a job would send me to a corner, crouched down in fetal position!

The main reason, though, that I felt compelled to respond to this thread is due to an uncanny resemblance of the original shop to one that I frequently visited in Raleigh, NC starting around 1990. At the time, I was a poor college student with a '78 MGB roadster as a daily driver. The shop in Raleigh was called European Auto Service and was located less than a mile from the Capital building in downtown. Don Hall was the shop owner, an old Navy guy, and had started the business in 1962 after working as a mechanic at the local Volkswagen dealership. When I first came to know about the shop, it was of course due to a mechanical failure with my car. Don took me in and helped with my car and taught me quite a bit about British automobiles, but more importantly, he became somewhat of a mentor to me. At the time, I didn't really think of him that way, but looking back, I recall his generosity and kindness towards me and most of all, observing how he treated other people with respect and kindness.

Don's shop could have been a sister shop to the one in this thread. There were benches with tools and parts stacked everywhere, racks of parts, a lift in the floor (his had arms instead of ramps though), equipment everywhere, stacks of motors. In the back of the shop was a 1928 International truck that Don had worked on for the past 20 years. Of course, his interest waned and he had a hard time locating original spoke wheels for it. There was a mountain of things piled on top of it. Then, there was the obligatory soft drink machine, although his was a Coca-Cola machine. Think he had it set at .25c for a drink. I still remember the old rotary telephone that Don still used. Have lots of memories from the shop as Don eventually gave me a key and let me use it whenever I wanted to.

Don and I became good friends, he was much older than I was at the time, maybe in his 50's and I was barely 20. We ended up restoring a '67 MGB convertible together, which he let me drive whenever I wanted to. Unfortunately, the shop had to be closed sometime in the early 2000's, due to a change in a nearby bridge height. The bridge reconfiguration basically would have left his shop with no access to the front entry. The city bought him out and moved all the contents of the shop to an old fire station he owned way out in the country, about 2 hours west. They even dug up the old lift and reinstalled it. Don passed away a couple years ago and when I went to his wake, I went to the fire station and looked through the windows and saw all the old shop equipment. Sadly, there were boxes everywhere that had never been unpacked. I guess it was never the same for him when they moved everything. The town there was really small, so I'm guessing he never even attempted to open a shop. He was getting up in age anyway, so I guess it's for the best.

Just had to respond to the thread as it brought back many memories for me from my days at Don's old shop. I definitely know what you mean about the shop smells, I can still remember them vividly. I remember the sounds too, the old compressor kicking on, the telephone ringing, the street traffic going by. Some good times there. I have some pictures of the shop before they started moving anything, will see if I can find them and share with everyone.

 

[klaus]

Cool story Caspian. Reading this thread always makes me think of the garage my dad took the car and his trucks to as a kid. That shop was similar, but they worked on heavy duty equipment and dump trucks mainly, so there was oversize everything everywhere. I also still remember the smell.

 

[Scuderia-F1]

What a great story Caspian65, thanks for sharing with us!

 

[landroversforever]

Thomas I finally finished reading your thread yesterday (or might have been Tuesday)...

WOW! What an amazing job you have done with the place, a true inspiration and something to make you think that ANYTHING is possible. I love the attention to detail on things like the Walker Jack, wish I had one of those. The history of the place that you have preserved, and the stories like the Y Manifold (that had a lump in my throat), its all amazing and a credit to what a nice person you are. The Eco meters are something I've not come across, but they are beautiful bits of engineering, that look good to.

Its a shame about some of the things you threw out, but you cannot keep something forever waiting for someone to want it. But you do know as soon as you throw it out, someone will be after one!!

Clocking screws is also something I do, one of my old school teachers I used to work on old railway stuff with taught me to do it... and its stuck!

