Uncle Atom

Filling up the wall behind our mid-century bar

2012-01-28T14:55:00.001-05:00

Well, I didn't find any other good mid-century things in New Orleans after my last post from the city, but I did have a great time there. (At least from what I remember).

Now that I'm back home, I'm catching up on stuff like laundry, etc. After a run to the dry cleaners and gas station today, I hit my local thrift/consignment store and picked up this paint by numbers Parrot.

It's in nice shape and came at a reasonable price.

I also visited a nearby antique store that's usually pretty sadly stocked, but in one shop I spotted my holy grail. Playing it cool, I asked the price and that required a phone call to the owner, who said it's "Not for Sale!"

I know that drives us all nuts, doesn't it? Why display something in an antique store if it's not for sale?

So what was it?

A HUGE honking shadowbox - curio shelf like this one (The pictured shadowbox belongs to froggyboggler, on Flickr, and can be found in my Mid Century Shadow Box group). The one I saw also has two lamps behind the planters. It's the first gaudy one like this that I've seen in our area.

I left my business card and an offer for it, so maybe I'll get a call back.

In the meantime, I've put up some black iron shelves and this metal shadowbox near the bar. The Elvis bust, Shriner nodder, and Fezmingo (thanks Amber!) seem more at home by the bar, and she who must be obeyed is a lot happier that these guys are no longer in the living room.

I've also added some records to the wall,

and my Infinity Mirror.

It's straight out of the 1970s and not what I usually collect, but it's just too cool not to display. I posted a pic of this on the Uncle Atom Facebook page recently, and there you can also see the original box this came in.

So, the search continues for a shadowbox to hang behind our bar in the basement.

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If you haven't entered my giveaway yet, time's a wastin' - The contest closes on Feb. 3. You can find details at the giveaway link.

Hello from the Big Easy

2012-01-21T18:03:00.003-05:00

I'm in New Orleans for a conference this week, and on my first day here yesterday I managed to do a little exploring along Magazine Street, home to a lot of antique and artsy shops. I spent a little time talking to the proprietor of a new vintage modern store called Loisel.Vic, the owner, previously was co-owner of Neophobia. Lots of great furniture and lighting and accessories there. All I left with, though, was this wooden tiki mug.

Mr. Modtomic has blogged before about the Magazine Antique Mall, but sadly I didn't see much in the way of mid century there, except for a lot of tiki mugs and glassware, but I thought the pricing on everything in that place was generally steep. Maybe there's been some vendor turnover since Mr. M was last there.

I tried to stop in at Peaches, another vintage mod store on Magazine Street, but the owner was making a delivery and it was locked up. Looking through the window I could see some nice lamps, chairs, and tables.

I also found some LPs at a couple of other stops.

These two will be great for my record wall next Christmas - the Col. Sanders album must have been a KFC giveaway back in the 1960s, and this Brenda Lee album is one I hadn't seen. Saw lots of others too, but I don't want to haul a ton of things home on the plane, so I was kinda picky. My other purchases were these four LPs for $15 - I think the Honey West album alone made this a good deal. I've never seen an episode of that show - I'll have to try and find it.

Sorry I don't have more pics, but I was hurrying to cover a lot of ground on foot (no rental car).

Don't forget, if you haven't already entered the Uncle's lamp and magazine rack giveaway, there's still time.

Project: Refinish Lane Acclaim tables, part 2

2012-01-10T19:16:00.001-05:00

OK, picking up where we left off on the project last time --

Next for the two-tiered end table, I hit a few spots with 220 grit sandpaper, and then went over the whole table with extra fine 0000 steel wool. Then I wiped all areas down with mineral spirits and let the table dry, which didn't take long. Here's what it looked like at that point:

As you can see, the side wood and dovetail areas are much lighter from the stripper. I debated with myself and decided that I would not re-stain at first.

I've had good success with Howard's Restor-A-Finish. This stuff will cover up small scratches and bring back some color, so instead of using a stain, I wiped the whole table down with the Walnut variety of Restor-A-Finish and let that sit for about an hour.

Then I wiped off the excess, and at that point, this is what it looked like:

The light areas are still not nearly as dark as they were before.

But honestly, I like it this way, so that's all the staining work I'm doing. Sorry if you were hoping I would figure out how to get it back to the exact finish it was originally. Oh well. My table. :-D

To finish the table off and protect it, I'm using this Minwax product.

I like that this stuff wipes on. No brushing or spraying to run or streak. Grab a clean cotton cloth, wipe it on, let it dry, do a once over with extra fine steel wool and wipe down the whole table again so you don't have little steel wool fragments laying around, then repeat with a second or third coat of the Wipe-On Poly and I'm done - except for masking off the leg bottoms and adding a coat of black paint, which is how they were originally.

So here's the two-tiered end table after two coats of poly and with the black paint renewed on the legs.

(That lump on the chair on the left is just Miss Patchelina - she thinks that Z chair is hers. Ha! She is sooooo wrong.)

I'll be finishing the coffee table the same way, and once that's done look for final photos of that table too.

Overall I'm happy with how these turned out.

If I wanted the tables to be darker as original, I would suggest not using strippers but lightly sanding and refinishing with a dark stain like walnut, and probably using multiple coats to get the darker look.

Over 150 followers - that calls for some celebrating. Let's give some stuff away!!!

2012-01-09T16:18:00.000-05:00

Wow, this blog is well over 150 followers, and I've been posting about once a week or more for more than 2 years.

Thanks to all of you! Doing this blog has been a blast for me, your comments are very motivating, and I hope that some of what I've shared has either helped you or inspired you in some small way.

I had a lot of fun with my last giveaway to celebrate hitting 50 followers more than a year ago, so let's do it again! This contest will run through February 3, 2012.

Just leave a comment here and you will have one entry and a chance to win one of two prizes.

And since the Uncle has dipped a couple of toes into social media, I'm going to sweeten your chances in the contest. For each of the following you will get an additional contest entry:

If you are a friend of UncleAtom on Facebook, that gets you a contest entry;
Follow @Uncle_Atom on Twitter and that gets you a contest entry;
Oh, and if you promote this contest on your blog, that will also get you an entry, just send me a link to your blog's post. I'm gonna have a heckuva time keeping track of these entries so I need to hear from you!

So anyone and everyone who comments on this post can have as many as four chances to win.

Whew, I am gonna be busy trying to sort out how many entries you all get in this contest. But that's OK, I like a challenge.

So, what can you win?

Well, I've been pondering that for a while...

I am a lamp-aholic, so of course I have a lamp to offer up - how about this little bedside number for our top prize? It stands 16 inches from the base to the top of the shade.

The brass is worn a bit, but it's got a killer beige lampshade that will work in any color scheme, and it's been rewired, so it's plug and play.

I also have too many vintage magazine racks, so how about this magazine rack from my etsy store for our second prize?

I also will have a surprise or two that I'll announce at the end of the giveaway. Good luck everyone!!

Project: Refinish Two Lane Acclaim Tables, Part 1

2012-01-07T20:14:00.000-05:00

OK, so back in the summer I scored this great Lane Acclaim coffee table at an estate sale for a nice price because it had some serious wear on the finish.

I've been biding my time on tackling this project, but the other day I happened to find a two-tier Lane Acclaim end table at the nearby thrift shop/consignment shop, and it had similar finish issues but also was very solid. Together I have only about $80 in these tables, so I think I'm doing pretty good. Now to see if I can get them looking good again.

I've picked up some good information on these from several sources, including Mr. Modtomic, and from this link at JetSetModern. I learned that the dovetailing at the ends of the tops is very think veneer, and so is the center section of the table tops. When I say thin, we're talking almost paper thin.

I ran across someone on Flickr who did a lot of sanding and then applied multiple coats of lacquer to make her's look like new, so that was an option I for me, but man I hate sanding. I do it, but I hate it. And sanding this thin veneer is risky, you can cut right through it if you're not careful.

I figured I would first try a variety of stripper I've been using a lot (I went through a whole jug of the stuff on the metal outdoor chairs project).

It really works great and it's orange-based so it's not too harsh to work with.

The coffee table's one end was practically bare so I figured I would try a little of the orange stripper around that area. After you let this stuff work for a while (usually 20 minutes is enough) you can scrape it off with a razor blade. So I tried that, and I knew right away that I liked the results, so I did the whole coffee table top this way.

What I scraped off was sort of like molasses, but underneath I had a pretty nice looking result. I did have one spot where the razor blade caught the veneer and took it right off, leaving an inch-long splinter that I had to glue down again. That's how I know how thin this veneer is.

The razor also left some scratches in places, so I will have to do some sanding, and that light sanding should help ensure that I've gotten all traces of the stripper removed from the wood.

I decided to wipe down the remaining areas with mineral spirits after I had wiped off as much of the stripper as I could.

A couple of rounds of wiping with the mineral spirits showed where I still had some old finish to remove, so I hit those spots again with the stripper.

For the two-tiered end table, I decided to skip the razor blade and just wipe off the stripper with paper towels and 0000 steel wool. This worked great, and I did the same with the legs and frame underneath.

That brought me to this point. that's where I'll pick up with my next post to finish these up.

Gossip Bench Finally Gets a Lampshade

2012-01-03T19:05:00.001-05:00

I had the day off so I spent a couple hours rewiring and attaching the lamp arm and shade to one of my first atomic-styled furniture acquisitions - this great telephone table / gossip bench. BEST $40 purchase I've ever made!!!

Thanks to Sara of NoPatternRequired.com, I had an inkling of what kind of shade I should look for. And I finally lucked into a fiberglass shade on ebay a couple weeks ago.

To connect the shade, the lamp had to come apart, which meant rewiring. Rewiring the lamp took longer than I expected, because the wire cord had to pass through the lamp arm and make a really sharp turn before coming out at the top. I used some WD-40 spray to help the cord through the arm, and soon enough I had it rewired.

I have never had the lamp arm attached to this before, and I've had it so long I could not recall how the thing attached, but from what I can tell, this angled orientation is probably how it was.

I've never seen another one of these, but Sara had seen one in Texas but didn't have a photo. She described it from memory and that was enough to get me on the right track. THANKS Sara!!!

Project: Plycraft chair gets a bargain makeover

2011-12-30T18:27:00.000-05:00

When we last saw the cheap vintage Plycraft chair and ottoman, it was waiting patiently for Uncle Atom to get on with the resto. Well folks, the time has come.

Here was our starting point - rust-colored leather in fairly good shape, but some upholstery buttons were missing, and the armrests were a clashing shade of red leather.

The chrome was dull and rusty, the bent plywood back and base were dull and needing refinishing, and the swivel and rocker functions were not working. The leather was still pretty good except for some cracking on the seat and ottoman, and the fact that I hate the color!

Someone had done an amateurish recovering of the armrests.

My plan was to recover it with red leather, and I picked up a red cowhide from that auction site. It was labeled "lipstick red" but it looks a lot more like a darker shade of burgundy to me. As I tore the chair apart, I realized I would need some professional help to do it right if I used the leather. The red would require new piping, and I can't do that my self. Kaching - this could get expensive. After a little more thought, I remembered that Mr. Modtomic had done a similar project like this. I got out some reproduction barkcloth fabric I had picked up and never used. The nice part was, the rust-colored piping complemented the fabric so I could probably reuse it. So this became the cheap cheap cheap Plycraft chair project.

Teardown was easy. A bunch of screws made removal of the padded parts very fast. All the screws and other hardware went immediately into ziplock bags and each set of screws was in a separate bag and labeled so I would know which screws went with which part of the chair.

All of the piping was sewed on really well, but once I loosened a few threads, it pulled off from the old leather covering very nicely. With the piping all removed, I had the old leather to use as a pattern so I would get the fabric cut to the right size.

The base of the ottoman was pretty scratched up, so I cleaned, primed, and painted it.

A few bread bags and some tape protected the chrome base which had already been cleaned and buffed using some bronze wool and Brasso. I did the same with the base for the chair. That base also needed some lubrication, so a little spray-on white lithium grease and it was working nicely again.

After I cut the fabric, it was a lot of pulling and stapling to get the fabric stretched tight.

The wood all got sanded with some 220 grit sandpaper and my random orbit sander, then wiped down with mineral spirits. After that I used the dark color of Howard Restore-A-Finish and then finished the wood with Howard Feed-N-Wax. These worked great on the Z chairs I refinished last month. If these hadn't given me good results, I would have been looking at restaining and then probably applying polyurethane. Those steps would have taken a lot more time. Thanks Howard!

Here's the base going back onto the finished ottoman.

