JB and his first restoration project...

For the last several years JB has been wanting an army jeep for his car.  When I was at the  Shenandoah Valley Antique Show last weekend I stumbled across one....well, kind of... I found this adorable pedal car army jeep probably not 20 years old.  The body is metal but the tires are plastic.  As a joke I sent a picture to JB of the jeep in a text message.  I told him he had never really specified the type of army jeep he wanted.  Within a few hours he was calling me and he had me work a deal with the sellers. 

No matter how well you know JB you still don't know how his mind is turning.  I thought that he was going to clean it up and sell it.  Once I got home and he got to see it first hand you could just see the wheels turning.  He started spitting out he'd like to make the head lights works, a fresh paint job, and her wanted it to represent a M*A*S*H jeep because he's such a big fan. 

On Friday night after he got home from a ball game his restoration project began.  While I was in bed he was up taking everything apart.  When I awoke the next morning I found the car in pieces.  He and his girlfriend spent most of Saturday evening working on his project.

He first managed to wire single Christmas tree lights in each headlight.  He then added a toggle switch and battery for power.  He had to work the toggle switch into the dashboard and a build a holder for the battery under the car. 

Once he successful got the headlights to work now was the paint job. He careful taped over the decals and rubber trim on the car because he wanted to salvage these to use them. Everything else including bottom and inside of the car received several coats on a satin finish army green paint. The grill and front bumper of the car recieved a fresh coat of black paint. Once everything was done JB free hand painted a red cross on the hood of the car for the M*A*S*H effect.



After allowing all of that to dry over night he spent most of this morning putting everything back together.  Within a few hours he had Courtney in it giving it a test run.  I will have to say that I am very proud of his first restoration project.  JB is the type of person that has always taken things apart with no idea of how to get it back together.  By completeing this project I will say he has really shown me that he has grown up and maybe he has a great talent that we are just discovering. 



Common Courtesy…

Please and thank you are probably the things you thought when you read my title. I must agree with you that these are top on my list and I’m very self conscious of always using these two terms. I just have another pet peeve I want to address today.

This past weekend I was at the Shenandoah Antique Show held in Fishersville, VA. This is an extremely packed show with isle ways designed for the mass number of shoppers this show has come through. The isles are not designed for hours of socializing. I’ve observed it before but never in the fashion that I observed it this past weekend. I watched as dealers set up at the show invited friends to come, sit down and converse for what turned out to be over two hours. This is fine if that is what they want to do, what I didn’t appreciate and I feel that as dealers they should know better, I watched as they placed chairs for the four of them to sit down in front of their neighbors booth blocking a six foot table from customers. In addition to this I watched as other friends would stop by to converse and block the isle making it difficult for traffic flow, and also blocking additional dealer’s booths across from them. If you have friends and want to talk to them it is fine but at least think about the other dealers around you. Block your booth not other dealers.

Over the last few years I’ve noticed a lot of people talking or texting on their mobile phones. I can’t count the numerous times people have stopped to reply to a message or have a heated discussion on their phones, blocking my jewelry case while watching others trying to see around them and then getting mad and walking off. I’ve watched people run into other people and actually block the entrance into a booth while they catch up for 15 minutes.

My neighbor across the isle way shared my frustration. She told me of an estate she was liquidating and had 3 men blocking the checkout of her sale. She said she had to tell them as nicely as she could if they were paid to go out and have their reunion on the porch but she was trying to conduct business.

Another friend of mine has always made it very clear to everyone there is plenty of time and space outside of his space to converse but don’t block his tables or entrance. He makes a point to have spaces that he can have some space to speak with others about buying or selling and not block his booth. He makes it very evident that he is there to sell.

I know for a lot of people flea markets, shows, and sales are a form of socializing which is fine. But, please think next time about where you are doing this visiting. Are you blocking a table or an entrance to a booth? Even if you are conversing with the owner of the booth, and it may be hobby, that person still wants to sell they are not there for their health. A lot of people coming through these places want to buy and get just as annoyed as a seller does. Please think of the other around you. Thank you!