I'm only 21, but I appreciate a good, old tool. The majority of my tools are newer stuff, but there are a few tools that are old and have been passed onto me and their quality is far greater than most tools these days. I've obviously grown up in a time when things have been mostly ok (no great depression etc) but I've been taught to appreciate what I have and to look after things, and when they do break, think is there a way to repair it! Not just go out and buy another. I can't stand this throw-away culture we live in these days, if something is worth making, then make it properly I say. Sod all the chinese made junk you get now.

And the barn... its not fair you having two workshops, so choose one and I'll have the other one shipped over! I only have a corner of my parents single garage and a gravel drive to work on. You guys have it so easy for space in the USA! The UK is a quite bit smaller, so we have tiny garages .

The barn bench. Don't know where to start with that.... what an absolute beauty. People have worse things in their houses!!!! Will be a shame to get it dirty, but a bench is built to be used and I'm sure you will

I've said what I can think of for now, but 200 pages of stuff to comment on I am bound to forget something... Guess I will have to stick around!

Ross
Oxford - England.

 

[BB767]

Need to find something to drop that disassembled Flathead V-8 into....
A Hot Rod, Home built Plane or maybe a tanker salt racer....

Oh I know!!! A Vintage Tow Truck!!!

Gonna need it to move Cars and Aircraft at the future Drag Strip / Airport across the road...

Joe, how about this 1948 Jeep Tow Truck?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/?cmd...49&item=280786196273&sspagename=STRK:MEWAX:IT

It could easily move cars and aircraft and look stylist doing so!

Thomas

 

[BB767]

I'm sure Thomas would agree, no harm done. We're all just a bunch of guys (and gals) virtually standing around in Thomas' garage swapping stories and poking fun at each other.

Thomas' 5k post will come up soon enough, which will give him plenty of time to work on that epic story.

R1chy

Quite right R1chy, no harm done at all. I'm sure everyone knows I don't stand on ceremony here. I love the way you put it:

"We're all just a bunch of guys (and gals) virtually standing around in Thomas' garage swapping stories and poking fun at each other."

That's exactly how I feel about our family here. Friends that I haven't met...............yet!

Thomas

 

[BB767]

Well heck, that only took...the better part of a week of spare time (and not spare time ).

Thank you for sharing your progress and documenting all you've done to the property and saving so much history. I must say I thoroughly enjoyed the e-journey and will continue too.

It's been fun for Chris and myself too so thanks for sticking with the thread to the temporary pause. Now don't try to make me feel guilty about you getting sucked into the vortex. It's not my fault, I wasn't there, you can't blame me!

Thomas

 

[BB767]

I've been on GJ for a few years and just now came across this thread. I am only up to page 40 or so, but had to compliment Thomas on an amazing job restoring the shop and property. The thought of tackling such a job would send me to a corner, crouched down in fetal position!

The main reason, though, that I felt compelled to respond to this thread is due to an uncanny resemblance of the original shop to one that I frequently visited in Raleigh, NC starting around 1990. At the time, I was a poor college student with a '78 MGB roadster as a daily driver. The shop in Raleigh was called European Auto Service and was located less than a mile from the Capital building in downtown. Don Hall was the shop owner, an old Navy guy, and had started the business in 1962 after working as a mechanic at the local Volkswagen dealership. When I first came to know about the shop, it was of course due to a mechanical failure with my car. Don took me in and helped with my car and taught me quite a bit about British automobiles, but more importantly, he became somewhat of a mentor to me. At the time, I didn't really think of him that way, but looking back, I recall his generosity and kindness towards me and most of all, observing how he treated other people with respect and kindness.

Don's shop could have been a sister shop to the one in this thread. There were benches with tools and parts stacked everywhere, racks of parts, a lift in the floor (his had arms instead of ramps though), equipment everywhere, stacks of motors. In the back of the shop was a 1928 International truck that Don had worked on for the past 20 years. Of course, his interest waned and he had a hard time locating original spoke wheels for it. There was a mountain of things piled on top of it. Then, there was the obligatory soft drink machine, although his was a Coca-Cola machine. Think he had it set at .25c for a drink. I still remember the old rotary telephone that Don still used. Have lots of memories from the shop as Don eventually gave me a key and let me use it whenever I wanted to.

