markviii
Well-known member
We survived! What a beautiful day for a potlock picnic. It was all "back to normal" by 5:30pm. Someone took lots of pictures, so Tom will do an update later. Happy Memorial Day weekend.
Chris
Chris
Above 1200 Sq/FT Restored 1930's Auto Shop
- Thread starter BB767
- Start date
Wokspaces above 1200 squarefeet.
HOTFR8
Banned
Waiting patiently to see the pictures. 
hobbitss
Well-known member
Glad everything went well and am looking foward to pics Chris.
I spent the day cutting down mesquite trees off 30+ acres so if anyone in the DFW or Waco area wants some send me a PM.
Cut 2 piles and we keep one and you take one. The wood's aready cut a drying.
BBQ wood anyone?
Still got 2 more days to go so if you want some send me a PM on how to get here.
I spent the day cutting down mesquite trees off 30+ acres so if anyone in the DFW or Waco area wants some send me a PM.
Cut 2 piles and we keep one and you take one. The wood's aready cut a drying. BBQ wood anyone? Still got 2 more days to go so if you want some send me a PM on how to get here.
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Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
Yessir, and anything else, from socket boxes to rolling carts, etc found virtually untouched in the garage. Your BEFORE version is like a time capsule, and I'm interested in knowing what mechanics were lining their boxes with, again, if anything, in that era. Thanks.
She also forgot to mention this was a first for us; a combined car club picnic/car show and garage tour. So I not only had to make space in the shop/barn for about 50 folks, I wound up directing traffic and then tried to round up everyone (it's a little like herding cats) to do a tour of the various buildings. Upshot of all that was I was so busy I personally only got a few pictures but fortunately I had a bunch more pictures forwarded to me so I'll get those on here. One of the coolest cars was a Model T in complete all original form sporting some impressive patina and running like a Swiss watch.
It didn't rain, the sun was shinning, various cool cars scattered all about the property under shade trees, everyone had plenty to eat and my neighbors are still talking to me, so all in all a successful day I think. Bonus, a couple of fellows remembered being out there while Mr.Johnson was still active in the shop and told of their visits "back in the day"
They said the shop "sure wasn't this clean and organized when Virgil was out here" but "I bet he'd really like it now". Stand by for more, pictures are on the way.
Thomas
markviii
Well-known member
And I participated in a mini-car show today, though I didn't take a car. We first gathered at the VFW Decoration Day ceremony at 11am, then caravaned about 20 miles to a small town, ate lunch at Hardee's, then showed our cars to the nursing home residents. We only had 5 cars due to the heat, but the residents sure enjoyed it!
Overall, a great weekend!
Chris
Overall, a great weekend!
Chris
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The shop Car Club pictures are coming, but some of them are being difficult to reproduce so while I struggle with that, in the meantime I'll show you some tile repair work.
The shop floor was tiled with Armstrong Vinyl Composite Tile, VCT. A swell feature of this type of flooring is its ease of repair.
The lift tends to shift on the tile if a car doesn't drive on the ramps square to them. The contact pad (green circle) puts a great deal of pressure on the tile under it (yellow circle) and as the ramp shifts to the side it causes the tile under it to...
...buckle...
...which...
...is ...
...an undesirable condition. In the past as this happened I just heated the tile up and slide it back into place but decided to do a permanent fix.
First the broken tiles needed to be replaced. Heating them with a heat gun, not a hair dryer, softens the adhesive and allows for removal of...
...the offending...
... tile(s).
Then much of the old adhesive is scraped off...
...and new adhesive is troweled in. Then...
...the new tiles are set into place. Total time to replace 5 tiles was about 25 minutes. Now how to keep this from happening again. I needed to displace the pressure from the contact pads over a larger area.
I used 12 gauge (not quite 1/4" (.6 cm) thick Stainless Steel sheets ...
...under the contact pads and decided to extend the Stainless under the ramps as well.
That will prevent the ramps from slowly damaging the tile as they are lowered and slide into place.
Smaller Stainless sheets were used under the front contact pads.
Note how it covers more than one tile to displace pressure over a wide area.
But when the lift is down there is very little Stainless seen.
I still have to bevel the edges, round the corners and do a bit of polish on them but this should solve the problem. Not entirely elegant but certainly functional. When I first tiled the floor under the lift I suspected I would have to do something along this line but wanted to see how the tile alone would work first. Form follows function in this case.
Thomas
The shop floor was tiled with Armstrong Vinyl Composite Tile, VCT. A swell feature of this type of flooring is its ease of repair.
