Mark's Monster Garage....3800 sq ft

[Bob Heine]

Mark, I like that Mary gives you such good advice. It's hard to see the overall design when you are focused on one part at a time. This year's Riddler winner reminds of that issue. The old saying "Chrome won't get you home" comes to mind.

 

[bowtiguy]

I agree with you @Bob Heine , the riddler winner is an abomination.

 

[casmurbax]

I agree with you @Bob Heine , the riddler winner is an abomination.

ditto, that is ugly.

The carpet looks like it will be perfect for the van.

Columbus car show is one of my favorite shows to attend. Hope you make it there.

 

[Boosted1]

I like the carpet.
Your van reminds me of a van we had when I was a kid.
Ford custom with Green paint and orange artwork and orange interior.
I know sounds Ugly, but it actually looked good.

 

[IGO2XS]

I like the carpet.
Your van reminds me of a van we had when I was a kid.
Ford custom with Green paint and orange artwork and orange interior.
I know sounds Ugly, but it actually looked good.

Mark, I like that Mary gives you such good advice. It's hard to see the overall design when you are focused on one part at a time. This year's Riddler winner reminds of that issue. The old saying "Chrome won't get you home" comes to mind.
Lol good point Bob. I met Bruce Harvey who owns Pro Comp Customs about 12 years ago. He is the builder of the Ridler winner. I looked at buying a 41 Willy's he built before I built mine. He pulls all of the trucks out of the bag when he builds cars. I think we all agree his style of building is a little excessive but it's always been his style.

 

[IGO2XS]

I like the carpet.
Your van reminds me of a van we had when I was a kid.
Ford custom with Green paint and orange artwork and orange interior.
I know sounds Ugly, but it actually looked good.

I started this van project because I started early in the custom van scene. I was 16 and had a burnt orange 73 Chevy van and I had orange **** carpet in it. When I purchased this van my mom said I had to paint it orange

 

[andyvh1959]

At least not all of the Riddler contestants are simply overdone overchromed obsessions.

The Detroit AutoRama Ridler Award Winners

 

[Bob Heine]

At least not all of the Riddler contestants are simply overdone overchromed obsessions.

Andy, agreed and to prove your point, one of this year's Great Eight is a 1950(1?) Oldsmobile sedan. Built over 15 years in the owner's back yard shop between paying jobs. Small block Chevy engine, original Olds frame and old-time custom touches. Ever see a grille made of 1948 Ford door handles? One of the handles opens the hood. Not a fan of the C1 Corvette cove painted on the side and question the wheel choice but the wheels are store-bought, not one-off billet. If you don't know what a stock one looks like, the 3.5" chopped top wouldn't get a second look. This choice restores my faith in humanity -- not every Ridler contestant has to be a billionaire.

The Great 8: 2022 Ridler Award finalists - Hagerty Media

The Great 8 includes the Ridler Winner and the "Best of the Rest"—here are the Ridler finalists that didn't win at Detroit Autorama 2022.

www.hagerty.com

 

[IGO2XS]

This is my favorite build by the guy who won the Ridler Award this year. I saw this about 8 years ago at a car show

 

[andyvh1959]

What I like about that Buick, aside from being built in someone's garage (would like to see HIS garage), is how many guys build an early 50's Buick into a Ridler quality custom. Here's another cool build:
https://www.motortrend.com/news/eurp-1103-1956-ford-sunliner-wins-ridler-award/

I've always preferred the more subtle but yet stunning customs.

 

[casmurbax]

Hi Mark,

any updates?

 

[IGO2XS]

Hi Mark,

any updates?

Thanks for rattling my chain! I have been working away in the garage and I am still primarily working on the van. The interior I showed a picture of all the particle board interior panels I initially made for the van that made it to the recycle bin. I drove to Tampa last week to get more of the pvc board. 1 sheet of 3/4 and 3 sheets each of 1/2" 3/8" and 1/4". The cost was a little over $1000 for all..........a dramatic increase since I bought it last time. Its so easy to work with and it is worth the money`. Its easy to cut, router, drill and it bends real nice when applying heat plus you have pieces of pvc flying around instead of dust from the particle board.

The pictures below show the new design using 3/4 pvc board. In the first picture the piece with the red circle laying on it will have a piano hinge so I can open it. I will have the extra battery and amplifiers in this compartment. I also made it big enough so if I put air ride on the van I have space to hide some of the components. The 2nd picture shows the cut outs I have made for some inserts. A grove has been routed out on the back of the panels for the 1/4 insert. The edges of these panels have a 45 degree cut profile edge. The panels will be covered in black leather and the inserts will be leather with a double diamond stitch in them to match the seats. I have a guy with a CNC sewing machine who will stitch the pattern and then we will cut it to fit the panel insert. If you notice on the 3 picture I have made templates of the walls. I will take these templates to a friend of mines shop and copy them. They put the panels on a special white board and draw around it with an "electronic pencil". Once then is done I will decide on a design and they will cut everything out on a cnc router table. I know my description of this isnt very good but i will show you guys the process. Its pretty damn cool.





