Above 1200 Sq/FT Restored 1930's Auto Shop

[BB767]

Thanks, i always wondered about the morton buildings. I am glad to hear they were good to deal with.
Overall are you happy with that building?

Short answer, absolutely!

I will get to this later when we start discussing the barn. But in the meantime, terrific attention to detail and first rate, quality construction materials. They stand behind their work completely and want you to be satisfied, without question. I've had a great experience with them.
And that's not even a paid commercial!!


Thomas

 

[BB767]

i just join the fourm just to comment on your shop. i must say u r a true man to what u have done and what an amazin' job done.im from rocky mount nc ,3 hrs from the coast, and i have no idea who u r personaly. but may u live a long happly filled life. there just not many folks w/ the talent u have and the fore sight that u seen. just as much as the other fellow. the 2 of yall r connected in history of the town yall r from. and may yall be known for what yall have done , even though it was for 2 differant purposes. may god bless the both of u and ur famliys. me? im just an everyday dude doing everyday things, givin' credit where credit do. ronnie nichols

Welcome Ronnie, I'm pretty new on this site myself. Now why do I think you text a lot?!

Thomas

 

[Enloe]

I had looked at the Morton literature a while back but I wasn't sure about it. The construction looks top notch. What are the dimensions of the main part and the "side shed" and why did you not go for a shed on both sides?

 

[HOTFR8]

Oh I'm sorry, I misunderstood. You wanted " BEFORE " photos of the barn? My bad. Sure I've got some, here are a few.

That's the car port under construction in front

Seen through the framing is the old tool shed in the center, which will be replaced by the barn. Shop's to the right in the distance.

There's some interesting things here that we'll come back to.

Warning, I got just tons more but I'll get to them soon enough. I want to finish the shop restoration post first. Thanks for the interest though.

Thomas

OOps I should have said before you started filling the place with tools etc. Still very impressive to see and thank you for posting those photos as well.

 

[BB767]

I installed a standby generator (8kw Winco) that runs on propane a couple of years ago. Pretty easy job and fun. I did all the wiring and used an Asco automatic transfer switch that feeds a subpanel (Square D QO type 100 amp panel). This gave me flexibility in the number of circuits I could control. It's been a godsend and I'm very happy with it. You might want to go larger but mine takes care of the well pump, all the freezers and refrigerators and the furnace blower and controls - really the only things we don't have on it are the electric oven, the electric clothes dryer and the heat pump and ac.

Tom

Tom, now that's what I'm taking about! That's what I want hear, another satisfied customer! You betcha the new house will have one. It's going to be designed in from the very beginning. Bet you've used it some this winter, right?
See Chris, there is a legitimate " need " for one! Honest

Thanks pal!

Thomas

 

[BB767]

OK, honest answer, what was your first reaction when you first saw this property and heard his plans for it??

I'm sure it was no surprise to her, as I bet he'd been talking about wanting it for years...

He is a car guy and we drag home some real pos projects sometime. But if you see it thru it can turn out great.

You guys are going to find out, if you haven't already, ask her a question and you better sit down.............it's gonna take a while................of course I mean that in a good way, ya that's it .......... in a good way.

Thomas

 

[BB767]

I had looked at the Morton literature a while back but I wasn't sure about it. The construction looks top notch. What are the dimensions of the main part and the "side shed" and why did you not go for a shed on both sides?

I don't think there is anyone who builds a better building, truly. Exceptional engineering. The footings are 5' deep to make sure it's in virgin soil, 24" diameter, every 8'. Even the carport footing are the same, 5' deep and 24" dia. Steel outside and steel inside. Many compare themselves with Morton, but Morton never seems to compare themselves with anyone else. There are many good building manufacturers out there, no question. This is the one I selected.

The main building is 48' X 72' and the lean to is 12' X 72' for an overall of 60' X 72'. If I went any larger I would have had to cut more Walnut trees down. As it was, it tore my heart out losing 3 very nice, straight mature trees. There are trees everywhere so no matter where I would have put it, something had to go.