So I guess I've made you wait long enough for the fabric choice.

This variety was produced in 2003, and I got it online at J & O Fabrics. Sadly, it's out of stock now, along with most of J & O's other varieties of this great reproduction barkcloth. I sure hope some new varieties become available.

Here you can see the leather piping already stapled over top of the fabric all around the edge of the cushion.
Pretty nice match, isn't it? Total luck out - woo hoo! If the piping had not matched, I was going to try dying it with some SEM spray-on dye. Saved some money and time there too.

Here's the finished ottoman. And here's the finished chair.

The chrome cleaned up and polished pretty nicely. I put a good coat of wax on all of the chrome so hopefully it will stay nice for a while.

The hardest part of this project for me was the fabric-covered buttons, and covering the armrests. The buttons went together pretty easily, but installing them was a job that really required three hands. And the only buttons I could find locally were not as heavy duty as the old buttons that were leather-covered.

I ended up skipping the buttons on the seat, and unless you're looking for them, you don't miss them. I think the pattern fabric helps with that. If it had been a solid fabric, the missing buttons would have been noticeable. I'm experimenting with metal wire (the stuff you use to hang a picture frame) instead of heavy thread or string to hold the buttons in place. I pulled too tightly on a couple buttons and popped the backing off of them. We'll see how that works out.

The armrests required a lot of stretching and stapling, and I ironed some extra fabric and stapled and hot glued it under the armrests to give them a slightly better finished look. Not perfect - for that I needed some of the strips of metal with teeth that you fold under and hammer down, but the stuff I have was not the right size for the armrests.

The final tally = $75 for the chair and ottoman; about three yards of fabric approximately $75 with shipping; the supplies I used were already on hand - staples, cleaner, wax, and paint. I'm pretty darn pleased. Now excuse me whilst I go enjoy a beer in my Plycraft chair!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T08:56:00.001-05:00

Basement Update - calling it done for Christmas!

2011-12-18T17:02:00.000-05:00

After more time on my knees in this basement than I like to think about, I've gotten pretty close to finishing the main area with the bar, fireplace, and record player. The aluminum tree is up and spinning, I've got a fire going, and I'm listening to vintage Christmas albums! We had some good friends over for lunch and I just barely got things cleaned and straightened to make things presentable. Still on my checklist: finishing with the floor trim, waxing the floor, adding curtains, adding a mirrored shadowbox for behind the bar, making some kind of panel backing for the R above the fireplace, restoring my Plycraft chair, and working on getting the other furniture fabrics to match up better (I'm thinking about having new covers made for the Z chairs). But for now, I'm pretty happy with the progress. Have a look --

I'll probably blog again next weekend, if time allows.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Vintage 1961 Chevrolet Car Dealership Christmas Poster

2011-12-11T11:05:00.001-05:00

Here's another of the items I picked up at Hershey back in October. It was in among a big bunch of old Chevrolet dealership advertising posters that someone had preserved for 50 years. It's big - but luckily I found a poster frame that would fit it. So while the finishing work in the basement is sucking up a lot of my free time, this is the one Christmas decoration we have up in the house.

I love the starburst ornaments, and the whole illustration just looks great.And isn't that headline cool? "So acceptable" is a phrase you would never see in an ad today, when absolutely everything is incredible, stupendous, amazing, or awesome.

Who do you think this ad was aimed at? In the early sixties, car dealerships almost exclusively targeted men as buyers. Do you think many men gave their sweethearts ice scrapers or mudflaps as gifts? Really?

I've always wanted an office fireplace...

2011-12-06T21:11:00.001-05:00

I think you know how this story goes. There I was, minding my own business, just innocently enjoying some retro renovation goodies on Flickr. That's when I saw it. It's all Flickr member Averyl's fault. Really.

"Vintage 60s Toymaster Electric Fireplace With Chimney Card Holder" the Flickr title said.WHOAAAAA, that is cool! Maybe I'll just glance at eBay and see if there are any of these vintage cardboard fireplaces for sale.Hmmmmmm. MMMMMMMMM. There's one, mint in box. Well maybe I'll just toss out a bid.MMMMMMMMMMMM!Yep. That's how it always starts...

Just some innocent photo browsing, then next thing you know, there's an awesome fireplace addition in my office cubicle.

Now I've got the ginchiest Christmas cubicle on my block.

It's a good thing there aren't any cardboard retro pink bathrooms out there or I'd really be in trouble.Hmmm. Maybe I'll just go do an eBay search - what harm could it do??

Contest Entry Nabs Top Prize for the Uncle in No Pattern Required Giveaway!

2011-12-04T06:18:00.001-05:00

Earlier this week I found out that my entry in the No Pattern Required blog's "Odds 'N Ends" contest was voted the winning project!

The grand prize was a huge set of retro Christmas cards from WhatsBuzzin.com.

THANK YOU! everyone who voted, and a HUGE Thanks!! to the great ladies at No Pattern Required for sponsoring the contest. Congratulations also to the other two contest finalists, Jeanie and Susie!

And a special Thank You!!! also to Diane of Whatsbuzzin.com for the great set of holiday cards that came in the mail yesterday!

I'm really impressed with these cards and the huge selection available. Diane designed and illustrated each of these herself - great work!

Check out Diane's website and give her a little business - the cards really are a nice change from what you typically find for holiday cards.

Now please excuse me, I have some cards to address!

Scored a Plycraft chair and ottoman on eBay - cheap!

2011-11-25T19:06:00.001-05:00

I don't know about you, but I don't usually look for chairs and sofas on that auction site, because when I find something I like it always seems to be 3,000 miles away!

Well, this week I spotted a Plycraft bent plywood chair with a nice low starting price and those words 'local pickup only.' I peeked at the ad anyway, expecting this to be in California - and discovered it was in Silver Spring, MD, a few miles from where I work!

Two photos showed a mismatched covering on the armrests, missing upholstery buttons, and no pics of the plywood backs. I emailed the seller and asked about condition and he said he would add more pics. He finally posted them and I decided to go for it.

And when the auction closed Thanksgiving night, those good old words 'local pickup only' finally worked to my advantage - I got the Plycraft set for the opening bid of just $75! Woo hoo!

So from what I can tell, the upholstery is leather, and the armrests are vinyl.

I'm going to tear it all apart and give it a good going over, shine up the chrome, repaint the black on the leg frame, refinish the bent plywood and probably get some nice leather and try my hand at reupholstering it.

Oh boy, a project!

Z chairs get spruced up

2011-11-24T10:23:00.000-05:00

While I've been banished from the kitchen today (except for when the trash needs to be taken out) I figured I would try the Mr. Modtomic treatment on the pair of Selig Danish Z chairs I blogged about the a couple months ago.

I've had them several years, and the wood was looking scratched, dinged, and dry.

I've seen some of the furniture Mr. Modtomic has given new life to over on his blog, so I picked up a can of this Howard Restore-A-Finish and some Howard Feed-N-Wax.

All you need to do is dip some extra fine steel wool in a small puddle of the Restore-A-Finish and rub it into the wood. Wipe off the excess and let the piece sit for 30 minutes, wipe again, then with a clean cloth wipe on the Feed-N-Wax. Rub the wax in well and you're finished. One of the two chairs has some rough spots that I may eventually go over with some sandpaper, but for now, they look a heckuva lot better than they did before.

I think this stuff works great and it's easy.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

A bright idea - a vintage storage container for auto light bulbs

2011-11-20T19:49:00.001-05:00

After my last post on some vintage auto accessories I've found for my old cars recently, I did a little more searching and turned up this container on Etsy.com.

It's marked "Anthes" on the hinged lid, in the same script that's on the emergency reflector/flag box in my last post.

You can't see it in the photos, but also stamped in smaller print on the lid are the words

ANTHES FORCE OILER CO
FORT MADISON, IOWA

Pretty cool idea that for some reason must have never caught on. This is the first container of this kind that I've ever seen.

When you open it up, you have storage for a replacement headlight bulb, and in the lid you have a place to store a variety of replacement bulbs for accessories in the car.

I like it!

This was in pretty good shape when it came in the mail, but the bottom was missing paint and I quickly decided to spruce it up with the same shade of red I used on the emergency reflectors box.

Not much else to share right now, I'm still working on laying tiles throughout the basement, and it's taking a lot of time to cut and fit the smaller pieces around corners and along walls. It's hard to do very many of these at one time, so I'm pacing myself. I hope to have the main finished part of the basement done and cleaned up in the next few weeks.

Vintage car accessories

2011-11-13T09:45:00.001-05:00

I never got around to posting my finds at the annual Hershey, Pa., AACA Fall Meet and Show. Besides looking at all the great antique car,s we walked and walked the flea market spaces.

I found a couple accessories for my old cars, including this new in the box compass which is destined to go into the 1964 Park Lane convertible.

I haven't decided where I'll mount it yet, but it will look great when that car is done.

I also found this set of red reflectors which are used instead of flares when your car is broken down.

(I hope I never need to use them, but they were only $2 and I think they're a great accessory for my 1963 Comet stationwagon).

The box was rusty on the bottom, but I was able to clean it up and give it a new coat of red paint.

It turned out pretty well and should last another 50 years. UPDATE: And check this out, I was just going through a 1964 Mercury accessories brochure I also found at Hershey, and on this page, you can see the SAME set of reflectors!!!

I picked up this nice AAA First Aid Kit for $5 at my favorite local flea market. I'll keep the old contents for display, and this will get some fresh first aid items.

I really like old tin lithographs over the plastic stuff we have now. The tin first aid box is small enough to fit in a glove box or under a seat. It's a little detail, but I get a big kick out of having period-correct accessories in my old cars.

This last item also came from the local flea - I think I paid $2 for this handy little broom that will go into a glove box. I'm guessing this dates to the 1950s - anyone ever seen one of these before? You slide the horse head and the brush pops out of the bottom. The brush looks like a bunch of rubber strips (?)

That's all for now, I need to get back to my basement floor project. Have a great week!

The Uncle's basement gets a new floor

2011-11-06T11:16:00.002-05:00

After I picked up these barstools to mate up with the bar I found last winter, I finally had an idea for a color scheme for the basement floor. I've been planning to re-do the floor since we moved in, but I needed time to come up with the right inspiration for colors and pattern. The original old brown tiles have seen better days and they make the room look too dark. So I decided to put down new 12-inch tiles in a combination of red, black, and gray (the white tiles show too much dirt, as I've learned in our kitchen).

I got the black and gray tiles at the local big box hardware store, but the lipstick red tiles were special ordered. Here's a shot of the new tiles in progress.

I used some graph paper to play around with patterns and finally decided on this approach. The gray will dominate, with equal parts red and black. I like the zig-zag pattern for this room.

I've gotten pretty far, but there are still a couple corners to finish in the big room, and then I need to nail in new quarter-round baseboard trim to give it a finished look. These are Armstrong tiles, and if you try carrying a box of them, you'll appreciate the name "arm strong." The glue comes in a five-gallon bucket, and you use a trowel with teeth to create a grooved base of glue. And the glue sticks like crazy!

I'm gluing right on top of the old floor, which may have asbestos in the tiles, so that's another reason why I want the old floor covered up. Once I finish this room I have a hallway, another bedroom, and an area in the unfinished part of the basement devoted to the dryer/man cave.

It's not too hard to get started on a project like this. I like to find the center of the room and strike a chalk line to split the room lengthwise. Then you start laying the first row along that line, with the edges of the tiles butted up to the chalk line, and go from there. I'm somewhat spatially challenged in that I have to really study the drawing and double check that I'm laying the right color down to keep the pattern going. I didn't stick entirely with my drawing - if you study the photo below you'll see that the red/black pattern is reversed in one diagonal. I like the variation.

You really have to be careful not to get too much glue under a tile or it will squirt up through the cracks between the tiles, and then you have to wipe up the excess glue and try to avoid stepping in it. If you walk on the tiles before the glue has dried, they will slide around so you either lay them so you have an escape pathway, or you walk very gingerly. I still end up pushing tiles together, and that leads to more clean up of excess glue. I'm wearing a pair of old shoes I intend to throw out when I done laying the tiles.

Hey Tiki Dude, hold my phone and how about charging it up too?

2011-10-31T07:59:00.003-04:00

I don't usually do holiday posts, but this one seems kinda fitting, so happy Halloween. Boo!

I recently upgraded to the iPhone 4S, and I love it. But just like my older iPhone, it's tough to make it through the day without recharging the battery. So I keep a wall charger at work. I've been looking for something that might make a cool, stylin' holder for my phone at work, and I think I've found something pretty unique.

