Vintage Brass Screw Machining Gauge

Here is an old brass machinist screw gauge that measures 4 1/4 inches long and is marked on the back G. & P. Engraving Co., Boston on the back. I landed this piece on Ebay for a few bucks! Money well spent! I will use it in my growing machining tool collection! It is made with raised letters and numbers and shows the Fay & Scott Machine Shop, Dexter Maine, a company that has been out of business for quite some time now. Nice find and useful for future projects!

Removing bad scrapes on Grandmas Mazda Tribute

Grandma paid a visit and while she was spending a couple of days with us she mentioned that someone had hit her vehicle and scraped it on the door. After checking it out I decided that it was paint off of another car so we tried the buffer and a bit of Meguiars wax on it and look at the results! Nicely done! :) A few before and after shots for you to check out....

Recycled Wood Work Station

I found a bunch of 2x4s kicked to the curb and saved them from the wrath of the garbage truck. I decided that my son and I would build a new work station for the garage and it is coming along nicely. We have built a sturdy foundation and for the top surface we will be using an old hardwood closet door which was also saved! Great finds and fun project with my son! :) More pics to come of this project........

Vintage Racer Inspired Jacket

I found another really cool race inspired jacket this year on Etsy for $15 and luckily I do not have much to do to this one other than take it to the cleaners! :) I have a 2nd jacket to add to my slowly growing collection! Really cool find for 2011! :)

Antique Door Score!!!!

I found this vintage door kicked to the curb this past weekend and I have plans to use it as a flat top surface for a new work station in my garage! The door is solid and would make a great surface for my woodworking tools! The door came complete with a nickel door handle and lock! Score! :) The door handle is a keeper! :) I usually only scrap metal that is steel or that I do not have a use for to make $$ for my projects! Overall, a really nice find! I will post pictures just as soon as I have the station built! In the meantime, enjoy a pic of my new/old found door! :)

New Old Car 1984 Buick Riviera T Type

Well I sold my project Ford Taurus as well as my Mercury Sable and upgraded to Buick! I bought this '84 Riviera T-Type with 45,000 original miles from my uncle and have invested about 2 grand into getting it back on the road. New tires, new radiator, taillight relay, manifold re-welds, valve cover gaskets and a few other odds and ends has this car ready for the road! Drives like a dream and I like the turbo on it! :) This car is fairly rare with less than 2000 being made in 1984. I also like the feature that it has always been in my family since it was bought from the dealership in 1984. I have been driving this car to work for about 2 months now and she averages about 22 miles per gallon with the turbo V6. You can get respectable gas mileage as long as you keep the foot off the gas! Overall, I am pleased with the car and look forward to many years of use! :)

Worn out Piano to Cool Garage Desk!

I found this old 1972 Beckwith piano kicked to the curb a few weeks back and decided to save it from the wrath of the garbage truck. At first I picked it up just to see how much I could scrap out of it but after looking at the cabinet I decided to turn it into a desk for my garage. It took me 3 weeks just to remove the innards! A lot of the piano components were already missing including the keys and the top end but the hard to remove stuff was still there. I had to remove 283 bolts by hand to get the back plate out!!! The back plate weighed in at 175 pounds! I found that the back plate accounts for about 60% of the weight of a piano! It was heavy!!!! After removal of all the metal from the wood cabinet I scrapped the metal which brought in $14. I am using the money to buy some Birch wood to build up the top part of the cabinet to turn into a desk. I am in the build up phase right now so I will post pictures as soon as I am done. My advice for anyone who wants to do this project is to wear a lot of protective gear including eye protection and gloves! There are too many pieces of wire under extreme tension which can cut, slice and dice so do not take the task lightly! Overall, this has been an enjoyable project and one of the few which has actually helpe pay for its own transformation! :) PIctures posted are in the early stages of piano to desk transformation....I will post more as time allows. Enjoy the pics in the meantime!

Those Lines!

Check out the lines of the classic fixie and the nice cross bar pad! I am thinking about making one of these for my classic bike! Nicely done!

West German Vintage Saw Blades Found on Etsy

I bought these vintage West German saw blades off of Etsy for a few bucks! These are in really nice shape and old! I will keep these in reserve for my vintage saw! :) Nice find!

1964 Moulton 4 Speed Resto

I picked this Moulton 4 speed bicycle frame/parts off of Ebay for $175. This bike is worth quite a bit of coin restored and I just love the classic lines of it. Alex Moulton designed this frame to compete with the modern day triangulated frame of today and it just never gained the popularity to overtake as the design to be copied. Nevertheless the Moulton bike has quite the cult following in several countries and are still be produced in England by the Moulton company which is currently be managed by Alex Moulton's son. Terrific bike and will be a great resto project. The nicer moulton below is not the one I have...I am putting pictures on the blog as I find them on the net in an effort to restore my Mouton frame. It is a long term project but one I am sure I will enjoy. More to come...

Vintage Military Ammo Can Resto (Toolbox)

I found this vintage military ammo can a while back and decided to repaint in Rustoleum glossy black and use as a toolbox. At some point someone had painted this ammo can purple but it really needed a repaint. If you are trying to decide what kind of paint to repaint your project with I recommend Rustoleum paint because it lays so flat right out of the rattle can! Nice! I use this can for hand tools now! Nice find!

