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1935 Gas Station Resurrection

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Texano11

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Feb 9, 2017
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10
Location
Padova, Italy
Hi Joe, I've been following your activity here for a while, this is a great build! very lucky to find this property!
Wonder if town's historical society has some more info on the building...
Are you leaving the two columns like that or are you going to install an appropriate lintel and then take the columns off? I guess leaving them may be bothering while moving from one bay to the other.
 

tjratz

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Aug 1, 2013
Messages
6
something vintage would look cool painted there as well
 

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teul2

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Jun 17, 2015
Messages
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Location
Carrollton, MS
something vintage would look cool painted there as well

That one is pretty sweet. I'd be willing to bet that you could talk to the local high school art teacher, supply the paint, and let some high schoolers paint it for free as some project for them.
 

Jo Diesel

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Aug 26, 2015
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402
Location
St. Johns MI
Make the hole building a Sinclair art theme project. Get it painted for free. Bet the art teacher would think it was AWESOME !
 

crusty chevy

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Mar 2, 2017
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NE ATL
This thread and your Morton home shop prompted me to join this forum. I absolutely love what you are doing. I used to live in an old shool house in Maryland, miss the old girl and her history. I currently live in an intown area of NE Atlanta. There is a similar sized building available here that needs the same amount of work for $2.3 million dollars. Never gonna happen. I am just guessing but I assume the Deere factory does not pay that well. The cost of living/property in Iowa must be MUCH less. Super jealous, I need to move to the country. Hopefully retire to some place just like what you have.
 

madoc1

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Dec 11, 2012
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crusty, i don't know about iowa, but there are many smaller towns with a dwindling population out there. i am sure a trip through the midwest and west would yield a place you could afford.

jim
 

JC23

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Northcoast
crusty, i don't know about iowa, but there are many smaller towns with a dwindling population out there. i am sure a trip through the midwest and west would yield a place you could afford.

jim

...and with plenty of old buildings for sale.
 
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HD FLHX

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Jul 10, 2011
Messages
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Central Iowa
Hi Joe, I've been following your activity here for a while, this is a great build! very lucky to find this property!
Wonder if town's historical society has some more info on the building...
Are you leaving the two columns like that or are you going to install an appropriate lintel and then take the columns off? I guess leaving them may be bothering while moving from one bay to the other.

I really don't think the columns will be in the way. There is a 5 to 6 feet gap between them. A 4 post lift is going to be installed in the middle bay so it would also be in the way of moving anything big from bay to bay through those openings.

Yea, think you need a sign painted on the brick up front. Something like this.

Maybe in the future. At the moment I'm just trying to focus on getting the building functional. If any painted signage is done I'll probably have it done on a piece of thick plywood framed out and hung on the wall.

This thread and your Morton home shop prompted me to join this forum. I absolutely love what you are doing. I used to live in an old shool house in Maryland, miss the old girl and her history. I currently live in an intown area of NE Atlanta. There is a similar sized building available here that needs the same amount of work for $2.3 million dollars. Never gonna happen. I am just guessing but I assume the Deere factory does not pay that well. The cost of living/property in Iowa must be MUCH less. Super jealous, I need to move to the country. Hopefully retire to some place just like what you have.

First off welcome to the forum. There is a vast amount of information and cool projects posted by many talented knowledgeable members without a ton of drama. Its the only forum I post anything on because of that.

Deere has provided well for myself, but not 2.3 Million well :eek: I will be in this building including sale price and renovation costs for less than 55k. This old Chevy dealership building was up for sale last summer in a town about an hour south of me for around 100-120k if memory serves me right. There are some really neat small towns through out Iowa and the midwest for that matter with a quality of life second to none IMO. Only negative to some is the winters. Personally I don't mind cold weather and snow for a few months a year.

 
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HD FLHX

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Been a busy week at work so I didn't get a ton of time at the building. I was able to start installing some of the lighting in middle bay. I put up two rows with three fixtures. Two 8ft and one 4ft fixture in each row. They are 4 bulb T8 fluorescents.








