I recently made a post in the 1930's shop restoration thread that I had spent a lot of time in a very similar shop and that I might have some pictures. Well, I found the negatives and scanned them in. I thought I'd make a new thread instead of hi-jacking Thomas'! 
Don Hall was the owner of this shop, an old Navy guy. He started the business in 1962 after working at Helmhold (sp?) Volkswagen in Raleigh. Don specialized in European cars, mostly British and German.
I met Don around 1990 when I was going to college. He helped me keep a '78 MGB running and kind of took me under his wing. I ended up helping with odd jobs at the shop and eventually Don gave me a key to get in whenever I wanted. Spent many weekends there working on cars and learning tricks of the trade. Even restored a '67 MGB with Don, he paid for everything and I did a lot of the work. It was a great deal for me as I got to drive it whenever I wanted when it was done.
The shop was closed in Summer '97. The city of Raleigh was doing improvements to the bridge on Morgan St., which would have rendered the entryway to the shop inaccessible. The city moved everything from the shop to an old fire station that Don owned out in the country. Don passed away in Feb. 2010 and I saw everything in the fire station at that time when paying my respects. Sadly, most of it was still packed in boxes. Not sure what will happen to all of it, but none of my business at this point.
The pictures following were taken the morning before the movers started packing up everything. Don had done a bunch of cleaning up (if you can believe that!), so it was actually a little easier to walk around than normal. When the shop was full-swing, there were about 3-4 places to pull in cars and work on them. He had employed one full-time person, but they quit and started their own business. After that, he had an old friend come by most days to help out.
Enjoy
Taken from across Morgan St., this was one way at this time. To get cars in the shop, had to watch for traffic coming over the bridge, swing out and pull in straight:
You can see the moving vans here:
To the left, walking in through the garage door entry:
The "parts counter"... I vividly remember Don leaning on this, talking on the phone, sipping a beer after-hours. The bathroom was to the right of the counter:
Parts rack, gobs of Lucas and British car parts:
The main aisle, looking towards the back of the shop:
More parts, sink for washing hands and a water fountain:
The faithful old compressor, I can still hear this thing kicking on:
Mountain of engine parts on back LH corner, I think there was a work bench by the window:
Room at the back of the shop, always stunk back there and very damp, leaking roof and walls, there was a slide door to get in, I don't remember seeing the floor in there before this picture was taken, so Don had been doing some cleanup in preparation of the move:
Back in the main building, looking back towards the LH corner, you can see the fender of his 1928? International truck... was a restoration in progress:
Picture taken pointing back towards the entrance from the back, better view of the truck. I remember that big fan running in the summertime, it was really loud!
Turning back towards the RH corner, some stairs and an old doorway:
Turning towards the RH side wall with workbenches and equipment:
Another RH side wall shot:
Turning back, RH side:
Opposite side of the International truck, looking toward LH side:
Workbenches on RH side, parts cabinet:
Pic of the 2nd '67 MGB that Don and I were restoring together, we never finished it:
Another MGB, looking back towards front RH side of shop:
Closer image of RH front corner, this was where a lot of stuff got piled up!
Looking back:
Front office:
Don's office, stepping in through the door, stuff piled everywhere!
Turning back towards the left:
Turning back towards right, old stuff everywhere!:
Back towards office entrance. I forgot what Don called the alligator with deer antlers. He was a jokester for sure and this was just one of his many items of interest:
Back out in the shop, looking back towards the entry, the building used to be a dry cleaning business and I think the tile in the floor was the original entrance area:
Display cabinet by the door entryway, I used to marvel at the contents, some neat old signs too:
Last pic, looking toward the garage entry, the old Coke machine. I bought many a bottle out of there. Something about drinking a Coke out of an old machine. The smell the old machine leaves on the bottles, just a slight musty smell. Lots of things like this spark old memories.
Hope everyone enjoys the pics. I'll be happy to answer any questions. Maybe someone on here also remembers the old shop?
Don Hall was the owner of this shop, an old Navy guy. He started the business in 1962 after working at Helmhold (sp?) Volkswagen in Raleigh. Don specialized in European cars, mostly British and German.
I met Don around 1990 when I was going to college. He helped me keep a '78 MGB running and kind of took me under his wing. I ended up helping with odd jobs at the shop and eventually Don gave me a key to get in whenever I wanted. Spent many weekends there working on cars and learning tricks of the trade. Even restored a '67 MGB with Don, he paid for everything and I did a lot of the work. It was a great deal for me as I got to drive it whenever I wanted when it was done.
The shop was closed in Summer '97. The city of Raleigh was doing improvements to the bridge on Morgan St., which would have rendered the entryway to the shop inaccessible. The city moved everything from the shop to an old fire station that Don owned out in the country. Don passed away in Feb. 2010 and I saw everything in the fire station at that time when paying my respects. Sadly, most of it was still packed in boxes. Not sure what will happen to all of it, but none of my business at this point.
The pictures following were taken the morning before the movers started packing up everything. Don had done a bunch of cleaning up (if you can believe that!), so it was actually a little easier to walk around than normal. When the shop was full-swing, there were about 3-4 places to pull in cars and work on them. He had employed one full-time person, but they quit and started their own business. After that, he had an old friend come by most days to help out.
Enjoy
Taken from across Morgan St., this was one way at this time. To get cars in the shop, had to watch for traffic coming over the bridge, swing out and pull in straight:
You can see the moving vans here:
To the left, walking in through the garage door entry:
The "parts counter"... I vividly remember Don leaning on this, talking on the phone, sipping a beer after-hours. The bathroom was to the right of the counter:
Parts rack, gobs of Lucas and British car parts:
The main aisle, looking towards the back of the shop:
More parts, sink for washing hands and a water fountain:
The faithful old compressor, I can still hear this thing kicking on:
Mountain of engine parts on back LH corner, I think there was a work bench by the window:
Room at the back of the shop, always stunk back there and very damp, leaking roof and walls, there was a slide door to get in, I don't remember seeing the floor in there before this picture was taken, so Don had been doing some cleanup in preparation of the move:
Back in the main building, looking back towards the LH corner, you can see the fender of his 1928? International truck... was a restoration in progress:
Picture taken pointing back towards the entrance from the back, better view of the truck. I remember that big fan running in the summertime, it was really loud!
Turning back towards the RH corner, some stairs and an old doorway:
Turning towards the RH side wall with workbenches and equipment:
Another RH side wall shot:
Turning back, RH side:
Opposite side of the International truck, looking toward LH side:
Workbenches on RH side, parts cabinet:
Pic of the 2nd '67 MGB that Don and I were restoring together, we never finished it:
Another MGB, looking back towards front RH side of shop:
Closer image of RH front corner, this was where a lot of stuff got piled up!
Looking back:
Front office:
Don's office, stepping in through the door, stuff piled everywhere!
Turning back towards the left:
Turning back towards right, old stuff everywhere!:
Back towards office entrance. I forgot what Don called the alligator with deer antlers. He was a jokester for sure and this was just one of his many items of interest:
Back out in the shop, looking back towards the entry, the building used to be a dry cleaning business and I think the tile in the floor was the original entrance area:
Display cabinet by the door entryway, I used to marvel at the contents, some neat old signs too:
Last pic, looking toward the garage entry, the old Coke machine. I bought many a bottle out of there. Something about drinking a Coke out of an old machine. The smell the old machine leaves on the bottles, just a slight musty smell. Lots of things like this spark old memories.
Hope everyone enjoys the pics. I'll be happy to answer any questions. Maybe someone on here also remembers the old shop?
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