I have always been involved in the autobody/refinishing trade. Most of my working years I spent in all facets of autobody repair, mainly collision repair at auto dealerships in Indiana, California, & Nevada. Moving from Indiana to California in 1981, and 2 moves to Nevada and back to California. I spent several years doing body shop management which I retired from in 1999. I quickly became bored with retirement, so I found work in California in a restoration shop. I worked there for 2 years, and moved to Wyoming in '01 and have been here in a small town (about 3000) since. Intrestingly enough, this small town has a private auto museum. The owner contacted me in 2004 because he had heard that I did restorations. He had a 61 Olds Starfire convertible that he needed restored. It had been started-the chassis had been reworked, and the engine rebuilt. There were no body parts save the quarters and the cowl! He had several '61 parts cars, but no convertibles except a Dynamic that he also wanted restored. I had to pull parts from the parts cars out back, of course. I started in June of '04 and finished in August of '05. He insisted that I paint it green with a white & black interior. Upon finishing that one, I pulled in the Dynamic which had been sitting in the same spot unprotected from the elements for 25 years! There were major rust issues, of course, but I dealt with them. This one was to end up the original color-white. The engine had a rod through the block, and the tranny was toast. I had to rebuild a different engine, and the owner found a rebuilt tranny in Denver, so we went with those. I pulled the chassis, sandblasted it, and rebuilt it, and painted it. I undercoated the repaired floor of the body, and lowered it back onto the chassis. I had the body all repaired and in primer by then. I also rebuilt the sterring wheels for both of these cars. I rebuilt totally the electro-hydraulic mechanisms for the tops. Installing the convertible tops are a tough job for 2 or 3 guys, but I worked alone, and it was extermely difficult, but I managed to get-er-done. I finished the '61 Dynamic in August of '06. Since then, I refinished a Rolls-Royce, a '70 Imperial, repaired the front end of a '22 Stutz, and a '36 Packard, and other misc. stuff. I still maintain the cars for this gentleman. I'll try to post pix, but I have trouble with it until I learn the navagation here. The completed '61 Starfire: The '61 Dynamic before pic: and the finished Dynamic, one of my grandsons is at the wheel:

Here are some pix of the museum! I have 7 of my 16 grandkids living here in this town, and they LOVE the old cars. I let them have fun, but I watch carefully, so no harm is done. Kids in an old car museum:

Is this museum open to the public at all?

If so, what is the name and address of the place, or other contact info?

Or is it a more of a private collection rather than a museum?

It's a private collection; otherwise I probably wouldn't have been able to smuggle those kids inside!

I also get to take the cars out for a drive ocassionaly to keep them in good order. That's when the kids get to actually ride in them. The list is something like this:
'29 Buick, blue.
'36 Packard coupe, black.
'22 Stutz, gray.
'67 Rolls Royce pickup truck, white.
'28 Pierce Arrow coupe, blue.
'66 T-bird, white.
'29 Buick, yellow,
'78 Cadillac brown/tan,
'59 Jaguar sedan, tan
'61 Olds Starfire conv, green
'25 Hupmobile touring car, orange
'29 Hudson touring car, blue
'61 Olds Dynamic conv, white
'62 Olds Starfire coupe, red
'28 Packard touring car, burgandy
'31 Packard touring car, gray
'29 Roosevelt sedan, gray.

Here's a pic of me test driving the '22 Stutz recently:

Here's a pic of me taking the grandkids a ride in the Hupmobile touring car:

Some jobs come with great perks! Looks like the Grandchildren are having a great time too!

Yeah, they love the old cars!

Short vidclip of the old car museum:



and another vidclip:



and clip #3:

You have just about the best job ever! If I could find a job like that I would retire tomorrow. Need an assistant?

I wonder if the owner would consider a "showing" of these cars? I am an associate editor with Cars & Parts and would like to see this collection featured.
Would that be a possibility?

I too like you "work" in an old car museum after I retired out of the Fire Dept, although they call it "volunteering" over here as they don't pay. Regardless of the no-pay situation I love it, researching and working with old vehicles is a dream come true as I'd never be able to afford many the cars I'm involved with in a million years.

Today I was rooting around under the floorboards of a 1902 Argyll Model 6 - absolute bliss!

Enjoy your time there, I'm sure you cherish every moment.

Argyll.

I believe it's a possibility! We are located about 3 hour's drive (north) of Denver. Does locale have any bearing on your ability to travel? If possible, I can arrange it. I believe my name is listed here; you can use white pages.....

I just spoke to the museum's owner, and he is agreeable to have you come and visit the facility. You may contact me at: poobie1936@yahoo.com and we'll discuss particulars.

The guy I bought my 47 Cadillac from was a volunteer at a shop specializing in Duesenberg restorations. I agree, what a nice retirement! I think all that time with the Duesenbergs are what made him procrastinate on restoring the Cadillac. It had sat untouched in his garage for over 20 years.

Dave

I had a '31 Buick for 37 years! I bought it in '64 for $50 and sold it in 2001 for $5000 without turning a bolt!

Here's the car as it was.............

<a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v129/poobie2/?action=view&current=31bui.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v129/poobie2/31bui.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

The guy who bought it from me is turning it into a street rod!

<a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v129/poobie2/?action=view&current=31bui.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v129/poobie2/31bui1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

I would like to see some pictures of the 1929 Hudson if possable. I have a 1929 Hudson standard sedan. Thanks, Ron P

standardsedan29@yahoo.com

Here it is:

[quote=wk's_olds]Here are some pix of the museum!

you need to set you photobucket album to public. We cant see the images.

Oh, I figured they had been up long enough; I deleted them from Photobucket....thanks, anyway.