A Year in the Life of My Shop

[3macboys]

To the Moderators feel free to move this if you feel it belongs elsewhere.  My plan for this year is to document the changes in my shop through the course of the year to try to get it back in to a functional space.  I will admit that it is partially self servicing to keep me motivated to keep going with the various projects and to get the place to where it should be.  I hope that it also serves to motivate a few others who are "suffering" under similar circumstances.  I will try to regularly post updates and reports on the progress to both the shop and the cars.  There will be gaps as both my wife and I are retired and we have a cottage in the north that we spend a fair amount of the summer at.  A little background is that along with my father we bought this building on April 1st about 8 or 9 years ago.  I'm still not sure if we should have ran with that closing date.  The building is a former Chrysler dealership that was built in 1952.  We bought it from the son and daughter of the original owner.  The dealership was originally established in 1938 and that building still stands in the village.  Total floor space is about 7000 sq feet.  At one time there were 14 mechanics working here and they had Cities Service gas pumps out front.  Fast forward to now and the pictures tell the story of how 3 generations can fill a place in a hurry and now I'm left working backwards to get it to where it should be.  Let this serve as a warning to make a plan and stick to it before moving into a new shop.  As this is zoned as a commercial property and taxed as such I decided that I had to do something to help with those carrying costs and have ended up with a small business in my retirement selling Service Manuals/Owner's Manuals/Brochures and NOS parts along with a few used ones for everything from cars to heavy construction equipment and maintain over 5000 Ebay listings.   I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story for now lets see where this journey takes us!

 

The picture of the Star sign going up was the first project of the year with my oldest and youngest hanging their grandfather's Christmas present in the showroom.  The sign is a pure fantasy piece, but since we have a Star seemed fitting.

[3macboys]

 

 

The TR6 belongs to a friend of mine - his first old car and he's never really done anything mechanical before but he's already getting his hands dirty.  Pulled the rad last week after finding a leak in the seam of the top tank.

Edited January 1 by 3macboys (see edit history)

[3macboys]

[3macboys]

[3macboys]

[3macboys]

[3macboys]

[3macboys]

Part of what got me going on this is the thread about the next caretaker of your car.  I'm 55 but as you can see I have a lot to get taken care of and the auction when the time comes is going to be along one if I don't get a handle on things now.

Edited January 10 by 3macboys (see edit history)

[1932 plymouth pb sedan]

I will be looking forward to following as this moves forward, also thanks for including the history of the building.

[60FlatTop]

What's the Ebay user name?

 

I see you have a CoRaVac system in the bays and steam heat units. Don't let some slick engineer talk you into an "efficient" hot water hosing. It just makes it easier for them to calculate the cobble job.

 

"The car salesman's bag of tricks is minuscule compared to those pays for itself hucksters."

 

Nice building.

[1912Staver]

Now that's a shop ! Every car guy's dream. Lotto Max win ?  { they always sell me the wrong numbers ] Around here you would have to sell out on you manuals each year just to pay the property tax bill.

 

As you are in Canada perhaps you have found a way of dealing with Canada's very high postage rates on things like manuals ?  I have a fair number of GM parts books. My father worked at a GM dealer all his life and used to bring me the old parts books when new ones were issued. About 25 or 30, mid 1970's to mid 1980's issue. As I have recently sold my 1969 Buick GS 400, and am unlikely to ever have another GM car covered by any of these parts books { later 1950's - mid 1980's } . I was thinking of trying to sell them off. But by the time postage is factored in I can't even give them away. At least in the U.S. there is media mail.  No such luck up here in the great white north. How do you do it at a price that makes sense ? Also I expect most of your manuals are Canadian editions. On the parts books I have that means about 0% interest from U.S. buyers. Shop manuals are probably a bit more universal . But I get the feeling most U.S. buyers are mostly interested in U.S. editions. 

Edited January 1 by 1912Staver (see edit history)

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

Nice library and warehouse!!

  Envious.

 

  Ben

[J.H.Boland]

My wife took this photo of me behind your parts counter reliving my days as a parts guy, on a recent visit our HASC region paid to your shop. You have your work cut out for you !  Jim 

Edited January 1 by J.H.Boland (see edit history)

[DFeeney]

Go For It.

[Xander Wildeisen]

Great shop space, I tried to avoid all flat surfaces in my old shop. Any flat surface is a spot to set something. Stuff and more stuff creeps in. Just got done cleaning out my fathers shop. He did not think like me. Handy if you never use it, that is what he would say. He had a lot of handy things. Sad cleaning out someone’s life. I had some of my stuff stored out there.