I was looking around on ebay for vintage tiki items when I found this guy.

He's in a crouching position, and in front of his feet is a leaf-shaped trough which looks like it was meant to be used as an ashtray. Now who would want a WOODEN ashtray?!?

Well, Uncle Atom doesn't smoke, but he wanted a wooden ashtray. And he got it.

I was the only bidder on this guy, and he recently came in the mail. Now I have to tell you, I did have a little guilt when I decided to put a hole in the ashtray part so I could run a charging cable, but, I got over that and decided that giving this tiki dude a job would be good for his self esteem.

All I did was stand the phone up so it would lean against the tiki's chin, then I traced around the base of the phone and marked where I wanted the cord to be. A little masking tape, some drilling, chiseling, sawing and sanding, followed by a little tung oil, and I was done.

I also cut a channel to run the charging cord underneath.

So here's the end result: one less tiki dude on the unemployment line, and a unique phone charging stand for pretty cheap!

Cooking with a LOTTA Flair!

2011-10-29T18:12:00.000-04:00

A few weekends ago I made a quick road trip to Pennsylvania Amish country. My mission - pick up a vintage dual oven/stove combo and matching cabinet.

Before I started this blog, I had found a vintage blog in Richmond I was following. It's no longer around as far as I can tell. Anyway, one of that blog's posts highlighted a very cool vintage oven/stove combo made in the early 1960s by Frigidaire called the Flair. And there seems to be a lot of Flair devotees. There's a Google Group, and you can find several other sources for manuals and repair parts. The more I researched the Frigidaire Flair, the more I wanted this item that was about 100 miles away.

It was dirt cheap, I think I gave the seller $50 for it. But the hard part was wrestling it into my truck, and then getting it out and put away in the basement. The thing is built like a battleship, REALLY heavy! The Flair is not your normal oven/stove combo. The dual ovens are on top at eye level much like a wall oven. The stove top is hidden away like a closed drawer. You push a button and pull on the drawer pull and you then have the cooktop exposed. When you're done, you "close the drawer." Very cool.

Don't you love the great 1960s font and details on this clock?

I ended up delaying my plans to use the Flair in our kitchen, because I subsequently learned that I really needed the metal cabinet that was an option with the oven. I didn't want to try to build a wood cabinet to match our other cabinets, and the Flair isn't built to screw to the wall. So I've been looking for a cabinet for more than three years!

Recently I did a search of Craigslist in both the DC and Baltimore areas, and I found another oven/stove combo with the cabinet and also with a matching overhead vent.

This is the pic from the craigslist ad -

the base cabinet is what I've needed

For $100 it looked like a great deal and I figured if I needed parts I could combine the two Flairs to make one good working one, and maybe sell the parts to recoup my money. Or, if they both work, hopefully I could resell the other one to someone else dying to find a Flair.

This is the first oven, the one in the basement. The two are identical in size, 40 inches wide (bigger than today's ovens, but perfect for the space in our kitchen, since our house was built in 1958). The two are not exactly the same, however. They're slightly different models and may have been produced in different years. I need to do more research on that.

Here's the base cabinet, which I've already disassembled and given a fresh coat of white appliance paint.
Repainting the cabinet was the easy part. The Flair attaches to the cabinet with four bolts and nuts.

The hard part is going to be getting the second Flair off the truck, figuring out which one to install in the kitchen, and dealing with the cleaning and testing of the heating elements BEFORE I pay someone to help move it into the kitchen and install it. I'll keep you posted.

If you want a Flair but don't have an existing 40-inch opening for it, you could look for a narrower, single-oven Flairs. There's currently one of those listed on the Washington DC craigslist.

Project: Converting a vintage starburst wall clock to run on batteries

2011-10-22T16:49:00.001-04:00

I've been planning this project for a while. It's a Canadian-made Westclox electric wall clock.

It's a very cool clock, but it has two features I don't like -- it was made to plug into an outlet, so you'll always see the ugly electrical cord when the clock is in use, and, the roman numeral face and antiquey hands that it came with seem out of place, so I'm going to switch those things.

I have another one of these clocks which I already converted, but it had a different face. It was my first battery conversion. Here's what the face looked like on that clock. The numbers are more of an art deco style, a little more suited to the clock frame. When I disassembled that first clock, I scanned this paper face and used Photoshop to get rid of the stains and blemishes. I also eliminated the middle design because it was too detailed to touch up and make it look like new, so instead I opted to insert an atomic symbol. I did things a little differently for this clock, as you'll see later on.

The back of the starburst clock has three tiny flathead screws which hold the black case and the clock mechanism together. Sorry, I forgot to get shots of the disassembly, but essentially you have to look for screws and metal tabs which are very likely holding the clock body and the case together. This clock had a stem in front on the outside of the plastic case for adjusting the time. Once I got the back of the clock off I had to use a pair of vice grip needle nose pliers to carefully pull the stem out. (You could also cut the base of the stem once the back of the clock is revealed. Either way, the stem had to be sacrificed to get the clock apart.)

My goal was to get the plastic face, the star frame, and the black metal rear case apart. At that point, I worked on removing the clear plastic face cover by squeezing it to release some tabs that fit into slots in the metal back. You can usually assume that the plastic face has some kind of tabs that need to be pinched or pryed to get the tabs out of the slots they're in. A little careful work and the plastic cover was off. I sat that aside and later used some plastic polish to shine it up before reassembly.

Here's the frame, the brass face frame, and the black back disassembled. I've already cut the hole in the black part for access to the battery, but this gives you an idea of what the clock parts look like.

For this project, I'm going to use the battery unit out of this red kitchen clock, a project I did a few years ago which didn't work out for various reasons.

The nice thing about these old clocks is they're usually similar enough that any of these small battery-powered replacements can be made to work in most any other clock, usually without any modifications.

I looked over the hands on the red clock to see how they come off. Usually the minute hand is held on by tiny threaded brass nut, as this one was. After using a small pair of needle nose pliers to get that nut off, I carefully pulled up on the minute hand until it slipped up and off. (You can also see a tiny pin in the center of the stem. If you wanted to and had the space you could fit this with a press-on second hand. I didn't have one I liked, so I only used the hour and minute hands.)

Next, the hour hand comes off. These are usually pressed onto the stem so there's no nut to unscrew to get the hour hand off.

Here you can see both hands removed, and the hex nut is the only thing

keeping me from pulling the battery unit from this red clock.

Last, there's usually a hexagonal brass nut holding the stem against the face. A little effort with an adjustable wrench or needle nose pliers is enough to loosen the brass nut. All of the small loose parts go into a ziplock bag so they don't get lost. And now I have the battery unit for the starburst clock. (The red clock parts are going back on the shelf for a future re-try at making this clock work again.)

I'm going to use this flat metal base from the starburst clock to connect the new battery-powered stem to the back of the clock.

The metal legs will be kept and they're spaced nicely so the battery unit will fit in between the legs. You also can see one of the old electric gears still attached to the plate. Since it won't be in my way, I'm leaving the gear in place.

I did a test fit of the battery mechanism and I found that the center hole in the metal plate had to be enlarged so the stem would fit through the plate and the new paper face I was making for this clock. So I used a drill bit to carefully enlarge the hole in the plate.

With the hole widened, I fitted the battery unit to the metal plate and reattached the brass nut to hold the unit in place.

I haven't found any way around this next step -- as you saw above, I had to cut out a hole in the black metal back of the clock to make room for the battery mechanism so the battery could be changed without tearing the clock apart.

I used a Dremel tool with a circular cutoff blade to cut out enough metal to allow access to the battery compartment of the mechanism, but I left the mounting holes so I can still reattach the stainless steel plate to the back.

Here's the cut out I made with the Dremel saw. As you can see, the hole at the top right was kept so I had something to us to hang the clock on the wall when it's done. It's not a perfect cut, but no one will see it. I also used a file to knock down the sharp edges of the cut.

Now before putting it together, I needed the new paper face. For this clock, I decided I wanted some atomic style numbers, so I used the computer to draw a circle with the same circumference as the old face, and then I used Microsoft Powerpoint to add the numbers I wanted. These numbers are from a font called Crash Landing, which I added to my laptop last year. You can find this free font and many other wicked cool mid century fonts at Tack-O-Rama (it's one of the links in the Favorites section of this blog - check it out).

So, I wanted something unique for the face of the clock. I settled on this great Tiki Moai spaceman graphic I found on an old sci fi magazine while surfing the web last year. I did a little photoshopping to clean up the image and then I sized it to fit inside the numbers on the face. I love how it turned out.

After finding the center and making a hole for the battery mechanism to fit through, I was ready to put the clock back together!

Here you can see the battery unit is already

attached to the metal plate with a brass nut.

I made sure I had all the little parts and did some test fitting to be sure I knew which way all the pieces went back together, and I had to do a little touch up work with the scissors to get the new face ready to use in the clock.

After I pressed on the minute hand I reattached the small brass nut that holds it in place.

Here you can see I've used the three holes that form a triangle to reattach the metal plate to the black metal back of the clock.

With the battery unit mounted to the metal plate and the metal plate screwed onto the black metal back, I was ready to put the paper face on the other side of the metal plate, down over the new paper face, and attach the hour hand by pressing it carefully onto the clock stem. Then the minute hand went on, followed by the brass nut to hold the minute hand in place.

Next I snapped the plastic face cover on. After that, all I had left was to attache the circular brass frame around the plastic face and bend over the three metal tabs to hold everything together against the starburst frame.

And here's the finished clock!

No more ugly electrical cord or roman numerals!

There were a lot of steps in this project, but don't be discouraged. Pick up some really dirt cheap battery powered clocks at the next yard sale or flea market you find, and practice tearing them apart. You'll soon see it's fairly easy to work on these.

By the way, a good source for clock hands and battery units is www.klockit.com - their prices are very reasonable. If you look over their ads you'll see that you have to consider how big the clock face is in order to pick hands that will fit and not look too small or out of place.

Doing Time...and Temperature and Barometric Pressure

2011-10-16T14:20:00.001-04:00

You can't furnish a home with Mid Century stuff without having one or two vintage clocks in the mix. Here are a some of ours.

I have two of these now, one I've already converted to run on batteries - this one is going to get a new set of hands, a battery conversion, and a new face with some mid century numbers. Stay tuned!

This TV clock lights up and the numbers are on plastic wheesls that rotate on gears. Very cool, but I decided to sell it so it's on etsy now.

I love this one, it's a bedside alarm clock, the base is plastic so I'm guessing it's from the mid 1960s.

This is a converted 8-day clock that was missing the winding key so I converted it to run on a battery. It's not a very hard job, I'll do a "how to" one of these days. I picked this up off of ebay for cheap because the winding key was gone.

One of the vintage radios I have is this AM clock radio, great looks.

I picked up this Sprite clock at a flea market over a year ago, and I finally got around to converting it to run on batteries. Sadly there are some stains on the face I couldn't clean up, but it still looks great in my messy man cave workshop.

I love this old bowling clock, but the clock doesn't work and it wouldn't be worth paying to have it fixed since I've seen these same working clocks offered for under $75. Still, it's fun to display.

This wristwatch was in a box of things my wife got after her father passed away. The watch is a Hamilton Thin-O-Matic from the early 1960s, and it has an engraving on the back noting her grandfather's 50 years of a service to his company. He passed away only a couple years after getting this watch, and my wife does not remember her father ever wearing it, so I don't think it's gotten a lot of use.

We just had it cleaned and shined and it looks great, so great that I've started wearing it to work once in a while. Apparently it's an automatic watch that you only have to wind every couple of days because its internal mechanism somehow keeps the spring wound based on the energy generated by normal movement when it's being worn. Very cool.

This is a barometer I picked up a couple years ago. It measures temperature, barometer, and relative humidity. The styling is more art deco from the 1940s, but it looks great. However, I have it for sale on etsy also because I found one I like more...

Now this is cool! It's a Honeywell barometer, the body is a combination of metal and plastic - I think this dates to the early 1960s.

Anyone else have some good examples of mid century clocks, thermometers, or barometers?

A few recent finds; a road trip to Hershey, and more

2011-10-10T18:09:00.001-04:00

Man am I behind with my blog posts! Yes, the Uncle has been busy, but that's a lame excuse, so let me try to catch you up a little.

I enjoyed my work-related trip to LA last month, but I had no rental car and very little free time during the day. I did manage to visit one cool architectural salvage store - Olde Good Things - within walking distance of the LA Convention Center. Some great old big heavy stuff there, from sculptures to furniture to weird stuff, and sadly I didn't have my good camera with me. All I bought were a consonant and a vowel which I used to finish spelling out my daughter's name on her bedroom wall. But, I learned they have a 100,000 square foot salvage warehouse near Wilkes Barre, PA, so I may be road-tripping up there for a visit some day.

