Folks Of Interest How many of you are true garage builders ?

I do my own although kids help out, they liked welding and as well others may offer help and advice. My vehicles are rolled into garage and don't leave until I can drive them out. Only paid service was wheel alignment although I have considered paying someone to paint, that consideration passed quickly.

 

Built my 36 Terraplane in a garage. Engine machining. Suspension, body work and paint, and even bought an old Singer to do the interior work. All with help from talented cousins.


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I can only assume there is a forge and rubber trees in your future.

 

I did---keeps me out of the strip joints .

 

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Nothing wrong with being an assembler, because to a certain extent we all use some premade items. Myself, from the old school, I tend to enjoy making many things from scratch.....I like the originality and uniqueness. I bought some four bars off Ebay, but I made my own brackets for the triangulated 49, while I used premade brackets for my S-10.
Narrowed both rear ends myself with a homemade set of aligning brackets.....then ordered some Moser axles. Using a modified 89 Chevy truck frame for my son's 56 Chevy truck. Narrowed the rear of the frame and shortened it from a long bed. Mounted a 9 inch Ford rear,made crossmembers, adapted an S10 gas tank between the rear rails and made my own body mounts (easy peasy) and motor mounts for an LY6 (LS engine "ssshhhh"). Then I bought premade bedsides,tailgate, and welded in a steel bedfloor from the 89 Chevy. Bought premade power windows,radiator, hedders,and wiring harness. Need to get a driveshaft made.
The 49 has front suspension that I removed from an 84 Vette and grafted into place with a sway bar made from generic on line parts because I couldn't make the vette sway bar work. Boxed the frame and stepped the rear kick up with some prebent box tubing from Morrison. Got lots of parts that I made and lots of parts that I bought and made work, and lots more parts that I just bolt in place. Do I think that makes me any better than the folks that buy premade things and just bolt them together...Nope! Just Luckier, because I had the opportunity to get my fingers greasy, break about a million fingernails, singe my eyebrows, bust my knuckles......and learn. I've told people in the past that I actually feel sorry for the kids that only learn things from books and colleges. They are important too, of course.....but I respect anyone who wants to be a part of this sport.
Hopin to buy one of those "premade" Brookville bodies in the next year.........
And last but not least....to prove I really am a garage builder...this is something I assembled from preformed stuff. (The pole barn picture was supposed to go here)

 

For me, often, making a thing's more fun than using it. I sometimes even lose interest when it's done, and sell it to finance the next whatever.
And hell, I'm too effing cheap to farm out anything I can figure a way to cobble myself.
All my hobbies're "scratched" ........ cars, putts, Sn3, music, Rose Parade floats, writing.
The float's especially cool, 'cause it takes a whole new superstructure every year.

 

Everything done in my 2 car garage except machine work. It took me four years to build this car and I’m enjoying the shit out of it this summer. Got it running towards the beginning of May and have put about 1,300 miles on it so far.

 

I'm late to the party as usual 'cause I was doing the new dash for my roadster.
I don't do my own engine machine work, chrome or upholstery but I do everything else. Body work is my least favorite and painting is the most satisfying. My Dad gave me his upholstery sewing machine and was gonna teach me but he got sick and passed before we got to do it. I pretty much have my dream shop now (30x40) after all these years. Man, it's nice to have smooth concrete floors at last! Got a nice assortment of equipment that I mostly labor traded or side work paid for; shear, brake, tube benders, welders, big disc sander, band saw, a four post hoist, a lathe and a mill. These days, I have all the catalogs and I'm not afraid to buy something if it makes more sense but I almost always end up just going to get the material and do it myself. Narrowing my roadster's Olds rear end for example, I was ready to load it up and drop it off somewhere but I have all the stuff to do it so - why not? Now it's done and in the car, just waiting for the axles to come from Mark Williams.
Credit card hot rodding has helped our hobby grow but I feel better about my cars when people ask and I can say "I did it".

 

THis is a great thread, lot's of very skilled guys around here.
In the last 45 years or wrenching, I have done every phase of a complete build, spread out over many cars. Body, paint, fabrication, welding, machining, engine building (except boring and line honing the block and grinding the crank) suspension, alignments, set up rear end gears, narrowed housings, ground valves and seats, ported heads, brakes, all wiring, trannys, even sewed up my own tuck and roll interior. My shop is well equipped with 2 hoists, engine lathe, bridgeport, press, parts washer, mig, tig, arc, gas, and spot welders, plasma cutter, band saw, belt and disc sander, cherry picker, valve grinder, seat grinder, tire machine, tire spin balancer, pressure bleeder, etc. (got a lot of it by bottom feeding at auctions, back before the internet ruined auctions, and by bartering for roofing) But I have found that some things either I am no good at or too slow, or both. Combine that with the time commitments of running 2 businesses and family raising, I have become more selective about what I do and what I farm out. So now, I do most stuff, but let someone who is better and faster do the paint, body, interior, some of the fab work, and assorted other stuff if I'm in a time crunch. Still, I'm finding the best way to buy a car is to buy it done. It's easiest and cheapest. But some things in my head can't be bought, they don't exist. So I have to build it.

