The Austin Healey is Off to Ontario

Okay, we've had a bit of a lull with the actual construction of Monster Garage, but we have been busy with the next phase of Monster Garage's future tenants -- getting the Austin Healey in tip top shape!

Rob's mom and dad owned a 1954 Austin Healey, which they drove for a few years, and then stored in the garage. For those of you (like me) who aren't car aficionados think British sportscar and James Bond. But since the Healey hasn't been driven in many years, it needs an overhaul and restoration. Rob found a fellow in Ontario who lovingly restores this type of car, so all we need to do is get it out there...but it doesn't run, so what do you do????

Thank goodness for the Internet. Rob googled car transport companies, and believe it or not, there are custom trucking firms that have enclosed semis that transport cars all over the country. So he called, and one happened to be coming through Regina on Saturday morning at 7:00 a.m. We prepped the car the night before (air in the tires, car off the blocks, checking to see it rolls, because we have to push the car onto the truck) until midnight.

Then lo and behold, here's what appeared on our quiet little street early Saturday morning:

And here is the Austin Healey, all ready to go:

The truck driver was Len and he was amazing. He's 63 years old, been a long distance trucker all his life, and a car transporter for the last three. He's been all over North America, taking cars from one coast to another. He also transports fancy (and very expensive) sports cars from their rich owners to car shows, or from transport ships to dealerships. Len told us about Ferrari's, Lamborghini's (he calls them Lambos), Porsche, etc. He had a load once worth $5 million. On this load, he had a $220,000 Porsche--the Healey was riding in good company. Len even let us climb up and look at it! He had amazing stories and entertained us for two hours as he loaded the car. The car, since it is so narrow, stumped Len for awhile as he tried to make it fit in the tracks and strap it down--can't have the Healey bouncing around, taking out the Porsche or T-bird that it was riding with!

The truck has a lift at the back, and can stack two cars high, and three cars long.

Here's a peek at the Porsche. I tried to trade the Healey for the Porsche, and I think Len was tempted!

Finally we had the Austin Healey all snug and secure, so we bid farewell to Len and wished him safe travels. We just heard on Tuesday that the Healey arrived in Ontario, and now it will get some TLC. We should see it back at the end of summer....hmmm...will we have Monster Garage ready?

Third Time's the Charm!

With a forecast of sunshine, we trekked down to Regina for the third time to try and retrieve Rob's MGB from his mom's garage, to put in Trevor's garage, which used to be our garage, which we sold, because as you know, we are building Monster Garage this summer.

Yes, our lives are complicated.

So, on Saturday about 4:30 p.m., Rob starts digging out the car from him mom's garage. Did I mention that is in one million parts? Rob bought the MGB in the 1990s, with the hopes of dismantling it and rebuilding it. He mastered the dismantling phase....and that's where we are today. But I digress.

Earlier in the afternoon, Rob went and rented a car dolly from UHaul. I though it would be a huge flatbed, but he comes home with this flimsy thing. Should work... (and then we discovered that one of the tie down straps was almost frayed through, but we compensated with extra straps we had on hand. Geez).

And we call our give friend Jim to come give us a hand, as I'm not really that robust to heft a car and car parts.

It takes them three hours to move all the parts off the car and into the truck bed, to tarp, to push the car out and swivel around,

and push it onto the dolly.

Then after much technical discussion, Rob and Jim determine that they need to loosen the drive shaft (?) or else it will spin madly and bump and grind on the highway. Then of course, one has to tighten lug nuts on one's wheels, or they will fall off. All bad things. Who knew such tasks would take two more hours?

But five hours later (9:30 p.m.) we are done! Quick bite to eat, and tumble into bed for the big journey back to Saskatoon. We want to leave early to avoid traffic and any bad weather.

So we head out on the Lewvan (like Circle Drive freeway), and wouldn't you know, we run into road construction. And not just any road construction, but a diversion with our lanes narrowing to one, then weaving into the oncoming lanes to create two way traffic. So there's Rob, slaloming through a narrow lane lined with pylons, dragging a car on a dolly that has wheels that protrude one foot on either side of the truck. He did it without taking out one pylon!

Finally we reach the open road.

It only takes us about three hours to drive from Regina to Saskatoon. We were only doing about 80 km an hour--any faster and the dolly would start swaying--bad, very bad. Traffic was not that heavy, and they all passed our little convoy.

