My dad built the shop in 1980 as big as he could at that time according to city regulations. Since then the regulations have changed and it's sad to think the shop could have been bigger. The size of the building's foundation is 20'x36'. When it was new (before my time) it was plenty large enough. Now it seems we have too much stuff everywhere and not enough space, thus is why we added the wraparound roof on two sides.

As you may know FL gets very hot in the spring and summer and fall. How we keep cool is not by air conditioning as that would be too expensive and the design of the building is not insulated. Rather we have some very large fans thanks to my negotiating skills and a neighbor in construction.

These are both 48" warehouse ventilation fans made by ACME in OK. They originally had a 2hp 3 phase motor which is no good for us. The original speed puts out a tremendous amount of air so we slowed the green/galvanized bladed fan down by using a 1/2hp motor and smaller motor pulley. It is ideal for close locations. The blue/tan fan has a 1hp motor and spins at the rated speed. It creates a hurricane and is mounted on lawnmower tires to make it more portable. We used it in the front yard to reshape our driveway using a concrete saw (there's nothing like watching all that white smoke/dust get blown down the street!).

Our shop is by no means commercial or even industrial. We do not have 3 phase power so you will not find and large machinery here.

These photos were taken March '06 in the middle of working on the F-150. Lots of parts are put away in boxes and stored on the left side of the shop near the '23 Model T roadster. Some pics of our home-made sand blasting booth are above, along with some shots of the upstairs balcony where a complete but disassembled 1931 Ford Model A resides for a certain someone's retirement project. In the rear corner of the shop is the blue Dake 20 ton press and the hydraulic equipment:: jacks, new and used oils, grease, pipe benders etc.

On the right side of the shop is the "small tools" side. Wrenches, hammers, screw drivers- that sorta stuff. The hanging cabinets are filled with automotive manuals over the years and other miscellaneous owners manuals. Also on this side is the Craftsman lathe (6"), bench grinder and drill press. In the back corner of this side is the sink along with a rest plaza take out hand dryer and our newly acquired Oasis water fountain. More fans to keep cool, 56" industrial shop ceiling fans from Home Depot.

The most common tools around any shop are the torch, air compressor and of course welders. Here we have an oxy-acetylene torch, 60 gallon Ingersol Rand air compressor and a 175 amp Lincoln mig welder complementing the 295 amp Lincoln arc welder. Some other tools include table saw, about 10 drills, angle grinders and the chop saw.