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Building a shop to look like a period correct shop from the 40's

Discussion in 'The Antiquated' started by Roothawg, Jun 14, 2023.

  1. Roothawg
    Joined: Mar 14, 2001
    Posts: 25,957

    Roothawg
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  2. Roothawg
    Joined: Mar 14, 2001
    Posts: 25,957

    Roothawg
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  3. Roothawg
    Joined: Mar 14, 2001
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    Roothawg
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  4. Roothawg
    Joined: Mar 14, 2001
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    Roothawg
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    OK, I'll quit for a while.
     
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  5. Okie Pete
    Joined: Oct 29, 2008
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    Okie Pete
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    I’m enjoying the pictures
     
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  6. Max Gearhead
    Joined: Oct 16, 2002
    Posts: 7,855

    Max Gearhead
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    from Wisconsin

  7. LOST ANGEL
    Joined: Jan 2, 2003
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  8. LOST ANGEL
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    LOST ANGEL
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  9. Roothawg
    Joined: Mar 14, 2001
    Posts: 25,957

    Roothawg
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    Very cool pics.
     
  10. Lepus
    Joined: Nov 18, 2016
    Posts: 498

    Lepus
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    Here are two old ones that are still here. They are on Route 340, a few miles north of Luray Virginia. they are very near a school where one of my wife's aunts used to teach. One is being used as a flea market on the weekends. I've never seen any activity at the ex Gulf station. 007.JPG 011.JPG
     
  11. Lepus
    Joined: Nov 18, 2016
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    Lepus
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  12. BamaMav
    Joined: Jun 19, 2011
    Posts: 6,969

    BamaMav
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    from Berry, AL

    The old shops I’ve been in were small, crowded, dirty and dingy places. They all had a smell of old oil , grease and gas. Most were single or at most , double bays. Saw a pic the other day of a building that looked like a house in front, then another pic of the front actually being a overhead door raised about halfway. Take some doing, but you could disguise one to look a small gas station with a single bay shop.
     
  13. nrgwizard
    Joined: Aug 18, 2006
    Posts: 3,040

    nrgwizard
    Member
    from Minn. uSA

    IDK, do you have to have one that is a service-gas-station style? If so, then other than post #16, bamamav covered it. Which is what I remember from most of southern MN towns.
    If you can consider dealerships, you'll probably get closer to what you're wanting, size-wise. & most still had at least 1 fuel pump. There the choice is rural 1stall &/or really small shops(which could include multiple-makes + tractors), to the larger 10->15+ bay buildings. A**** other things, the "salesfloor" would make a good place to store completed projects, & of course, a nice place to "sell" them. Doesn't *have* to all on one level. The old (20's?)Ford building in Mpls mn, was ~ 5 levels, & footprint wasn't all that big. They used elevators to get in/around the bldg. Likewise did the Studebaker bros in South Bend, but that one covered multiple square city blocks & was still ~6 stories high, built in 1900's iirc? Been thru that one a couple of times. Used thru '64. A decent mid-sized Stude dealership in "Maybury" NC, still stands, but it's been converted ~4 times. Happily, it still(did) has some small outside signage proclaiming better days. I could still see the concrete work-bays floor layout. Most of the old dealership buildings in Mankato MN are down, possibly repurposed, but from what I remember, were multi-level somewhat small footprint, using a similar concept as the Mpls Ford building, which was only ~ 3-4 blocks from where I worked, & is ~ 2 blocks from the current Twins stadium. Never went thru it.
    Lots of choices, hard to narrow them down... Esp since a some of dealerships were grandiose things in the 20's, died in the 30's, & reused in the 40's at a much more subsistence-level. What level of detail do you wish?
    Marcus...
     
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  14. Roothawg
    Joined: Mar 14, 2001
    Posts: 25,957

    Roothawg
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    I’m not set on anything really. I just like the idea af a cool front to my shop to dress it up a bit.
     
