64 lane
Well-known member
I thought I would share some pics of my new / old shop. My dad and I built this 30 x 60 garage when I was 12. I recently was blessed to purchase the shop from my mother and aunt. They had no reason to sell, since the shop was rented to a good tenant. They sold it to me because they knew what the shop meant to me and my father. When we built the shop I always assumed that one day it would be passed from my father to me.
He decided to open an auto shop after he was fired from his construction job due to an on the job injury. He opened the garage in 1982. It was successful because he was honest and always kept a car of his own to work on when he didn't have a customer's car. My uncle ( his brother) owned a salvage yard. Whenever he had a car come in that could be fixed up, my father would buy it and work on it when things were slow. He would sell these to people looking to buy a high school starter car or often to people who were looking for cheap transportation to drive to work. We also would drag race on the weekends during the summer. I will try to post some of the old pics my father has.
The economic recession of the late 80s forced my father to close the doors on the shop. It wasn't due to his lack of business sense, but I believe due to his large heart. Many of my fathers customers needed their autos worked on, but were unable to pay him. We lived in a small town with farmers and an oil company as some of his bigger customers. He refused to borrow money to pay for the shop, so he decided to close the doors and move on to other things.
My father and mother divorced when I was about 14. For a brief period, my father converted the storage area into a small apartment so he could be close to me and my sisters. When he decide to sell, my grandmother purchased the shop so she could keep it in the family. She rented it for years, but she had no way to keep track of the renters use and abuse of the building. After she passed, my mother and aunt kept the shop rented out.
He decided to open an auto shop after he was fired from his construction job due to an on the job injury. He opened the garage in 1982. It was successful because he was honest and always kept a car of his own to work on when he didn't have a customer's car. My uncle ( his brother) owned a salvage yard. Whenever he had a car come in that could be fixed up, my father would buy it and work on it when things were slow. He would sell these to people looking to buy a high school starter car or often to people who were looking for cheap transportation to drive to work. We also would drag race on the weekends during the summer. I will try to post some of the old pics my father has.
The economic recession of the late 80s forced my father to close the doors on the shop. It wasn't due to his lack of business sense, but I believe due to his large heart. Many of my fathers customers needed their autos worked on, but were unable to pay him. We lived in a small town with farmers and an oil company as some of his bigger customers. He refused to borrow money to pay for the shop, so he decided to close the doors and move on to other things.
My father and mother divorced when I was about 14. For a brief period, my father converted the storage area into a small apartment so he could be close to me and my sisters. When he decide to sell, my grandmother purchased the shop so she could keep it in the family. She rented it for years, but she had no way to keep track of the renters use and abuse of the building. After she passed, my mother and aunt kept the shop rented out.
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