The lift tends to shift on the tile if a car doesn't drive on the ramps square to them. The contact pad (green circle) puts a great deal of pressure on the tile under it (yellow circle) and as the ramp shifts to the side it causes the tile under it to...
...buckle...
...which...
...is ...
...an undesirable condition. In the past as this happened I just heated the tile up and slide it back into place but decided to do a permanent fix.
First the broken tiles needed to be replaced. Heating them with a heat gun, not a hair dryer, softens the adhesive and allows for removal of...
...the offending...
... tile(s).
Then much of the old adhesive is scraped off...
...and new adhesive is troweled in. Then...
...the new tiles are set into place. Total time to replace 5 tiles was about 25 minutes. Now how to keep this from happening again. I needed to displace the pressure from the contact pads over a larger area.
I used 12 gauge (not quite 1/4" (.6 cm) thick Stainless Steel sheets ...
...under the contact pads and decided to extend the Stainless under the ramps as well.
That will prevent the ramps from slowly damaging the tile as they are lowered and slide into place.
Smaller Stainless sheets were used under the front contact pads.
Note how it covers more than one tile to displace pressure over a wide area.
But when the lift is down there is very little Stainless seen.
I still have to bevel the edges, round the corners and do a bit of polish on them but this should solve the problem. Not entirely elegant but certainly functional. When I first tiled the floor under the lift I suspected I would have to do something along this line but wanted to see how the tile alone would work first. Form follows function in this case.
Thomas
Not to, but once your landing strip is completed, your car show could grow into a car show/fly-in like the birthday party I attended Saturday.
Hot Rods, Miatas, Military Vehicles, and Airplanes - oh my! Did I mention 2 bands?
Very nice indeed! That's a wining combination in my book.
Our little picnic/show was nothing along those lines.
We had about 50 folks and decided since it was so hot out...
...to picnic inside the shop. I bet that was a first for those shop walls!
One of the members brought his '62 Corvette....
...and I offered him the use of the lift to find an annoying exhaust rattle. He was very smitten with my '66 Lincoln and I offered to trade him even up for his Vette. That's what friends are for.
Thomas
HOTFR8
Banned
If I recall correctly you showed pictures (I couldn't find them) of Mr Johnson eating on the lift, so Chris can't use this as a first on the test!
Kevin54
MEMBER EMERITUS
Thomas.....Why don't you recess that stainless flush with the tiles? Either cut out where you have the current pieces or get some sheets of stainless just a little larger and make them the size of the tiles as a whole. It would eliminate a possible trip hazard
landroversforever
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2011
- Messages
- 86
Thomas I am yet again disappointed in the standard of your work. I was expecting you to let the stainless into the floor and make it match the tiles so to the untrained eye (the kind that wouldn't see the wonky switch) you wouldn't be able to notice the difference!
I feel let down, I expected better.
To make up for this problem you need to do one of the following:
-let the stainless into the floor
-fix the switch
-show some more treasures from the tool shed
-announce the building of a runway/helipad/drag strip on the field opposite.
I feel let down, I expected better.
To make up for this problem you need to do one of the following:
-let the stainless into the floor
-fix the switch
-show some more treasures from the tool shed
-announce the building of a runway/helipad/drag strip on the field opposite.
donnie
Well-known member
3 Things
1. Did he get the rattle fixed on the Corvette?
2. I cannot believe you did not grill on the lift like it was done back in the day.
(I should go find that picture, but I wont, lazy me)
3. Thank You for sharing! (I forgot what the third point was!
)
1. Did he get the rattle fixed on the Corvette?
2. I cannot believe you did not grill on the lift like it was done back in the day.
(I should go find that picture, but I wont, lazy me)
3. Thank You for sharing! (I forgot what the third point was!
)Thomas I am yet again disappointed in the standard of your work. I was expecting you to let the stainless into the floor and make it match the tiles so to the untrained eye (the kind that wouldn't see the wonky switch) you wouldn't be able to notice the difference!
I feel let down, I expected better.
To make up for this problem you need to do one of the following:
-let the stainless into the floor
-fix the switch
-show some more treasures from the tool shed
-announce the building of a runway/helipad/drag strip on the field opposite.
What he ^ said
I've studied this matter for quite some time now. Setting the stainless flush was what I originally intended to do. Seems like a logical solution. Here's the "Ah-Ha" moment I had however.