These kept me from going any longer.

And these kept me from going any wider. I made it as large as I reasonably could given the confines I had to work with.You have to draw the line somewhere.

Thomas

 

[Kevin54]

Thomas........Do you have any closeups of the post detail where it goes into the ground. From what I can see it looks like a solid post into the ground, notched on both sides for a 2x. Is that correct in what I am seeing?
As far as a Morton building, around here they are the premier builders in the area. A little more expensive than the other pole builders but you never hear complaints about them like you do other builders.
Thomas....do you have a Google Earth shot showing the size of the property from overhead? If you do I imagine it is a more recent photo showing everything cleaned up vs. a shot from a few years ago when it wasn't?
Being a pilot, do you ever fly over your place? "Attention passengers...if you look out your right window, that is where it is happening"

Again...great writeup, great photos, and one of my favorite threads. Very much looking forward to when the house build pics start coming

And for Chris...I imagine the photo albums you keep with the details of the pictures pretty much will take up one complete wall. That has to be one set of family pictures that no one would get tired of looking at. Something to be very very proud of and something to hand down through the family.

 

[tdkkart]

Thomas........Do you have any closeups of the post detail where it goes into the ground. From what I can see it looks like a solid post into the ground, notched on both sides for a 2x. Is that correct in what I am seeing?

I can answer this, I think.
Morton buildings has for years used laminated posts made up of 3 2x6's laminated together rather than 4x6 or 6x6 solid posts. The posts are made in 2 sections, a pressure treated "stub" post that is placed in the ground first, and then the upper portion is attached after the stubs are placed.
I believe that the stub posts are also laminated 2x6 construction also, one long center piece, 2 shorter sides. The upper portion is then made to match.

Doing the posts this way makes construction much easier and more accurate. The stub posts can be placed and secured without having to deal with an entire 15 or 20' long post. Being laminated the posts are much more dimensionally stable over time than solid posts.
(I have seen a building severly damaged by a 6x6 solid corner post that decided to warp 6 months after the building was put up.)

Morton builds very high quality buildings that for many years were the standard of the business around here. They take pride in having talented and experienced building crews that have been with them for many years. Not sure if they still do it, they used to hold an annual company bash where they brought in Morton crews from all over the country and had conests to see who could build the best building the fastest.

 

[Enloe]

I have been on the morton site which reference # is this?

 

[markviii]

Our building is none of the reference numbers shown on the Morton site. It's custom designed (note the overhang/carport and the lean-to). The doors are also not from the company usually recommended by Morton (not because the recommended ones were inferior - just personal preference). I'm sure Tom will fill everyone in on this as he gets into this newer "barn" construction.

Chris

 

[justinmc]

It's a name tag from one of Mr. Johnson's shirts.

I just had to pause my hours of reading and reply to this post...

A few years ago I was at our family farm in E. Tx. Its been in the family for over 100yrs now and other than the main house thats been replaced twice and some other stuff its relatively similar. The main road/drive that comes off the main blacktop back into the homestead has been unchanged for most of that time. My great uncle and grandfather and I were sitting there chewing the fat and my great uncle says.. "look what I found out in the road the other day" and produces an old square head nail like those used to build some of the original fencing, etc on the place. I was walking and just looked down and "there it was".. you know that probably fell off a wagon 80+ years ago. Its amazing it was still there.

I like to think of stuff like that as little reminders that the people here before you like what you are doing. I'd say Mr. Johnson took a little walk around the shop and admired the handy work and the craftsmanship and on his way back out wanted to say "hey thanks for not forgetting me and appreciating and preserving the work I did here". Hats off to you sir.. Hats off to you.

