RUSTOPIA- Just a place to get away from it all

[Drill Sergeant Arc]

Alright, I better get going here and post something on my shop. I keep getting distracted by all the great threads here. This place just goes on forever.

O.K., a little background info; My shop is behind a rental I bought back in the late eighties. The guy that I bought it from lived there and was buying it from an elderly couple that had owned it from at least the 50’s. This guy was making payments to them since he had moved in two years earlier.

The house was built in 1920. By the time I had acquired it the house was a rotted out old shack. All the walls were rotted including the adjacent floor areas some 2’ into the interior. The original house was maybe 900 sq. ft., without a foundation other than a perimeter of rotted wood blocks. At some point someone installed around the front and sides a curtain of chicken wire with a troweled coating of cement stucco. The roof had the original cedar shakes with three layers of composition on top of it. The plumbing was rusted steel barely able to deliver a trickle; the electrical was a 60 amp screw-in fuse style with several additional sub-panels of suspicious origins. The crawl space vertical dimensions went from the front floor beam sitting on a 1x4 at grade to the rear beam on 24 inch tall 6x8 loose blocking on top of flat stones.

At this time I was already up to my elbows in a similar house just down the street. Why would I double my misery!

Well, it had a 24x36x12 metal pole building with a 4” slab floor. I put some of my materials and tools in it and rented out the rest for vehicle storage. For over ten years I couldn’t use it to work in. Then I gained some room when two of the vehicles were removed by the owner. I then added a 17’x36 side extension around 2003 and then 6 years ago a 12x28 shed roof extension out the back to make around 1,812 sq. ft. of total floor area. There is a 12x12 storage loft in the back corner of the main section behind the “Truck and Body Repairs” sign. The area directly below the loft is also considered storage.






1948 vacuum formed acrylic Shell Oil Company sign.


Double sink


Found this on top of an abandoned gas station canopy


Future restoration project, to be made to look original but old and tarnished.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/album.php?albumid=5432&pictureid=67274
Saved from the scrap pile.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/album.php?albumid=5432&pictureid=67276
Early to mid 60's vacuum formed Douglas oil Company acrylic sign, I still need to light this one up. Someday maybe I'll build an old school sign cabinet for it and the Shell sign too and post it. The Big "Truck & Body Repairs" sign was lying flat on top of a Truck Stop shop building, I asked the owner if I could have it, he said sure but admitted he didn't know it was up there. It went back to when his dad built and ran the place.

O.K., that's a start.

 

[Sunbimmer]

Very nice place you got there with a very nice collection of goodies.
Excellent thread title!!

 

[turbowoodworker]

Nice place. Looks like an episode of American Pickers.

 

[colt zantop]

Cool place!

 

[drivesitfar]

Sarge: looks like it's going to be an interesting thread and best of luck and thanks for sharing. i know you are putting in links, but if you could put in pictures too or instead of links it might be easier for me and maybe a few of the other members that are older or that use cell phones.

cheers and again welcome to GJ

 

[Drill Sergeant Arc]

Thank you Sunbimmer, I really got a kick out of your Texaco setup. It really got me thinking about the many possibilities of building a little slice of yesteryear to work in.

Thanks too Turbo, and your're right it does look like what Mike on A.P. would get exited over. I get the feeling some of those people just want to get their stuff on T.V. and have no intention of selling to them.

Thank you Colt.

Thanks Drives, I'm still getting use to this system here, I thought those pics would come up regular like some of the other threads. But I guess I need a lesson from you folks on how to do it right. P.M. me if anyone has a "Posting Pics for Dummies" tutorial. Thanks everyone, Sarge

P.S. I'm going to try something I saw down in "Questions and Suggestions".

Here goes;


Well, you still need to click on it but it's still an improvement. I'll keep trying
Do you think I should go back to the OP and try redoing those pics or leave it well enough alone.

 

[Strouty]

I know that last pic is distorted, but is that beam really arched?

 

[Drill Sergeant Arc]

Hello and welcome Stouty, it's one of those PANORAMA shots. Here's a regular:

 

[Drill Sergeant Arc]

O.K., I got the upload image thing figured out now and redid as many OP images allowed, should be good to go from now on unless there is some other better way I haven't figured out yet.

Here's that Douglas Oil Company acrylic sign again.


And the Oregon Motel sign.


The BILLIARDS sign and the alley towards the restroom door. The double sink is back to back with the restroom sink.


There's the restroom door on the left just past the OK sign.


Restroom wall and door.



Restroom sink. I have a real nice double handle faucet that looks like an older style that I'll be changing that one for.