Our group did get out our last night there - I persuaded the guys to attend the Lebowski Fest at the Cal Bowl bowling center. Lots of great people there in costumes relating to one of my favorite movies, the Big Lebowski. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera and my iPhone battery charger, so all I got was this one crappy photo. If you're interested in the Lebowski costumes, just search for Lebowski Fest and you'll find tons.

Uncle Atom is in the back wearing an atomic bowling shirt and holding a bowling pin mug full o' white russian. Mmm, mmm! We had a blast but had to cut things short after bowling just two games because we all had early flights home the next day.

In my last post on the two new metal lawn chairs I'm restoring, I mentioned I would be posting about a road trip to pick up an oven. Sorry I still don't have the pics to do that post, so please be patient.

However, I did make my annual pilgrimage to Hershey, PA, for the annual Antique Automobile Club of America Fall swap meet and show.

I shot - photos of lots of great cars for sale and some really beautiful cars in the Saturday-only show field. A couple of my favorites were a pair of Chrysler-produced station wagons, including this sweet 1961 with a rear-facing third seat in the back and lots of goodies inside. Here are a few shots of other car interiors - hang with me, these are cool!

It's a shame that car companies don't give us beautiful interiors any more, but thankfully there are some old beauties that have been preserved for us to ooooh and ahhhh at!

No one would ever use this infant's car seat/launch pad today, but isn't it cool that someone preserved this? It even matches the interior!

Here's a link to the rest of my Hershey pics.

I thought I should also do an update on some recent finds, so here we go:

Tiki mug - my collection is doing well, I'm up to 7 different tiki mugs now.

Pair of starburst juice glasses - these are etched, I wish I had found more than two!

A set of eight "old fashioned" glasses @ 50 cents each!

They fit perfectly in our rolling bar - now I need to find three matching shot glasses to fill in the open spaces in the bar. Yup, I know I haven't shown you all that bar yet. I'll make that a future post.

Finally, here's a sampling of some great LPs I've found recently - love the cover art on old LPs. You can pick these up for a song - haha - and they look great hanging on the wall.

I"ve been looking for this Green Hornet / Al Hirt album cover forever, and I scored this cheap even though there were a handful of big LP buyers hovering all over the flea market that day.

Well, that's all for now, have a good week!

UPDATED:A pair of metal lawn chairs to join the red rocker!

2011-10-02T18:15:00.002-04:00

My boss has been following my blog posts recently, and after she saw the post about the red metal lawn chair I restored she happened to see a couple of chairs just like it on the side of the road in her neighborhood. She quickly snagged them and sent me a pic asking if I wanted them. Heck yes I wanted them! Thanks boss, and thanks boss's husband who moved the chairs to their house until I could get them!

What's that? Yes I know, I do already have enough projects -- but how can you not save stuff like this?!?

Here are the before pics - gobs of white paint that started to peel and rust underneath.

Stripping the heavy paint off of these chairs took a lot more work than that first chair I did. I really dig this orange gel stripper though. Used properly it will break up paint very well. But then you need to scrape, and scrape, and scrape, and sand, and scrape, and scrape, and use more stripper, and scrape, and sand.

I like to use a razor blade scraper, but even that is slow going. I think I put in about six hours to strip all the paint off one chair and got a good start on the second one.

Here's chair number one minus at least one coat of white, with some original-looking lime green showing underneath.

Tommy Two-tone was not impressed with my hard labor. He didn't even glance at my work while making his rounds.

As I got more of the gobs of white paint off, I spotted this marking on the lower back of one chair.

The B inside the circle is accompanied by a stamping that reads BALCRANK Cincinnati Ohio. Pretty cool to find it on both chairs. And these chairs were built to last - probably fifty or sixty years old and only a couple of rust holes in the bottoms where they contract the ground!

I mentioned POR Paste in my other post on the first chair I restored. To fix the rust spots, this time I cut some fiberglass screen window mesh and taped it over the spots where the holes are. Then I broke out the POR Paste and a popsicle stick and spread it around.

This patch is on the bottom of the leg so it didn't have to be perfect. After the paste hardened, I pulled/cut the blue tape, sanded the excess and primed everything.

I won't bother showing you another photo of a chair coated with primer, so instead, here's the nearly finished chair. I like the yellow and red together. They look a lot alike, but I don't think these chairs were made by the same company. No stamp on the red one. The ribs on the back are slightly different, the seat bottoms are not exactly the same, and the yellow one is not a rocker.

I still have to finish stripping the other chair, which I'm leaning toward painting green or blue.

UPDATE: I decided on green for the third chair, and here it is with the other two.

I like 'em! Thanks again boss!!!

Vintage toolbox gets kinda flakey

2011-09-18T16:46:00.000-04:00

I'm fighting off a cold, getting ready to fly to LA for work this week, and while I've kept momentum on several projects I don't have much ready for a complete post, so here's something I photographed weeks ago and never got around to posting.

I've had this toolbox a few years. In profile you can see it has sort of a mid century vibe - definitely more interesting than the standard Sears Craftsman rectangle or a plastic box.

The plan was always to clean it up and paint it something other than grey, and use it to carry survival tools in one of my old cars for when I need to do some maintenance on the road.

I got it cleaned, sanded, and primered, and after looking through the rattle cans of paint I now keep in an old metal cabinet, I settled on Retro Red Metal Flake, which should be a good base for eventually adding some pinstriping or stencils or decals.

I masked off the handle and latch before starting with the primer, and kept that masking tape there for the final spray.

The inside looks pretty good so I decided to only paint the outside of the box.

Before I start to spray primer, I like to wipe the metal down with some mineral spirits to get rid of dust and anything left over from sanding.

The primer went on pretty fast.

This is my first experience spraying metal flaked paint. It definitely does not have the depth that you'll see in a professionally painted car covered in metal flake, but it's not bad for something that only costs about $5 a can.

Despite masking very carefully, I still got some paint on the handle which I still need to carefully remove. There's also a tiny little bit of gray behind the latch where I couldn't get any paint (the latch is riveted on, and I hate to drill out an original rivet because it's very hard to duplicate the rivet and have it look original.

Since I didn't paint the inside of the box, I decided to use some leftover adhesive-backed cork shelf liner on the inside. That should keep the tools from making a lot of noise when the box is riding in the trunk.

I'm thinking some white, gold, or silver starbursts would look good over the metal flake red, and it would be cool to stencil some lettering on the box. Any other ideas?

Rainy staycation means finishing another project: folding metal tray tables and shadowbox

2011-09-08T16:03:00.002-04:00

All this darn rain from the remnants of Hurricane Lee is forcing me to hang out indoors, with a few quick painting sessions between raindrops.

So in addition to finishing the $2.37 metal lawn chair, I also finished a couple other lingering projects.

I repainted this shadow box and now it's the mate of my other shadow box and they're hanging on opposite sides of the bay window in our living room.

I think bobblehead nodders are a perfect item to display in these shadow boxes, and recently I scored these two four-inch Indian nodders for only $5. I'll be keep an eye out for one or two more big nodders to keep these two company.

I also stripped, sanded, and painted the set of four folding tables I picked up for $5 at a recent estate sale.

All four trays were this camp stove green color.

While stripping the old paint, I noticed that these had been different colors before and were repainted some time in the past, so I didn't feel bad about using the colors I wanted instead.

Now I just realized while typing this, the repainted trays look a little like the colors in my Google Chrome browser icon! How weird is that?

Finishing up the outdoor steel rocking chair

2011-09-06T17:58:00.001-04:00

So when I last posted about my $2.37 outdoor steel rocking chair project, it looked like this...

The three holes in the seat are there for drainage and look like they've always been there

Pretty solid but several old layers of paint had to come off, and I had to sand and patch some spots where there were rust holes.

Now you might think that this would require welding a patch on or worse, cutting out the bad spots and welding in a new section of pipe. Nah, too much work for a $2.37 chair.

So I used something that I've used around old cars before. It's a product called POR 15 patch. POR 15 (POR stands for Paint Over Rust) is a paint product that you can brush onto rust and it will harden to an almost plastic epoxy finish. It's sandable and it really sticks. You have to wear gloves and old clothes because if you get this stuff on your skin, it will stay there for days.

I remember brushing this stuff on the underside of an old car I was working on, and when I got done my face had lots of tiny black dots that I had to scrub repeatedly before I got rid of them. POR 15 reacts with oxygen and hardens pretty fast. You can get the paint on variety in small pint sized cans, but you really need to use it up because the lid will actually harden to the edges of the can if you're not careful, and I've had half a can go to waste because I didn't get a good seal on the lid and the liquid became rock hard. (By the way, I've used this with pretty good success on wrought iron railings that had rust issues too.)

So anyway, I had a tube of POR 15 patch (it's a paste, much thicker than the paint, so better as a filler) and used a popsicle stick to smear the paste onto the rusty areas on the chair. I tried to use some scrap aluminum mesh from an old screen door to give the paste something else to adhere to, but I couldn't get it to stay formed around the curve of the pipe so I gave up.

In this shot you can kinda see the black areas where I used the POR 15 Patch

As it turned out, after the paste hardened it was enough to fill in most of the rust holes. I sanded those areas down and where I needed it I added some additional paste and let that set up. Then I sanded the patched spots again, and wiped the whole chair down with mineral spirits before using a gray primer over everything.

I love how primer will make ugly bare metal look almost new.

By the way, a little tip for painting. Paint the bottom of your project first, then when that dries, turn the project up to paint the top parts so you don't have to lay your freshly primed top parts down on the ground or on anything that could mess up your fresh primer in areas where the finished product will be viewed the most. Same goes for finish painting. If you have a small thing to paint, try to rig up something to hang the object from and again, paint the bottom parts first, then hang the item so you can paint the top parts.

Also, wear a proper ventilated breathing mask and goggles when you're working with spray paints.

So after I hit it with a couple coats of sandable primer, I let the chair sit for a week or two and finally got back to it last week. I had been pondering a color choice, and lately I have a thing for red, so red it is!

Now that it looks this nice, I don't want to leave it sitting outside, so the chair is going to live on the tiki screened porch.

Slot Cars! and Batman?? ! Holy 24 Hours of Sebring!!!!

2011-09-05T14:58:00.003-04:00

OK, quiz time - what do these two photos have in common?

I mean, other than some ~~groovy guys~~ secret crimefighters holding race car controllers! (Oh, and how about that TV set, lamp, and sofa in the photo! And the textured orange carpet, oh I remember that. I wish I had that TV and sofa, but they're long gone.)

The Aurora Model Motoring Thunderjet race track set in the top photo was probably the greatest Christmas gift I ever received.

It was great fun creating different track layouts and hopping up the cars for faster performance and better traction. Heck even the illustrations in the catalog and box graphics are wonderful to look at.

Like many childhood toys, it ended up in a box and eventually was given or thrown away. I don't have another one, but I do still have a couple of the cars, including a British racing green Jaguar XKE, and this yellow Ford GT with hacked up rear wheel wells modified for huge racing tires.

The cars I really lusted after were the Aurora Batmobile and Green Hornet car, but I never did get them at $3.49 each!!!

I do keep my eyes out at sales for this vintage Aurora slot car stuff, but it doesn't come up very often around here.

That Bruce Wayne slot car photo came off of the cover of a 1967 slot car magazine that I picked up at an auction years ago. Here's the original cover and the inside article. This is great stuff and probably pretty rare!

I don't have any old home movies of my track, but here's a cool clip from none other than stately Wayne Manor!

Picnic basket, Seventies style

2011-08-28T15:05:00.002-04:00

Well we survived Hurricane Irene with little more than some small tree limbs coming down, and a brief period where I had to dig a couple of troughs to draw water away from a corner downspout when I noticed a little water seeping into the basement.

Preparing for the storm, weathering the storm, and fixing a couple of boring things around the house left me pretty tired, so progress updates on some of my projects will have to wait.

However, here's a recent pickup you might like.

It's an all-in-one plastic picnic basket. You squeeze a little tab at the bottom of the white handle and the handle slips through a slot that connects the lid to the base, and inside are your plates, cups, and utensils.

It came from an antique mall in Buckhannon, WV, just down the street from that Dairy Queen I posted about a few weeks ago. And strangely, in another booth in the same store was a yellow one just like this.