  15. Squablow
    Joined: Apr 26, 2005
    Posts: 18,498

    Squablow
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    barrisshopsmall.jpg
    Carson top shop.jpg
    edsauto.jpg
    potvinshop.jpg
    smallshopmossauto.jpg
    rothsmallshop.jpg
    tiny shop.JPG
    tinyshop2.jpg
    Vern's body shop.jpg
    watson original shop.jpg
    Zahn garage Potter.jpg

    Here's some random pics of old shops I have saved, most of them are not gas stations but neat to look at nonetheless, some of these I was saving because I was surprised by how small most of the famous builder's shops were back in the day. These guys became legends and most of them only had one overhead door. The last pic is a garage building in Potter, where my shop is, just threw that in there because it was saved in the same folder.
     
  16. Squablow
    Joined: Apr 26, 2005
    Posts: 18,498

    Squablow
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    And one of the meat market about 100 years or so ago, just because.

    Potter Meat Market 2.jpg
     

  17. I like your idea!
    I have envisioned one similar to the first picture, but with a 'service bay' on each side of the gas station canopy forming a "T" shape to the overall layout.. Each service bay being about 12' wide and the canopy being about 16' wide would take up 40' in width, by 24' deep in the service bays plus about 10' depth to the pump bay would make the footprint 34' deep... a lot of real-estate for the (indoor) square footage, though. If you had access to the rear of the building, the area behind the canopy would add a third bay of very good proportion.
    "If you build it, they will come."
     
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  18. Okie Pete
    Joined: Oct 29, 2008
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    Okie Pete
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    How about a consent type building with a brick or cement block building on the front?
     
  19. nrgwizard
    Joined: Aug 18, 2006
    Posts: 3,040

    nrgwizard
    Member
    from Minn. uSA

    Ahh, I see. I got the idea that you wanted to have a shop/building look like an old place - that was big enough to house all your stuff, & actually work on it. Sorry. A Facade makes sense. Still a very neat idea, infinitely better looking than a modern bldg. :) .
    Marcus...
     
  20. Fingers
    Joined: Feb 23, 2005
    Posts: 122

    Fingers
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    Well done, a nice collection of pics there
     
  21. Adriatic Machine
    Joined: Jan 26, 2008
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    Adriatic Machine
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    Not exactly the look you’re calling for but it is period correct. I wanted some New England charm so I went to New England and scrounged up some architectural salvage doors. Hundreds of hours later I came up with this; 7002E80E-2331-4B0A-A89B-599847A8D0BF.jpeg B18E23B1-17B2-4AAD-B817-8111053D457F.jpeg

    I salvaged these porcelain lampshades from a long defunct mental hospital and whipped up some fixtures; 55AC3A69-3937-4B58-8D60-3223E2216D64.jpeg
    D5B8932C-5F90-42AD-89C1-A44A2F1FF66C.jpeg

    I was shopping for junk in NYC and found a nice big stack of textured chicken wire gl***. Brought it to the gl*** shop for sizing and then glued them in. I highly recommend using this stuff it’s really cool.
    C03880F6-B190-451F-8C6C-A9B4F28A7438.jpeg
     
    Last edited: Jun 21, 2023
  22. Roothawg
    Joined: Mar 14, 2001
    Posts: 25,957

    Roothawg
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  23. Adriatic Machine
    Joined: Jan 26, 2008
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  24. 1946caddy
    Joined: Dec 18, 2013
    Posts: 2,356

    1946caddy
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    from washington

    Nows your chance to live out your dream.
    https://wenatchee.craigslist.org/pts/d/wenatchee-1929-signal-gas-station-30-30/7639036657.html
     
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  25. Okie Pete
    Joined: Oct 29, 2008
    Posts: 6,104

    Okie Pete
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    I went to Bud Redman’s finning party on New Year’s Day a couple years in a row . His shop was a single bay filling station from the early 60’s . It had the angled out front gl*** . He had a demo company in Wichita KS . His house was surrounded with cool , interesting stuff that he had found .
     
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  26. Latigo
    Joined: Mar 24, 2014
    Posts: 748

    Latigo
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    3DEA8B33-FBB8-481A-BA38-95D830AF8CA4.jpeg This is the back wall mural of my garage. A work in progress. I just add to it as the spirit moves me.
     
  27. Roothawg
    Joined: Mar 14, 2001
    Posts: 25,957

    Roothawg
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    Okie Pete likes this.

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