Hot Rods Do you folks crave shop time??

Alan, I’m so sorry about your wife. She is in a better place now with our Lord. I hope getting back out into the shop will help you feel better. If you need anything, please PM me.

 

My Dad, Brother and I built my shop in 1987 when we moved out here. Now it’s Little Truckdoctor and my shop. My brother lives in town and his shop is in his basement. My Harley shop is in my basement. Our big shop is 24’x 48” and in the front, Little Truckdoctor enjoys woodworking. The rear 2/3 is my car/truck/hot rod space. To answer your question, absolutely, 100% my shop is my happy place. Even though I work in a large diesel truck shop in the city, I still love to get out in our shop and work on whatever. No matter what happens at work that day, just being out in our shop makes me feel better.

 

Every house I had i either had a garage or built one, then got divorced twice and had to pack up/store everything.
When i moved in with my better half it was with the understanding I was building an oversize garage so I had room
to store my tools etc. It worked out well for the first several years, then I had covid, my back went out, had several
months of PT, injections, finally several hours of back surgery, then PT and recovery. I am just getting to the point I
can do some work in the garage, but time is getting harder to come by as I am the backup caregiver for my 96 year old mother and the better halfs 87 year old parents. Find a house with a garage, or build one. Better to be paying the bank than paying for pyche help.

 

...must be rough....you got nothin to feel sorry about.

 

Well, my shop/ work area is an open on two sides carport, keeps me dry but still at the mercy of the temps. They gotta be in my comfort zone or nothing gets done out there. So this time of year little gets done.
It’s not just shop time I miss, it’s anything outside, cutting grass, working my tractors, building stuff. That’s one reason I flatbedded my whole trucking career, I enjoy being outdoors in nice weather. Sure, it was tough in cold, rainy winter, but it just made me appreciate warm weather more.

Alan, so sorry to hear about your wife passing.

 

I've haven't had a real place to work until I moved into my house (before that I had a carport at my apartment). My small 2 car garage has equipment, parts and tools.....but still enough room for 1 small car.

To me being in the shop is a need not a want, I surely would be dead or insane without it. Regular work is really cramping my desire, hopefully to change in the near future. Then I can work on what I want all day, everyday.............too bad I suck at it.

 

Shop time working on this old junk is sort of my refuel time considering it is doing something with my hands as opposed to what I do all day at work. I am thankful to have a nice shop that I can sort of escape in when needed. Anyway, I don’t get to be in the shop as much as I would like, but have had to find a balance between that and spending time with family, doing house projects, etc. too.

 

It’s kind of funny when I think about it, there was a time (about 20 years) when I would spend all my time in the shop, nights, weekends, days off etc but then about eight years ago I got a divorce and I haven’t had the same desire for spending time out there. Hmm I wonder?

 

Can't even tell you.
I'm starved for it.
It's been too difficult lately.
But then I read some of you guys' stories, and I feel embarrassed that I complain.
The best of luck to us all.

@mikec4193
I can almost smell your pipe.

 

Sounds like I'm the odd ball guy here. I've been working on cars since I was 13. My dad's buddy ran a Ford coupe at our local dirt track, and I spent nearly every evening and many a Sat in his shop. I learned a lot.
Did auto shop in high school and worked at a gas station that repaired cars. Most of my days was working on cars.
Got married at 19, and we rented a little apartment that had a very small one car garage. I still worked at the gas station, but now I did a lot of work outside of that garage. My buddies and I built and ran a hobby stock car at our local track while we rented that apartment.
The 1st house we bought didn't have a garage, nor did it have anyplace to build one. Over the course of the 7 years we lived there I rented several different garages, my buddies gave up racing, but I was not that smart. I did change jobs during that time, and was working at a factory. Within a year I was in the maintenance department at the factory, and as soon as I got off work and ate, I went to the rented garage.

Then we bought a house out in the country. That place had a 26' x 36' garage, with a wood burner, and an acer of ground. I worked a few different full time jobs and then worked a full time job in my garage at home at nights and weekends (still raced too). We lived there 16 years, and we got both of our children through school there. I bought, sold, parted out, and repaired cars there in addition to running the dirt track car, and working a full time job.

In July 1994 I opened a welding shop at a rented building in town (30' x 36') plus the garage at home. I quit dirt track racing then and work at home dropped off dramatically. I did start a 35 Dodge build at the welding shop. 3 years later, I moved across the parking lot into a 40' x 60' garage. Still had the garage at home, but it was more of a storage place by then. The 35 Dodge was road worthy, we did a lot of car shows, and spent a lot of time in that 35 Dodge. As my son grew older, between him and myself, we built several cars out of the welding shop building, most of the parts came out of the home garage.
In 2001 my son graduated from high school, and we sold the house in the country and moved into a place in town that had a 3 car garage. Much of the remaining parts from the home garage went to the welding shop building. A year later, a freak storm came up and blew my 3 car garage apart (the only place in town damaged), the garage roof landed 150' away from where the pile that used to be garage walls laid. We were out of town that night and saw all the mess, but the police and fire departments wouldn't let us go down the street until someone noticed I was "the guy that owns the house!"