From the styling I'm guessing this dates to the early 1970s, It's marked Ingrid Chicago. I did a quick search and found one just like it listed on ebay. I bought it for the color since it goes great with the colors in our Shasta camper.

Have a good week, and hopefully I'll be able to post soon about some progress on one or two things.

Hunkering down with Irene - but I still had a minute to find a cool lamp

2011-08-27T15:14:00.002-04:00

These two days I've been busting butt to batten down the hatches here at the Uncle Atom crib to get ready for Hurricane Irene's arrival, so there hasn't been much project progress -- although I did de-clutter a lot of the carport, so I'm feeling better about the outdoor situation.

Anyway, we had to get one of our daily driver cars into the shop since it didn't pass emissions testing, and I won't work on any engines newer than about 1973.

On the way home we made a quick stop to the thrift store where I've had some decent luck lately, and I scored this desk lamp for $3.75. It looks danish, and by the colored plastic pieces I'm guessing this was made in the 1970s - anyone know more about this? I don't see any manufacturer markings on it.

It works but one of the wooden on/off handles is gone, and on of the colored plastic pieces is missing.

Still I figured the price was very good, and even if I never find another one like it I can always have some parts on hand to fix similar lamps I come across.

I hope all you East Coasters stay dry and safe through the storm.

Local estate sale followup - no sofa, but another chair and a coffee table

2011-08-21T16:17:00.000-04:00

Saturday morning I decided to go back to the estate sale where I bought the steel cabinets, typewriter, and folding tray tables on Friday. I had one particular item I wanted to get, so I arrived right after the sale opened at 9 am. This was near the shed where I found the Youngstown cabinets, and the only reason I didn't buy the chair then was I had no more room in the car.

This outdoor steel rocking chair was marked $3 on Friday, and with 25% off on Saturday, this was a true bargain and I saved 75 cents by waiting!

I've never had one of these, but I'm pretty experienced removing old paint from metal and prepping it for new paint. I didn't get any shots before I started stripping it, but it was painted green and like a lot of these old chairs it had several coats of old paint underneath.

I found a few rust holes in the legs and one in the arm, so those need fixing. This was the worst damage.

Maybe that's why it was priced so cheap.

I'll post more about this chair as the work progresses. (Link to Part 2)

So after I paid for the chair, I went back into the garage to look over the Kroehler sofa some more. I had been thinking if I got it I could simply replace the seat cushion foam - but after looking it over more closely, the cushion fabric didn't have zippers installed, so the only way to get the old lumpy cushion pieces out would have been to cut the fabric or try to get zippers installed. Now I really doubt that 60-year-old fabric would be workable for installing zippers. So, I decided to forget the sofa. Sorry Sara, I can't bring everything home. I do hope someone got it.

However, I did bring this Lane coffee table home for just $37.50!

That's right, this table was $50 on Friday and no one bought it!

It has some wear but the scratches all look pretty light so I'm hoping I can get this looking good without a ton of effort.

Overall, a good weekend, but now I have more projects to work on.

Today's estate sale and thrift shop pickups - steel cabinets, typewriter, glass caddy

2011-08-19T21:24:00.001-04:00

I haven't gotten a real vacation this summer, but I've at least been able to take some Fridays off. Today I did a little yard work and purchased some parts for the Shasta camper, then I found a nearby estate sale and decided to go check it out.

Here in the DC area there are a lot of estates of retired military officers. You see a ton of the same old stuff, and usually not a lot of mid century goodies. But I did manage to pick up a few things at this sale of stuff from an Army general:

Folding metal tray tables, sturdy steel legs with a kewl metal stand - $5

The tray tops look pretty messed up, but for this price I think I can clean these up and use the for camping or in the yards when we need some extra tables.

This typewriter was in a very damp garage, the case had rust on it but when I got it opened, the typewriter looked good.

The keys work well, but I haven't rolled paper into it yet to see if the ribbon is any good. It's a Triumph Tippa, "Made in Western Germany".

I like the low, sleek look to this. Not bad for another $5. What do you think "I dream-lo-tech," did I do good?

I was ready to leave the sale but decided to take one more look in a shed I had glanced into earlier. This time no one was in there, and I spotted these five Youngstown Steel kitchen cabinets.

Not a complete set, but only $5 each, so I grabbed them.

I have a bunch of steel kitchen cabinets I got for nothing, one or two at a time in the early 2000s around our old neighborhood whenever someone had put one or two out on the street with the trash. I'll have to get into the attic and try to find a label on those cabinets, they're pretty much all the same but a little different than these Youngstown cabinets. If I ever get my dream garage built, I'll probably restore the cabinets and use them in the garage.

SWMBO and I had to refill a couple of prescriptions, so we did that next, then we hit a couple of thrift stores on the way home. I found some record albums at the shop where I got the wooden danish cat a couple weeks ago, and as I was walking up to the cash register I spotted this drink caddy.

This is the coolest shape I've seen in one of these caddys. Pretty sweet for just $4.

I'm going to try and go back to the estate sale on half price day Sunday - there's an aqua 1950s Kroehler sofa in the garage that looked pretty good but was covered with stuff and unpriced. One of the estate sale staff quoted me $95. The frieze fabric has metal thread in the pattern and looked good, but the cushions really need new foam. We'll see if I can save it, stay tuned.

Oh, one last thing. The house looks like it will probably be "renovated." I hate that you never seem to be able to buy anything attached to the house, even though it will very likely be trashed.

The front entry has a vintage screen door with a monogram letter D centered in the screen grill. I asked, but it's "not for sale." Argh.

Update - Colossal People and a possible Documentary

2011-08-15T07:39:00.001-04:00

Last month when I posted about Retro Roadmap I included a photo I took in Unger, WV, of a backyard full of colossal people - often called Muffler Men. Well after that I found a pretty good writeup about these guys and gals here.

Then I learned about a team that wants to make a documentary about these and many more colossals.

Check out their project proposal at kickstarter.com and if you can, give them some support or post about them on your blog or facebook. I would love to see this project happen!

Some recent pickups: firewood stand, monkeys, flamingoes, and camper parts!

2011-08-14T17:28:00.001-04:00

Hey everybody, Uncle Atom here. I won't bore ya with everything I've found recently, but here are a few highlights:

I've been looking for something to store firewood in, and I recently found this hoop setup with hairpin-style legs at a local thrift store. Not bad for $10!

On a day trip yesterday to Charm City (Baltimore ya know), we found a few things, including these great plastic monkeys for just $5. I didn't notice until I got them home that they're each different - see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil. They're perfect for the tiki screened porch!

From the same vintage shop, I also scored my third brass metal framed/lightup/3D picture. A deer in the woods to go with fat Elvis and the Last Supper. So it's official, with three I've got a collection. How hooked am I? I actually paid $27 for this! I know. You don't need to say it. Lunatic! Still, if I average the three together, I've only got about $40 tied up. And they're so Kitschy!

I'm really curious to know what other pictures came in these brass lightup frames. Could there be one out there with a bullfighter? Jesus? Or maybe Marilyn Monroe? Who knows, but if Uncle Atom spots one, rest assured you will read about it here.

UPDATE - ADDING THE FORGOTTEN FLAMINGOES:
Across from where I got the monkeys and picture frame I found a local shop carrying new pairs of made in the USA flamingoes. These guys will go along on camping adventures.

Here's one thing in Baltimore that I came very close to buying - an awesome Delmonico console stereo/record player/television set. The store owner wanted $100. We got both AM and FM stereo to play and they sounded pretty good after the tubes warmed up. But the record player looked like it was missing parts, and it would not even spin. I did not want to try the TV. I'm not a fan of black laquer wood,and I'm not interested in fooling with vacuum tubes and electronics - I've got enough projects and I know my limits. I want one of these that works! But despite the things I didn't like, this was tempting because it looks so darn awesome. I mean, I could just sit and look at this and keep smiling.

My big find this week was this mint/aqua stove/oven, exhaust hood, and sink taken from an old truck camper. I found a 1964 date code under the sink, and the Shasta was built in 1962. The colors really are nearly perfect for the Shasta! I spent a good part of today installing the stove and hood. It's so great to replace the ugly brown stove and hood, and the plain white sink.

Luckily the dimensions were very close to the original pieces. I did have to get out my tin snips and cut off about an inch or the back of the exhaust hood I have the countertop pulled and the old white sink out. As soon as I can get some replacement formica I'll finish installing the sink.

So that's about it for now. Did anyone else find some great stuff?

Two's company and three's...even better! Catching some Zs - Danish Modern Selig Z Chairs

2011-08-07T16:21:00.001-04:00

Somehow this year I've fallen into a pattern of picking up a cool chair at my favorite monthly flea market about every other month. Earlier this year it was this bent plywood Danish chair with chrome legs. I never got around to posting about it.

And in June, I scored a nice deal on this fiberglass chair.

Yesterday, I did even better!

I was up early and got to the flea a little after 6 am. It's not supposed to start until 7, but even before sunrise there are people at this sale, so even though it was early, I was surprised to see this baby waiting for me. No one had beaten me to it!!

Over the years, I've gotten pretty good at keeping a poker face when asking the price on something that I'm willing to empty my wallet for. In this case, the price was really good - I mean REALLY GOOD!!!!!!! So I paid for it and the seller offered to hold it for me until I was ready to load it.

Well, I walked around for a couple of minutes and because I know how desirable these chairs are, I was afraid to leave it out of my sight. Heck, someone else might tempt the seller with more cash and try to buy it out from under me. So I headed back and picked it up and locked it in the car. No sense in tempting fate. :-)

So what is it?

I've seen finished versions of these Selig Poul Jensen Danish Z chairs go for ridiculous money on ebay. Do a quick search and you'll see what I mean. Sometimes one chair will get bid up close to $1000 ! This chair is missing the straps and the cushions, but overall the wood looks good.

Don't hate me, but this is actually the third Z chair I've picked up.

About three years ago I scored a matching pair of these in a darker finish off of craigslist.

The craigslist seller had gotten them from a storage auction, and they had this funky 1970s fabric cushions.

I'm nearly positive they're not original cushions or fabric, but for now they're functional, and they kinda fit in with the other furniture in the basement.

I think I paid around $350 for the pair, and at the time I figured even that was a steal. When we were in Asheville last spring, I spotted this ottoman and I guessed that it would match the chairs. The fabric on it also looks non-original.

There's also a sofa in the same Z design, but those seem to be harder to find. I've only seen one, at a local store, and that was before I got my chairs. Yes, I wish I had bought that sofa.

Now I have to emphasize that I'm really not a label collector. I buy things that look good to me if I can afford them. And if I hadn't stumbled across the wild styling of these Z chairs while online a few years ago, I wouldn't even be much into the Danish modern stuff. But now that I've had these chairs a while, I don't plan to part with them. They're really comfortable to sit in. And they look great, don't they?

Take it from the Uncle, keep your eyes out for these chairs and ottomans, and get yourself one if you can afford it. You'll be glad you did!

Did you DQ today?

2011-08-04T08:00:00.001-04:00

Contrary to what some may tell you, I was not born in a log cabin (or a barn). But my earliest years were spent behind a Dairy Queen store - this Dairy Queen store:

My parents' original store at 2009 North Atherton Street, State College, Pa.

This shot dates from about 1963. I think the site is now a bank.

Like the world needed another bank. Booo hisss!

There's Uncle Atom on the left, and BTW, I was already

an uncle in real life when this photo was taken with my Dad.

With that hood I look like a DQ cone with a curl on top!

Relatives hanging out with us at the DQ

In those days the DQ would close for the winter and reopen in the spring.

By the time I was five, Dad was ready to get out from behind the counter and do something else. So when I was old enough to get a part time job, the man who bought the DQ from my parents offered me a job at another DQ location in town.

Would you buy a Peanut Buster Parfait from this guy?

All of this is background to the real reason for this post. On a recent weekend getaway we stumbled upon a vintage Dairy Queen store in Buckhannon, WV, so I HAD TO STOP and get some photos. The store dates to about 1957 and is styled somewhat differently than the one my father built himself. Notice in the above black and white photos that that store had the slanted roof, an architectural feature I really love. Also note that the Buckhannon store's red shingles are not original but were added later to appease International DQ.

I struck up a conversation with the lady behind the first window, and I told her an abbreviated version of my own DQ story. It turns out she has worked there more than 20 years and she's married to the son of the original store's owners. Because the franchise is still in the family, they are able to keep the old exterior mostly intact and they still have the old sign on the roof. She explained that International DQ doesn't really like the old style stores, but because this one operates under the original franchise agreement, the family can't be forced to "modernize". Now I know there are many of us who like the mid-century styling so much that we might drive hours to buy a product FROM THAT OLD STORE!!! HELLO International DQ! HELLO! Why not embrace the past and keep the last few remnants intact. People care about this stuff.