I am also getting some action on the 63 Corvette. Finally after 3 months of waiting the Pirelli 335/25-22 tires showed up. At the same time AL13 Wheels are starting to mill my wheels. 19" for the front and 22" for the back. The first picture is the forging and the second picture shows the wheels in milling. I wanted a monoblock wheel but with the severe offset I have we had to do them in 2 piece. These wheels are very different and I am really excited to see them. They will be gloss black when they are done.

 

[jbmatth]

I know I say it all too often, but WOW, some incredible work you have going on. I look forward to seeing more.

JB

 

[IGO2XS]

I know I say it all too often, but WOW, some incredible work you have going on. I look forward to seeing more.

JB

We will see how it turns out I am hoping for the best. I am just grinding away every day to meet my July 1 deadline. I know its 3 months away but so much time is required.

 

[Boosted1]

Thanks for sharing.
Looking forward to more updates on the Van & Vette.

 

[IGO2XS]

Yesterday I was able to install my first finished piece for my van interior. This is a led lighting feature located in the middle of the ceiling with color changing LEDs. There is a 1/2 piece of acrylic I machined to fit that has the backlit LED strips. This is my first ever interior piece I took from start to finish. Not bad for a amateur.

 

[rattle_snake]

Very nice, like the rest of the van. Excellent work as always!

 

[IGO2XS]

Very nice, like the rest of the van. Excellent work as always!

Thank u. Like most things I do the first time I would do a few things different but I appreciate your compliment.

 

[casmurbax]

Hi Mark,

Can't wait to see the wheels done and the interior of the van walls.

How is the Lincoln? Yours and your buddie's?

 

[IGO2XS]

Here are the corvette wheels. I really didn't like these at first but after seeing them on a few exotic cars i



We are finally going to work on setting the Coyote in my Lincoln. My friend Doc has it at his new shop for this process. I need to get some pictures of the undercarriage as it looks awesome. My friends Lincoln is still at my shop. We have the motor and everything stripped out of it. Here in the next few weeks I will get my Lincoln back for paint and I will send my buddies Lincoln to Docs place for the suspension and motor. My Lincoln was a learning experience so we will have a better flow on this next one.

 

[casmurbax]

Wheels look great.

 

[pwschuh]

Those wheels are beautiful. I hope this is going to be a show car, because I can't imagine how long it would take to clean them if they were covered in brake dust

 

[IGO2XS]

I am still spending most days on the van interior. Although my mom was a home ec teacher for 36 years I dont know anything about sewing. I have to use other techniques for my design utilizing my router and other wood tools.

Here is my upper console for the van. Most of it is pvc and I shaped the pieces using router techniques. This is one heavy piece considering it has four 6.5" speakers and in the middle I have my 8 track player. The 8 track player has its on set of speakers so I can play it if I want.





Today I decided to work on the rear doors. To keep the design uniform I wanted the rear doors to match the side walls with **** carpet on the bottom and leather on the top. I cant tell you guys how many thoughts I had rolling through my head but at the end of the day I chose simplicity. I have a router jig and I cut the lines in the pvc board with a half oval router bit. Its kind of old school and hotrod-ish. There is lots of wall space so I think the simple is better. By the way..........I spent 6 hours yesterday practicing on a technique to glue the leather on the board. I sprayed both the fabric and the door panel with contact bond. Once it dried I put wax paper on the door panel and pushed the leather in each grove one at a time. I dont know if that makes sense but it was very tedious. Let me know what you think.

 

[Bob Heine]

Mark, the process of attaching the leather looks just like the technique they use at Gabe's Street Rod Custom Upholstery in California.

Curious about the 8-track player. Our '78 Lincoln Town Car came with a factory 8-track player/CB radio (as opposed to the more common Cassette player). We bought the car in 1982 and blank 8-track tapes were still available. I bought a Radio Shack 8-track recorder to be able to transfer CDs and cassettes to the cartridges. After we sold the Lincoln I kept the recorder but they stopped making the 8-track cartridges. I see there are a fair number of eBay sellers offering blank cartridges in their sealed packaging. Let me know if you'd like the recorder to be able to play your favorite tunes through the classic 8-track.

 

[bowtiguy]

Ive used a mild steamer wrapped being a microfiber towel to go over panels like that followed by addressing any unbounded or poorly bonded areas. Works wonders.

 

[casmurbax]

Things are shaping up!

Are you still on track to bring that van to Columbus? Won't be hard to miss it.

8 track player, brings back memories cruising with my family of six in my parent's 72 country squire station wagon sitting all the way in the back with my sister...

 

[IGO2XS]

Mark, the process of attaching the leather looks just like the technique they use at Gabe's Street Rod Custom Upholstery in California.

