Welcome to the Forty Year Time Machine.
My dad (Katherine's) ran an auto body shop well before I was born. He had to close his business, and the shop became lumber and tool storage and a place to work on his vehicles. As expected, mostly the front half of the shop was used, mainly because it was closest to the door, and therefore, easiest to access.
Slowly, the rear of the building began to fade back in time.
Over the years, the shop developed several leaks, which caused some deterioration in the materials that had been left there back in the 60's and early 70s until they were fixed. It seemed like no sooner than one leak would be fixed, another would take its place.
Recently I found out that my cousin, who had been given permission to work on his car in the shop by my mom after my dad passed, had cleaned up the shop. And clean up he did! He did a GREAT job...but I lost part of the past in that cleanup. It looks great, but the machines and some of the tools are clean and new, and not at all how I remember it when I was young. Quite a few of Daddy's tools, especially the gardening tools, came from my grandfather, and were probably at least 30 years old by the time my dad inherited them as a young adult.
As a young preteen, going in the shop was like a treasure hunt. I love old stuff anyway, no matter what it is or how dirty it is. I would follow the winding paths made by giant machines, stacks of toolboxes, and boxes of auto supplies (and even an engine from a Triumph). I remember finding an old can of spray paint called New Ford Blue back in the right rear corner. I spray painted the color name on the cinderblock wall when I was about twelve, because it was such a pretty shade of blue and I was enamored with the name. I can't believe no one noticed. I didn't even think to check if it was still there. I also used to go in there and get tools and such to work on my bike.
However, on the other side of the shop, where Daddy had his spray booth for painting cars, had become mostly lumber storage and so, remained relatively untouched. Especially at the back.
Of course, I had to go look. I even brought back souvenirs, but I'll save the story of those for another time.
Keep in mind this stuff REALLY HAS been untouched for that long.
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| Cans of car paint were left on the shelves. As you can see in the upper right photo, a can of brown paint was on the upper shelf and when the roof leaked, it caused the cans to rust, eventually eating a hole in the bottom, where the paint slowly oozed out. The drips feel like plastic. |
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| More industrial paints, some of which I've never heard of...working in the paint industry, that's really saying something. These really are old, because several of these companies don't even exist anymore. |
In addition to all the paint, I found his Dupont auto paint sample books - three of them, of varying ages. Since I brought them home with me, I didn't take any photos yet. I kept them because, well, I'm obsessed with color and books. And paint. And old stuff.
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| A very, VERY old battery charger. It's looked this old since I was a kid, and I'm close to 40. And I'm not sure what the aluminium plate said underneath; at some point it was broken off. Supersonic, maybe? |
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| Even the buttons have been in rough shape since I was little. I can't find much information on the internet about it. As far as I know, it still worked for years; doubtful it works now, lol. |
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| Various industrial products. Dupont adhesive (obviously can't read the label, but couldn't find any record of this product on the internet either); Noalox, and Sealmaster (both of which are still being manufactured, albeit with updated graphics). |
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| Krylon Car Color and Sioux auto polish. I believe Sioux is still in business as well. |
That's it for the stuff related to auto body work. Well, mostly related. Honestly I don't know what the acrylated putty was used for. ;) But if you knew my dad, he had a lot of things going on - he liked to call himself a jack-of-all-trades. I'll go into those in the next blog post.