 

[Sunbimmer]

That's a real cool restroom great stuff you got, I'm jealous.

 

[Kevin54]

Wow, that place is definitely cool, and has a lot of character to it.

What happened to the house? Did you tear it down or is it still standing?

BTW.....Welcome to Garage Journal!!!!

If you find you have a hard time deciding on something, just let us know, and we can surely spend your money for you. Just be forewarned....We'll only spend a portion on a house, but a lot on garage and tools for you

 

[drivesitfar]

SARGE: not sure how you did it with the small pictures in between the writing that you can click on the pictures twice and have full size pictures so you might have to teach ME (US) now. WELL DONE!!

great STUFF and OMG i'll have to spend some time looking at all those pictures you posted now.

again welcome to the group and as you might have heard one side effect of being an active member is getting to know more about tools and of course buying them when you know which ones will make the job easier. also liking your VINTAGE STUFF.

cheers

 

[MacTexas]

Great sign collection.

 

[southalabama]

Wow. Nice collection. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Drill Sergeant Arc]

Thank Sunbimmer, here's some more pics of the restroom.





I saw on your profile page you enjoy old American gas stations so do I, I probably have several thousand images save on several computers around here.

 

[Westozfixer]

Nice place sarg, what did you end up doing with the old house?

 

[Drill Sergeant Arc]

Thanks Kevin and Westozfixer, here's the house now after a total reconstruction including new foundation and a small build-out seen in this image. Still a little house but very nice all the same. I've had young gals stand out front with their guy after getting a tour and start crying while exclaiming "It's just so cute" as we discussed the details of renting it. Those gals get that whole nesting thing going and the poor guy seems to be along for the ride.


The shop has its own driveway down the right side of the property.
Here's an exterior shot.

 

[Drill Sergeant Arc]

Drives, I went down to the suggestions section and found out about the "Go Advanced" setting and then using the paperclip on the top tool bar, it works great. http://garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=6170057&postcount=5

Thanks MacTexas and southalabama I really appreciate your comments.

 

[Dennis Cavallino]

Did you know that the word Rust in Dutch means Rest / Relaxing / Take a break? It makes sense when you add "just a place to get away from it all".

I like your collection. It reminds me of some Americana a big collector/trader (Joop Stolze) here in Holland shows at his place.

Here are some photos I took in 2008. He moved to an even better place now. https://goo.gl/photos/d1BKH77BXYtwSYJS6

I hope you like it too.

 

[Sunbimmer]

Thank Sunbimmer, here's some more pics of the restroom.

I saw on your profile page you enjoy old American gas stations so do I, I probably have several thousand images save on several computers around here.

Drill Sergeant Arc,

That's not a restroom that's a treasure bay could spend hours there

Yes i have quite a collection of pictures of vintage gas stations too, don't know how much but a lot.
I use them a lot for inspiration and finding the details in them and than recreate those details here in my garage.
I love the atmosphere of these old buildings, same I have with lighthouses why.

 

[Drill Sergeant Arc]

Did you know that the word Rust in Dutch means Rest / Relaxing / Take a break? It makes sense when you add "just a place to get away from it all".

I like your collection. It reminds me of some Americana a big collector/trader (Joop Stolze) here in Holland shows at his place.

Here are some photos I took in 2008. He moved to an even better place now. https://goo.gl/photos/d1BKH77BXYtwSYJS6

I hope you like it too.

Hey! Those are our National Treasures - We want them BACK!

Sunbimmer; My wife has an old photo of her taken in front of a Texaco station that her grandpa had operated in a small town back in the sixties. She is about 6 years old and is standing on the curved corner of the strip of concrete that commonly ran along in front of the office of those little two bay stations. (Like yours if I recall correctly?)

She was standing where that sidewalk curves and meets the first bay opening. We decided to take a day and see if it was still there. We drove down the little main road through that town and didn't see anything that resembled a Texaco station of the 50's era. We did find though that the only station in town was a Texaco but they said it was built in the 80's on a clean site.

One of the older customers then recalled that the Korean restaurant back down the way we first came into town used to be one. We pulled up and the only thing that was recognizable was that one sidewalk down the front and that curved corner that she had stood on. It was now adjacent to where the bay door was converted into the restaurant's main entry door. I took a picture of her standing there again. And one of my daughter to carry on the tradition.

 

[Drill Sergeant Arc]

The story on my fixed girder overhead crane is the W12x26 6"x12" I-beam and 2-ton electric chain hoist were in my dad's shop when I was a kid. He had it sitting on the wood frame walls and had to cut one end off to lower it to the floor with a 1/2 ton chain hoist. I had to re-weld it and sharpen the dog ear angle to match my shop's roof angle.