Curious about the 8-track player. Our '78 Lincoln Town Car came with a factory 8-track player/CB radio (as opposed to the more common Cassette player). We bought the car in 1982 and blank 8-track tapes were still available. I bought a Radio Shack 8-track recorder to be able to transfer CDs and cassettes to the cartridges. After we sold the Lincoln I kept the recorder but they stopped making the 8-track cartridges. I see there are a fair number of eBay sellers offering blank cartridges in their sealed packaging. Let me know if you'd like the recorder to be able to play your favorite tunes through the classic 8-track.

Bob, I might be interested in your recorder. I have a number of 8 track tapes from the 70's. It really primarily for show and I will occasionally listen to it.

 

[IGO2XS]

Things are shaping up!

Are you still on track to bring that van to Columbus? Won't be hard to miss it.

8 track player, brings back memories cruising with my family of six in my parent's 72 country squire station wagon sitting all the way in the back with my sister...

Yes I am still focusing on being ready for the Columbus Goodguys show. I have to have a deadline to get this van done.

 

[Bob Heine]

Bob, I might be interested in your recorder. I have a number of 8 track tapes from the 70's. It really primarily for show and I will occasionally listen to it.

Mark, I'll box it up and ship it to you. I've held on to it waiting for a good home to to show up.

 

[IGO2XS]

I big shout out to Bob Heine for his thoughtfulness and giving. Yesterday an 8 track recorder showed up at my garage courtesy of Bob. I am so excited to use this to record some 8 track tapes for my van. Thanks Bob!!

 

[IGO2XS]

I started working on the Corvette last week and focusing on the undercarriage. I knew better but you know what happens when you sand bondo and the fiberglass body. All I can say is I didnt have my thinking cap on and wow did I make a bunch of dust. After $400 in 2 x 4's and show 6 ml plastic sheeting I had I built and enclosure for my Corvette to contain the dust. I used a heavy duty construction paper to cover the floor to protect it when I am doing any priming. I am really happy about it but now i dont want to use it because it looks so good! LOL Although its temporary I can see this improvement hanging around for a while. I am going to modify the 2 x 4 framing in the front so I have a direct access to pull a car in and out.

 

[IGO2XS]

I started on the side panels for the van this past week. When I took this picture I had so stop for a minute and take a breath remembering all I went through to get these panels made. There is one 90 degree angle on the panels but otherwise no real way to measure them other than making templates of each panel. The walls have a slight curve from left to right and also up and down so when you push the board up against the sides making it even more difficult. I used a router to make all the lines and I did them one at a time using a ruler, straight edge, and clamps. Lots of time but very rewarding. I think it looks kind of old school and classy at the same time. Since I dont sew I had to figure out a way to add design to a large piece like these. I want to keep the design as clean as possible and i think we are on our way now to finish it. I will be taking the van to the east coast of Florida May 23 to a upholstery shop to have them do what I cant.

 

[Toolfool]

Nice work Mark. I may hit you up for ideas when I get to the interior of my Econoline.

 

[fouckhest]

Great makeshift paint booth, I'm sure that $400 will be well worth it when it comes time to clean up.

Have you thought about putting a box fan with filter in one of those side windows?

 

[casmurbax]

That was nice of Bob to send that recorder to you.

Great idea for trying to contain the dust ad protect your floor. The panel looks great.

 

[bowtiguy]

I remember back when you had a built in paint booth in the back corner of the shop. That was one slick set-up. I plan to duplicate it with a down draft modification when my shop goes up.

 

[BORING HOP YARD]

Very nice work on the panels Mark!
Dust "*****"

 

[IGO2XS]

Here is a little update on the vette. I wanted a rear air defuser on my 63 Corvette after seeing one on a Ferarri. I wanted something understated and talked to a few guys about doing it for me. They never got started so i decided to give it a shot. I first part was cut out of cardboard. I placed 4 differers on the rear where I thought they looked good. I was more or less glueing these blades on so i had to have a way to position them. I came up with using 1/4" PVC plastic and heated it to form to the body. I made 2 right and 2 left fixtures to hold the blades in place after they were glued on. After I had them made I decided to bore some holes in the fins because I thought it would look cool. The material I used came from McMaster Carr. I purchase a 4x8 sheet of 3/16 FPR panel and bonded two pieces together to make them thicker. Center exhaust treatment coming soon.

 

[IGO2XS]

Right now I am working on a few new concepts for the 63 Corvette and one concept we are closing in on is the front grill. I want the grill to match the hood trays and side grills. I had a local guy some over with his scanner and scan the front grill area. From there I sent the scan to Restomod Tech and he is working up a model so I can have the grill 3D printed. The key is going to be a good quality part and that is what we are looking into. I dont want to have something printed that takes 40 hours to sand and make pretty. We also scanned the firewall as I am working on some custom hinges. I guess I have a over active brain as I keep thinking this stuff up. LOL

 

[budro35]

I have to agree with you Mark on the over active brain! Whatever you are using in your morning coffee I would like to try it too! Your talent is just incredible! Please please keep the updates coming!