In the fall of 1979 I quit my job as a residential electrician . My job was primarily wiring new construction. I really hated working outside in the winter and I was desperate to have an indoor job. My best friend was a stone mason and he felt the same way. We were racing my old Allstate as partners ( his engine) and we didn't have a garage ! We rented this old building for cheap and started The Shop. We did anything we could to make money as we were both married with kids. Brakes , tune ups , engine overhaul, and body work in the same little building! Prior to opening this business, the rust was coming through on the RR and I paid a shop to weld in new metal in the quarter panels a few years before. That shop also jacked the left rear out with a porta power after the car was rear ended at a stop light. All he had done for the rust work was hammer in the rust and fill it with bondo! This first picture is what it looked like when I started working on it in 1981 grinding out the "mud".
We built a folding , drop down wall for painting and hung lights on it. It was hinged and on pulleys from the ceiling . The rear light was just hung on a saw horse. The exhaust fan was a window unit from my grand mother's house. It actually worked pretty well! LOL