The support columns are 6x8 by 3/8" wall from a gas station sign I removed in the early 90's, the sign cabinets were bolted between the columns. You can see in some pics the holes and bolts threaded into them that I hang things on.


I had at the time one piece of 3/8 plate steel to cut all of the gussets and end plates I used to make this a bolted assembly instead of a welded one.


The base plates are salvage and actually have 8" dia. center cut-outs that were intended to be welded onto an 8" pipe end. The 3/8" plate gussets were made to box-in the rectangle tube to the base plates and bridge that large gap where the base plates had the missing material removed. By the time I was done cutting the gussets I only had a sliver smaller than a finger left over.


I also tied the beam ends to the adjoining rafter perlins.

 

[Drill Sergeant Arc]

Here is several more shots of the attachment detail.

 

[Drill Sergeant Arc]

Here are some more pics of the other signs in the shop.

This Miller Beer is a painted and embossed metal sign with a wood frame from 1958 that is hanging on a sliding door that covers a set of floor to ceiling shelves.


These railroad signs are on the other end of the same door mounted below a porcelain OK used car sign,


This acrylic FREIGHTLINER sign was at a local factory here, it and the hand painted ELECTRIC sign are both dated to the 1970's.


This GM sign cabinet with an acrylic face was at a local wholesale parts supplier that I had eyed for 35 years and hoped I would someday get to remove and take home.


One of the other signs from the same group was this MOTORCRAFT sign with the same type of cabinet and face by the same manufacturer as the GM. These I believe are from the early 70's.

 

[drivesitfar]

Sarge: you've got some great stuff and happy to see you have that picture posting thing figured out.

keep posting more as you have time to.

do you still go out finding new (old) stuff or are you still trying to find spots to put and hang the stuff you already own?

cheers

 

[Drill Sergeant Arc]

drives, I still try to grab whatever I can find. Some of the stuff is too big for my shop so I pass on it. It's mostly newer branding that won't be nostalgic for 20 more years or so. I'm afraid my golden age of collecting is coming to a close.

Here is a few more signs.



This porcelain STANDARD OIL sign came from a one man town located in the high desert of eastern Oregon. Yes, those are spots where bullets chipped the porcelain and dented the heavy metal under it.


This is what the station/town looked like some 30 years after the sign was removed. I'm planning a drive over there to see if I can tell where on the building it was mounted, there should be a circle of pockmarks from all the "other" errant bullets surrounding the exact location.


This is a picture of the same station from the late 1930's showing the much older branding of the time.


http://pleasantfamilyshopping.blogspot.com/2011/03/golden-age-of-gas-stations.html
"Like the other former Standard Oil companies, Standard of California was forced to use other trademarks when expanding outside their original court-assigned territory. Somehow, I think this task may have been easier for them than for the other ex-Standard Oil companies, given the aforementioned distinctiveness of the Chevron symbol and the suitability of the symbol’s name, “Chevron” for a brand. By the mid 20th century, they were marketing under three brand names – on the West Coast (the original territory) under Standard, and in the Rockies, the Southwest and the Northeast under the Chevron and Calso (which stood for California Standard Oil – see, you’re figuring this out!) banners."

"In 1972, the company renamed itself Chevron Corporation, and over the next few years the Standard name was phased out in favor of the Chevron brand. Much has been made of the fact that a few stations here and there still bear the Standard name, all these years later, for the purpose of fulfilling the “use requirement” of trademark law. A return to the Standard brand name on any scale is highly doubtful, but it’s certainly a nice tribute."

 

[drivesitfar]

SARGE: i love your signs and your shop set up so keep posting more pictures as you have time. also if you want to post up more than one picture of each sign you think is a little more special i bet we wouldn't mind.

it's rare to see many signs for sale around here and if you do they want a million dollars for them. so maybe to keep your picking fresh if you still like to pick up new and different stuff is to start making trades or sell some of the ones that maybe aren't your favorites to give you some extra funds to buy something you maybe really like better or that you thought you couldn't afford.

i bet all of your signs and stuff is worth quite a bit more than you paid for them as they should be.

again thanks for taking the time to collect and hang these and then take the time to show all of us.

cheers

 

[Sunbimmer]

I am really enjoying your thread here fantastic collection of petroliana and great atmosphere in your garage.

 

[hoho98925]

Very cool!!