 

[BB767]

Thomas........Do you have any closeups of the post detail where it goes into the ground. From what I can see it looks like a solid post into the ground, notched on both sides for a 2x. Is that correct in what I am seeing?
As far as a Morton building, around here they are the premier builders in the area. A little more expensive than the other pole builders but you never hear complaints about them like you do other builders.
Thomas....do you have a Google Earth shot showing the size of the property from overhead? If you do I imagine it is a more recent photo showing everything cleaned up vs. a shot from a few years ago when it wasn't?
Being a pilot, do you ever fly over your place? "Attention passengers...if you look out your right window, that is where it is happening"

Again...great writeup, great photos, and one of my favorite threads. Very much looking forward to when the house build pics start coming

And for Chris...I imagine the photo albums you keep with the details of the pictures pretty much will take up one complete wall. That has to be one set of family pictures that no one would get tired of looking at. Something to be very very proud of and something to hand down through the family.

Kevin the coordinates for Google Earth were posted here I believe by some kind member in the first 10 pages or so I think. I've only seen that image once, about a year ago, so I don't know what it's showing right now.

OK, I admit back when I was flying domestic transcontinental flights, at times we'd fly right over this area and a couple of times almost right overhead Philo. I'd always do a PA about Champaign/Urbana, home of the University of Illinois and point out Willard Airport where I'd learn to fly and then I'd casually mention the little iddy biddy town we were over was the Center Of The Universe. I knew this for a fact since that's' where I lived. After we landed, invariably some passengers would stop by the cockpit to comment on that. It was always received favorably and with the spirit that I meant it. One of the few perks I have. Flying over water at night now doesn't leave much to comment on.

Thanks Kevin for the interest.

Thomas

 

[BB767]

I can answer this, I think.
Morton buildings has for years used laminated posts made up of 3 2x6's laminated together rather than 4x6 or 6x6 solid posts. The posts are made in 2 sections, a pressure treated "stub" post that is placed in the ground first, and then the upper portion is attached after the stubs are placed.
I believe that the stub posts are also laminated 2x6 construction also, one long center piece, 2 shorter sides. The upper portion is then made to match.

Doing the posts this way makes construction much easier and more accurate. The stub posts can be placed and secured without having to deal with an entire 15 or 20' long post. Being laminated the posts are much more dimensionally stable over time than solid posts.
(I have seen a building severly damaged by a 6x6 solid corner post that decided to warp 6 months after the building was put up.)

Morton builds very high quality buildings that for many years were the standard of the business around here. They take pride in having talented and experienced building crews that have been with them for many years. Not sure if they still do it, they used to hold an annual company bash where they brought in Morton crews from all over the country and had conests to see who could build the best building the fastest.

All correct and accurate. Couldn't have said it better myself, thanks. The crew I had has won numerous awards from Morton. I believe the foreman had 18 years with Morton and the other 3 team members had several as well. All very sharp, conscientious fellows who wanted to do it right. Pride in their work was very evident.


Thomas

 

[BB767]

I have been on the morton site which reference # is this?

I've got an email in to Morton to find out. I suspect the building is so new it hasn't been posted yet. I'll let you know what I find out.

Thomas

 

[markviii]

Tom would call and alert me to the time he would be flying overhead. I'd load the kids in the car, go out to the cemetery across the road and wait for the brighter lights to appear (not just the ones on wing tips). We got to see him a couple times. Couldn't see if he waggled the wings though!

Chris

 

[Photo]

zrx61,

38* 59' 48.26" N
88* 09' 31.22" W

Tom,


Here are the Latitude and Longitude coordinates for those who want to see the homestead in Google Earth. I originally put them in post #227!

Lane

p.s. Image Date in Google Earth is April 5th, 2008. Your new barn does not appear in this image (at least on my computer).

 

[markviii]

Thanks, Lane. You're correct - no new building on that date in the Google Earth picture. Sept 8, 2009 was the delivery date for the "stuff" to begin the build. There are still lots of the old trees on the property and the grass to the east (right side of the picture) isn't planted yet. We did major thinning of trees after this picture was taken. Upper left of picture is the site which had to be cleared, then built up with clay (about 50 tandem loads is I recall) which then was graded by our master backhoe guy. Tom will fill you in with more accurate info and, of course more pictures, later. If I didn't have all the pictures and my calendar, I'd never remember everything we've done in the past 4 years!