In Saskatoon, we try and take the back roads to our house, but end up slowing down traffic wherever we go. Sorry about that. We make it to our house and then to Trevor's garage. A quick unload of the car (yes, Rob and I pushed it off the dolly, swivelled it, and pushed it into the garage--you know, it's not that heavy when it doesn't have any doors, seats, steering column, roof, trunk, hood, transmission, or engine!) and then we are off to UHaul to return the dolly.

We discover that UHaul is closed on Sundays. Yikes. We see another UHaul truck going cross country through a field to reach the compound, and are about to do that ourselves, until he stops and tells Rob just to drop the dolly at the locked gate.

Then it's back to the garage to unload the car parts out of the truck bed. But finally, finally, the MGB is in its new home!

Yay!

We certainly had our share of adventures along the way.

Now it's onto the next phase of our crazy summer...drawing up the building plans for Monster Garage!

Car Moving Delayed Due to Weather

Guess what we woke up to in Regina?

Yes, more snow! We are cursed. So needless to say, we did not move the car up on the flatbed--too dangerous with wet roads and the wind.

We will try for this weekend. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather.

So we are into a holding pattern. Rob will continue working on the garage plans and layout. We'll try and get more excitement going soon!

Garage-Moving Aftermath

Okay, we moved the garage and survived. However, there was a bit of an aftermath in the house. So for a week, we've had tools on the dining room table, an air compressor on the floor, tires and boxes in the stairwell, and an electrical panel in the kitchen.

But isn't this how everyone lives?

We are heading to Regina this afternoon to load up Rob's MGB (which is in about 100 pieces), onto a flatbed truck, and pull it back to Saskatoon--where it will live in our old garage (which is now Trevor and Natalie's), until we can sell it on eBay.

Again, don't most people do this?

The next post will be the photos of the big move--assuming the bad rain we are having, doesn't stop the use of the flatbed on the highway.

What a Difference a Day Makes!

Look at what we woke up to this morning--the day after we moved the garage. Can you believe how lucky we were yesterday. It would not have been fun moving the garage in a snow storm.

Speaking of waking up, we were not as sore as we thought we would be when we got up today. Of course, Rob was popping Advil most of the evening.

And because of the snow, we were unable to tidy-up the yard of the various wood piles and construct a mini fence to go across the open back. Aw darn.

So we had a well deserved day off!

Garage Move Day--Plan for the Worst, But Hope for the Best

I wonder if the Egyptians felt nervous the night before they built the pyramids!

(before) (after)

This is it--the day we move the old garage down the back alley to our neighbour's. The forecast was for rain, but the morning was sunny but with a cold wind. We'll take it!

But you can't start any project without the proper attire--I got custom shirts made for me and Rob--Monster Garage 2010 on the front, and "Boss" and "Crew" on the back--you figure out who is the boss and who is the crew!

The plan called for Rob to cut the old garage off, jack it up, slide it onto metal rollers, and just roll two doors down.

Oh, don't forget the pre-prep work--I won't go into the gory details--but needless to say, at 10:30 a.m. we finally started pushing the garage off the pad. (I asked Trevor if he was excited--he replied he was planning for the worst but hoping for the best--I felt the same !) Well, it was really Rob and Trevor--I just shouted out if we went off the rollers. That push of 25 feet took an hour. The devil is in the details...the hour involved jacking, pushing boards, shifting rollers, and a lot of grunting.

So now we have the garage perched in the middle of the back alley. At that point, I put out the

barricades to block the alley so no one would drive into us...or the garage!

There must be a testosterone magnet within construction projects...because by this point, we have drawn in most of the men in a 10-mile radius: Scott, Trevor (two Trevor's on one job site), Jason, Ross, and Shad. But without them, we would still be in the alley, and I wouldn't be writing this until after midnight.

So, the original plan was to push it off our pad, turn it, and then push to Trevor's. However, the turn just didn't seem to work--push and pull as we might, the garage was determined not to move.

So we gave up on that and went to Plan B...which is not turning, and just pushing it sideways down the alley. We just have to move the garbage bins and piles of dirt, but there was enough clearance. But this deviation from the plan took 2 1/2 hours...okay, at this point, Trevor #1 went to get beer to fuel the crew, and Scott and Trevor wen to get more robust tools (yes, you can never have enough manly tools!)