[John Byrd]

Xandre Wildeisen, that looks a bit like what the CA. hot rod bunch from the early days called a "Carson Top" on the green car. Very neat !

[Xander Wildeisen]

There is a thread on here building it.

[CarNucopia]

I'll be following this with interest. I feel equal parts envy and inspiration. I always thought a decommissioned firehouse would be the trick setup. But a retired dealership is even better. 

 

I'm hoping this thread will motivate me to get more organized in my own shop. I've always believed that motoring collections are like fish: They grow to fill their tank. ☺️ 

I have less sq/ft then you, but divided between three spaces I call Home, Home of Deferred Maintenance and Home of Abandoned projects. I'm taking you're post as a call to action to consolidate. Thanks!

[3macboys]

2 hours ago, J.H.Boland said:

My wife took this photo of me behind your parts counter reliving my days as a parts guy, on a recent visit our HASC region paid to your shop. You have your work cut out for you !  Jim

Jim my grand plan is to get the parts department fully stocked, at least on the face, with all Mopar products to make it look like it was in the day.  I'm hoping by the return of the HASC in the spring to have made significant progress in the main shop.  I understand my father has offered up the shop for the spring safety checks.  

 

Don

[3macboys]

1 hour ago, Xander Wildeisen said:

I tried to avoid all flat surfaces in my old shop. Any flat surface is a spot to set something.

I couldn't agree more - even worse when there are three generations sharing the space, one cleans and two clutter!  

[3macboys]

2 hours ago, Ben Bruce aka First Born said:

Nice library and warehouse!!

  Envious.

 

  Ben

My estimate is about 15 to 20k manuals.  The space is a cursing and a blessing at the same time but I'm not complaining.  

 

Don

[3macboys]

3 hours ago, 60FlatTop said:

What's the Ebay user name?

 

I see you have a CoRaVac system in the bays and steam heat units. Don't let some slick engineer talk you into an "efficient" hot water hosing. It just makes it easier for them to calculate the cobble job.

 

"The car salesman's bag of tricks is minuscule compared to those pays for itself hucksters."

 

Nice building.

I actually have two stores on Ebay - MaryOldStuff and 3MacBoysDodge , both are a bit of a play on words, I actually live on Mary St and I sell old stuff.  As for the 3MacBoys, well I have three boys and my family going back to my grandfather have been a Mopar family.  My grandfather was a mechanic and had a small shop in Ilderton, Ontario once upon a time.  

 

The radiant system is all that is used to heat the shop now, the steam units were long disconnected before our purchase.  I leave one of the three on in the heating system and it maintains the shop at about 55 f and is pretty cost effective being on natural gas.  I actually rarely turn it up from that when working in there.  I also run two dehumidifiers year round.  The front showroom has forced air.  So long as the overhead doors aren't left open for long periods of time the shop staying fairly cool all summer even with all those big windows.

[3macboys]

3 hours ago, 1912Staver said:

Now that's a shop ! Every car guy's dream. Lotto Max win ?  { they always sell me the wrong numbers ] Around here you would have to sell out on you manuals each year just to pay the property tax bill.

 

As you are in Canada perhaps you have found a way of dealing with Canada's very high postage rates on things like manuals ?  I have a fair number of GM parts books. My father worked at a GM dealer all his life and used to bring me the old parts books when new ones were issued. About 25 or 30, mid 1970's to mid 1980's issue. As I have recently sold my 1969 Buick GS 400, and am unlikely to ever have another GM car covered by any of these parts books { later 1950's - mid 1980's } . I was thinking of trying to sell them off. But by the time postage is factored in I can't even give them away. At least in the U.S. there is media mail.  No such luck up here in the great white north. How do you do it at a price that makes sense ? Also I expect most of your manuals are Canadian editions. On the parts books I have that means about 0% interest from U.S. buyers. Shop manuals are probably a bit more universal . But I get the feeling most U.S. buyers are mostly interested in U.S. editions. 

The shop is located in beautiful downtown Innerkip, Ontario, just outside of Woodstock.  Its a rural community, heck we just got a Tim Hortons in the village last week!  Commercial property is still generally affordable here, it's the ongoing carrying costs that get you such as the taxes, heat and hydro because everything is billed as a business, hence the Ebay stores.  The story to us buying the building is that the fellow that we bought it from - Ron, more sold it to us, than we bought it from him.  My parents were out on a drive with their 1951 Plymouth Suburban wagon and dad thought that it would be neat to have a picture of it in front of a period dealership as those buildings are disappearing.  Cutting to the chase they stopped by the building and dad went in to check with Ron if it was alright to take the picture.  As the two of them talked Ron as the story goes said to my father said to my father "I think that you should have this place"  So after some back and forth about 6 months later we took possession.  Ron still has a key to the building and we store his boat for him every winter.  He stops in just to chew the fat at least once a month, but the one thing that has stuck with me is observation of younger people not being hands on with things is because "Their dad never showed them how"  

 

The secret to the shipping is that I have a business account with Canada Post which cuts the price significantly, unless something is going to Newfoundland, in which case it's just crazy expensive and I feel for anyone living there on what the costs of goods must be.  I can actually ship cheaper to the US than people in the US can ship to Canada.  