If you look at the white tile you'll notice it was literally moved from left to right. See the gap on the left side and how that tile buckled and then broke the black tile on the right as it moved against it and eventually rode up, over it? If I simply replaced the white tile with a piece of stainless steel, the lift would still move the stainless piece into the surrounding tiles causing the same problem. Having the stainless down flush with the existing tiles won't work for that reason. I need the stainless to distribute the pressure over several tiles simultaneously and have it pushing down on the tiles, and not have it impart a lateral, side force into the surrounding, existing tiles. My hope it that the large, thick gauge stainless will provide a surface that the lift contact pads will simply move across instead of "digging into the stainless" causing it to move laterally, but if it does the stainless plate, being on top of the tile will just slide. If I knew I could "anchor" the stainless to the concrete so it wouldn't move laterally, then I could set it flush with the existing tile. Well that's my theory anyway, time will tell.
Also by beveling the edges of the stainless, there will be very little material "proud" to the floor surface to cause any kind of tripping hazard I believe.
Thanks everyone for taking the time to help out and your interest. It's a unique situation and this may not be the final solution. I believe it to be "a solution" but perhaps not "the final solution".
Hopeful Thomas
3 Things
1. Did he get the rattle fixed on the Corvette?
2. I cannot believe you did not grill on the lift like it was done back in the day.
(I should go find that picture, but I wont, lazy me)
3. Thank You for sharing! (I forgot what the third point was!
This is the picture but that's not Mr Johnson though.
The rattle was where on a Corvette, the exhaust pipes run through the frame rails. It's a stainless steel system and to correct it he's going to have the remove the pipes and "tweak" them a bit to get proper clearance.
It was too tight on one side of the frame rail hole it runs through and had plenty of room on the other side. I also pointed out to him the old, rubber fuel line sections that should be replaced with newer fuel line that is more compatible with today's auto gas. The rubber fuel line where it connects to the fuel pump is right by an exhaust pipe that should it spring a leak, would spray fuel onto that hot pipe.
Not an optimal situation.Thomas
BTW, did I mention that...
...the lift ramps don't appear to be quite centered on the new stainless. It's a Rotary Lift and the upper superstructure does rotate with the lift cylinder a few degrees left and right even with the safety leg engaged. As it descends down, the ramps land in slightly different places on the floor (a few degrees left or right) from time to time.
Yeah, I saw that.
Thomas
...the lift ramps don't appear to be quite centered on the new stainless. It's a Rotary Lift and the upper superstructure does rotate with the lift cylinder a few degrees left and right even with the safety leg engaged. As it descends down, the ramps land in slightly different places on the floor (a few degrees left or right) from time to time.
Yeah, I saw that.
Thomas
You could always cut the stainless to the same size as the tiles and then powdercoat them like the tiles and use beveled screws to hold them in anchors driven in the concrete Thomas.
Or just weld small studs to the back of the stainless plate, and drill corresponding holes into the concrete. That way, it won't move sideways, but will be easy to remove/replace.
And yeah, definately powdercoat!!
That being the case RalloZ35 I see no reason why you shouldn't visit and then you can give Joe a first hand report on the tool shed and how there were oodles of parts like these...
... mid 1950's Chevy and vintage parts.
This vintage auto sunshade was hanging in the rafters...
...of the old shop for decades. It's now going to a new home.
The old fan belts that were hanging near the ceiling of the lift room were hung from...
...some of these brackets. The lift room was enclosed with walls in April, 1962. On the back side of the fan belt brackets...
...you can see they were manufactured in October, 1961. Some of these are also going to a new home of Car Club members.
Thomas
Kevin54
MEMBER EMERITUS
Dayton, Ohio....just about a half hour from me.
hobbitss
Well-known member
Thomas I am yet again disappointed in the standard of your work. I was expecting you to let the stainless into the floor and make it match the tiles so to the untrained eye (the kind that wouldn't see the wonky switch) you wouldn't be able to notice the difference!
I feel let down, I expected better.
To make up for this problem you need to do one of the following:
-let the stainless into the floor
-fix the switch
-show some more treasures from the tool shed
-announce the building of a runway/helipad/drag strip on the field opposite.
Tool Shed Photos!!!
Tool Shed Photos!!!
Tool Shed Photos!!!
Tool Shed Photos!!!
Tool Shed Photos!!!
Just pick the best of them to show us
Ok here are just a few. You guys are going to have to help me out identifying some of them.
Gus made the show with his new trim rings installed.
He was so proud of them.