 

BUGTHUG

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Nov 12, 2010
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Location
Kansas
Very nice job, as usual:thumbup: I can't stand a dark shop, I like it as bright as a summer day in Miami :) I can't remember if its been ask, are you going to paint the walls of the osb? What kind of screws are you using on the osb? Thanks.
 

madoc1

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Dec 11, 2012
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spicewood, tx
Very nice job, as usual:thumbup: I can't stand a dark shop, I like it as bright as a summer day in Miami :) I can't remember if its been ask, are you going to paint the walls of the osb? What kind of screws are you using on the osb? Thanks.

bug, a way back he said no to paint and showed some pics of his home shop w/ bare osb.

jim
 
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HD FLHX

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Central Iowa
Very nice job, as usual:thumbup: I can't stand a dark shop, I like it as bright as a summer day in Miami :) I can't remember if its been ask, are you going to paint the walls of the osb? What kind of screws are you using on the osb? Thanks.

Like madoc1 mentioned I don't plan to paint the osb, but I am going to paint the brick dividing walls to clean them up. I used standard 1 5/8ths drywall screws to hang the osb

HD--You have created an outstanding thread. Add me to your fan club. :thumbup:

Just wondering about the florescent lights. Why not LED?

Cost was the biggest factor, There is roughly $1100 in fixtures and bulbs for the T8's. LED's would have been close to $2500. Yes I know they last longer and use a fraction of the energy to power them, but being that this is a hobby use building that may only have the lights on a few hours here and there. It would take a long time for them to make up the difference with energy savings. That money is better put towards other equipment like a new Quincy air compressor or the 4 post lift.

While on the lighting subject I did install the fixtures and ran all the conduit for the lights in the south bays today. 4 rows of 3 fixtures and lots of up and down a ladder




 
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camarosrus69

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Aug 7, 2013
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South central Kansas
You mentioned that you are putting in a 4-post lift. Are you getting it from Greg Smith? I seem to recall them being in or near Des Moines. That sounds close to you. I plan on getting an in-ground scissor lift from them in the near future.
 
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HD FLHX

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You mentioned that you are putting in a 4-post lift. Are you getting it from Greg Smith? I seem to recall them being in or near Des Moines. That sounds close to you. I plan on getting an in-ground scissor lift from them in the near future.

Yes, it will be from them. I was happy to see them open a store in the Des Moines metro. I bought a mid rise scissor lift, blast cabinet and a parts washer from the Indianapolis store. It will be nice having a store about 20 minutes away now.
 
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HD FLHX

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Been working on the plumbing in the restroom this week. Nothing really exciting to show, but I did finally find a couple items for the gas station office I had been after for a while. First thing was an original Extra Duty oil can bank. They repop these, but I wanted an original.




Second was a smaller counter top parts catalog rack. I have some original Ford truck parts catalogs from the 50's that my grandpa had saved that will go in it.




I also bought these old service signs. I'll find someplace back in the shop to hang them, maybe on the outside of the restroom walls.

 
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HD FLHX

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Quick update on what I've been working on the last week or so. One of the last major inside projects was the restroom. I built the room a few months back, but had yet to plumb it. A water line had to be ran from the meter mounted on the dividing wall in the fourth bay up to the restroom in the 2nd bay and all the waste line had to be plumbed and connected to the existing waste pipe. (Note the wiring in the breaker box is just temporary. I left it long so I could organize the breaker layout once all the circuits are ran.)

The supply line is 3/4" CPVC up to the restroom where it reduces down to 1/2" at that point.



I lined the inside walls with FRP, the floor is vinyl tile. A tankless hot water heater is installed on the back wall.





A heating duct is right above so I was able to tap into it for a register



I ran a water and a drain line to the outside wall for a small laundry sink. Also ran a water line for a spigot.