 

The vast majority of my books were printed for both the US and Canadian market.  Even the Canadian editions will specify the appropriate service for vehicles built in both countries.  The first few pages past the index will show the break down of both US and Canadian built vehicles - I just make sure I show pictures of those is my listings.  Keep in mind a good number of Canadian built vehicles have made their way south.  

[Zimm63]

That building looks a lot like a former small town Dodge/Chrysler dealership near where I live.  Back in the days when a small business could rep a major manufacturer.  

 

[8E45E]

4 hours ago, 3macboys said:

 

 

That Roller Derby brings back memories!  Skinny Mini Miller, and Chief John Parker with the towel roller skating around the track!!  I got to see them live in 1974.

 

Craig

[8E45E]

4 hours ago, 1912Staver said:

Now that's a shop ! Every car guy's dream. Lotto Max win ?  { they always sell me the wrong numbers ] Around here you would have to sell out on you manuals each year just to pay the property tax bill.

 

As you are in Canada perhaps you have found a way of dealing with Canada's very high postage rates on things like manuals ?  I was thinking of trying to sell them off. But by the time postage is factored in I can't even give them away.

You are less ten miles from the US border to Blaine or Sumas, WA.  You will save lots by shipping them from a US destination.  If USPS is not an option, there is 'Ship Happens' depot in Sumas:   Ship Happens | Your United States shipping and receiving solution for home and business (myshiphappens.com)

 

Craig

[8E45E]

20 minutes ago, 3macboys said:

The secret to the shipping is that I have a business account with Canada Post which cuts the price significantly, unless something is going to Newfoundland, in which case it's just crazy expensive and I feel for anyone living there on what the costs of goods must be.  I can actually ship cheaper to the US than people in the US can ship to Canada.   

The same cost matrix also applies to "North of 60"(° parallel) Territories.  

 

Not that I know of anyone restoring a car there, but shipping costs to the Territories are insane for ANYTHING!!

 

Craig

[3macboys]

2 minutes ago, 8E45E said:

The same cost matrix also applies to "North of 60"(° parallel) Territories.  

 

Not that I know of anyone restoring a car there, but shipping costs to the Territories are insane for ANYTHING!!

 

Craig

I price everything with shipping included - every once in awhile I cringe when I see where the buyer is but it's the old story of you don't make money when you sell, you make money when you buy.  I end up sending the odd Jeep or truck manual/part to the territories but not a lot.  I did send a NOS bumper for a 1978 Chrysler 300 to Newfoundland a few years ago and the price couldn't have been better - my one sister just happened to be going their on vacation and the bumper fit perfectly in her Journey!  Cost me the time of putting her snow tires on that year and she and her husband met some locals on their trek.  

 

Don

[J.H.Boland]

1 hour ago, 3macboys said:

Jim my grand plan is to get the parts department fully stocked, at least on the face, with all Mopar products to make it look like it was in the day.  I'm hoping by the return of the HASC in the spring to have made significant progress in the main shop.  I understand my father has offered up the shop for the spring safety checks.  

 

Don

That would be awesome, Don ! I look forward to it.

[1912Staver]

4 hours ago, 8E45E said:

You are less ten miles from the US border to Blaine or Sumas, WA.  You will save lots by shipping them from a US destination.  If USPS is not an option, there is 'Ship Happens' depot in Sumas:   Ship Happens | Your United States shipping and receiving solution for home and business (myshiphappens.com)

 

Craig

It can be done, but U.S. Customs makes it a bit of a song and dance. For larger value sales I have braved the U.S. paperwork, but the Customs people make it clear that they would rather you were not there. How much trouble are you willing to go through to sell a $20.00 or $25.00 parts book ?

Over the last decade I bought lots of things ( hundreds and hundreds } in the U.S. and maintained an account at one of the nearby WA. State  shipping outfits.  Covid derailed that. And even with things more or less back to normal I have not started buying again. Much of my pre war stuff went during my recent move, and I am still quite a ways to being back on my financial feet after the whole sale / purchase / rent back of the old place so I could move wallet lightening. It will be a few years at least before I am a position to buy much of anything again. 