Don and I became good friends, he was much older than I was at the time, maybe in his 50's and I was barely 20. We ended up restoring a '67 MGB convertible together, which he let me drive whenever I wanted to. Unfortunately, the shop had to be closed sometime in the early 2000's, due to a change in a nearby bridge height. The bridge reconfiguration basically would have left his shop with no access to the front entry. The city bought him out and moved all the contents of the shop to an old fire station he owned way out in the country, about 2 hours west. They even dug up the old lift and reinstalled it. Don passed away a couple years ago and when I went to his wake, I went to the fire station and looked through the windows and saw all the old shop equipment. Sadly, there were boxes everywhere that had never been unpacked. I guess it was never the same for him when they moved everything. The town there was really small, so I'm guessing he never even attempted to open a shop. He was getting up in age anyway, so I guess it's for the best.

Just had to respond to the thread as it brought back many memories for me from my days at Don's old shop. I definitely know what you mean about the shop smells, I can still remember them vividly. I remember the sounds too, the old compressor kicking on, the telephone ringing, the street traffic going by. Some good times there. I have some pictures of the shop before they started moving anything, will see if I can find them and share with everyone.

Aw caspian65 what a great story. Thank you so very much for taking the time and sharing it. Without question we want and need to see any and all pictures you have of that shop. You have to wonder how many shops like that and this one are still out there somewhere, still operating?

I was preparing pictures for a post a few days back and I came across some of the original shop. As always, it immediately brought back all those sensory cues you mentioned, just as the lift does every time I operate it. Every time! Like you I feel blessed and lucky to have those impressionable experiences which will clearly last a life time and I'm only too happy to share them here with everyone.

Thank you again.

Thomas.

 

[caspian65]

Well, I found the film negatives so I'll go get them developed. I remember we put a set of pictures in a book and gave to Don. I had my dates wrong though, the move was in summer '97.

-Charles

 

[BB767]

Thomas I finally finished reading your thread yesterday (or might have been Tuesday)...

WOW! What an amazing job you have done with the place, a true inspiration and something to make you think that ANYTHING is possible. I love the attention to detail on things like the Walker Jack, wish I had one of those. The history of the place that you have preserved, and the stories like the Y Manifold (that had a lump in my throat), its all amazing and a credit to what a nice person you are. The Eco meters are something I've not come across, but they are beautiful bits of engineering, that look good to.

Its a shame about some of the things you threw out, but you cannot keep something forever waiting for someone to want it. But you do know as soon as you throw it out, someone will be after one!!

Clocking screws is also something I do, one of my old school teachers I used to work on old railway stuff with taught me to do it... and its stuck!

I'm only 21, but I appreciate a good, old tool. The majority of my tools are newer stuff, but there are a few tools that are old and have been passed onto me and their quality is far greater than most tools these days. I've obviously grown up in a time when things have been mostly ok (no great depression etc) but I've been taught to appreciate what I have and to look after things, and when they do break, think is there a way to repair it! Not just go out and buy another. I can't stand this throw-away culture we live in these days, if something is worth making, then make it properly I say. Sod all the chinese made junk you get now.

And the barn... its not fair you having two workshops, so choose one and I'll have the other one shipped over! I only have a corner of my parents single garage and a gravel drive to work on. You guys have it so easy for space in the USA! The UK is a quite bit smaller, so we have tiny garages .

The barn bench. Don't know where to start with that.... what an absolute beauty. People have worse things in their houses!!!! Will be a shame to get it dirty, but a bench is built to be used and I'm sure you will

I've said what I can think of for now, but 200 pages of stuff to comment on I am bound to forget something... Guess I will have to stick around!

Ross
Oxford - England.

'ello Ross, another screw clocker eh?... and a young one at that! Well, welcome to the Restored 1930's Auto Shop thread and jamboree! Congratulations on making all the way through to the temporary pause.....