Anyway, I really enjoyed talking to her about the details of the building and the amazing fact that the same family still owns it!

It was really great to see some of the original old signs inside and out, and make my purchase outside at a window much like Mom and Dad's store was once. The hot fudge sundae was just the way I remembered it, but somehow it tasted better there.

Oh, and I have to add that whenever I'm somewhere that has a "serve yourself" soft serve machine, I can't resist flicking the old wrist and putting the signature "curl on top" of a cone or sundae. I've still got the touch. ;-)

Now I have to ask, do any of you readers have an original-style Dairy Queen near you?

A real hep cat

2011-07-31T15:51:00.003-04:00

Lately I've been hitting the local thrift shops. Pickings haven't been great, but I have found a few things. So yesterday, I scooped up this wooden cat for $8. It stands almost two feet tall.

It was worn and scratched and dinged, but for the price I knew I could give it new life.

First I needed to get the base off. It had a single flathead screw and the screw was rusty and wouldn't come out. The base was not tight so with a few turns I had the base and cat separated, but the screw was still stuck in the base. After I broke the screw tip off while trying to turn it out with vise grips, I tried hammering it out with a steel punch. That did the trick.

I sanded, primed, and painted the base with black spray paint.

While waiting for the primer to dry on the base, I used 100 grit sandpaper to knock down the scratches on the cat, and got most of the dings out too. Then I used 150 and 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the wood some more. Next I wiped the wood down with some Old English cleaner.

By this time the primer on the base had dried, so I hit it with some leftover gloss black paint.

Once the Old English dried I still wasn't happy with the finish on the cat, so using an old cotton T-shirt I wiped on a couple of coats of tung oil.

I think the tung oil makes it look good.

The last step was to find a replacement for the rusty screw. I found one that was a little bigger than the old screw because I wanted something that would hold tight in the hole.

So here's the finished product. This hep cat should be good for quite a few more years now.

Does anyone know who made this?

Glazed over: Adding a layer of privacy to your windows

2011-07-24T07:48:00.002-04:00

I picked up this tip online and thought I'd give it a try.

With a small can of clear, un-tinted glaze you can add a slight haze to clear glass windows and gain some privacy without keeping curtains shut or blinds closed. Other than the glaze, all you need is a clean window and a foam paintbrush.

I picked up a quart can of glaze, but it only took a tiny portion of the can to do two bedroom windows, one downstairs bathroom window and the side windows flanking our front door.

Here's an "After" shot of our downstairs bathroom window - with glazing brushed on. That blurry orange chap in the background is Maynard, our tiki tree stump carving.

Here's the "Before" shot of our front door.

And here's the door after I brushed on some glaze.

This was easy to do and it only took a few minutes. I just brushed in the edges first and then, brushing in only one direction, I did the rest of the window. I only glazed the inside of the window, but you could also do this on the outside if that's easier, although I don't know how well the glaze would hold up when exposed to the weather.

As you can see, the glazing blurs the glass just enough to make it harder to see through but you still get light through the window. This photo shows just two coats of glaze. Another nice benefit, besides being inexpensive, is that if you don't like the results, you can just scrape the stuff off with a razor blade.

Now (theoretically speaking of course) the Uncle can walk to the kitchen in his skivvies! Sorry, no pictures of that, this is a family blog.

You've Got to Know When to Fold 'Em - Aluminum Lawnchair Goodness!

2011-07-10T10:53:00.000-04:00

How do I love thee folding aluminum lawn chairs? Let me count the ways....

One of my very first posts here touched on my odd fascination with vintage folding aluminum lawn chairs. That was in the dark ages when I had no followers and no comments AT ALL. I'm guessing many of you haven't looked back that far. So this is sort of a summer re-run. But if you read through to the end, I think you'll see a couple chairs you're really going to like.

Aluminum folding chairs are great because they're light weight, portable, aluminum, customizable, restorable with only a few basic tools, and well, they were a part of the landscape wherever you were in the 1950s - 1970s. (My parents had several with redwood slats instead of nylon webbing.) These chairs tend to be cheap and plentiful, and as far as I know, no one has written a collectibles book on them.

So how many of these babies do I have? Well, let's not focus on the numbers because, if SWMBO actually knew the number she might have me committed. So, how about I just share pictures of some of my favorites?

These three matching chairs came out of an estate sale last year.

They're in great shape, with original webbing, and they remain sturdy. I think I paid $10 for all three.

Several of my chairs were restoration projects.

This one was my first - as you can see, I rescued it from the trash pile. It's easy to replace the webbing on these, especially if the webbing is attached with screws. Even if some screws are missing, just take one and find some replacements at the hardware store. You can still find the webbing kits, especially on that online auction site.

It helps to have a power screwdriver but it's not necessary. A knife or pair of scissors and an awl or something with a sharp point to make a hold in the webbing is about all you need. Take some photos of the chair so you can see how the webbing was interwoven, but it's really not rocket science.

It helps to stretch the webbing as tight as you can. Cut it just a little long and fold the ends to to a point.

Screw one end into the chair, then stretch the other end, fold it, line it up and punch a hole, insert the screw and attach the second end to the chair.

Once you get the hang of it you can do one of these small chairs in about an hour or less. If you really want to go to the trouble, you can use some fine steel wool and some aluminum polish and shine the metal up before attaching any webbing.

For this first project chair, I did spend some time shining it up. Here's the end result.

Here are some others that I've repaired. I like the two-tone look of these. Notice how they're similar but there are many varieties of bends in the tubing and shapes on the armrests.

I've bought the webbing in lots and I still have a pretty good selection, but lately I haven't found any chairs to repair.

So I promised up front that you would see a couple chairs you might really like. Time to deliver:

Look closely at these. Check out this original webbing. Do you see it? The starburst pattern?!?! Is that cool, or what?

I nabbed this pair of chairs off ebay several years ago because they're so unique. Check it out, even the armrests have the pattern.

Some of today's flea market finds

2011-07-02T16:18:00.000-04:00

I had a pretty good day at the monthly Civitan flea market in Arlington today. This time I didn't find any chairs, but I did find a couple more items for the screened tiki porch, a couple of radios, and one or two other goodies. I won't bore ya with everything I picked up (I need some fodder for future posts!), but here's some of what came home in the Volvo:

Since I usually get there early, when some vendors are still unloading, I thought I'd give you a little taste of what I enjoy so much about an early start - peeking into the car- and truck-loads and trying to be the first to spot something too good not to wait for. So, here's a shot of my car - see anything in there besides my drycleaning?

How about this:

Maybe this is a little easier:

Any guesses? It's pretty easy to see that I fed my wrought iron fix a bit more today.

I've seen these planter stands before and always liked them, but this was the first one that wasn't over priced or in rotten shape ($10).

And this is another record storage stand ($15). I like the details on this.

One of the legs is bent a little so it wobbles, but I think I can fix that, and then I'll give it some paint to freshen it up.

Too bad it's just a little too tall and not quite wide enough or sturdy enough for our record player.

So, what else was in the back of the wagon?

Well, there was this very cool spherical, space-age Weltron AM/FM 8-track player, and it works! At least, the AM/FM works, and the seller said the 8-track player works, I just haven't tested it yet.

It's dusty, it has a few scuffs and one missing slider knob, but the radio really cranks the tunes, and it looks awesome. Not a bad buy for $10.

That's only one of two radios I picked up. This other one was a must have when I spotted it.

It was right on the edge of being too expensive, but for $25, I figured it was still a good buy, especially in this great color.

So, what was lurking in those bags?

Well, the canvas bag was holding about 20 of these U.S. Camera magazines from the early 1950s. For $10, I got the whole lot, and no extra charge for the musty old magazine smell! Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca would call this a spectacular deal.

And here's a first - who ever heard of a photography magazine with fiction stories inside? This one seems to be about a photographer's adventure.

Now if you're mid century eyesight is good, you probably spotted a lamp fixture in that one plastic bag. You did, right?

Yep, you sure did. Pretty cool, huh? Oh, you'd like to see the front too? OK.

With this purchase, I know that I am on the verge - or precipice - of becoming a TV lamp collector. I simply could not pass up this zebra for $20. She Who Must Be Obeyed was not as thrilled as I was with this, so I will have to keep it somewhere eight feet below the first floor of this house.

But wait, there was something black in that plastic bag. Indeed there was.

Any guesses?

If you said a vintage plastic kid's Zorro hat for $7, you nailed it!

Just one small crease in this, and that's not bad for something I'm guessing is about 50 years old. I'm not sure, but I may have had one of these as a youngster. Before I became a Batman fan and then an aspiring Secret Agent, I was a western adventure fan, and the top dude when I was 4 or 5 was Zorro!

Swish swish swish!!! If you were a bad guy, you knew you were darn lucky to have a Z carved into your shirt but not your chest.

OK, so I mentioned a couple of pickups for the tiki-themed screen porch...

Last year I picked up a small toucan that looks great inside our cat birdcage, and today I picked up his mama. So far she's pretty ambivalent about her boy's predicament.

I actually got this birdie on my second trip to the flea later in the morning. I was at home here working on a brick paver project (nope, still no gas tank for the Comet project - darn you ebay seller!) and I needed a break from the heat. I thought why not go back and see if I missed anything. And what do you know, I did miss some stuff, including the toucan. I guess it was fate that led me back.

Another second trip pickup was this native mask. Got a bit of a snarl, doesn't he?

Overall, it was a pretty good day. Anyone else pick up anything good?

Recent flea market and online finds

2011-06-29T19:57:00.001-04:00

I'm looking forward to going to the flea market Saturday, and maybe I'll have some new pickups to post this weekend. For now, here are some recent pickups I haven't posted about:

Small moai tiki guy - I spotted this in a box of stuff, got it with a few other smalls for a few bucks.

He had some scratches and looked dull and dirty (happens to the best of us), but a little Murphy's Oil Soap and some Old English spray wax and this guy is standing tall and ready for his eventual new home on the dash of my Comet station wagon!

Got a pair of these great ashtrays, one has a small chip, but the pair were only $10. Sold!

Wait, what's that very cool looking angular thing above the ashtray on the end table?!?

Oh, that's my new Honeywell barometer! Sweet, huh?

I was looking for another vintage honeywell thermometer and ran across this - it was a steal.

I walked past this table at least once before I even saw noticed it because it was disassembled. I haven't put anything on it yet - was thinking about putting the Predicta TV there once I have it restored, but I think the table is just a little too tall. I'm sure I'll find something to put there.

The formica top and the brass edging and black legs make it a pretty close match to the end tables and coffee table in our living room - the new table was another nice deal at $25.

You know I have a shadowbox fixation, so when I spotted this long lost cousin to my other angular shadowbox in an online auction I grabbed it. I'm working on fixing some missing areas of paint but should have it hanging next to our other one pretty soon.

So what could be waiting for me Saturday morning? The guy I bought the ashtrays from said he would be back with more mid century stuff, so I have high hopes. If I don't find much, maybe by then I'll have my gas tank problem fixed on the Comet.

Secret Agent, Man!

2011-06-18T12:14:00.000-04:00

At age six, I already knew I would be an international double nought spy when I grew up.

(I had eliminated the superhero career track -- Batman already had Robin, and unfortunately I never got bitten by an atomic spider or was born with any superpowers - unless you consider an eye for mid century atomic stuff a true superpower. Some of us do!)

Spy gun Christmas present! Look out evildoer badguys!!

Anyway, my only remaining career question was whether I would work for U.N.C.L.E, CONTROL, Her Majesty's Secret Service, or some hush hush operation so secret it didn't have a name!

Well, that career track never worked out either, at least not as far as you are aware... ;-D

So instead of being a secret agent, I have to settle for living that life vicariously through old 007 movies. Sometimes I think I'd like to write a spy movie script.

So where am I going with this?

Well, I put together this iPhone playlist, and the more I listen to it and refine it, the more I think it would make a pretty cool soundtrack for the action- and love-packed scenes of a secret agent movie.

Did I leave out any mid century songs that you would put on this list? Should I make another one for the Roger Moore 1970s era secret agent soundtrack? Anyone else out there have a playlist with a theme like this? And by the way, who was your favorite secret agent?

Gas tanks should not have crunchies inside

2011-06-18T11:16:00.000-04:00

Before you embark on restoring an old car, you really should have some knowledge of what kind of sources there are for replacement parts. I've learned a lot over the past 20 years about old Fords and Mercurys from the 1960s, so that makes some of the work on my 1963 Mercury Comet station wagon a little easier.