Edited January 2 by 1912Staver (see edit history)

[1912Staver]

17 hours ago, 3macboys said:

The shop is located in beautiful downtown Innerkip, Ontario, just outside of Woodstock.  Its a rural community, heck we just got a Tim Hortons in the village last week!  Commercial property is still generally affordable here, it's the ongoing carrying costs that get you such as the taxes, heat and hydro because everything is billed as a business, hence the Ebay stores.  The story to us buying the building is that the fellow that we bought it from - Ron, more sold it to us, than we bought it from him.  My parents were out on a drive with their 1951 Plymouth Suburban wagon and dad thought that it would be neat to have a picture of it in front of a period dealership as those buildings are disappearing.  Cutting to the chase they stopped by the building and dad went in to check with Ron if it was alright to take the picture.  As the two of them talked Ron as the story goes said to my father said to my father "I think that you should have this place"  So after some back and forth about 6 months later we took possession.  Ron still has a key to the building and we store his boat for him every winter.  He stops in just to chew the fat at least once a month, but the one thing that has stuck with me is observation of younger people not being hands on with things is because "Their dad never showed them how"  

 

The secret to the shipping is that I have a business account with Canada Post which cuts the price significantly, unless something is going to Newfoundland, in which case it's just crazy expensive and I feel for anyone living there on what the costs of goods must be.  I can actually ship cheaper to the US than people in the US can ship to Canada.  

 

The vast majority of my books were printed for both the US and Canadian market.  Even the Canadian editions will specify the appropriate service for vehicles built in both countries.  The first few pages past the index will show the break down of both US and Canadian built vehicles - I just make sure I show pictures of those is my listings.  Keep in mind a good number of Canadian built vehicles have made their way south.  

Canadian service manuals probably are reasonably close to the U.S. counterparts. Parts books in my experience are often a substantially different situation. Many G.M. of Canada { almost everything I have came from a local G.M. dealership } models are quite a bit different than the U.S. market counterparts. I agree there are a reasonable number of Canadian built cars in the U.S. { and it seems to be a growing trend }. Perhaps there is hope of moving my excess along to a new owner some day.

 I expect your commercial Canada Post account does save quite a bit. But that option is not available to most of us " north of the border " hobbyists

[NailheadBob]

20 hours ago, 3macboys said:

I actually have two stores on Ebay - MaryOldStuff and 3MacBoysDodge , both are a bit of a play on words, I actually live on Mary St and I sell old stuff.  As for the 3MacBoys, well I have three boys and my family going back to my grandfather have been a Mopar family.  My grandfather was a mechanic and had a small shop in Ilderton, Ontario once upon a time.  

 

The radiant system is all that is used to heat the shop now, the steam units were long disconnected before our purchase.  I leave one of the three on in the heating system and it maintains the shop at about 55 f and is pretty cost effective being on natural gas.  I actually rarely turn it up from that when working in there.  I also run two dehumidifiers year round.  The front showroom has forced air.  So long as the overhead doors aren't left open for long periods of time the shop staying fairly cool all summer even with all those big windows.

Tinley Park, Illinois (5 miles from me) back in the early 1980's had a Chrysler dealer that looked the same as yours, cool stuff, will keep following.

 

What are a couple items for sale on each of you E-bay stores so I can find them easily?

 

Thanks for posting this.

 

Bob

[3macboys]

3 hours ago, NailheadBob said:

Tinley Park, Illinois (5 miles from me) back in the early 1980's had a Chrysler dealer that looked the same as yours, cool stuff, will keep following.

 

What are a couple items for sale on each of you E-bay stores so I can find them easily?

 

Thanks for posting this.

 

Bob

I believe that in the 50's Chrysler had a standardized look for new buildings, at least for the front facade.  Actually I suspect all of the companies did, someplace I have layout plans from Ford showing what they determined to be an efficient shop layout with different opens for different markets.  I'll have to see if I can find that again.

 

Here's an item from each store https://www.ebay.com/itm/165769832356 - that cap came from a closed Ford dealership in Flesherton, Ontario, Boyd Bros, that dated to about 1910.  I've got an NOS Model A rear axle shaft in the showroom from there that I'm keeping in the original factory wrapping.    https://www.ebay.ca/itm/252707648633  This is neat tye tack that came from a fellow in Shakespeare, Ontario that was getting out of the swap meet business.  And yes for those that are wondering - Shakespeare is just outside of Stratford and the Avon River does run through Stratford.  