Vintage Sears Break Away Bike Resto

I bought this vintage Sears break away bike off of Ebay for $50 and love it! I plan on doing a complete resto. The original wheels were rusted beyond belief and I was worried about them coming apart while riding so I replaced them with a set of wheels and tires from another bicycle which I found a few weeks back...fits perfect! I also removed the front and rear fenders which were trashed. After I am through sanding the frame I will repaint in Rustoleum Avocado green and finish with a clear coat. I also need to get the chain replaced as it was missing. Overall, really neat parts swap meet bike! :) More to come.

Decided to keep the original black paint..nice patina! I have replaced the chain and the bike is now actively ridden! :) Fun little bike! I also found out that Sears marketed this bike under the name, "Tote Cycle". Few updated pictures...

Williams Toolbox Resto

I won this vintage WIlliams toolbox on Ebay for $4 after seeing the potential. My plan is to sand the top and side panels and repaint those sections with Rustoleum paint. After I repaint I will see about replacing the top lock mechanism and get it working as well. I will either replace the lock mechanism or get it rekeyed depending on which is cheaper. I will update just as soon as I complete the resto.

Huffy Beach Cruiser Resto

I found this Huffy Beach Cruiser left for dead on the side of the road a few weeks back along with a few other bikes and saved them! The bike obviously had been left out to weather the elements in its prior life and need some parts replaced. I managed to replace the seat, handle bar grips and rewrapped the handle bars due to missing chrome with Tessolux french blue canvas wrap. I have to admit it is a nice looking bike now! After tweeking a few other items wrong with the bike I cleaned it up and now it is ready to go to my mom in East Texas who has been looking for a comfortable bike to ride in her neighborhood! Overall, I am pleased with how it turned out and it only cost me a few bucks in parts! Nice find and fun project!

Future Tackle Box Project

I found this box containing paint supplies kicked to the curb last week and saved it from the wrath of the trash truck. My wife is going to use the paint supplies and I am going to transform this neat little box into a fishing tackle carrier. There are two layers of shelving on each side so with a little ingenuity this will be a nice carrier! Quality box and strong due to dovetail joints! More picture of project coming soon!

1960s Vintage Manual Typewriter

I have been wanting an old manual typewriter for some time for my garage office. I finally managed to get one really cheap off of Ebay and it works good! What ever happened to the days for the manual typewriter? I will use occasionally to mess with people and to type out a few envelope labels. Nice find! As far as restoration goes, a good cleaning and it is ready for use.

2001 Subaru Outback Rear Seat Resto

Ok--this is a really nasty project. Bought this 2001 Subaru Outback Limited Edition really cheap and the car needed a really good cleaning!!!! The back seat was completely trashed! The bottom rear seat was in really poor condition so I removed it and behold the large amount of trash and yuck under the seat! Call the EPA! ACK! It took me about 4 hours worth of cleaning to get all the yuck out! I removed and chunked the rear bottom portion of the seat as well as the rear seat belts. I joined Subaru Outback owners association and found a really nice bottom seat portion in black which is mint and two replacement seat belts for cheap! BINGO! This goes to show how a little bit of elbow grease can save you a mint in the end! My Outback has gone from being a trash can to a nice clean smelling car! :) I will update as soon as I get the new parts in. Viewing below pictures may be damaging! :)

Vintage Huffy Laredo Banana Seat Bicycle

I found this old Huffy Laredo bicycle on Ebay and just had to have it since I owned one exactly like it when I was little!!! I am going to restore to driveable condition and let my son ride it! Very cool find! More to come!

Antique Wall Mount Gun Cabinet Resto

I found this antique wall mount gun cabinet and restored with teak oil. This old cabinet looks to have some age to it! I mounted it in my garage and have a WWII training rifle on it! Looks great!

Antique Fold Away Table RESTO

Found this antique fold away table and turned it into my new resto project. I was going to sand and restain but I was scared the table would completely come apart due to age so instead I went with applying teak oil and what a difference it made! The table looks great and I think the oil application was the way to go. The piece still retains its history! Nice patina as well!

Donor Bike for '83 BMX Bike Resto

Picture of the donor bike....using tubes and tires off of this one for the '83 BMX Pro Cycle Bike. Just trying to save some dough and be environmentally friendly by re-using! This donor bike is a 20" Next and was also found kicked to the curb a while back!

1983 BMX Cycle Pro Bike Resto

I found this old Cycle Pro E/S Mag Freestyle Bicycle last week kicked to the curb and decided to restore it after I did some research. The old BMX bikes have picked up lot of momentum in the last several years in terms of value. This old BMX is worth around $300-$400! Reason enough to clean it up and get it back on the road! I have enough spare parts laying around to resurrect this one back to its former glory! Check out the double bars and the oval shape frame below the seat. I have never seen one like this. This takes me back in time to the 80s when BMX bikes were the craze! I guess it never went away! I have all the components for this one and have already replaced the pedals with some NOS ones I have had tucked away. After I wrestled with the wheel bolts for 2 days I finally managed to get them off...just needed a lot of penetrating oil and a little persuasion. I have the wheels and bolts cleaned and ready for rubber which is coming from the donor bike pictured. The only thing I have to purchase is a new seat and maybe one tube. I bought a quilted BMX seat off of Ebay for $8 and the tube will be a few dollars more. This is a great investment....give it a few more decades and this old bike will really be worth a lot more! Thumbs up for a great find and fun resto! Check back for updates! More to come...