Projects on the back burner

I am a collector of old and antiquated vehicles and trailers. Of course this could mean I have either junk piling up or interesting projects to do. One of my projects that I hope to tackle someday is my 1959 Chevy Apache. I first saw this beauty of a machine parked in a field next to an old walnut orchard here in Petrolia. The grass was growing up around it and the gophers were making quick work of burying this classic work vehicle. It was being used as a guest room for a fish biologist that was renting a cabin on the ranch. After pestering him for a time he finally parted with the vehicle for a price of $400. My vision is to turn it into a woody and use it as a job site vehicle, one that I can transport my tools in. For now it sits as a storage unit housing my wife's pedestals for ceramic sculptures and a few other items.

Another project I have is an old horse trailer. Once used to store garbage behind the Petrolia store, this was a gift to me free of charge. The patina matches my 66 Chevy pick up perfectly. Just yesterday I made my first move to turning this into a functioning trailer to transport goats. While not in use I will likely store alfalfa in it. The doors are very heavy and have broken the hinges. I hope to make lighter doors of wood. Since it will be used for goats I am not worried about them kicking a hole through them.

Then we have a 1962 Plymouth Belvedere. A gift handed down to us from the daughter of our dearly missed friend Alexander Cockburn. This beauty was saved from being stripped down and sold as parts to hot rod builders. The roof skin being the most valuable element. Hot rod enthusiasts seek the grooved metal skin used as the top on their creations. Alex was an avid shopper and loved to buy things in the Bay Area and beyond. He was seeking a wagon that could hold a lot of stuff and keep it dry on his six hour trek back to the Mattole Valley. The car runs great but the heating controls don't work, the exhaust system needs maintenance and the paint job is failing. I became attached to this vehicle when he would leave it with us in Arcata when we would drop him off at the airport. While he was traveling I would clean it up and drive it around town. It is definitely a head turner.

In a perfect world, to work on machines one needs a shop, somewhere under cover and off of the earth so that valuable time isn't lost searching for nuts and bolts lost in the grass. I have a space but it too is in need of maintenance. There is a wing off of my wood shop in the barn that has a dirt floor, a roof and an open wall. The roof rafters are spaced at four feet and many of them are broken. It definitely needs reinforcing and could use a concrete slab and lights. These are all projects on the back burner as I work on the most important of our projects, restoring an 1888 Gothic Revival Farm House.