After that mess was taken care of, we bought the place we now live. This place was zoned business, had a 24' x 24' upper garage with another 24' x 24' lower garage, and a 100' x 75' side lot that was empty. We added another 8' to the east side of the upper garage, and moved my welding shop in there in 2002.
Besides the customer work, my son and I managed to build a few project cars out of the welding shop, but other then a few Saturdays, most of the work on those projects were done Mon-Fri during work hours with very extra few evening hours.

In 2018 I retired and closed the welding shop. Since then I have built a 39 Dodge pickup (which we sold), rebuilt my 48 Plymouth business coupe, done a couple projects with my son, and I have built my 49 Dodge pickup. The 49 got body work and paint in 2022. Building that truck took a lot out of me. I'm doing light maintenance on the coupe and the truck, but my heart really isn't in to much of that either. I do not have a project, nor do I currently want one. I don't have any parts around here to help much with another build. I may just be burned out, I've been doing this a long time. I'm going to let things sit and see what happens in a year or two.

I can honestly say, I don't have much desire to do much of anything in my shop. Its still heated, and is still equipped. A few times my son has borrowed my garage (he doesn't have heat or 220 at his place), and I have enjoyed hanging around when he was in there, but its way too easy for me to come up with excuses not to go into the shop to do any work by myself. If I'm out there more then a couple hours a month these days, it would surprise me.

 

I'm certain we here in the Midwest & points north & east have often thought how great it would be to spend the winter months in the southwest or anywhere devoid of the bitter cold & wind, snow & ice, yet it seems at least in my case as other commitments throttle down I find the time to tackle the bigger projects put off for another day. Provided I've no reason to venture out to brave the elements, & aside from my electric bill forth coming nothing feels better than to crank on the garage heat & spend time without interruption & get in some seriously needed shop time with only an occasional break & a brief peek out the window thinking all is good, this feels great & I'm getting this nagging project off my back...now if I could only find all the pieces & parts & that special tool I know I pigeonholed somewhere within the walls of my domain for the winter.

 

Shop time is my Zen. When I'm able to spend an hour or two, tinkering with something that has caught my attention that day, I find that I have a better attitude when I get back to the normal routine. Like most of you, I was first put under the spell of mechanical things around 6 years old, and I don't want to think about the decades that have passed since then.

We had things to tinker with at home. The biggest was an aircraft tug. Long story... Got into snowmobiles around 1967, entered the first race winter 68-69 as a junior. Learned to gas weld same time period. Also started "helping" on friends dirt cars around then. Graduated hs and started at a machine company that made paper machinery. 10 years later went to college.

Graduated in 85 and went into research. Never specializing in any one field of engineering, I moved around a little bit. Also had changing automotive interests. Retired in 2020, and here we are today. I'm building the whatever project, collecting parts for Son of Whatever, adding tools to the shop, and basically just enjoying my latter years as best I can.

And the garage is a large part of it. As it has been since I was a kid...

 

An assortment of replies. My summation: for many creation and activity are a large part of satisfaction and drive to keep going. For some, age has caught up and has removed what used to drive us. Change is constant in life and not always to our satisfaction. Being married forever isn't easily explainable. I think you have to do it to understand. I'm fortunate to still be married and able to work in the shop. Tomorrow is my 45th wedding anniversary and I've been building a project every year and a half for the last 5 years. I am old and lucky as can be.

 

Our 44th coming up on the 23rd this month. 23 years ago I wouldn't have believed that we'd get here. Glioblastoma tumor in SWMBO's right side of the brain. And still here today. She tolerates my garage time, mainly to get me out of her hair for a break.

 

I had a stroke three months ago. I had two back surgeries and other heath problems not so long ago. I'm lucky that all I lost was about 40% of my eyesight. I can still give a deserving soul the finger! I dream about working on my 1950 Fords almost every night My garage is mostly a storage shed now. I have three 1950 Ford coupes and I don't have the room to work on them and hate to sell. I plan to sell my other belongings(gun related) and concentrate on what's really important to me to get me back in my garage. Happy anniversary wfoguy We just went over 40 years in Dec. 2023

 

I get to my shop on the weekends, its my happy place when I get there I forget about my job and the world work on my cars play with the shop cat have some beers with my bodies.