Chris

 

[Steve from Socal]

Thomas,

What do use to commute? Is your domicile EWR? I would guess you go to ORD or MDW?

Steve

 

[Hiball]

I figured i would contribute a little information to this thread, I met Thomas and his son today as they swung thru my neck of the woods and dropped 2 Walker 784 floor jacks off for me to rebuild. I have enjoyed reading this thread from the very begining and im pleased to have a very small part in his vision. I will be taking some pictures of the rebuild and will forward them to Thomas so he can pick and choose on what he wants to add to the thread as i dont want to hijack his work so far. Im sure Thomas is probably catching some ZZzz's currently as they had to do quite a bit of driving over the last couple days.


Steven.

 

[markviii]

Tom should be walking in the door with our son within a few minutes (it's now 8:00pm Central Time here). They left Wed. night 9:00pm (yesterday) to drive to pick up another floor jack in Kansas that he dropped off with Hiball (I assume) along the other one he's restoring. He's accustomed to 24 hour "days" with the schedule he keeps.

Chris

 

[Hiball]

Tom should be walking in the door with our son within a few minutes (it's now 8:00pm Central Time here). They left Wed. night 9:00pm (yesterday) to drive to pick up another floor jack in Kansas that he dropped off with Hiball (I assume) along the other one he's restoring. He's accustomed to 24 hour "days" with the schedule he keeps.

Chris

Should be home soon, Im guessing he left my place around 3pm and i believe he said it was around a 5 hours drive in. Im all to familiar with those 24 hours days and never knowing when im gonna be home with my Job as a Locomotive Engineer.

 

[BB767]

I figured i would contribute a little information to this thread, I met Thomas and his son today as they swung thru my neck of the woods and dropped 2 Walker 784 floor jacks off for me to rebuild. I have enjoyed reading this thread from the very begining and im pleased to have a very small part in his vision. I will be taking some pictures of the rebuild and will forward them to Thomas so he can pick and choose on what he wants to add to the thread as i dont want to hijack his work so far. Im sure Thomas is probably catching some ZZzz's currently as they had to do quite a bit of driving over the last couple days.


Steven.

Should be home soon, Im guessing he left my place around 3pm and i believe he said it was around a 5 hours drive in. Im all to familiar with those 24 hours days and never knowing when im gonna be home with my Job as a Locomotive Engineer.

Steven I walked in the door at 20:03, just a few minutes back. The trip went perfect from start to finish. To everyone who reads this thread some quick background. I joined this site and first posted on Garage Journal, December 27th, 2009 ( about 6 weeks ago now ) looking for information to restore the Walker floor jack as seen here. I was quickly informed that Hiball was the resident expert on all things hydraulic. One thing led to another etc. and I was asked to share some pictures of the old shop restoration here.

That's what got this whole thread on my shop restoration project started, so blame Hiball, it's all his fault and maybe Bull too. I was just an innocent lamb led astray here! So for the last 23 hours or so, my son and I drove 1,153 miles to pick up another recent acquisition, a wonderful Walker 4 ton that is virtually identical to the one first seen here only nicer, then stopped by Hiball's shop to drop it off and the original one for hydraulic refurbishment and returned home. Once that is completed we'll bring them both back to our shop to finish the restoration. Upside to all this was I got to spend 23 hours in very close proximity with my son ( always informative! ) and got to finally meet Steven, who by the way, is an extremely fine gentleman. I'm confident the jacks are in good hands and will function better than new when he is done. He is documenting his work and I am documenting mine as well. They should both turn out quite nice as everyone will get to see. It takes effort, but that's never stopped me yet!

That said I'm not sure I'll get to post some more pictures I had planned for tonight. I'm a little tired! I will get them out here, promise. Thanks to everyone for your understanding and support.......again!