[3macboys]

This is a picture of the original dealership - less than half a block from the current building and is now a hairdresser's

 

 

I realized that I forgot to include pictures of the showroom.  The chassis is for a 1930 Dodge DD6, rumble seat coupe - the body is at the body shop and the rad is at the rad shop, both for extended times but hopefully they will both be back soon.  In the meantime the chassis still has work to be finished up and we have had it running.  We had put the chassis the showroom to work on so that we didn't have to heat the whole shop.  The floor shows what happens when you go cheap on paint and floor finishing.  Latex paint and 70 year old concrete do not make for a happy marriage.  My plan is to just get rid of the paint and go back to the bare concrete.  On the upside, every time I sweep more of the paint lifts!

 

 

 

[3macboys]

Now on to the task at hand - cleaning the place while also making progress on the cars.  My normal day is to pick what I've sold and pack it up to ship and then try to clean up one small area, accomplish one task on one of the cars and take pictures for new listings on Ebay that I do at home along with the shipping labels.  The shop is located about 10 miles from the house and we do not have an internet connection there.  I'll mention this just for perspective of those thinking having big space would be fantastic - and it is, but as you can see it is easy for things to get out of hand and our building costs about $25 a day to cover heat/hydro/taxes and water.  Any maintenance is over and above that.  I'm not complaining and I've found my way to take care of that, but it needs to be a consideration for anyone thinking of this size of building.  

 

The first project of the day was removing the pulley from the power steering pump of my father's 1951 Plymouth.  My oldest had pulled it for me while he was home over the holidays.  The car was modified nearly 35 years ago and though not meeting the purpose of the AACA it does show the major issue with modifying a car, my father knows what went into it, I know most of what's there and kids have no idea.  It was done with all Chrysler product parts so that helps.  Specifically with regard to the power steering pump, it's leaking along the seam of the reservoir so time to replace it with a rebuilt one and while I'm at it I'll replace the two hoses.  My father says that he has no idea what that pump is off of as we had already replaced it once and it was one that we happened to have on hand.  It's a good thing the guy at the parts store is a Mopar fan as he's currently looking for the right pump for me.

 

My mantra going forward is "Do it right, do it once"

 

 

Next up was one of those stupid things of I'll get to it tomorrow, I can't tell you how many times I've walked past the stack of empty boxes saying "I'll look after that tomorrow".  Well tomorrow finally became today and the boxes are cut up for recycling and will be at the curb tomorrow evening.  The stupid part is it took less than 5 minutes and it was done.   Long hanging fruit I know, but when you are dealing with a problem that's not just square feet but cubic feet, I've got to take those small victories too.  

 

 

 

Edited January 3 by 3macboys (see edit history)

[3macboys]

In a nod to @Xander Wildeisen that flat surfaces have an unhealthy magnetic ability that attracts anything that will lay on them, I've got this stack of lumber that needs to be cleared.  Most of what's "resting" there is stuff that I need to take pictures of to list on Ebay so better time than this afternoon to reduce that backlog by one pile.  The overall project is going to be like the old joke of "How do you eat an elephant?"  Answer: One bite at a time.   Now bonus points to anyone who can identify the lumber.

 

 

 

 

One final note on the day - my preferred way of making space - packages to go out!  Kidding aside, this is what makes it all possible and keeps my wife happy as the shop carries itself and I wouldn't be able to play with the cars any other way.

 

Edited January 3 by 3macboys (see edit history)

[Ed Luddy]

On 1/1/2024 at 5:59 PM, 3macboys said:

I couldn't agree more - even worse when there are three generations sharing the space, one cleans and two clutter!  

Good old Hilderleys Garage in metropolitan Innerkip! I'm from Woodstock and my uncle lived in 'Kip. Many of my friends bought Mopar's from them back in the 70's. 

[3macboys]

9 minutes ago, Ed Luddy said:

Good old Hilderleys Garage in metropolitan Innerkip! I'm from Woodstock and my uncle lived in 'Kip. Many of my friends bought Mopar's from them back in the 70's. 

If you remember the lawn bowling trophy in it's case in the showroom - it's still there in its place of honour!  I'm sure that Ron knows/knew them all!  

[Skvitt]

Very impressive! Good job! Do you ever come to swap meets? Like at Ancaster Fairgrounds?

[3macboys]

6 minutes ago, Skvitt said:

Very impressive! Good job! Do you ever come to swap meets? Like at Ancaster Fairgrounds?

I do, I try to catch at least one of the spring meets at Ancaster, though it's always weather dependent.  Last year I did Rockton in the spring - first time there and I'll definitely go back, though the shot gun set up time is a little interesting.  I also did the WOMO (Western Ontario Mopar Owners) day at St Thomas Dragway.  

 

Don