I heard about a place where you can take your car or truck and rent a bay complete with lifts, drain buckets, jacks, etc. and do anything from oil changes to complete restorations. Has anyone heard of such a place, and if so where? (state, city). This is for market research in school, and I need help. I've searched the internet until my fingers started to bleed. Thanks to anyone who can help.

 

There was a place like that in my home town, Vallejo, CA, back in the late '50s thru mid '60s. Never used it myself. It was similar the military Auto Hobby Shops where you can rent a stall and do most anything. Kind of expensive as I recall.

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 10-Nov-01 AT 10:34 PM (EST)]When I was growing up in the '70's/'80's, my dad would work on cars at the hobby shop at NAS Miramar in California. He bought a house with a garage after he retired from the navy, so we didn't go anymore.

A couple months ago there was a column in The Daily Oklahoman by these two brothers who're mechanics. They're also on the radio on saturday mornings. They said they tried something like that but the chances of lawsuits made it too expensive to insure. I think the show was called "Car Talk" or "Car Nuts". They have a website if you can figure out the name of their program. It seems like they called themselves "Frick" & "Frack". I know it's a national program because they talk to people from other states.

I hope this helps.

 

We have a place in Calgary that allows a person to do all those things.
It's a partially equipped shop called," U Wrench it "

Dennis

 

sorry to go off topic. but do people acually use those? i cannot even imagine leaving my truck in someone elses garage. there are to many risks for the truck owner to be involved.

 

I know from firsthand experience that the military bases have auto body shops where you can do just that. I've rented a bay for a few hours and used all their tools and lifts, etc. to replace a cv joint, transmission repair and oil changes. They even had knowledgeable staff to answer any questions I had. It was nice having access to all those specialized tools that I did not own yet. I have not heard of any such place out side of a military base that offers that kind of service though.

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 12-Nov-01 AT 02:13 PM (EST)]
An E-5 shows up at the AUTO HOBBY SHOP at NAS Miramar...

A 1973 Grand Torino is on one of the open air spaces straight out the back-door from the lift bays, with a 351M on a stand next to it.

It is hot, the wind is coming in over the hills from the desert- and it makes it as dry as a "rating manual" with the sun beating directly down.

Today the pan is going to come off, so that the engine block can go to the machine shop down the road to be decked (if needed), honed, and align bored.

Having checked his credit union balance, a Schnieder cam is on it's way too...

As the 3/8ths bolts come off, they are dropped into a ziplock bag to keep them together. The 35 year old man looks boredly into the main section and decides:

"Okay, those look like 9/16ths bolts on the far ends of the mains, and 11/16ths or so in the middle of them..."

As he is turning away, a shiver runs up and down his spine -
He turns back, and looks again...

"HOLY CRAP! It's a FOUR BOLT MAIN!!!!!"

The other people around the hobby shop pause, to watch the wild dancing of the guy in the Torino's space...


"YEAH!!! YEAH!!! YEAH!!!!"




*Smiles, quietly*
Yep, that was me.

It's a Marine base now, but it was once before. I bet the shop is still there.

And the Man in charge is really named "Micheal Hunt"...

 

As others have mentioned, most military bases have the auto shop stalls. That's the only place I have seen one, save one other place. I once took an auto shop safety class at the local Community college with my son. There were stalls you could sign up for (for a limited time) and do anything you dared to try - teachers were always there to help. They had all the equipment and tools as the best professional shop you can think of -- the idea was to teach you how to use the stuff. Most of the kids (kids to me anyway) were taking it hoping to get ASE certification someday - I was just doing it cause I did not get to do that stuff when I was young ("college prep" and all that stuff).

I asked a teacher (who was a super "automotive technician"; not a mechanic he would say) why he did not open a shop such as you describe. He indicated the insurance would break you -- apparently all the "hold harmless agreements" in the world would not keep you out of court -- and you pay insurance premiums accordingly. Also, the cost of maintaining a good shop would require that you charge a high rate for the stalls, and you would have to keep those stalls filled. Sound like a fun thing to do, but it may not be a good business plan.

The guys on Car Talk call themselves Click and Clack, the tappet brother. Their real names are Tom and Ray (here's a guess) Magliozzi. You can find them on Cartalk.com. Good show, some car advice, lots of funny stuff -- those guys have quite the wit.