Thomas

 

[Blkvoodoo]

Summer of 1988 I worked for a tool repair shop in Morton Il, ( Morton Electro Mech, long since closed ) we did the tool repairs for Morton Buildings, the business was actually started by a friend of one of the owners of MB just for that reason.

We'd get crates of tools, nail guns, skil saws, screw guns, sawzalls, you name it, all beat to submission. wheel barrow air compressors, some crushed beyond recognition.

My job was to make something work out of that pile, using as little new parts, in the least amount of time possible. THAT was a challenge !

The motto at the time, " if it's in the way, run it over, you waste too much time moving it out of the way "

Bostich 'N16' framing guns, with the guts blown out of them ( literally ) they were driving resin coated 16d nails, and wanted them to sink, WITHOUT having to go back and re-hammer, so the air pressure was maxed to the compressor ability (130psi), the guns might last a whole build, depending on the user. went thru a lot of top and bottom bumps and other internal components.

Nice buildings, rough on tools! hoping they have found more suitable products for the application 20 some years later.

 

[8-Track]

That is an incredible transformation!

 

[BB767]

The various door thresholds were another problem that needed to be solved. The lift room floor was about 2" higher than the original shop floor and I needed to tie them together somehow.

The solution we can up with was to use polished aluminum diamond plate, installed on an angle. The sides were bent to match the different floor levels and slightly beveled to relieve the sharp 90 degree edge.

A view of the other side of the doorway. Because the wall on this side had baseboard wood trim this is how we decided to trim it out.

The doorway into the lift room by the welding bench/Pepsi machine.The angle on the diamond plate is clearly seen in this low profile picture.

Fussing with the small details trimming out the threshold. Later I went around to all the wood base trim and stained and sealed the ends where it had been cut to install it.The doorway side stainless trim wrapped around the corner by about 2" which is why the wood base stops short of the doorway. I butted the wood base to that trim.

Aluminum is soft so I make a point of never stepping on the threshold if I can avoid it. I now unconscionably step over the diamond plate. In time it will get scuffed of course but it can be polished out any time it gets bad.

This is the door in the lift room which is also an outside door. It's a doorway that was there originally. There was nothing square about that threshold at all. It was concrete with a brick in the middle of it. To make it presentable I formed a piece of stainless steel to serve as a ' cap ' to cover the concrete. Then the normal door threshold was installed over the cap. Look closely and you'll see that every edge of that cap is tapered in someway. Up and down, in and out, everywhere. This made a nasty looking part of the shop just ' go away '. You never even give it a glance now, where before it stood out terribly.
More is on the way...........

Thomas

 

[BB767]

Those of you on the east coast after the blizzard and anyone in a warm climate might appreciate these. The captions were submitted to me for the Terraplane so I thought this would be a good spot to use them.

Sure it needs some work. But it ran good when my grand pappy parked it here.

Is this the plan for greener cars that GM submitted to Obama?

Is that the new tree-car that I've heard so much about?

Car shows some rust.

Just needs a little TLC.

Well that's another fine mess you've gotten into, Ollie!

Let's get'r ready for Barrett Jackson next year. We'll be rich!!

For Sale - 1937 Terraplane. Not running & needs some TLC. Original wood'n wheel. Bring your trailer ( and a chainsaw ) located in Philo.

Acme Steering Wheel Lock. Grow your own security system.

Thomas

 

[Speedy2222]

2 words, Simply Spectacular. I love stumbling across old buildings and finding unique treasures inside like you have. I just got done reading all 30 pages and am just overwhelmed at all the progress that was made on that chunk of land. All in all it looks amazing. I didn't sign up just to post in this thread, i am actually trying to get ideas for my own build. I was wondering if there was anyway i can stop in and check the place out sometime.

 

[BB767]

I like to think of stuff like that as little reminders that the people here before you like what you are doing. I'd say Mr. Johnson took a little walk around the shop and admired the handy work and the craftsmanship and on his way back out wanted to say "hey thanks for not forgetting me and appreciating and preserving the work I did here". Hats off to you sir.. Hats off to you.

