My Cobra Build Site

The driveway is in, and I’m about 1/2 way done with moving the dirt around, which will finish up the outside stuff. I’m really just avoiding insulation and drywall.

The electrical rough in is complete and rough in inspection is done as well.

I got one of my signs (coke) up this morning, and plan on setting the big Washington Chief Gasoline sign tonight, should look great.

Update:

Got the Washington Chief Gasoline sign up. What a great sign, and it’s unique, which adds to my liking.

The guy that sold me the sign (garageart.com) said if you find one of these for real, they can fetch $40K + just for the sign…crazy.

I like it that it also has Montana in it as part of the wording.

You can also see at the bottom of the pic the “ding ding” air line for my Milton Bell. Once the gravel stiffens a bit, I might run it out a little farther, but it’s on concrete for now.

Some more progress, going strong still. We’re about 4 weeks post-pour.

Siding and trim and outside paint is now done. I finished the electrical rough-in over the weekend, and my father in law is doing a little work in the panel today, so we’ll be ready for rough-in inspection after today. The insulation is on site, so as soon as the inspector comes, I’ll insulate and be ready for drywall.

The only thing left outside is to put the finish fixtures on, caulk around the trim, and then do the driveway. My wife is also trying to talk me into color on the front door, still need to do some mockups to decide that one.

I also ordered my signs today (big coke sign and a Washington Chief Gasoline sign for the front).

Pics:

We were in Oregon for a few days, and the shop was busy with out me!

The guys got the roof on, and I’m pleased with how nicely the roofing color matches the roof on the house. They look nice together.

We got home on Thursday night, and after a full day of work on Friday, I spent the entire weekend painting. I hate house painting. ;-> Thanks to the Wagner company, I spent 1/2 of Saturday messing with my 2nd power-pro airless paint gun. I now consider these units as ONE TIME disposable painters. I’ve now had 2 of these, and they just don’t last for more than about 5 gallons of paint, no matter how anal you clean them (which I do.)

I defaulted to my air gun HVLP cheapo sprayer from Harbor Freight that I had laying around, and it did a great job. Learned some lessons about how the paint gets drawn down, adding enough water to get it to spray, etc, but I got the hang of it, and it made relatively quick work of the soffit, which would have been absolute MURDER to paint with a roller and brush.

As you can see, the soffit was left uncovered so the tails of the trusses and framing members of the porch are exposed, complete with roofing nails and all the goodies. Some folks may think this looks crappy, but it’s precisely the look I want. Sticking with the Vintage Service Station theme, I more or less want it to look like the owner/mechanic took a weekend and painted everything. I don’t want it to look too polished. Mission accomplished. It doesn’t necessarily save any work or expense, but it does complete the look.

If the weather cooperates, we’ll be doing siding in the next few days, and I’ll get the electrical rough in started during the evenings and finish that this weekend. Things are progressing quickly, and I’m anxious to get it done.

Pics:

Roofing:

From Roofing

Siding/Paint/Trim:

From Siding and Trim

We had a great opportunity yesterday to spend the afternoon with Mike M and his lovely wife Stacy in Portland. We were on our way to the Oregon Coast (where I am writing this now), and he had invited us to stop by and see his car (his car is the one I’m modeling mine after (the orange, etc.)).

What an awesome day! Mike and his family are great, and we had a great visit. The weather cooperated, and we didn’t get rained on, although i could have used some longer pants. Mike and I took a long drive, and then he let me take the wheel (talk about generosity!) It took me a little while to get used to the slow starts since this car doesn’t like going slow, and I just didn’t want to look like an idiot and kill it before I got it moving.

What a blast to drive! I still haven’t stopped smiling. Mike also let me take Michelle and the girls for separate rides, and they all had a fun time, Kenzie even screamed a little when we got into it a little (note…little, this wasn’t my car!) in 2nd gear.

Anyway, it was a great day, and I’m so thankful for my new friend Mike and his family. I hope to see them again soon!

Pics:

Well, over the last couple of weeks, I’ve really started to realize just how much work getting the shop done is going to be. Even with having Rick (my buddy) do pretty much all of the exterior work (framing to siding), there’s still a huge amount of work inside to be done, from wiring to drywall, tape and texture, painting, finish electrical, and then just the shear task of moving everything out there and getting it organized. Plus, I have to build a bunch of work benches, shelves and cabinets too.

So, it seems the Cobra will be relegated to the backseat so to speak until end of summer, I’d guess. I’ll be posting updates to the shop build here for a while instead, for those folks that might be interested.

So far, we’ve poured the concrete (we did all of this ourselves), the walls are up, and the trusses are set. Rick is doing some of the little detailed things today, including the overhangs, fascia, and building out the front “porch” overhang. If he gets enough done, he and I will start sheathing later today, and it’ll be finished up tomorrow. The goal is to have the roof done this week (shingles and all) as it’s going to be a bit cooler.

Some pics:

Concrete:

Concrete Forms

Concrete Pouring

Concrete Pouring II

Framing:

Framing