You did mentioned the barn and old shop; when my friend Norm was working on his McKee out there...

... he happened to have said the same thing. "You not only have one great shop, but you've got 2!" and I rather suspect he wasn't kidding. Remember it's better to be lucky than good and I'm the luckiest guy I know. (Thank you again Miss Chris)

I'm very appreciative of all your the kind words and encouragement. Thank you Ross for checking in here and yes, please do stick around, more is on the way.

Cheers.

Thomas

 

[BB767]

Well, I found the film negatives so I'll go get them developed. I remember we put a set of pictures in a book and gave to Don. I had my dates wrong though, the move was in summer '97.

-Charles

Outstanding Charles that's great news. What a terrific gesture making a book of them for Don. You might never know how much he treasured them. Really looking forward to you posting those.... any and all! Thanks.

Thomas

 

[hobbitss]

Joe, the clamps all were saved, the whole box of them, plus...

...this husky, beefy one which of course...

...was properly powder coated. I used a pencil sharpener for scale, but forgot to measure the clamp. It's really bigger than it looks here and is the thickest, heaviest duty one I've seen of this size. It's got a sense of old all about it. No manufacturers markings of any sort on it. Lost to history I guess.

Then there was this really interesting...

...little 3" Quikcet clamp on vice made by the Grand Vice Tool Co. At present I can't find any information about them either.

To be continued...

Thomas

OOOOoooooooo.......

More please......

And you can't keep the Tool Shed Archeological Dig a secret for ever....

 

[hobbitss]

I've been on GJ for a few years and just now came across this thread. I am only up to page 40 or so, but had to compliment Thomas on an amazing job restoring the shop and property. The thought of tackling such a job would send me to a corner, crouched down in fetal position!

The main reason, though, that I felt compelled to respond to this thread is due to an uncanny resemblance of the original shop to one that I frequently visited in Raleigh, NC starting around 1990. At the time, I was a poor college student with a '78 MGB roadster as a daily driver. The shop in Raleigh was called European Auto Service and was located less than a mile from the Capital building in downtown. Don Hall was the shop owner, an old Navy guy, and had started the business in 1962 after working as a mechanic at the local Volkswagen dealership. When I first came to know about the shop, it was of course due to a mechanical failure with my car. Don took me in and helped with my car and taught me quite a bit about British automobiles, but more importantly, he became somewhat of a mentor to me. At the time, I didn't really think of him that way, but looking back, I recall his generosity and kindness towards me and most of all, observing how he treated other people with respect and kindness.

Don's shop could have been a sister shop to the one in this thread. There were benches with tools and parts stacked everywhere, racks of parts, a lift in the floor (his had arms instead of ramps though), equipment everywhere, stacks of motors. In the back of the shop was a 1928 International truck that Don had worked on for the past 20 years. Of course, his interest waned and he had a hard time locating original spoke wheels for it. There was a mountain of things piled on top of it. Then, there was the obligatory soft drink machine, although his was a Coca-Cola machine. Think he had it set at .25c for a drink. I still remember the old rotary telephone that Don still used. Have lots of memories from the shop as Don eventually gave me a key and let me use it whenever I wanted to.

Don and I became good friends, he was much older than I was at the time, maybe in his 50's and I was barely 20. We ended up restoring a '67 MGB convertible together, which he let me drive whenever I wanted to. Unfortunately, the shop had to be closed sometime in the early 2000's, due to a change in a nearby bridge height. The bridge reconfiguration basically would have left his shop with no access to the front entry. The city bought him out and moved all the contents of the shop to an old fire station he owned way out in the country, about 2 hours west. They even dug up the old lift and reinstalled it. Don passed away a couple years ago and when I went to his wake, I went to the fire station and looked through the windows and saw all the old shop equipment. Sadly, there were boxes everywhere that had never been unpacked. I guess it was never the same for him when they moved everything. The town there was really small, so I'm guessing he never even attempted to open a shop. He was getting up in age anyway, so I guess it's for the best.