 

I built all my cars in a small 2 car capped garage. I have heat, no A/C. In the really cold winters, I used to build motorcycles in the house. See the CB750 on the lift in the adjacent room.

I do all my own work. Paint, body, interior, wiring, engine, transmission, fabrication, etc in this tiny area.

 

Had to do it myself back then, in 1962 couldn't just turn the magazines & order parts.

 

I do it all, engine, drive train, upholstery, paint. never right the first time, but perserverance pays off!!

 

Ask me about my hydraulic clutch installation. Probably around $60 in heim ends, couplers, cleavis pins, etc. 2 weekends of machining other things like links to articulate it. Make something in aluminum, prove it out and then make it from stainless steel. The whole thing blew 3 solid weekends and some week nights before I got it working right.

 

Funny observation about buyers vs builders. I ran into a guy with a '64 or so T-Bird. He was dumbfounded that people actually work on their own cars... then my buddy with a real shop lets it slip that he owns his own repair shop. The guy leaps on him, asking if he'll work on his car. Wisely my buddy says he doesn't work on older cars and gives his reasons. Then he asks me if I take on side work... not getting a warm and fuzzy especially with an old T-Bird, I told him I only work on my own stuff.

 

Good instincts, if you replace the alternator belt, it will be your fault that the gas tank fell out.

 

I do all my own stunts, have not painted in yrs so most of my latest builds are primer. I enjoy the build and the driving the most. Some of my builds.

 

Did a heater core on a guy at work's Maverick, $25 + parts. Then the radio went a couple days later. I looked under the dash, everything plugged in, no blown fuse. That was the end of fixing cars for other people. One place I worked, we were warned about getting involved with problem cars... they called it the engagement party. Next thing you know you are married to it.

 

I am kind of envious of guys who have a real nice shop to work in. At this point it isn't going to happen for me. Like many others I have done all of my work (except interior) in a not well equipped small garage. I am expecting a big lottery win (in about a thousand years) and things will change.

 

I think much of the reason many people never have a decent shop to work in is simply a matter of not making a conscious decision that they are going to put forth what ever effort it takes so they can have one. The reason so many people on site have a frugal mindset is because we had nothing and had to work and struggle to have something. There are lots of ways to build a decent shop reasonably inexpensively......but waiting on the lottery ain't gonna work.
I have a lot of blood, sweat, and time invested in building my shop. By building it myself I was able to have a much better building than just buying one. It doesn't need to be beautiful on the outside, just ultimately useable on the inside. Doesn't need to be spotless inside, mine certainly isn't. No black and white tile floor but it needs to be concrete. Yeah, I know some guys don't have concrete, but they wish they did. I have a good friend I used to work with. He is a model train addict. His home is an unbelieveable universe of trains. He helps me with electrical stuff and I make things for him and his club. He brought his 40 year old son over to show him my shop. It was one of the best compliments I ever got....Said it's like an adult Disney world. Point is, it's got plenty of dirt and dust but he just loves my shop. I've had similar reactions from Craigslist buyers and other friends. The point is that it has a lot of usuable equipment in it.
If you really want a good shop to work in, work at building one, don't just wish for one.

 

I do most of my own work, at 74 I'm starting to slow down a bit, I didn't build my last 2 engines, and don't paint, most of the rest I can do at home, my favorite place.

 

Yep! Built my roadster in a single car garage.

 

No more room in garage, starting to take over the back yard

 

I built these two in my garage.

 

1941 Ford Cab , sectioned box, Z'ed frame, build and painted in the pole barn

 

I'm building my '29 in a 13' x 18' single car garage with a small addition making it longer. Still quite tight to move around in.

 

I’m a cheap and poor old bastard. So I’ve always done everything I could physically and mentally accomplish.
I’ve fabbed, painted, wired, and done most mechanical except trannys and rear ends. I’ve even accomplished some but not all the interior work.
The most fun was learning these skills.

 

I am 55 years old and definitely been in this group my entire life! To me it brings a certain satisfaction/ sense of accomplishment that you cant get any other way! I have been working on this one for just shy of 4 years and the only thing I have paid to have done is the front end alignment! Although not finished, it's now ready to have a little fun with, see you guys at the hamb drags!

 

I've always worked a full time job (Lincoln Technical Institute, Exxon Research and Eng., Engelhard Engine lab) and built rods, customs and muscle cars on the side. Built my 55 Olds in my driveway at home, though the chop was done in John Pazsik's body shop. Progressed to renting small shops in the Linden area, finishing my Olds in one, as well as working on the Les Cove chopped and sectioned 4 door Merc. Then moved to S jersey and built a 40 x 60 Pole Barn to have my own place! .

 

That looks like great fun!! What’s the quick story on it? Randy


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