Many years ago I was handed down my grand pop's collection of Popular Mechanics magazines. Among the mix was this Hot Rod Handbook of 1954. I remember when I got to this one page I just stopped and stared :The Handy Hot Rod Workshop. I scrutinized every detail; the neatly arranged benches, those old incandescent lights with porcelain shades hanging from the ceiling, the essential hand tools and machinery strategically placed , and best - one neat little hot rod to wrench on. It was beautiful in its simplicity. The stuff that dreams are made of. "Wow", I thought....If I could just have that, that's all I would really ever need. Fast forward 30 years...along the way I got to build my dream shop, only it had to be three times the square footage with three times the equipment and over time, three times the cars. Oh yeah, and three times the headaches. It had to have a lift and heat and even a window a/c unit just in case I might start to sweat. Parts and pieces of future project cars that only exist in my mind are crammed under benches or hanging on the walls and boxes of stuff - I forget what's even in them - are stacked to the rafters in the upstairs loft. Well, we're snowed in here. I'm stuck in the house and I'm bored, so today I started looking through my library of old books. I came across that 1954 Hot Rod Handbook and turned to the same page again. Just like I did thirty years ago I stopped and stared at it , scrutinizing every detail,..and just like thirty years ago I thought "Wow", if I could just have that, that's all I would really ever need.
i think i might have stared at this a little to long as well. i started to look at my shop and image how it would look with that set up. it would be great except half of it is for painting pictures of cars and the other half is for having the car sitting there and no time to work on it.
I don't know if you checked out the affilated site called The Garage Journal. Should post that up there as well. I love simplicity.
Great thread! If you dig that book you need to find a vintage copy of THE BOY MECHANIC. It was put out by Pop Mechanics way back as well. OG ones are hard to find, about 250-350 pages, hardcover http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Mechanic-...=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267351961&sr=1-6 Here is an eary version of the book^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^The one from the 1952 is better. Here is our sister site www.garagejournal.com Or you can acces em all at teh bottom of each page here.
The little tool chest they have drawn out kills me, my box is probably biger then the bench they have and I don't think it's big enough. Simpler times indeed....
I was looking through my old threads today and found this. Five years later I'm still snowed in and still wish my garage looked like that! This time though, everything I had is sold and gone. My how times change. .
I appreciate the simplicity of whole idea of this out-lined garage/workspace....I only wish my car projects were that simple as laid out....it seems I never have enough space!
Looks like some neighbor kids got Dick Flint drunk & stuffed a Plymouth 6 in his Model A, then painted it ...
Neat little set up. I have a small shop, wish I could gut mine and start over. But I made the mistake of moving things in before I had a decent layout, now its packed.
Very cool books, I've got a resonable collection of early pop mechanics mags, they always had the coolest projects for the home handyman from a time where life just seemed simpler..
Step one would be to start buying all the cheap casters you can find. This way you can move everything out on your drive and start over. I think you need a small a small desk and computer. Beats having parts books.
You could just about start a thread on Hot Rodding stuff which appeared in those old mags- Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, Mechanix illustrated, etc. Iv'e got a fair sized collection of these mags, If I work out how to use a scanner I'll put some articles up if anyone's interested.
This is awesome. The only thing they haven't taken into consideration is that the car takes up 4 times as much space while it's being built. Part of the incentive to getting my '54 done is having garage space again. LOL
Funny that I am working on my truck in about the same amount of space, have about the same tools sans parts washer and lathe, but I hardly have room to move around because of all the crap I've strewn everywhere. Just another reminder to be neat and tidy, and leave time at the end of the day to put everything back where it belongs.
^^ Yep. My prior house had a one car garage, 10' wide and 25' long. Built in 1950s. I kept my '66 Vette in there and even then it was tight, couldn't keep anything but bare walls on the sides and still hard to get in and out. How did folks park full size '40s '50s bombs in them?
While clearing out my father-in-laws horde, I found a full four volume set of Boy Mechanic in great condition. What a read, even now.
Between my dad & dad-in-law, I've inherited a large old library of Audel's, Pop Mechanics, Science & Mechanics, Popular Science, +++ dating back to 1894. Like 36roadster, I'll be glad to share articles. 36roadster, Best Buy sells a handheld scanner you can wand over the pages so as not to damage the mag by folding. Sells for about 60 bones.
The Jalopy Journal