Just had to respond to the thread as it brought back many memories for me from my days at Don's old shop. I definitely know what you mean about the shop smells, I can still remember them vividly. I remember the sounds too, the old compressor kicking on, the telephone ringing, the street traffic going by. Some good times there. I have some pictures of the shop before they started moving anything, will see if I can find them and share with everyone.

I'm hoping the boxes were just Items he didn't get a chance to get to, and that over the remaining years he had a few more stray kids wander in with old broken cars that needed fixing...

Broken things to fix, knowledge to transfer and a purpose in life...

 

[hobbitss]

Joe, how about this 1948 Jeep Tow Truck?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/?cmd...49&item=280786196273&sspagename=STRK:MEWAX:IT

It could easily move cars and aircraft and look stylist doing so!

Thomas

The Rescue Wrecker....

You aren't going to Powder Coat it are you???

 

[Bob275]

Had to stop and take a break to let you know this is the best read I have found on the internet ever. I'm two days in and 6 hours deep, made it to page 48. This is like every "guys" dream to purchase a piece of history like this and go through it like you have (I'm sure it's quite a ways a long since I'm only on p48 with no plans of skipping ahead) Time for me to get back to where I was, see you here soon... maybe in week.

(If Bob275 really doesn't skip ahead I'll have this reply waiting for him when he gets here.)

Hello Bob275 and welcome to our growing family here. I hope you enjoyed the read and aren't kicking yourself for spending so much time on just a single thread. Just be glad I posted pictures instead of trying to describe everything since each picture is worth a 1,000 words. Those pictures saved you hours and hours and hours of reading. As you might have guessed by now, there is more to this story, so for now, you're just at "A Temporary Pause" -ATP- with more on the way if your eyes can stand it! You should ready for the test, right?

BTW, what took you so long?

Again, welcome to the vortex and remember; resistance is futile

Thomas

Well Hello Thomas, it's a pleasure to "meet" you. I made it... what a journey, I need some serious sleep. took about 8 days in total I think. The only thing I expected to see by this point was the start of your new house on the property, guess I have quite a bit to look forward to. You definitely are living the dream sir. I'll be looking forward to all future updates, glad I put the time in to read the whole thing. Now I find myself scouring Craigslist looking for vintage tools to save... heading out Saturday morning to pick up a 50s Crafstman drill press, now my searches include vises, jacks and anvils... I don't know why, I don't even need an anvil

 

[BB767]

Great job! Are those 4x8 sheets of melamine on the wall?

That is FRP, Fiberglas Reinforced Panels. I believe it was either mentioned or a discussion on it can be found on pages 7,8,17,26,37,38,45,70 and 77.

Also a while back, when this publication...

...did two articles about the shop...

... one was about the FRP used out in the shop and barn. Let me know if you need more information. Happy to help out.

Thomas

 

[BB767]

...

Broken things to fix, knowledge to transfer and a purpose in life...

Joe there is much wisdom in that statement.

BTW, Cameron and I were out in the tool shed today but didn't get any pictures- too dark. We found a nice size 30" X 60" X too tall (I'm going to have to trim the legs a little) all steel bench. We're guessing it weighs in at around 200 pounds, we can just barely move it. It's going to need a little attention to clean and detail it up, but it's a Mr. Johnson built special for sure. I bet it'll be presentable and highly functional when I get done, it's mighty solid. We also spotted some other items I'll try to get inside for inspection and clean up. Standby.

Thomas

 

[BB767]

Well Hello Thomas, it's a pleasure to "meet" you. I made it... what a journey, I need some serious sleep. took about 8 days in total I think. The only thing I expected to see by this point was the start of your new house on the property, guess I have quite a bit to look forward to. You definitely are living the dream sir. I'll be looking forward to all future updates, glad I put the time in to read the whole thing. Now I find myself scouring Craigslist looking for vintage tools to save... heading out Saturday morning to pick up a 50s Crafstman drill press, now my searches include vises, jacks and anvils... I don't know why, I don't even need an anvil

Hello to you Bob275. You did what they said "couldn't be done" and got past page 200!