I know, for example, that you cannot assume that a replacement gas tank for a sedan will fit a wagon. Usually it won't, and that is the case for this car. Luckily, you can now buy a replacement gas tank for a Comet or Ford Falcon wagon, and the same tank also will fit a Falcon Ranchero, the car/pickup truck combo. The only problem is, you can only get this replacement tank from one guy who sells on that auction site. About a month ago I finally pulled the trigger and bought a tank because I was pretty certain the tank on the Comet is original and is rusty on the inside. Rust, unfortunately, does not improve the performance of an engine.

Anyway, the tank didn't show up, and it turns out UPS lost it. And, it was the last one the seller had from his current stock. And, the manufacturer has been slow to fill his restock order. So I'm patiently, I mean REALLY patiently, waiting.

Today I figured I should go ahead and remove the old tank and see what I had. If a hard-to-find gas tank is not completely rusted through, you can sometimes find a radiator repair shop that will clean your tank and reline the inside and make it like new. The price is comparable to what I'm paying for my ghost tank, which is about twice what a replacement sedan tank costs.

Anyway, I've pulled gas tanks from several old Cougars and from my old 1969 Colony Park wagon, so I was familiar with what to do, what not to do, how to do it safely, and what to expect. The Comet tank came out very easily, and just as I figured, the inside had some old gas and a hearty portion of crunchy rust particles. I think it is restoreable if I never see my replacement tank that I am PATIENTLY waiting for.

I won't bore you with all the steps in getting the tank out, but here are a few photos.

The tank is held in place by two of these thin metal straps, and two J-shaped bolts connect the straps to the frame under the car. I will use a wire brush attachment on my power drill to knock off all the surface rust on these straps then paint them before installing the new tank.

I'll wire brush this J-bolt and paint it so it won't rust again.

The tank already removed - doesn't look too bad from this angle. The outside has some surface rust but I don't see any holes in it. Inside, however, there's rust clinging to the tank and a lot of crunchy pieces floating around. The small amount of old gas will be taken to the county dump where you can drop off old fuel to be disposed of properly.

End of sending unit has a metal prong that connects to a wire which sends an electric signal to the dash fuel gauge. This also is where a rubber fuel hose connects the metal fuel line between the tank in back and the mechanical fuel pump that's attached to the engine and pumps the fuel into the carburetor.

This sending unit shows that rust was pretty pervasive inside the tank. That thing that looks like a small bag looks to me like it was rigged as a replacement. There should be something more like an aluminum or brass cylinder in its place. That cylinder piece floats in the fuel and moves as the amount of fuel in the tank goes down.

As far as I know, these sending units are unique to the Ranchero and Falcon and Comet wagon, and I don't think they are reproduced, so I will have to send it off to have it rebulit. The antique car hobby is big enough that there are small businesses that specialize in doing things like rebuilding fuel sending units from various makes of old cars. So for maybe $75 to $100 I can get this back in functioning, almost like new condition.

That's the end of our gas tank removal lesson. Now I will return to WAITING PATIENTLY for the new tank. Once I get that thing installed in the car (fingers crossed) I think I will be ready to take it on some test drives.

Finally found a vintage TV, actually two! I Predicta you're going to like these

2011-06-11T17:31:00.000-04:00

So I've been wanting to find a reasonably-priced vintage TV set for the house, preferably one that works. I have this idea of setting it up to play old black and white TV shows (3 Stooges, Leave It To Beaver, stuff like that). I look a lot. Sometimes I'll find something I like on that auction site, but it's usually 2,700 miles from me and the seller won't ship! I also check the local Craigslist, but you don't see too many vintage TVs on there.

On Memorial Day weekend I spotted a sweet looking Predicta on Craigslist, but it had two problems: one, it was kinda highly priced at $249, and two, it was in Annapolis. That was Memorial Day weekend. NO WAY was I going to try driving toward the beach, I would die of old age trying to get there and back with all the beach traffic.

But seeing that ad prompted me to check ebay, and I spotted some TVs that were in Rockville, MD, just around the beltway and not real far from where I work. I contacted the seller and he said he had a bunch of TVs and old radios he bought from an estate, and he said I could come look at them. I noticed a number of portable TVs in his auctions, and also, a Predicta that had a starting bid of $19.99 with no reserve.

So I took a long lunch on Wednesday to check out the stuff. I had enough cash in my pocket I figured to get something. After looking things over I asked if he would end auctions early if we could agree on a price for something and he said yea, it would save him having to package and ship things. So we cut a deal on these babies:

This one is small and light weight but has great lines and matches the colors of our 1962 Shasta camper - woo hoo!

This beauty is the perfect size and color to use with our 1962 Shasta Airflyte camper.

I plan to take it apart and clean it then find someone who can go through it and make it work.

Don't you love the details that went into the channel selector? Why can't design today be this good?

Even the antenna housing looks cool!

So that's the GE portable.

And this, dear friends, is one awesome Predicta!

I have to do some research on both of these before I even attempt to plug them in. From what I know there are people who know a lot about the Predicta, and one or more who will even restore them. In the meantime, I'm now looking for the right TV stand for the Predicta. Being a fanatic for black wrought iron hairpin legs, I want one of those TV stands that has a swivel base - I think that would be perfect for this set.

So, how will these sets look after they're cleaned up? Don't touch that dial! I'll be back with more on each of them once I make some progress.

Black fiberglass desk chair

2011-06-05T19:11:00.000-04:00

I picked this chair up the other day at my favorite flea market from a guy who always has a lot of vintage things, although usually they're priced higher than I'm willing to pay. Anyway he let me have this for $30 and I figured I couldn't go wrong.

It doesn't have any crack or blemishes on the fiberglass seat, and the hardware was all there except for a couple of washers that were missing where the legs attach to the bottom. The metal legs had the usual wear on the black paint, and the brass feet had long ago lost their brassiness and two of the four feet were missing the plastic tread. No big deal, I've been down this road before and I was pretty sure my favorite local hardware store had some feet that would fit it.

After I got it home it was a simple job of using a socket wrench to remove the nuts that were holding the legs on. I used some steel wool to knock off a tiny bit of rust and rough up the legs just enough to make priming them easier. I needed to know what size feet to look for so I tried a couple of my open-end wrenches until I determined that the 3/4-inch wrench fit snugly on the end of the leg. It took some WD-40 and a pair of vise grip pliers to get the old feet off by twisting them back and forth and pulling a little.

A trip to the hardware got me the new 3/4-inch diameter brass feet I needed ($2.49, a great deal!). Next I primed the legs with some spray primer and after that dried I used some Rustoleum gloss black paint. I have a cable out back for a dog run and it makes a great place to hang things I need to paint. After the paint dried I pushed the new feet on and reassembled the chair.

Looks good doesn't it?

There are two Fezmingos in my house

2011-06-05T18:07:00.000-04:00

I was lucky enough to win one of the very limited number of Fez-wearing flamingos that Amber gave away last month on her blog I HEART EVERYTHING.

And here he is in his new resting place...

I had started this post a while ago and never finished it, so here's a very belated thanks to Amber!

But there's more!

A couple weeks ago I repainted our flamingo plant stand.

So today I stopped at an estate sale, and found....

a fez! It didn't fit me, was kinda small, but it was only $2, so now I have it on the flamingo plant stand, which brings the population of fezmingos at the Uncle Atom crib to TWO.

One more and it's an official collection!

Light up tiki guy gets some new eyes

2011-05-22T18:49:00.002-04:00

Withe the warm weather and a visit from friends this weekend, we got motivated and straightened up the tiki-themed screened porch.

Our flamingo planter got a fresh coat of hot pink paint.

Decorations were hung on the wall with great care (or willy nilly, you decide).

And we spent the day with some very special friends who are family to us.

I also dug out my supply of light bulbs and found some great clear red bulbs for the light up tiki guy. Don't remember him?

It was a good day!

A few recent finds

2011-05-21T18:14:00.000-04:00

Here are a few recent things I picked up:

I had this paper mache toucan that sits on a perch and hangs in our tiki-themed screen porch.

And at my last flea market visit, I found two more.

This last one has the mange - not sure how to preserve it or repair it, but the price was great, and they look good hanging from the ceiling beams.

I also picked up some more masks for the tiki porch wall, including this one.

And this carved head.

I had to feed my wrought iron habit when I spotted this wheeled cart for $9.99 in a Salvation Army store in Parkersburg, WV, last weekend. It cleaned up pretty well, but I plan to prime it and give it another coat of semi gloss black, and lubricate the wheels a bit.

It's a good time of year to pick up vintage Christmas stuff, and when I saw this plastic Santa and reindeer for $8, I bought it. A little more than I wanted to pay, but also lower than I've seen similar pieces elsewhere.

Now that I have a great record player, I'm looking through stacks of records wherever I go. This one turned up in the Goodwill store in Parkersburg, WV, for a buck. I'd love to have the vintage TV and the stand on the album cover. Never heard of this TV program, but it works with my collection of records from old TV shows. I can't imagine a TV show today featuring some guy playing tunes on an organ, can you?!

I've found a few old album covers featuring vintage chairs, so when I saw this, it came home with me too.

These teenagers look like they're having fun. This was probably pre-American Bandstand.

There are several of these Jonah Jones Quartet albums I've picked up recently, and the same two blondes show up on at least three of them.

I'll end with this great Rock Ola juke box I spotted in an antique store in downtown Parkersburg, WV. It's a real beaut, but at $975, it didn't follow me home. I have never seen a cheap jukebox, have you?

Groovin with the new blonde - record player, that is!

2011-05-15T19:15:00.001-04:00

I've got another blonde in my life, and she plays 45s and LPs, even 78s! Luckily, Auntie Atom likes her too.

I've been collecting old LPs for years, focusing on TV-related records and old comedy records, with some old political and sports related records thrown into the collection. Only problem was, I had nothing to play them with! Lately I've been watching the local craigslist for a vintage console stereo, and I've been watching ebay for a smaller tabletop or portable record player. So recently I landed on an auction for this beauty, and I bid aggressively and got it, and I'm glad I did.

It's a Sears Silvertone model 8247, blond walnut cabinet, with a 3-tube amp. Check out that great logo and the flecked fabric on the front. It's in great shape!!!

It's marked HiFi, but it plays only in mono, not stereo. But it will play stereo records.

It's a beauty, and I could not be happier. I just need to buff out some light scuffs on the top and wax the finish. Right now I've got it beside the bar on one of our blonde end tables, because it's just a few inches too big to sit on my record storage rack.

I have some extra hairpin legs laying around, so I may try to build a table for it, or I may try to pick up some tapered spindle legs. Anyway, now we can listen to these records. Woo hoo!

UPDATE on Vintage Mill Finish Aluminum Screen Doors - Monogram Letters Wanted (or, I'd Like to Buy a Vowel Pat)

2011-05-08T18:46:00.002-04:00

I was a little surprised to discover that my most popular blog post focused on vintage mill finish aluminum screen doors. That was last May.

We're up to 1,714 page views and 9 comments on that post. The last several comments have dealt with the vintage monogram letters you could once get for the screen guards that were popularly used to dress up aluminum screen doors back in the old days. I was lucky enough to even have one of the commenters set me up with the R that I was looking for. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to use that R yet.

The screen guard I have on our front door has a decorative twisted piece of aluminum that runs through the middle of the spot where a letter would otherwise mount.

And I don't want to cut the door guard. So a few months later I picked up another door guard with the letter S already in it. The door guard was painted white, and the letter S was painted orange.

I stripped most of the paint off the guard and the S, and installed the R in the "too short" screen guard to see how it would look.

But when I held it up to our front screen door, it was about an inch short of being wide enough to work. At that point I put the project on hold. As with trying to fix old cars, sometimes you just have to walk away for a while. So it is with too short screen guards.

Since then, I've kept an eye on ebay auctions, but I haven't seen any other vintage door guards up for sale.

Anyway, here is where we stand with comments on that original post - Lynol, who kindly gave me the R that I was looking for, told me last year he was looking for an H. In March, Shio asked if anyone has an M to offer up. And this weekend, Anonymous asked if anyone has an L.

And one other commenter a few weeks ago, Brett, said that he had all of the letters and they were for sale. Whoa!!! He left his email address on his comment, and right away I emailed Lynol at the address I had for him to let him know about this opportunity.

