Or, Restored
1930’s Auto Shop Author Visits Cary’s Garage
I am
willing to bet that many of the visitors to the Cary’s Corvettes Blog have also
visited the Garage Journal Blog and have witnessed the amazing story and the
hundreds of photos describing how Thomas Payne purchased and beautifully
restored a 1930's Auto Shop in Philo Illinois. Thomas’ thread is more
than four years old, is about 400 pages long, and has been visited more than
three million times including about 8,000 reply posts.
Please
take at least one minute to see the start of the post in December 2009 that
reveals the “before” and “after” photos. Caution: You might get
hooked and want to read the entire blog!
I had
come across this thread from multiple messages sent to me by friends over the
years. The restoration of both the buildings and all the equipment is
legendary among car guys around the country and even the world!
I began
to take a more intimate interest in the thread when my friend and former neighbor,
Wayne Cowie, let me know that my book, “Beltsville Shell: You Are What You
Drive”, was mentioned in the thread (Wayne’s wife, Linda, knew Thomas, a 767
Pilot, through their employment with Continental Airlines). Thomas
describes in his own words how this happened:
Cary,
here's how it all got started with my gang: I was the one who first
posted on my garage thread that I had read a book entitled “Beltsville
Shell: You Are What You Drive” and I thought others who were following my
adventures on the thread would enjoy it as much as I did. Shortly after
that, Mike Oberst posted that he had purchased a copy, read it, and thoroughly
enjoyed it. In fact he suggested that since he was done reading it he would
send it to whomever wanted to read it next and might they sign off inside the
book as he had done. In turn when each person finished reading it, they
should post on the thread it was available to the next reader and so on.
So that's how it got started and I thought it was a swell idea and I
asked to be the first to sign off on the "Traveling" copy and after
that we were off and running. So far it's been to 22 different
destinations from both east and west Canada, and as far south as Texas, east to
Virginia and west to California and Washington State and many places in between
and we're just getting started. It's back in California right now with
New York on the request list, and so it goes, where it stops no one
knows. I'm going to make a Google Map and link it to the shop thread that
will allow readers to put pins of their location on the map who have read it.
That's a new development in the works. Thomas Payne
While I
had no idea that any of this was happening, it finally explains why from
time-to-time we would receive mini-blizzards of book orders from random people
from all around the country. I decide the group should be called “The
Brotherhood of the Traveling Book!”
This
copy of Beltsville Shell made a pilgrimage of sorts last month. Thomas,
and his wife, Chris, were visiting San Diego a few weeks ago to visit with
Wayne and Linda. Thomas wondered if they could come to Cary’s Garage to
meet the author and to get the much-traveled book autographed by me.
Nancy and I instantly said. “Yes!” We invited Don and Shirley Kingery to
join us for an afternoon discovering connections, talk of Corvettes (Thomas
owns a very nice 1966 Stingray roadster), and pilot experiences. Thomas
purchased a few copies of Beltsville Shell from our nearly-depleted inventory.
We even had a visit from a legendary Bonneville Salt Lake racer (but that
story deserves its own blog post – stay tuned).
From left to right: Cary, Linda and Wayne Cowie, Chris and Thomas Payne, Lou Bingham, Don Kingery and Jackie and Tom Eckles
Thomas and Chris Payne in their 1966 Corvette
Yep,
this was one of the best days ever in Cary’s Garage! Thank you Wayne,
Thomas, and all the Garage Journal fans for your support of my little book!
Cary
Thomas, April 2014