But once we got the garage ready to go south, man did it go! It took only 30 minutes to go from behind our house to behind Trevor's. It was like a well oiled machine--4 people pushed, and the rest of the team kept leapfrogging ahead, moving boards and metal rollers. Oh, did I mention that Scott and Trevor (twin brothers) brought 5 metal rollers 24 feet in length--absolutely perfect to slide the garage along. They were lifesavers!

So, now we are poised at the back of Trevor's garage pad. So we just have to huft it up the sloping ground and then land on the concrete pad. Oh, you think that's so easy..it took 1 1/2 hours! More jacking, moving boards, and shifting rollers. And Scott had to cut a pipe, which was the most exciting part, as it involved a big pipe cutter that through a lot of sparks. Very cool!

We slide the garage up and onto the pad. Lots of groaning and grunting.

But I'm pleased to say that at 4:00 p.m., after six hours of work, the garage landed on its new pad. Yay!

It was amazing--it was so much fun and went smoother than any of us thought.

(The garage at its new home with Trevor and Natalie). So we planned for the worst, and it turned out for the best!

The Shed is Full

Believe it or not, 99.9% of the garage contents fitted into the shed! Rob certainly knows spatial relations. Who knew that much stuff could fit into that small a shed! Search me how we are going to pull out the lawnmower....

Wow--the garage is finally empty!





The last few steps are that Rob is going to disconnect the power panel and remove the bolts anchoring the garage down (let's hope there's not a big wind!)

Forecast for the Big Move on Saturday: Cloudy but no rain

Garage Sorting

Well, work progresses on emptying the contents of the current garage, and either saving, tossing, or stuffing things into the shed. It has been a bit of a struggle for one of us (Rob) to let go of tatty bits of string, odd screws, and devices that once worked, but now are broken, but could be fixed one day.....

There are also items that haven't been used in years, but you never know when you'll need them, so you can't throw them out....

It must be a guy thing.

The weather forecast for Saturday predicts 40% showers, but we are optimistic we can get the move done.

As we get closer to the move date, it certainly is getting more exciting. I can't wait to see the garage as it glides down the alley. That certainly isn't a sight you see every day!

The Birth of Monster Garage

Welcome to Monster Garage Blog!

We're Jill and Rob, a nice couple living in Saskatoon. Rob is an engineer and Jill is in communications. We dated for five years and then Jill moved in two years ago--two years of happy bliss. Home renovations are the norm, as we live in a 1929 house in the lovely funky Broadway area of the city.

Rob had always wanted to build a bigger garage, and then it morphed last year into the idea of Monster Garage....a 3-car garage, with a workshop, with the potential to add a granny suite on top (if the concept is approved by the City). When I say he wants to build a garage, that means he will do most the work himself--excavation, piles, walls, foundation, trusses, roofing, installation of garage door openers....as for me during that time, I'll be staying with friends!

You see, Rob likes to plan and plan and build things. Did I mention he is an engineer??? For example, the fence on the side of the house (we live on a corner with a deep lot) he built with meticulous perfection and detail--so much detail and thought that it took two years to finish. People driving by would always look to watch its progress. But man, it's indestructible--heck, if there was a nuclear explosion in the world, it would be the only structure still standing!

But I digress.

So Monster Garage has lived in Rob's head for two years. And now, it's about to come out (be afraid, be very afraid).

We still have yet to put pen to paper to draw plans, spreadsheets, and budgets, but who needs that when we have the cool first step ahead of us...moving the old garage.

Our neighbours two doors down, Trevor and Natalie, will buy the old garage. Great! Rob and Trevor plan to move it on metal roller bars. Scary. But Rob tells me it's easy--just cut off the garage, slide it on top of metal rollers, and simply push it down the alley. Hmmmmm. Seems a tad fraught with peril, but if if worked for the Egyptians when they built the pyramids, it should work for us!

But, you ask, if we move the old garage, what will happen with the current contents?







Ah, fear not. Rob sourced a free metal shed and spent two days reading instructions and constructing it.




Then we are still sorting and moving stuff into it.





Take a look how far we've come and keep tuned to Monster Garage Blog for the adventure of the summer!