 

I remember back in the ‘70s of a place where you could work on your own car down here in So. Cal. It was converted from an old U-Haul rental. There were around 10 bays with lifts where you could do anything from an oil change to an engine overhaul. Bring your own tools or rent pretty much anything else from the well-stocked tool crib. They lasted only about a year, probably from liability issues. I used it once, kind of expensive, had to sign a stack of waivers before pulling in.

Barry

 

Thanks for the responses. I wrote a business plan to open such a place but hadn't check insurance agents yet. The ones I spoke to said they wouldn't even write a policy for such a business. To high of a risk. Too bad, I had about 20 people ready to sign leases so they could have a place to restore their vehicle. As far as leaving your car, I planned on having excelent security, and each bad would be separated by a fence. But alas, good ideas die in the hands of bureaucrats all the time.

 

Please don't start in on beaurocrats!

Blaming bureaucrats is a cheap and easy way out; they are seldom the cause. Politicians blame them when they discover that they themselves are the problem, but they gotta find a convenient scape goat (and quickly, cause the next election will be here in no time). If we focus our efforts on finding a whipping boy instead of the real issue and the solution we'll never get anywhere; but it gets people elected.

Bureaucrats are seldom the problem; they execute (quite effectively, or else they wouldn't get the blame)the rules that some decision maker (company executive, political leader, etc) has made. If you don't like the decsion, its that big shot you don't like.

Bureaucrats (I think I R 1) carry out assigned missions; the mission (in my case)is assigned by people you elected. Don't like that mission? Change leaders, I only got one vote ya' know. Until you change leaders, I'm gonna carry out the mission your elected reprentative has decided on.

Be advised, I'm damned good at what I do, thank you.

OK, I'm over it now. Don't send help, I'll be OK. OK. OK. Nothin' wrong with me, with me, with me.

Raul

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 14-Nov-01 AT 01:02 PM (EST)]Sorry Raul, didn't mean to offend anyone. But since you seem so offended, you must have something under your skin thats bothering you.
Now before you go berserk, I'll change the topic from anything that has to do with government. I learned along time ago not to argue about religion and politics.
How do you get those stupid smilie faces into your message? I click on them but nothing happens, except that jumping one that reminds me of my kids stops cold, if only it was that easy, and no I have not checked the "if you DO NOT wish to use emotion icons" box.

 

>
>An E-5 shows up at the AUTO HOBBY SHOP at NAS Miramar...
>
>A 1973 Grand Torino is on one of the open air spaces
>straight out the back-door from the lift bays, with a 351M
>on a stand next to it.
>
>It is hot, the wind is coming in over the hills from the
>desert- and it makes it as dry as a "rating manual" with the
>sun beating directly down.
>
>Today the pan is going to come off, so that the engine block
>can go to the machine shop down the road to be decked (if
>needed), honed, and align bored.
>
>Having checked his credit union balance, a Schnieder cam is
>on it's way too...
>
>As the 3/8ths bolts come off, they are dropped into a
>ziplock bag to keep them together. The 35 year old man looks
>boredly into the main section and decides:
>
>"Okay, those look like 9/16ths bolts on the far ends of the
>mains, and 11/16ths or so in the middle of them..."
>
>As he is turning away, a shiver runs up and down his spine -
>He turns back, and looks again...
>
>"HOLY CRAP! It's a FOUR BOLT MAIN!!!!!"
>
>The other people around the hobby shop pause, to watch the
>wild dancing of the guy in the Torino's space...
>
>
>"YEAH!!! YEAH!!! YEAH!!!!"
>
>
>
>
>*Smiles, quietly*
>Yep, that was me.
>
>It's a Marine base now, but it was once before. I bet the
>shop is still there.
>
>And the Man in charge is really named "Micheal Hunt"...


Just out of curiosity, why did you think it was an "M" motor? It had a 4 barrel carb, didn't it??

 

It was a Cleveland block, with 4-bolt main caps, factory 4V setup including HUGE ports in the heads.

People I talked to at the time told me that arrangement was classed as a "Modified Cleveland" - thus the "M".

(Not to be confused with a 400M)


~ Wolf

 

351M/351C discussion needs to happen on the forum already opened for it. I posted there on this in an already started discussion...

"We now return you to your regularly scheduled forum"

*grins*