When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
^ those were the good old day.
now every car is too $ to drive.
Mooty,
You make an excellent point. When I was racing the GTO at Laguna, mid eighties when prices were moving higher, I thought, what the F... am I doing! That said, I probably took more risks driving flat out on the narrow, winding SF Peninsula back roads..and, as mentioned somewhere else, I was only sixteen years old when I started doing that. Or, driving the car up to Nevada to play (photo), which was more fun than the law allowed (which turned out to be true).
In the early days, before appreciation, the GTO was just an old race car no one wanted and we never thought about being careful.
We built those inexpensive wood cabinets thinking we could store our car stuff, but my mom beat us to it and hung clothes there, then got mad because they smelled like exhaust and oil. I never understood that...Good clothes SHOULD smell like car exhaust and oil.
i went back and forth on buying really high end cabinets vs the sams club/costco options......i guess it depends on where you want to spend your money. i chose an expensive lift and cheaper cabinets.
Originally Posted by bmwtye
Lista cabinets are top notch
I'd rank cabinets:
1.) Lista
2.) Moduline
3.) Saber - My 25' array cost just over $5,000 and was $1,000 to ship. So total with counter tops was right at $6,000. My List quote was about $25,000 and Moduline was $27,500. None of the big box store version are in the same ballpark in quality of the saber stuff.
4.) Anything Else (Vault, Gladiator, Baldhead, New Age, etc.)
I know exactly where auburn AVE is, l by the church.. how many years ago did you close down the shop?.. What year was that amazing pic taken? Can you tell us more about the experience or buying, driving, owning, those two works of art?... Would be incredible storytelling for sure. When did you sell them?
Since the topic is Garages, I better stick to that...The rest of the story needs to go somewhere else!
The Atlanta shop was called Cook's Auto Body. The owner, Billy Cook was an Atlanta fixture and real character. I was very lucky to meet him, except that it was damage to a race car that led me there. Billy knew all about stock car racing and had contacts at all the race shops in the area. No wonder my RSR grew a NASCAR tube frame. He also knew about IMSA and Bill France, so Billy was a real mentor to me as a rookie 24 year old. I don't know when Billy sold his shop, maybe around the time he started work for IMSA, maybe mid eighties.
Billy offered me a stall in his garage after he had finished repairs on my race car and it turned out to be a blessing since he had guys available to help me tear down the car after races and detail out all the support equipment. I'll never forget Ossie and Talbert, two Black guys with no education and completely illiterate, but those two worked harder than anyone and were two of the nicest guys I ever met. They were so proud of keeping everything clean and race ready, but once, I did have to stop them from washing out the inside of our race truck cab with a high pressure hose. I learned all about fabricating at Billy's and doing body work but most importantly he taught me how to deal with race politics and losing. Billy was full of racing stories and quips like "You run what you brung" and "Second place is first loser". He was a jolly guy, with a quick laugh who treated his crew very well. He'd go get us lunch on Fridays at the "Varsity" and everybody sat around in the shop and had a good old time talking and cracking jokes. Everybody needs to go to the Varsity at least once in their life!
Yes, Rev King held services across the fence from where I parked my little motor home. I lived there between races and because the neighborhood then was so desperately poor, I asked Billy if I would be safe, to which he replied, "This area is too poor to be dangerous", he was right, never had a problem.
Billy was very well known and the go to shop for high end car repair, so Atlanta basket ball and foot ball pros were always around. A few Falcons players would come out to Road Atlanta and watch the IMSA races. Nice guys who really loved Porsches and racing. Then in '76 Billy started doing some of the "Smokey and the Bandit" car repairs and that was cool meeting some of the production guys. We had a few Chrysalis Record producers come through the shop so we got invites to their studio in Macon. Billy definitely added a fun facet to my racing days and I would not have had the success I had without him.
I don't have a single photo of Billy, who regrettably passed on far too early, or photos of his shop, but at least my memory is still clear about my Atlanta days and Billy Cook, who along with John and Peggy Bishop looked after this once young kid.
3.) Saber - My 25' array cost just over $5,000 and was $1,000 to ship. So total with counter tops was right at $6,000. My List quote was about $25,000 and Moduline was $27,500. None of the big box store version are in the same ballpark in quality of the saber stuff.
4.) Anything Else (Vault, Gladiator, Baldhead, New Age, etc.)
VERY helpful, want to replicate your garage, except go with epoxy floor basically
You make an excellent point. When I was racing the GTO at Laguna, mid eighties when prices were moving higher, I thought, what the F... am I doing! That said, I probably took more risks driving flat out on the narrow, winding SF Peninsula back roads..and, as mentioned somewhere else, I was only sixteen years old when I started doing that. Or, driving the car up to Nevada to play (photo), which was more fun than the law allowed (which turned out to be true).
In the early days, before appreciation, the GTO was just an old race car no one wanted and we never thought about being careful.
