First, a little story about my dad. After he retired from the Air Force he built a 2 1/2 car garage next to our house and went to the local community college and got his Associates degree in Auto Tech. For the next thirty years he ran that shop, all by himself, and provided for us. He was always in to cool cars and I can't tell you how many classics came and went from our driveway when I was a kid. Hell, I've lost count of just the '63 and '64 Impalas. I was brought up going to car shows and swap meets. I'm 39 now and the first time I went to the Charlotte Autofair it was held at Metrolina. I had to move to upstate NY when in '95, but when I moved back down south in 2000 I made a point of going to the Autofair with dad every year. We lived 5 hours away from each other, but those few days of Autofair we were able to catch up, tell stories and just spend time together, me and him. Well, a bit over two years ago he passed away. Lung cancer's a bitch. In addition to his Autofair spot, I was also left with most of the contents of his shop. I've been making trips back and forth hauling stuff from his shop to my garage for awhile now. There is still a ton of stuff I need to go bring back. The past couple of weekends I've been going through the boxes that I've brought back, trying to pick out stuff to bring with me to Autofair this week. I've got a pretty full load, and I feel good about what I'm bringing with me. Here's the catch... Dad could look at nearly any part and tell you what it fit, he could tell you what interchange between a 210 and an Ambassador. His old garage is full of parts and tools he collected over all that time, he had to build out on his garage over the years to contain it all. Here's a couple of pics: His main stall - http://i.imgur.com/twHFUIvh.jpg - That was the '57 Bel Air he was working on when he got sick. He was never able to finish it. The back room - http://i.imgur.com/UrB98n2h.jpg - This is where he kept most of his parts. When he was actively working for the public the garage was never this messy, but as he got older, and then sicker, stuff started to pile up. Now, I have a 24'x32' garage out in back of my house. It has just about been taken over with stuff I've brought back from Dad's garage - http://i.imgur.com/hCsirYNh.jpg. Stuff like this - http://i.imgur.com/bevfDnvh.jpg Now, anything with a part number or casting number I can usually figure out. But here is where I would like your help. There is a ton of stuff that I just have no idea what it goes to, chrome trim is especially hard for me to identify what it goes to. Would y'all mind if I start posting up pictures of things I can't identify? I'll post dimensions or (hopefully) helpful information where I can. I'm already starting to get overwhelmed with the amount of stuff I have to sort through and identify. Your help would be greatly appreciated.
Man I'm sorry to hear of your loss. My dad died of the same thing and I miss sharing so many things (especially about old cars) with him. Best to you and yours~
I'm sure it doesn't matter, but I fully support this thread. I am finding myself in a very similar situation. My FIL is under Hospice care now and has amassed a collection of old Ford trim that I have very little idea as to what it goes to. I hope the HAMB is willing to help you sort this out. I will be needing their help soon myself.
As stated by others here in the family, my condolences for your loss. Will give some thought as to a reasonable method to get through the stock on hand. I think that the first step is to inventory anything that you can recognize. Then inventory parts by description; example 1 : intake manifold, 2 barrel, color: chevy red example 2: Distributor : no cap delco emblem etc... This might help get things to a manageable group of inventory for sale. Just thinking, no great thoughts but may be a start. Keep in touch, we'll try to help. All the best, Dale Cleveland OH
When you do take pics, make sure they are by themself and not partially hidden by other parts. it helps to see the whole thing....sorry for your loss....
Consider making a photobucket album with instructions for people who recognize what a part is to mail you the information. That way it won't tie up bandwidth here.
sorry for your loss, and good on you ,for yor appreciation of your fathers wealth.you just keep posting and the hamb will help out in any way we can.good luck
Lost my Father to lung cancer also. Looks like your pops was one cool guy. I don't have nearly as much stuff for my son to go through some day but all of us "old guys" should think about the mess we might be leaving for someone else to handle down the road. I am trying to only buy and keep stuff that pertains to his drag car and my 64 now. My wife and I had an auction 7 years ago and sold everything we had except for our cars and a roll top desk and a couple of beds. Got rid of coke and diner stuff,gas pumps,barber poles,wooden phone booth and tons of other stuff we had been collecting. To our kids it was just old stuff and they cared nothing about it. Got all new stuff and a smaller house with a better shop and made a new start. Oh, and we banked the money! Good luck with all that stuff. I hope it brings great memories for you as you go through the stuff that was special to your dad. As fathers we want our kids to smile and laugh a little when they remember us.
Sorry I missed your post. We've had XO59 and a car corral spot for years. I was able to pay for my spots, but not much extra.
Ok, so I got back from the Autofair on Sunday, feeling a bit tired but a lot less hung over than I usually do. I was able to spend a bit of time in the garage on Monday and started sorting through things, mostly water pumps, alternators and starters. However there was a cardboard box on top of those parts that I had to go through first. This album - http://imgur.com/a/6rz74 is some of those parts. In the box were some 40s - early 50s Chevy inline 6 cylinder parts so these may be related.
Sorry for your loss - that's a tough one to bear. If you are photographing stainless trim it would help to have both a steel and a soft tape measure to indicate the length and width of the piece in the photographs. I am doing inventory right now and making a master list both in printed and electronic form and tagging everything with tie on tags where possible, or marker paint because I do not want to leave anyone else with a collection of Henway parts....
Like everyone else said, I truly am sorry about the loss of your Dad. That always is very tough, especially if you were close, like you two were. One thing that might help you sort out the parts is to do process of elimination. There will be parts you are able to identify easily, put those on one side. The others can be put aside to be figured out later on. Usually, we car guys tend to stick with certain brands of cars, so there is a good chance your Dad didn't have parts from Ford, Chevy, Studebaker, etc. Most of his stuff was probably for what he liked working on. On a lighter note, one time we were in my shop and I waved my arm and said to my Sons, "Some day all of this will be yours." They said "You better never die, old man !" I don't think they want to deal with all the crap I have squirreled away and go through what you are going through. Don
Maybe most car guys are like that, but not the old man. I think we had at least one of everything come through our driveway at some point. Plus, he gathered stuff where he could (auctions, flea markets, swap meets) to resell.
I too am making a spreadsheet as I am identifying things, tagging them and taking photos. I'm going to try to make a database and store it on a website so I can access my list from anywhere.
Lost my dad to Lung cancer also,seems like a lot of the older guys that were in the air Force subcome to lung cancer due to in part all the asbestos used in the WWII era aircraft. I think Don offered a great suggestion about posting the parts on photo bucket. HRP
Dad didn't work with the WWII stuff, but for the first 10 years of his service (from about 1958-1968) he was in Environmental Services and did stuff like water treatment and sprayed for mosquitos (in Thailand), for the second 10 years he was a boom operator (again serving in SE Asia for some of that time). After retiring from the Air Force he went to work for himself as a mechanic (asbestos brake pads anyone?) and he was a lifelong smoker. He never had a chance, but at least he lived to be 70 and got to see his grandkids.
It's been a minute, but I'm back. Life got in the way of things for a bit there, but I am now actually starting to go through some stuff that I brought back from my dad's garage. How about an easy one. SBC dipstick, grey tip, 22" long. I think it's late 60's to early 70's, but I'm not sure and my Google-fu is letting me down.
There are so many other life time collections that are in the same situation, I hope the HAMB family can help you ID stuff. Hope this stays an ID post and doesn't get into a value appraisal. Bob
No ID request here, just thought y'all might enjoy this BS "Gas Booster" from the 70's gas crisis. According to the instructions is claimed "a noticeable increase in performance and economy". I love hokum.
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