While putting this post together, I followed up with Brett to ask if I could post his email address and advertise the availability of those monogram letters. Sadly, he said he scrapped all of those letters! (Prices for scrap metals have been rising, so I kind of understand, and he did try to offer up what he had. The same thing is happening with old cars. Steel prices are high enough to make vintage "parts" cars more valuable by the ton than by the part. That will mean fewer parts for future old car restorers.

So dear followers/commenters, I'm starting to think that just as Pam has a Save the Pink Bathrooms feature page, maybe I need to start a Save the Mill Finish Aluminum Screen Door Guards and Monogram Letters page. (That would be a long URL.)

Anyway, I'm glad this blog post has given people somewhere to network on this screen door letter topic. And I will keep looking for a door guard that will fit my door so I can actually install the letter R.

Feel free to post your needs, or letters you have to offer to someone who needs one, in the comment section below. I'll look into putting together a Screen Door page. And if you have any leads on the history of these screen door guards or information about companies that used to make them, I'd like to hear from you.

Old cars need fixing

2011-05-08T17:08:00.000-04:00

Happy Mothers Day to all you Moms out there.

I've been fooling around with the Comet this weekend, and it's been a bit of a roller coaster, but unfortunately, no ride.

When we last left the Comet, it had gotten a new head and exhaust manifold, and as usual, I had to install that heavy mass of parts three times before I got it right. Except the car would turn over but made a terrible clanking sound. Oh crap. I walked away and pondered what it could be. And pondered. For months since it was winter. Finally figured, if I bent some pushrods I would see by pulling the valve cover. Pulled it and the pushrods lookd fine. OK. Pondered some more.

I have a trickle battery charger on the car to keep the battery charged. Decided once the weather got nice that I would try again to start it. Same clanking/grinding noise. Researched some more, and finally slapped my head - must be the starter! If it was not engaging or disengaging, it would grind and make that kind of noise. A starter is a lot easier to replace than an engine.

The old starter came off in about 10 minutes, lots of room under the hood with this six cylinder engine, and the starter mounts high on this engine, so I didn't even have to crawl under the car. It looked like the starter gears that spin to start the engine had been worn down pretty badly. I may just be on to the solution, I thought.

Picked up the new starter and installed it. At first the key wouldn't turn the car over at all. Grumble grumble. There's a way to leave the key in the ON position and with a thick wire or pair of pliers you can jump the ignition at the solenoid mounted near the battery. And doggone if it didn't start on the first try and ran nicely. Woo hoo! Except there's an ignition problem and I'd rather not have to raise the hood and start the car this way every time. But I thought, maybe I can get that resolved and be driving this baby soon.

So, I'll spare you the rest of the frustrating details, but after several hours of troubleshooting, I no longer can get the starter to engage even from a new solenoid. Argh!!!! More troubleshooting to do, and I HATE messing with a car's wiring system. So, I'll have to do some more research and try to figure this out. I know I'll get it, but there may be a lot more wrench throwing that happens first.

Vintage Medicine Chest Collectibles? Well, How About a First Aid Kit?

2011-05-04T18:58:00.000-04:00

The challenge over at 1950's Atomic Ranch House is a good one. I don't collect vintage cosmetics or medicine chest items although I appreciate these things. Best I can do is offer up this old First Aid Autokit I picked up somewhere for a buck or two.

Here's a handy inventory to tell me what items I should try to find

Slim pickings here - guess I need to add some fresh ones

I wonder what the expiration date should be on an ammonia ampule?

Road Trip Report from Sled Fest at the Old Sled Works, Duncannon, Pa.

2011-05-01T12:44:00.001-04:00

Okay, hearken back with me to, let's see, yesterday, and the Sled Fest.

I already posted about some of my vintage finds at the Old Sled Works Antique and Crafts Mall, so here are some photos from the Sled Fest and from the inside of the mall, which has a great collection of arcade games and a vintage soda fountain. It also has a small exhibit of artifacts from the building's original purpose, manufacturing Lightning Guider sleds.

First, the sleds.

It's great that they retained some of the old signs, including this awesome one.

And check out the wall clock.

This diorama depicts the starting point for wood used in building the sleds. The diorama itself looks vintage.

Sleds had names, and they were printed on the wood during the construction process. Here's the huge old printing press.

And they have some examples of sleds from different decades on display, natch.

This rare one really caught my eye. Wouldn't you want your kid to barrel down a slippery slope of snow on the Master Bomber? Made in 1936 at the height of the Depression.

I love looking at these old sleds, but like pedal cars, I resist the urge to start collecting them. You need a lot of display room to do them justice.

So, once you've enjoyed looking at the Master Bomber, just work your way through the crafts portion of the mall and keep going until you find...an awesome arcade, where you can practice your aptitude for growing up to be an...

I have never seen one of these anywhere else, but then, I don't know of any other vintage arcade collections other than in private hands, or in Amber's garage!

Here are some more shots from the arcade:

Skee Ball

This is one of the coolest looking games, check out those spindle legs! It's a basketball game.

They even had one of those newfangled high-tech Pong games

Beyond the arcade games you'll find the soda fountain with some old diner booths and more eye candy, like this jukebox, and not one, but a bunch of original Predicta Television sets! Oh, and inside the front entrance, more mid century TV sets, and they're usually running old Three Stooges shows. Unbelievable.

They had the soda fountain closed when I was there for a professional photo shoot with a pinup girl.

There were quite a few ladies in pinup or vintage attire, I didn't get pics of them, sorry, but I did get a few car photos.

That pretty much wraps up my photos inside and out during Sled Fest. One of the highlights for me was meeting Mod Betty and Retroroadhusband. She is planning to do a blog post on the Old Sled Works, so if you're interested, keep an eye on Retroroadmap.com for Mod Betty's coverage.

Road Trip Report from the Old Sled Works, Duncannon, Pa.

2011-04-30T19:39:00.002-04:00

This large sign in the shape a sled leans against the Old Sled Works Antique Mall, a remnant from when the town could take pride in producing the Lightning Guider sled for decades.

I made the drive north through Maryland to south central Pennsylvania this morning to attend Sled Fest, a two-day celebration of the Old Sled Works antique mall's 20th anniversary in business. I shot more than 100 photos today, but I'll try to pare those down to a manageable number. This post will cover what I bought, and I'll follow with a post to show a little more about the Sled Fest.

I've been to Sled Works many times in the past, in fact, it's where I bought some of my first mid century collectibles, including some wrought iron and brass items I still have. I have never left there without some kind of a great find at a good price, and today was no exception.

I made the drive early, left home at 6 a.m. and was sitting in front of the antique mall at 8:05 a.m., earlier than I expected. Luckily there were some flea market vendors setting up outside so I did a little pre-shopping shopping. Bought a baggie full of post cards for a buck, and got two more tiki masks for our screened porch wall for $5 each,

And I also picked up this 50-cent cookbook...

and got this Presto percolator coffee maker along with a few old paper/ephemera items I'll cover in a different blog post. I plan to give the drip coffeemaker a rest and perk some joe in the morning with this baby.

So when I finally made it inside the building, I did a sweep through all the booths and found a few LPs for a buck each, including this Pajama Game with some cool cover art,

some paper collectibles such as this 1963 Girl Scouts calendar for $3.75 (I'll probably hang it in the camper),

and a decent deal on about a dozen miscellaneous Viewmaster 3D reels, including this Tom Corbett Space Cadet set.

Here's a rundown of the other stuff I picked up inside the mall:

$4 for this melamine server plate

$4 also for this bamboo Hawaii souvenir tray - I don't think it's real old, but it looks good anyway and we can use it in our bar

an aluminum sugar container for $2

On my second pass through, I spotted this small bookshelf - with the discount it was only $18.75 - score!

I have to find a home for this bookshelf, right now it's in the dining room, but it will probably move to either the hallway or basement. I love the look of this thing, but it really is pretty small, only about 24 inches tall. Maybe I'll put some of my Whitman TV books on it.

And to wrap up this post, when I saw it I knew I had to grab this brass-framed, 3D, light up version of the Last Supper! Once I polish the frame it will hang next to the similarly framed fat Elvis I picked up last summer.

At the rate I'm going, I have the makings of quite a low brow art gallery, with the paint by numbers paintings and these lighted brass-framed babies. I think the gallery will probably have to be in the man cave, i.e., the unfinished basement - She Who Must Be Obeyed does have her limits.

I'll be back with more photos from the Sled Fest, and some bonus pics and a couple more scores from another antique mall I hit on the way home.

Bar stools? Yea, we've got bar stools

2011-04-28T17:59:00.000-04:00

I'm off work today and Friday. Today I was a good boy - I built a small footbridge out back to go over the small dry stream that more often than not this spring has been a wet stream. (Yes, that's a yard full of clover instead of grass. I still have to mow it. As I've said before, the big backyard is a long term work in progress. At least now we have this fine footbridge!)

I still need to dig down and level it on top of the cement blocks in the photo, and then stain the treated wood. I used some pretty weathered 2x4s for the top so they need some stain.

Anyway, I was planning to make my annual pilgrimage to the Spring Carlisle (Pa.) old car flea market and car corral. I usually go with one or more of my car club friends, but this year the weather and various family obligations made it impossible for any of us to get there on the same day. My plan was to go Friday by myself, but here's what happened:

First, I filled up the car with gas - $65 ! When you add up the round trip miles, and consider the entrance fee ($10) and the fact that I would not be hanging with my buds, I started to have second thoughts.

Next I went to the ATM to get cash for the trip. No problem there, and it's right next door to a Thrift Shop I sometimes go to but almost never find anything. So I dropped in.

And found this stuff!

Turquoise iron - $6. Sold. Now SWMBO will be able to iron while we're camping.

Not something I would ever do, but she would. And that's OK. Really.

Our Shasta, a 1962 model, was originally equipped with this pull out accessory in the kitchen, which can double as a light cutting board and a small ironing board.

Next item - another small electric fan.

Did I need another fan? No. This is number five or six in the collection. But it was only $5, and it runs very quietly - how could I pass it up?

And lastly my best score. These three bar stools - $36 for the set!

I really like the red, white, and black vinyl combination. No nicks, cuts, or significant wear. They swivel, and they have backs. The red, black, and white scheme goes pretty well with the bar, don't you think? Now I'm thinking I may come up with some kind of playing card theme for the bar area. I may end up relocating the lunchbox shelf. I'll have to think about that.

So scoring this stuff for about $50 made me decide to skip Carlisle on Friday. I'm not looking for any car parts for the cars I have.

However, there is this big shindig at one of my favorite antique malls in Pennsylvania on Saturday. The Old Sled Works is celebrating their 20th anniversary in business as an antique mall. For year it was a factory making the old metal runner wooden sleds, and there is still some memorabilia on display, but there's a lot more too, including a great collection of pinball machines and old arcade games, and an old fashioned soda fountain.

So I thinking I'll use that tank of gas to drive up to Duncannon, Pa. At least I won't have to pay a $10 entry fee. And I usually score at least a couple of good deals at the Sled Factory. We'll see what happens. Stay tuned.

A few recent pickups

2011-04-26T19:52:00.000-04:00

Here's the latest stuff that's followed the Uncle home:

Thrift store paint-by-numbers, these are big, about 18 x 24 inches. Both from the same thrift store about 2 months apart. I think I paid 3.99 each. One more and I'll have a collection! I snuck these into the house and have them stashed in the man cave because I know my limits - I'll probably never be allowed to hang them on the wall in any of the living areas. That's OK. Some day when I build my garage, I'll have a top notch gallery.

Big orange ash tray - cool styling. I'll never let anyone use it for it's original purpose, but I do like the occasional ashtray just to look at.

Grabbed this Penn State Nittany Lion mascot statuette at 75 % off the starting price. It reminds me of my hometown and alma mater - now if it was about 6 feet long, it would look great in a corner of our back yard.

These next few items are accessories for the Shasta camper:

Small aluminum pot that's also an egg poacher - $2.99

Kitchen drawer organizer - 50 cents

Water jug - picked it up for a good deal on etsy.com the other day. Goes pretty well with the old coolers, don't you think?

Giveaway over at I HEART EVERYTHING blog, check it out!

2011-04-18T20:42:00.000-04:00

I always enjoy Amber's blog posts, and she's having a Giveaway Bonanza, and you could be a winner. Just get over to I HEART EVERYTHING and leave a comment. And while you're there, check out all her other posts - she's got an arcade in her garage!!! And she hauls fireplaces in her vintage station wagon. And she's very creative and crafty. Take those fezmingos in the photo - her creation. Stop on over there now and tell her Uncle Atom sent ya!

P.S. I'm planning to do a giveaway too, but I'm still formulating the details. Stay tuned...