Hello Again! Yes – I’m still here! Sorry it has been AGES since I last put up a blog entry, but there has been ALOT going on! When I last posted on here, we had just completed construction (for the most part) on the new shop, and were getting ready to move in. I took a couple of days off to go to the AACA Fall Meet in Hershey in early October, and then it was moving time – in a BIG WAY!
OH MY GOD do I have alot of stuff!!! It really was just nothing short of ridiculous how much stuff had accumulated at the old shop in in our storage warehouse over the years…
We moved the Monocoque Metalworks collection of used E-Type parts out of our storage warehouse first. The Fall weather here was INCREDIBLE, and one Monday morning while laying in bed and looking at the weather for the week ahead, I decided that even though we weren’t QUITE done the build – it was time to move while the sun was shining. I sent Brent a text to meet me at the warehouse. When we got there, even though WE are the ones who put all the stuff there, we both just looked at each other in disbelief…
“Dude – we’re in trouble… This is ALOT of stuff…”
But since no one magically appeared to move it for us, Brent and I spent the next 3 weeks moving ALL of it ourselves. E-Type body shells, bonnets, fenders, doors, engines, gearboxes, IRS units, pallet after pallet of parts, hundreds of boxes, crates, and plastic tubs, and on and on…
THEN we had to move the old shop and ALL of the machines! In the end, it was actually pretty impressive what two guys had managed to move – I’m not even sure how many TONS of stuff there was – 10? 20? Whatever it was, it’s ALL under one roof now!
I want to get some blogs and photos up, and the quickest way to do it is without captions – which is what takes most of the time… So for this blog, I’m going to put up a batch of photos that I took this Summer – August 5th to be exact. We were getting close to starting things up on the build of the new shop, and so I took time out to walk around with the camera and document how RIDICULOUS things had gotten at the old place by the time we moved!
Enjoy – photos of the new place are next – it’s just a BIT more neat! But any E-Type enthusiast is bound to LOVE these photos – it is pretty cool in it’s own way, and I will admit it’s kind of fun sometimes to literally be WALLOWING in E-type cars and parts… I hesitated to put these up there – they are probably not that “professional” looking… Whatever – “it is what it is” – we are buried in E-Types here – literally!
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- Monocoque Metalworks storage warehouse – before the move to the new shop.
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- These shelves are 15 feet deep – and FILLED!
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- Brent does NOT miss crawling around in here!
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- This was the Mezzanine – those green things stacked up are Jaguar factory tool boards – full…
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- A pallet filled with E-Type gearboxes and parts.
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- An IRS parts pallet…
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- Deep into these shelves, parts are packed as tight as we can get them.
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- This is the top shelf – the only one that would take Coupe shells. Also LOTS of tired E-Type front wings…
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- This is the view as you come to the top of the stairs.
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- Another shot of that stuff from a different angle.
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- Several crates of front suspension pieces are under that stuff.
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- An E-type gearbox – disassembled…
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- Some of the more tired center sections…
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- It goes on and on…
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- A Series 2 E-Type engine in the foreground, and a complete 3.8 E-Type engine behind it – upside down just as it was left 30 years ago when its crankshaft was pulled out for use in another E-Type racer.
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- 3.8 E-Type racing blocks, under a Series 2 top frame.
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- A complete 3.8 E-type engine owned by MM. Actually 99% of the stuff at this location is owned by MM.
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- IRS’s, driveshafts, and cranks…
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- Crates and boxes FILLED with E-Type treasure!
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- I have dragged this stuff home over the past 5 years from all over the United States – and Canada!
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- A complete front and rear suspension from a 1965 E-Type.
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- Bumper blades…
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- Roof Panels…
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- Doors…
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- …and LOTS more doors!
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- Back at the old shop – this is what you see when you opened the garage doors. This is a 1965 FHC awaiting restoration. It has already been sandblasted and dissected.
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- This is a 1961 FHC coming down the home stretch. I did get it just about finished and another coat of epoxy on it before the move.
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- Customer center sections and wings awaiting restoration.
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- See what I mean – the lack of work space was INSANE!
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- But Brent still managed to produce fabulous E-Type parts day after day! And the fact that we got along in here for over 3 years hopefully menas we are good for life now!
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- This is a shot inside the door of the “new” shop – which I built in the image of my dream garage, and then used as a storage unit – until the business outgrew it before we even moved in! The monstrosity on the left of this photo is the new press brake – the straw that broke the came;s back for MM at the old location.
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- The company car, and an aluminum bonnet on the shelf awaiting it’s body shell to be restored.
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- More customer panels and engine frames…
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- This is the upstairs of the new/old dream shop. This was the office/packing room/storage area of the old location. These are freshly restored customer wings awaiting assembly and epoxy. Behind that are REALLY early 3.8 E-Type heads, several triple SU setups, spare SU parts – all MM owned for future E-Type projects.
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- A shot across the room. What a mess…
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- Looking back at that stuff from another angle – racing shocks, OTS picture frames – all kinds of cool stuff – and a long-defunct dealerships complete collection of factory manuals in boxes on the floor.
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- Some larger and weirder new parts.
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- Some more new panels in bins to keep them dry and rust free.
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- The view behind my desk – with an aluminum mudshield on top.
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- These boxes are also full of E-Type original parts.
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- My super cool old stereo, with a bin of Series 1 upper steering columns under my feet.
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- The bathroom – which was never finished, but does function. No one has ever showered here – instead it holds bonnet parts for my personal E-Type OTS and fiberglass panels for my Devin body shell. Both projects that may NEVER get done at this rate!
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- The bathroom was where we stored original glass – it seemed like the safest place…
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- And the door stop for the bathroom door was this tub of E-Type small parts and hardware from a Series 2 FHC. It has been here since the bathroom was built…
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- Finally, on this same day, this OTS windscreen and these partially completed scuttle panels and patterns were sitting in my living room. Janie was away for the Summer with the kids, and when the cat’s away, the mouse will use the house as extra storage for E-Type parts…
