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I own Ole Yellar a 1985 high top Astro van for I think going on 3yrs.I bought a donor 1989 Astro van that had a TBI 350 V8 conversion already done to it.The tranny in the donor van has a blown-up 1991 700R from a V8 pick-up truck.Well I stripped all the parts from the donor van out to install them(yeah with mods yet to be done)in Ole Yellar.Two yrs I have owed these parts.Ole Yellar is the preferred van because it's intended use is a towing van for my vendor trailer and to stack product cases in the back.
Well on and off for about two yrs I have been searching for a rental shop to work in.In the last three months I have been frantically looking to rent a shop because I could see where the rocker panels where getting very bad.(rusty)I felt if I didn't find a shop before winter (snow) hit here in Roch,NY,that my beloved Ole Yellar project van would be lost forever.
One thing I want to pass along to everyone here is never take on a project like this without having the garage to do the work.
The second thing is with a high top van like mine,it alone will not fit threw a standard residential home garage door.I intend to do a 3" body lift too,so that meant I was faced with trying to find a commercial door size and paying for commercial square footage to work out of.
I was looking in Craigslist for rentals for about the three months.I did find a shop that justifiably the guy wanted $400.00 per month.Way,way more than I wanted to pay.(Or could and still swing the mods I wanted to do)
Well today this old hot rodder signed a lease on a one bay 9' tall by 8' wide doored shop that is in a commercial building.The bay it's self is 12' wide by 24' deep.It is located 45mins away from where I live,but as I said,it is really rare to find the right size door opening and a landlord that is willing to allow you to work on your vehicle.Most places want to rent to cold storage only and do not have electric available.
I am very excited to finally find a place to work on my project.First I have to finish the inside of my vendor trailer and then I will start on the Ole Yellar project van.
Now this will be the LAST street rod van/towing van I will be building.But be assured,it will be all the 20 plus yrs experience of hot rodding applied to be the best I have ever done.
Who Haaaaa....................can't wait to get started.
Oh Yeah,while I move in over the wkend,I will get some pic's of the new shop.
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Congrats Gary, you make me realize how lucky I am to have the land that allowed me to build a 24x40 pole barn with a 12' wide by 12' high sliding door.
Good luck to you.
Well I first need to finish the inside of the vendor trailer,but given the size of this garage(12'x24') I need to be creative on how I store things in the garage.I moved in the body parts I have for Ole Yellar and the power train,sub frame,and associated parts over the last two days.Now I have to hang off two of the walls shelving for some of those parts and be smart about it.I saying I know how the work space you have impacts the end result of a project.
Man it feels good to know if I want to work on something,I have a shop to do it in.
Soooooo,over the next couple wks,that is what I am going to concentrate my efforts in turning this into a really good work space for myself.I am going to get from Harbor Freight a set of wheel dollies so I can move what I am working on from one side of the shop to the other.I have lined up a new 170,000 btw salamander for heat which should get that insulated space to 70 in seconds.
Sounds like a man who's found something just short of heaven. Up where you live I know it gets REAL cold and blustery too. Glad to hear you found the space, now for the pics...
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"A man can stand no taller than when he stoops to help a child".
With this heater I don't plan on being cold this winter:
I had to just stop the chaos trying to work out of these two bins of tools:
I have owned this tool box for about 5yrs.I bought it brand new and then shortly after have to move from the place I rented for 18yrs that had my shop.I had stored buried the front of my enclosed 12' trailer covered up never having a tool put into it.
Of course I quickly learned I have more tools than I have space in the tool box.The top haft for this is a grand and side boxes would be cool too,but that isn't going to happen.
I am going threw the normal period of making this work space my own which takes time.
Trials of finding a rental garage