I think he did too. This is the first time in my life I've ever had any experience even remotely like that. It just reinforced my belief that the property went to the right person.Thank you for taking the time to express your thoughts.

Thomas

 

[BB767]

Tom,


Here are the Latitude and Longitude coordinates for those who want to see the homestead in Google Earth. I originally put them in post #227!

Lane

p.s. Image Date in Google Earth is April 5th, 2008. Your new barn does not appear in this image (at least on my computer).

Lane, thanks for posting that! I had done the big tree clean up to the east ( on the right ) the previous fall, '07. The grass is just starting to green up in that picture. Here everything looks awfully brown. Anytime I walked out there after I did all my grading, if it was wet at all it was terribly muddy, but no more!!

Top left is where the barn now resides. You can see the tops of 3 wonderful, straight Walnut trees that are now furniture lumber. I wasn't kidding when I said it tore my heart out to cut them down in their prime. I did get some good lumber so all is not lost.

In the future when these satellite images are real time, you guys are going to keep tabs on me and start telling me when I need to mow the lawn aren't you??

Thomas

 

[BB767]

Thomas,

What do use to commute? Is your domicile EWR? I would guess you go to ORD or MDW?

Steve

Steve I drive 3 hours to ORD and hop a flight to EWR. Between those two, I have to deal with 2 of the most delayed airports in the world. I learned about multiple back-ups years ago.

Thomas

 

[METALHEALTH]

I just spent the last two nights reading all about this build/restoration project and enjoyed every moment of it - thank you. I am very glad that you did not post everything in descending order from beginning to end because I would have never believed that what you accomplished was possible. The clean-up, the care, the build, the end result… amazing. Thanks so much for taking the time to share with the rest of us. You have turned the impossible into the spectacular.

Cheers,

 

[BB767]

2 words, Simply Spectacular. I love stumbling across old buildings and finding unique treasures inside like you have. I just got done reading all 30 pages and am just overwhelmed at all the progress that was made on that chunk of land. All in all it looks amazing. I didn't sign up just to post in this thread, i am actually trying to get ideas for my own build. I was wondering if there was anyway i can stop in and check the place out sometime.

Welcome Speedy2222, You are going to find some amazingly talented folks on this site. I am really impressed with what is going on here. I'm confident you will find ideas galore. Everyone certainly made me feel at home here and I bet you will too.

Thomas

 

[Steve from Socal]

Thomas,

That is what I thought although I envisioned a gleaming 195 or Bonanza as the first leg. That is a heck of a routine, I have a friend here who lives a couple hours north of LAX on a good day that is based in MSP.

Steve

 

[BB767]

I just spent the last two nights reading all about this build/restoration project and enjoyed every moment of it - thank you. I am very glad that you did not post everything in descending order from beginning to end because I would have never believed that what you accomplished was possible. The clean-up, the care, the build, the end result… amazing. Thanks so much for taking the time to share with the rest of us. You have turned the impossible into the spectacular.

Cheers,

MENTALHEALTH, not having everything in descending order allows me a great deal of latitude. The best part is you just never know what will turn up. For example, right now while I'm waiting on the floor jacks, here's a little peak at a clean up I started.

This is one of the 15 gallon, bulk oil storage tanks I mentioned and pictured earlier on page 7, post #122.

By just peeling away the years of shop grim underneath is.....

......a beautiful piece of vintage equipment. Almost like magic isn't it?. It's just amazing to me what's hidden underneath. I've got a building full of items that I removed from this shop that I'm just starting to bring back in here and start clean up and restoration of.
Sharing is what this site and this hobby is all about isn't it? The feedback and kind words I've received from you and others is extremely rewarding to me. Makes it all worthwhile, really!!
Check back from time to time, there's always something brewing here it seems.