Thomas
HOTFR8
Banned
Thanks for posting . People must just love to see that last photo.
. People must just love to see that last photo.Wingnut65
Well-known member
Looks like a fun time was had by all. And I'm sure it feels great to share some of your passion for the old place with the guests. Congrats.
markviii
Well-known member
Could you pick out Tom in the last photo around the Terraplane? I was probably over throwing some chicken on the grill while that was going on.
We had a great time despite the heat.
(Every female in that picture brought their collector car. All but one of the major officers (the Treasurer) in our club are female and own/show their cars - unprecedented in the 51 year history of the club.
Chris
We had a great time despite the heat.
(Every female in that picture brought their collector car. All but one of the major officers (the Treasurer) in our club are female and own/show their cars - unprecedented in the 51 year history of the club.
Chris
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Nice job, you guys. Great, eclectic group of cars and a great group of enthusiasts!
Buick Riatta, to Tin Lizzy. Don't know my late 30's fords, my knowledge base drops off in that grey area between '34 and '40, but I'm assuming the two resto-rods with the wide whites are '37 '38?
My fave is the Olds. Sweet looking ride.
Good ol 'merican iron, done up proud. Gus looks pretty dapper with those spiffy wheels.
I guess next time it's restored Cubs, Tee Crafts' and 150's?
Buick Riatta, to Tin Lizzy. Don't know my late 30's fords, my knowledge base drops off in that grey area between '34 and '40, but I'm assuming the two resto-rods with the wide whites are '37 '38?
My fave is the Olds. Sweet looking ride.
Good ol 'merican iron, done up proud. Gus looks pretty dapper with those spiffy wheels.
I guess next time it's restored Cubs, Tee Crafts' and 150's?
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About five minutes west of me, currently.
I couldn't find anything regarding Fogarty MFG. CO., other than an old placard on eBay and a broken link to a shelving company. I could ask one of the old guys that's been around here if they knew of the place.
stidham
Member
I've been reading for a couple of months now. This is the best thread I've read in a long long time. I had to chime in. Tom, what you've done is something I've always dreamed of doing, but never had the time and or money. My hats off to you Sir, for creating a beautiful place. I think Mr. Johnson would be proud.
Chris, I bow to you. If it had been my wife, I'd have had to convert the tool shed to my living quarters by now.
BTW the Fords with the wide whites are 36's I believe.
Dave
Chris, I bow to you. If it had been my wife, I'd have had to convert the tool shed to my living quarters by now.
BTW the Fords with the wide whites are 36's I believe.
Dave
hobbitss
Well-known member
I think I see an Early Miata in there (Driver's Door?)... Would like to see a photo of the Riatta also, Always wanted one after having owned a Trofeo for years...
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Good eye there Joe, that was indeed a Miata. The Reatta was actually a Chrysler TC by Maserati, a car you just never see anymore. For a modern car it has some fetching lines on it I think. There were a few other cars as people came and went throughout the afternoon. I've got some more pictures in the works. It was an eclectic group as our club is not make specific, we're a collector car club so just about anything would qualify. At our major car show of the year (100+ cars) we get an amazing bit of diversity which I love. From vintage a Rolls Royce or a Stanley Steamer right up to more modern machinery. As Chris mentioned the club is over 50 years old and we still have a few founding members in it, such as good old Earl Hale (see page 236, post #4714), now 92 years old and just recently renewed his drivers license. That's staying power for sure. More than a few members remember Mr Johnson and his shop from "back in the day".
Thomas
Nuts
Well-known member
The Model T Ford is a 23 to 25, the Model A Tudor is a 31
Doug
Doug
RalloZ35
Well-known member
hobbitss
Well-known member
The Reatta look alike being the center Red Car in image one and the background car in image 2 below??
Thomas
Looks like a Reatta from a distance but up closer looks like a Maserati crossed with a Lincoln & T-Bird??
Tool Shop Archaeological Dig Photos Please......
hobbitss
Well-known member
Bob Heine
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Chrysler developed the TC with Maserati and it was a really nice looking car but had a $33,000 price tag and lots of unique Maserati parts. It was a convertible but came with a removable hardtop with the porthole.
Chrysler developed the LeBaron at the same time and it looked an awful lot like the TC but sold for $14,000 and used common Mopar parts. Never saw a removable hardtop but it was available as a coupe. Buy a LeBaron coupe and convertible for the same price as the TC...
Edit: I didn't realize the photo posted was restricted. This is my wife's car from a decade ago.
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