 

[Drill Sergeant Arc]

Thanks again guys. I've been collecting more information on that specific STANDARD OIL sign. This is a really nice photo taken when the CMU block portion of the station was built in 1963. To the right of the juniper tree you can see a V.W. Bus with a luggage rack.

Go to the site if you want the best image.
http://photos.salemhistory.net/cdm/singleitem/collection/max/id/3460/rec/1

TITLE Millican, Deschutes County, Oregon, 1963
COLLECTION Ben Maxwell
DESCRIPTION W.A. Mellin had a store at Millican. This is his trading post as seen on June 11, 1963. Next to it a Chevron gas station is being built. Millican was named for George Millican, who started a ranch nearby around 1870. Historically, Millican has consisted of a store, gas station and post office . It was known as a "one man town" from 1920 until 1942, when its post office closed upon the retirement of its sole resident, postmaster William A. "Billie" Rahn.
DATE 1963-06-11
SUBJECTS Millican, Oregon; Deschutes County; store; Chevron gas station; Mellin, W.A.; Rahn, William A.
PHOTOGRAPHER Ben Maxwell

And here's a pic of Postmaster William A. "Billie" Rahn.

 

[Bib Overalls]

If the petrolomania movement is hot when you retire retire you an sell an item or two out of your shop every month to supplement your social security. Be living high on the hog.

My understanding is that the Pegasus sign is worth some big bucks.

 

[wasfast]

I've driven by there on my way to Burns multiple times. We used to drive from Hillsboro to Juntura to go bird hunting in December. That's a lonely place to decide to put down roots. Must have been an interesting decision by Mr. Rahn and especially the Mrs. Would have been an interesting conversation

 

[Drill Sergeant Arc]

Bib Overalls:
"If the petrolomania movement is hot when you retire retire you an sell an item or two out of your shop every month to supplement your social security. Be living high on the hog."[/I]

Bib, that will be my last stand, my final solution after all else fails.

wasfast:
"I've driven by there on my way to Burns multiple times. We used to drive from Hillsboro to Juntura to go bird hunting in December. That's a lonely place to decide to put down roots. Must have been an interesting decision by Mr. Rahn and especially the Mrs. Would have been an interesting conversation
Yesterday 08:45 PM"

I have an odd attraction to these oasis' in the desert. There are probably thousands of these single site locations across the western half of the country. There placement along various primary and secondary roads had hoped to take advantage of the frailty of the early automobiles, foremost being their lower speed, small fuel capacities and poor tires. Add to this the average travel time between two population centers in those days sometimes inspired the owners to add a few motel rooms to lent out as well.

I still remember when I was about 10 years old, my dad, who was born in 1920, telling me at the end of a Firestone commercial that when he was a kid some times when his folks drove down to the beach 90 miles away they could get 3 or 4 flat tires on the trip. He said they would throw all the extra tires they had in the trunk so they didn't have to pay through the nose at one of those stations. Ten years later I see this played out in a scene from the movie A Christmas Story when Ralphies dad gets the flat tire and has a bunch of spares in the trunk, I just busted up when I saw that.

As cars and their gas tanks became bigger and the cars' and trucks' reliability improved, and those crappy tires vastly improved from the technological developments of WWII, these little stations of "opportunity" became unsustainable as the newer vehicles just past on by with plenty of gas in their tank and rubber enough to drive across the country.

These places cannot be viable anymore and I'm always amazed when I see one resurrected by someone in what looks to me as a suicidal business venture, suicidal as in; you're probably going to die in a robbery from some crazy guy on the run from the cops.

I actually had stopped at the Millican Trading Post back in the late 70's when I was about 18 or so. I was working for my dad's sign company and me and his partner George were out doing those Standard Oil change outs but I can't for the life of me remember if we did any work at that location.

I just remember George telling me as we were driving out there that this guy was the town Mayor/sheriff/and whatever else and there was a jackrabbit ranch behind the store and rattle snakes there in some capacity. But the only thing that I remember clearly was when an old beat-up 50 Ford pick-up drove in pulling a one-horse trailer that was as beat-up as the truck. Then this cowboy gets out wearing the hat, six gun, chaps, bandanna and everthing, he gave me a look like he'd shoot me if he could get away with it. That was purty cool, that guy looked like he was the real thing.

That guy that ran that place was shot dead about 8 or so years later when he was in his 80's by a ex-con that was hired to help him.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millican,_Oregon
"In 1946, Bill Mellin bought Millican and ran the gas station, store and post office. The post office closed for good in 1953, but the store and gas station remained open for 30 more years. In 1985, Mellin put the community up for sale. In 1988, Mellin was murdered by a parolee from the Oregon State Penitentiary who worked for him in the store, making the town's population zero."