Thomas

 

[BB767]

Thomas,

That is what I thought although I envisioned a gleaming 195 or Bonanza as the first leg. That is a heck of a routine, I have a friend here who lives a couple hours north of LAX on a good day that is based in MSP.

Steve

That's the dream we all had back in the 60's and 70's isn't it? Fly your own aircraft to work. I used to be based in Guam ( GUM ) in the South Pacific flying for Air Micronesia and I commuted to and from Philo the 2 years I was based there. Chris was working on her Masters Degree at the time so she was so busy she didn't miss me......much. It took 2 days flying with a layover in Honolulu to get to work or get home. But then I only had to do it once a month.

Here we are turning final into Majuro, Marshall Islands. Who wouldn't travel 2 days to get to fly a 727 into places like that!!

We love flying so much that's what we'll go through to do it. Crazy business we're in isn't it? I wouldn't have it any other way.

oops, guess we got off topic here....

Thomas

 

[Steve from Socal]

Thomas,

The oil tank, floor jacks and other vintage shop equipment are the icing on the cake!! Not only is the stuff made to last several lifetimes it has style and grace of people who took pride in what the made. I am a collector of old junque myself and truly appreciate the design of things that not only work well but have design elements that enhance the appearance of the item. I have an old Kearney & Trecker milling machine that was made just before WWII; it and my lathe are both pieces of industrial art of the highest form. Simple things like jacks and oil cans had panache. Companies took the effort to distinguish their products with a unique look. Do you have more of these oil tanks? Many shops had a rack with several.

Steve

 

[markviii]

Chris chiming in here...

While Tom was commuting to Guam (gone 3 weeks, home three weeks during that two-year stint), I was, indeed, studying for my Masters in Ed Admin, teaching and being department chair full time, maintaining/renting our 6 apartment buildings, sitting on two library boards, and raising a 3 and 5 year old. Keeping busy helped with the long absences. I also learned many skills (out of necessity due to not being able to afford to hire out jobs): replacing electric sockets and light switches, routing drains, replacing wax rings on toilets, minor drywall repairs, minor repairs on door locks, laying sheet goods on kitchen/bath floors, regrouting tile, refinishing wood floors, painting, wallpapering, rebuilding/replacing Delta faucets and FluidMasters, relighting pilots on furnaces/water heaters..... Eventually we could afford to hire these jobs out, but I knew if things were being done right. I also learned to not keep long lists of things for Tom to do when he came home. Traveling West to East, especially across multiple time zones, is horrible for jet lag. And knowing there were lots of things that had to get done would keep him away from fun projects.

One perk during those two years was being able to fly for free from our local airport 5 miles away to our apartment in Kingwood, TX for the weekend with the kids and meeting Tom in HNL (without the kids) on his layovers. I've got friends there, so I would go earlier and stay longer than he was there. The good thing about his job is he doesn't bring it home with him. Now that I'm retired, I don't bring mine home either!

 

[BB767]

Thomas,

The oil tank, floor jacks and other vintage shop equipment are the icing on the cake!! Not only is the stuff made to last several lifetimes it has style and grace of people who took pride in what the made. I am a collector of old junque myself and truly appreciate the design of things that not only work well but have design elements that enhance the appearance of the item. I have an old Kearney & Trecker milling machine that was made just before WWII; it and my lathe are both pieces of industrial art of the highest form. Simple things like jacks and oil cans had panache. Companies took the effort to distinguish their products with a unique look. Do you have more of these oil tanks? Many shops had a rack with several.

Steve

Steve, the shop had 3 in it. Go to page 7, Post # 122 and there's a picture ( about the 8th one down ) of the original cleaning tank and the oil tanks are to the right of that cleaning tank.

Here they are. I'll go over the whole clean up and restoration of them in the future along with more and better pictures.

Thomas

 

[ihredo4]

Thomas, This just keeps getting more and more interesting. All in all I love it. A few things would have changed to suit my taste but like I said I love it. Keep up the good work my friend. Oh and thanks for showing us.