VERY helpful, want to replicate your garage, except go with epoxy floor basically
I tried epoxy, and it was a disaster. It is highly dependent on the expertise of the guy doing it. Have you considered doing porcelain tile? I absolutely hated the idea of plastic floor tiles until I've had them. Now I could never go back.
What amazing cars and stories! You need your own forum, I would go just to listen to more of the stories. Sounds like you have had both cars since the 80s?
Originally Posted by 9114609048
Since the topic is Garages, I better stick to that...The rest of the story needs to go somewhere else! The Atlanta shop was called Cook's Auto Body. The owner, Billy Cook was an Atlanta fixture and real character. I was very lucky to meet him, except that it was damage to a race car that led me there. Billy knew all about stock car racing and had contacts at all the race shops in the area. No wonder my RSR grew a NASCAR tube frame. He also knew about IMSA and Bill France, so Billy was a real mentor to me as a rookie 24 year old. I don't know when Billy sold his shop, maybe around the time he started work for IMSA, maybe mid eighties. Billy offered me a stall in his garage after he had finished repairs on my race car and it turned out to be a blessing since he had guys available to help me tear down the car after races and detail out all the support equipment. I'll never forget Ossie and Talbert, two Black guys with no education and completely illiterate, but those two worked harder than anyone and were two of the nicest guys I ever met. They were so proud of keeping everything clean and race ready, but once, I did have to stop them from washing out the inside of our race truck cab with a high pressure hose. I learned all about fabricating at Billy's and doing body work but most importantly he taught me how to deal with race politics and losing. Billy was full of racing stories and quips like "You run what you brung" and "Second place is first loser". He was a jolly guy, with a quick laugh who treated his crew very well. He'd go get us lunch on Fridays at the "Varsity" and everybody sat around in the shop and had a good old time talking and cracking jokes. Everybody needs to go to the Varsity at least once in their life! Yes, Rev King held services across the fence from where I parked my little motor home. I lived there between races and because the neighborhood then was so desperately poor, I asked Billy if I would be safe, to which he replied, "This area is too poor to be dangerous", he was right, never had a problem. Billy was very well known and the go to shop for high end car repair, so Atlanta basket ball and foot ball pros were always around. A few Falcons players would come out to Road Atlanta and watch the IMSA races. Nice guys who really loved Porsches and racing. Then in '76 Billy started doing some of the "Smokey and the Bandit" car repairs and that was cool meeting some of the production guys. We had a few Chrysalis Record producers come through the shop so we got invites to their studio in Macon. Billy definitely added a fun facet to my racing days and I would not have had the success I had without him. I don't have a single photo of Billy, who regrettably passed on far too early, or photos of his shop, but at least my memory is still clear about my Atlanta days and Billy Cook, who along with John and Peggy Bishop looked after this once young kid.
I tried epoxy, and it was a disaster. It is highly dependent on the expertise of the guy doing it. Have you considered doing porcelain tile? I absolutely hated the idea of plastic floor tiles until I've had them. Now I could never go back.
Tile is $$ isn't it? A friend local to me here had his epoxied with great success, but your comment gives me pause.
I do real work in the garage (Spec Boxster that requires care and feeding) so not uncommon to have oil spraying everywhere and have the floor covered in grease etc. Worried all that just sits on the floor below the plastic. How do you clean them? You ever had a quart of oil spill on the floor?
I epoxed the non parking spots and used Swiss trax for the cars parking spots all based on Money's recommendations. Couldn't be happier. I don't have any good pix of epoxy areas with me. One thing I did was anchor in the Swiss trax extensively (will be a pain to pull up and clean but worth it for other 99.9% of days) and put a finishing brace (for lack of a better term) at the start of the flooring where the doors come down. My garage doors are also alarmed and there are surveillance cameras inside and outside the garage (Bit OT but with doing depending on where you live).
You make an excellent point. When I was racing the GTO at Laguna, mid eighties when prices were moving higher, I thought, what the F... am I doing! That said, I probably took more risks driving flat out on the narrow, winding SF Peninsula back roads..and, as mentioned somewhere else, I was only sixteen years old when I started doing that. Or, driving the car up to Nevada to play (photo), which was more fun than the law allowed (which turned out to be true).
In the early days, before appreciation, the GTO was just an old race car no one wanted and we never thought about being careful.
What amazing cars and stories! You need your own forum, I would go just to listen to more of the stories. Sounds like you have had both cars since the 80s?
1963 to 1989 and estimate about 100,000 miles of interesting adventures with that GTO! It was never trailered anywhere.
Yes, I have a lot of crazy car & race stories. If you have good beer in the fridge and nice cars in the garage, invite me over...
Tile is $$ isn't it? A friend local to me here had his epoxied with great success, but your comment gives me pause.
I do real work in the garage (Spec Boxster that requires care and feeding) so not uncommon to have oil spraying everywhere and have the floor covered in grease etc. Worried all that just sits on the floor below the plastic. How do you clean them? You ever had a quart of oil spill on the floor?
I have spilled quite a bit of oil. All I did was pull up the tile and wipe underneath.
12-02-2015, 01:08 PM
Excellent point Mooty...