 

[Drill Sergeant Arc]

I almost forgot about this DELCO sign, I have it sort of hidden behind a travel trailer with some ladders leaning against it. It still needs to be lighted at some point.


This DELCO was from the same wholesale parts distributor as the GM and MOTORCRAFT signs.


This LES SCHWAB sign is appreciably smaller than any of the others I have seen around our area, this one location was only allowed a sign of this size. When it was replaced I almost passed it up, thinking it was too new to be worth displaying. I now think it's one of my favorites. It lights up rather nicely I think.


I found an image of what one of those old DOUGLAS OIL signs looked like.
This is what the sign looked like some twenty-five years ago.


And this is what the sign looked like around 12 years ago.

This sign was in Tehachapi, CA., at the location of a former truck stop. I did a check with Google street view and it is now gone. The business that is currently there is a wreaking yard, so I fear it was junked. Lets hope it's in some guys shop reunited with its face and shining bright.

 

[Drill Sergeant Arc]

Well, here's some of my fabrication equipment.
This is my welding area. The one on the left is a Airco MIG. with a spool gun.
The one on the right is an old P&H High Frequency A.C. TIG. If anyone is into vintage welding equipment this is a great machine. It welds wonderfully. It has a water cooled torch and a start switch mounted on the torch handle. This machine predates pedal controls and cannot be updated to one.




This is a Hobart T-300 arc welder, it has a 60% duty cycle and is a beast that can weld all day. I let one of the apprentices at work save some money and practice on this machine instead of paying all of the lab fees out at the college. Back in the corner is the oxy-acetylene and the propane that I use to run my torpedo heater or soldering iron furnace.


This is a Stryco spot welder circ. 1950's, a really nice machine to use. Has water cooling for the transformer core and welding tips.


Lincoln 225 for portable welding in the field. The generator is handy too. But this thing is too noisy to run at night if the power goes out. Kind of a gas hog too.

 

[Drill Sergeant Arc]

So, I wanted to get my old Christie battery charger fixed up and a little easier to use as I'm getting older and that little guy must weigh like 60 pounds with only a carry handle on top. It has those metal flat bar tangs sticking out that the cord and leads are wrapped around and if you don't hold that thing out enough as you walk with it you'll knock your knee into it repeatedly as you go. I've looked online and haven't seen an old one like it let alone a factory cart or hand truck that they may have sold separately for them. I wanted something like either an old battery service cart like a roll-around, or even better for my situation, a hand truck type of rig with a tool tray for all the stuff you usually have in different places and need to round up when they're needed. In searching the web I found this guy and its sort of the right idea but just needs accessorized a little.

I have lots of material hoarded away and an old hand truck that is even painted red so I was off and running. Charger's cord and cables were cracked, split and even missing insulation and were first replaced before going onto the cart build. I bought a set of #4 gauge X 20' jumper cables from O'Reilly's and cut them at 8' for the charger, leaving a still usable 12' for a axillary set. The unit has a very robust fan and louvered vents on the bottom, sides and back and even the top front. I wanted to keep them open to the free flow of air, especially the back and bottom that would most likely get blocked by the structural support I add to hold this heavy iron and copper brick. I had some heavy wire square mesh and rewelded the edges with the Stryco spot welding machine. I simply used 4 wire hangers to attach it to the hand truck and added two sag rods to box the charger in and hold the setup square and ridged.



The charger's legs extended through the wire mesh so I thought that would be a nice way to secure it with a couple of rods and wire spring clips.


Next I started cutting and bending that flat bar strapping on the back to support the 50 year old metal storage trays I'm reusing. The sheet metal guys like my dad would build hundreds of these, of all different sizes over the years for the different departments and trucks, for storage of nuts and bolts and all types of hardware. I like the look of patina and I want this cart to look as vintage as I can so I'm using my stock of old weathered brass bolts a square nuts to keep the look and feel of it right.


My wife picked me up a glass bottle that she thought could be automotive related like maybe and old oil bottle but I didn't recognize it as something special but I saved it and now I need a receptacle for the battery hydrometer. I made a bracket out of a welding wire spool center.





I added one more tray below the other to hold the 4 amp and trickle chargers and a ball syphon with its own antique brown glass receptacle, And also, I needed a tool holder up top for the plyers, wrenches and screw driver. I'm going to do up a vintage looking sign maybe like that Exide battery one on that old cart when I get the chance.