I'm headed to the building shortly to get started hanging OSB on the outside of the restroom then finishing it off with galvanized pro-rib panels. Once the restroom walls are done I can get started hanging the ceiling in this bay.
 

zcherry27

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Mar 16, 2017
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St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin
HD,

Just wanted to say I stumbled across your 30x45 shop thread while do some research for a shop I want. Thanks to your sig, I didn't get much done at work the last two nights while I got caught up on your other threads lol. you continue to blow my mind with the stuff you build/fabricate. Now I'm curious if any of the parts I make for JD at my company make it down to you guys. Sorry for the long ramble keep up the great work I look forward to keeping up with your projects
 

BUGTHUG

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Nov 12, 2010
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Kansas
Hey Joe,
I think since you are close to Waterloo you might be interested in a nice auction coming up in May. This will give you a heads up to save your money or take out a small loan.
Its a Rich Penn auction, and it stars on the 19th--21st of may at the Sullivan Brothers Convention Center. This auction is massive of all the cool collector stuff, and I'm sure you will find something for you garage. You can check out the web site at RichPennAuction.com Says you can preview on Thursday at 1pm to 5pm. Wish I could attend.
 
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HD FLHX

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Central Iowa
HD,

Just wanted to say I stumbled across your 30x45 shop thread while do some research for a shop I want. Thanks to your sig, I didn't get much done at work the last two nights while I got caught up on your other threads lol. you continue to blow my mind with the stuff you build/fabricate. Now I'm curious if any of the parts I make for JD at my company make it down to you guys. Sorry for the long ramble keep up the great work I look forward to keeping up with your projects

It always amazes me when somebody will take the time and interest to read through 20+ page threads. Thats the biggest compliment anybody can give a guy. There is a good chance we may use parts you make even if its not sent to us directly. We get our cabs and engines from Deere factories in Waterloo and hydraulic cylinders from Moline.

Hey Joe,
I think since you are close to Waterloo you might be interested in a nice auction coming up in May. This will give you a heads up to save your money or take out a small loan.
Its a Rich Penn auction, and it stars on the 19th--21st of may at the Sullivan Brothers Convention Center. This auction is massive of all the cool collector stuff, and I'm sure you will find something for you garage. You can check out the web site at RichPennAuction.com Says you can preview on Thursday at 1pm to 5pm. Wish I could attend.



I seen that. I got a flyer in the mail last week from them. I've been to a couple of their auctions in the past. They typically have some nice stuff, problem is they market it well so prices are usually high and they charge a 10% buyers premium. :sad:
 
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HD FLHX

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Worked on getting the outside of the restroom finished yesterday. I had to rework the step going into the restroom a bit. I had originally made the step even with the door opening, but soon realized I needed the floor space inside the restroom that the step was taking up. The new step sticks out a bit in front of the door.



Door trimmed out with 1x3s



I wanted to break up the OSB and give some character so I decided to cover the outside of the restroom with galvanized pro-rib. I edged out the room with metal j-channel then installed the pro-rib over the OSB.






Still need to hook up the laundry sink and install the water spigot



A few new office additions. A couple new Sinclair oil cans and an old counter top parts catalog rack. The oil cans are to the right of the extra duty cans (household oil and an outboard oil)





I've mentioned it previously in my project thread, my Grandfather was a Ford mechanic of 50+ years (1948-2000). I have many of his old parts catalogs and manuals that he had saved over the years. I put a few of those catalogs in the rack.





This is the dealership those catalogs would have came out of. Geyer Ford in Wabash Indiana. I grew up in this building. My father went to work as a mechanic in this dealership (along side my grandfather) after he got out of the army in 1975. It went through a few different owners, but remained the Ford dealership till 93 when a new dealership building was built. I spent many a nights and weekends in this building as a kid. I'm sure this is where my passion for old garages comes from.

 
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rmalkow2

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Jun 26, 2009
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Brighton, MI
The office area is really taking on the right personality with all the vintage Sinclair items and I especially love those old Ford manuals.
The wall phone and cash register are perfect additions to your display.
 

shortykorte

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Sep 1, 2014
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8,039
Location
Tallahassee, Fl
Bathroom turned out nice. Great choice breaking up the wall with the tin. How about instead of office you have CEO office. ;)

The fuse rack took me back to the days of our Texaco station since we had the same rack.
 
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HD FLHX

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The restroom is totally finished. The trim work is done, electrical hooked up, laundry sink plumbed. I added a piece of left over FRP to the wall beside the laundry sink to make it waterproof.





Some remnants of one of the old in ground lifts


 
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