We are ready to build out there, but it's a lousy economy to sell our present house in so we'll wait a while. We're quite happy where we are but being out there would be more convenient. And patient, did I mention I'm pretty patient?

I'm so happy to learn you have the old tool and equipment bug. With care and diligence you'll have better quality tools and equipment along with smug satisfaction knowing you saved money and rescued a needy tool from an undeserving, inglorious fate. Good for you! You'll find it tremendously rewarding. As for anvil hunting, everyone needs an anvil, why even Rick does but I'll be darned if I get get him to come over and help wax mine.........

Thomas

 

[landroversforever]

'ello Ross, another screw clocker eh?... and a young one at that! Well, welcome to the Restored 1930's Auto Shop thread and jamboree! Congratulations on making all the way through to the temporary pause.....

Now Thomas, what is your method for determining which way a screw is to be clocked (assuming its a slotted one)? For me I've always done them so the slot is inline with the longest side. So for example, that wonky switch panel of yours I would have the slots horizontal

 

[Sunbimmer]

Really awesome man.... i do not know where you find the time to do all this,greetings from the Netherlands.

 

[caspian65]

Outstanding Charles that's great news. What a terrific gesture making a book of them for Don. You might never know how much he treasured them. Really looking forward to you posting those.... any and all! Thanks.

Thomas

Instead of hijacking your thread with a bunch of pictures of another shop, I made a new thread, enjoy!

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1931298#post1931298

 

[ZRX61]

Then there was this really interesting...

...little 3" Quikcet clamp on vice made by the Grand Vice Tool Co. At present I can't find any information about them either.

To be continued...

Thomas

 

[Red Leader]

I continued to be enthralled by this thread. Old cars, old tools...I hope it never ends. I hope future generations will continue the legacy to appreciate everything from a historical moment in our history that contributed so much to what made this country great.

Keep up the good work. I'm working right beside you in my own little corner

 

[BB767]

Thank you Rick, very nice as usual from you. Notice on mine it has a spring, which is compressed, on the lower slide...

...besides yours, I've seen one other Quickcet vice like these but it didn't have that spring either. I haven't open mine up yet so I don't really know what it's function is yet, unless it's an aid to open the jaw?

Thomas

 

[ZRX61]

Not sure why yours has a spring, it's not needed to open it. Friend dropped mine off here one day, said it belonged to his grandfather.

If you take the screw out of the end of the er, screw, if you see what I mean, you can disassemble most of it.

 

[BB767]

Now Thomas, what is your method for determining which way a screw is to be clocked (assuming its a slotted one)? For me I've always done them so the slot is inline with the longest side. So for example, that wonky switch panel of yours I would have the slots horizontal

Ross good question. To be honest I guess I haven't really thought about orientation when clocking screws, I guess I do what I think looks best. As for my "wonky switch panel" (BTW, thanks for reminding me..........again.......... about my failure to properly aline it ) to me, I just don't think horizontal looks right in that application. Kinda personal taste I suppose. What's important is that the screws are not all running off in mass confusion, pointed haphazardly. Now if I could only get that pesky switch plate to behave properly. Maybe if I spent another two hours or so fiddling.................

Thomas

 

[BB767]

Not sure why yours has a spring, it's not needed to open it. Friend dropped mine off here one day, said it belonged to his grandfather.

If you take the screw out of the end of the er, screw, if you see what I mean, you can disassemble most of it.

Thanks Rick. I'll try to take a better look at it tomorrow and actually open it. The size of the spring fits that lower slide nicely so my assumption is it's from the factory, but it doesn't appear to be a very strong spring. Maybe tomorrow that answer will spring out at me. Get it, spring out......... Sometime I just kill myself.......I've got a million of them.......

Thomas