I had been thinking about resurrecting the club's old JOE'S GARAGE for several years.  The garage panels were part of a display that the club erected for mall car shows but fell into disuse.  The panels had been stored at Fred Scharper's for some time and when Fred said that unless someone came and got them, he was going to incorporate them into his new shed.  I moved them to my house.  There wasn't much there, just a few sheets of old plywood painted gray.  I thought about building a more permanent type on an old trailer so that it could be pulled to AAMA shows. Well, Robbie volunteered his car trailer and a new JOE'S GARAGE was designed to fit on the front of the 16' trailer. The idea was to build a 4' deep garage leaving 12' to mount a small antique car behind it.  What's the shortest car in the club?  My '69 MGB was short but not very appropriate for an old time display.  Ah, ha!  A Model T is short, especially if it's a roadster.  With a minimal amount of arm-twisting Bruce Campbell agreed to allow us to use his T. But which one?  We had a choice of Black or Red!

 

 I didn't ask Robbie but I was reasonably sure he didn't want to give up his trailer permanently so JOE'S GARAGE had to be portable, light in weight and modular for ease of handling and storage.  Yet it had to be sturdy enough to withstand the 45 - 50 mph wind generated when towing on a float, to and from the parade route.  So using 4'x 8'x 3/8" ACX plywood, 2x2's, l'x3's and l'x2's, the panels were constructed and screwed together.  The roof and the window frame were made of the same material. After a coat of gray paint was applied, old time gas station signs were affixed to the walls and it was finished.

 

 

Latest appearance of this fine old truck was in the 2005 Fur Rendezvous Parade. Joe's Garage was sold and the new owners' transformed it into Peggy's Malt Shop.  The Reo the Thunderbird.