 

I just made a major move and with that , I left my dream garage which was a complete machine and fab shop. It was my sanctuary for sanity for the past 20 years . Now that I have moved , I am in the process of building another dream garage , but currently I am struggling with the lack of space to properly work on my projects. I hope to be done and moved in next year . I believe it will be worth the wait and dedicated time in building a new place.
Vic

 

I don't have a dream garage but instead a $1500 Sutherland Lumber pole shed for working on my cars so I don't crave going out there. But I do have an addition that I added to make car parts and that I do crave to go to and hang out in.

 

I was already told that the wife wants to watch the overpaid #$%@& play a kids game tonight so i will be out in my shop doing something. I am in my shop doing something on all holidays instead of doing the family thing. my mom is 85 told me there was more kids than adults at christmas time but at least the grandkids all bring a dish now but wishes the baby factories would shut down, she doesn't want anymore great grand kids. she can't blame me, i don't have kids of my own just a stepdaughter that i rarely see.

Nice having someplace to go to just get out of the house. doesn't matter if it is to work on a vehicle or lawn mower, just to do cleaning, cutting up scrap or just to sit up there and dream and watch the world go by sitting on the steps.

 

Was going to work on my OT daily driver yesterday in my garage, and all the electrical outlets don’t work. They worked fine the day before when I was cutting exhaust flex pipe for my speedster project. This will be interesting to sort through as there are no breakers that popped. Shop time on daily drivers’ is no fun in my book, especially when working in the wintertime with the garage door open. Luckily, it’s only 0C out (32F).

 

I'm the oldest of 10 children. I had almost no privacy. But the basement was warm in the winter and cool in the summer and I enjoyed going down there by myself and working on my plastic car models. I enjoyed the quiet times alone in the "shop".
And I still do.

 

If no breakers popped (check them again by throwing them completely off, then back on), then you are more likely looking for a GFCI at the up-stream outlets, which probably tripped and opened the circuit to all outlets on that string. Easy Peasy.
I agree on the shop time invested in daily drivers. I hate working on the DDs that I rely on and need to have running. They demand attention at the least opportune times.

 

Daily drivers go to the local mechanic these days. I'm not able to get to the floor for oil changes without a bit of pain these days. And if I'm going to be in pain I prefer to get the aches and pains working on something that I understand. I open the hood, and fill the windshield washer reservoir. Everything else just looks like big hunks of plastic.

Besides, it's good for the local economy

 

Other than warranty work or regular periodic maintenance on new vehicles, I can count on one hand the times I have enlisted the services of a mechanic.
I have been told by those who feel it is their time to watch over me that these days are just about over.
They just don't understand that you can get better sleep on a piece of cardboard on the concrete than on that $2000. mattress in the house.
Project vehicles are a whole different category with no time restraints or urgency. Just a hobby. One of many.
I will start going to the local lube shop for the daily drivers and any other service that becomes beyond my abilities, but other than that, the shop projects are purely for my enjoyment and eventually may just be passed on to the next guy but not if I'm still breathing.

 

All the outlets in question are GFCI, and I thought initially it had something to do with that. However, after tracing the wiring back to my main breaker panel, I realized a breaker that was in the “off” position which I thought was for my lights/plug at my dock was actually for the breaker for the outlets in question. There was were no labels for a couple of the breakers which I added for wiring that I ran into the garage, so I have now added labels to those breakers. D’oh!

 

Oh, I agree with you on the therapeutic benefits of cardboard on concrete. Have done it for years. And wherein is the problem. I look like a beached sea turtle stuck on its back, trying to get back on my feet. I imagine that a video of me attempting to get up would have won the $10,000 prize in one of those old tv shows. I fell in the driveway a little over a week ago. It took a few attempts at getting back up before I managed. And that's scary these days...

 

Great sleuthing! I had thrown breaker and GFCI problems at various times. Occam's Razor, then go from there. I always figure vehicle wiring is tougher to diagnose than house wiring. Don't know why.

 

I crave shop time.

The way I try to explain it to people is this. For me, in my day to day work, I don't create anything tangible. I create litigation. More often than not, the resolution of a case will be a year or more from when it first begins. It's a long, drawn-out process. Sure, sometimes there will be a victory or something that makes you feel good. But even then, it's not the kind of thing that's you're going to pose next to on Instagram. Best you can hope for is a victory that my colleagues will recognize or a case gets a write up in a publication, and the victory turns into money I can use for other purposes.

But shop time isn't like that. I can see, hear, feel, touch, and enjoy the fruits of my labor, and I can share it with others. A complete build is nothing more than a huge list of smaller projects, all of which need to be completed. And with completion of each one of those sub-projects comes a more immediate sense of personal satisfaction. Additionally, constantly pushing myself to learn new things and get better at the things I do know is always constant challenge, one that can never be mastered.

 

You're not nuts, you're a normal Gearhead. I'm at my best when I'm in the shop.
Don't look back except for advice from yourself. Figure it out, it's what we all do.