Well... I suppose it was inevitable

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The hobby shop on Hurlburt Field almost closed last year. I hate to say from poor management but its true. That guy must know people in high places. I don't like him on a professional or personal level. People fought to keep it open but fees have now skyrocketed to justify its existance. $9 an hour for a lift. Facility is poor and has not improved in the 7 years I've been here. Tools suck, paint booth sucks. They don't even have paper towels or toilet paper in the bathrooms to thwart people from washing their hands in the sink! I was actually told that by them. Heaven forbid they would need to clean a sink. Dirty rags, dirty mop buckets that make the floor dirtier than before you started. Lets people do body work in paint booth, Paint booth filters have not been changed in years. Derelict cars and boats that have not moved in years. Its just terrible.

I'm probably the biggest advocate for keeping a hobby shop open, but this one has been run into the ground.

 
How did we not turn a profit to pay a single naf employee ?
Click to expand...
It gets worse: Chuck was billed to the Recreation Camp, as a 'gift' from the Rec Camp Manager. So, no salary coming from the AHS for Chuck.

Let's review:

  • No NAF Employee salary
  • Two motivated and qualified volunteers to run the shop (no salaries)
  • Other volunteers coming in to help when they can, doing whatever needs to be done
  • Full stalls each day can only max out earnings at $658
  • Shop was averaging 80% full when open both days ($450-500)
  • More income from other services, too (A/C service, diagnostics, nitrogen, mounting and balancing tires, et al)
  • Customers paid at the Arts & Crafts Center (who were supposed to split out AHS monies)


Add it all up and you get: the Arts & Crafts Center looks great on paper, and the AHS isn't making a dime.

A good friend of mine who did a stint at the Mission Support Group Deputy Commander, told me this has been in the works for a few years. The last time the 'we're going to close the AHS' scare came around, Col Damiano (the former Wing Commander, and a stereotypical balding-little-short-guy-Porsche-driving-elitist-douche-bag) actually made the comment, "To Hell with the Auto Hobby Shop. I don't change my own oil... why would anybody else want to?" Funny how he never had any problem coming to the shop when he needed to top off the nitrogen in his tires (for free... he's the boss after all), or keep putting air in the one on his wife's Jeep that he never could seem to get fixed. Asshole...

My friend also mentioned that the Arts & Crafts Center will most likely be getting the axe at the end of the fiscal year as well, since they're pretty much on the ropes themselves.

At least I have a solution for my immediate problem: I'm taking tomorrow off to clean the garage and get the Jeep in a storage unit (temporarily, of course) to make room to work on the Mustang. The Flight Chief agreed to let us into the shop this weekend to work on getting our cars out (and parts, and other personal property). The only things I absolutely need the lift for are: adjust the front suspension, bleed the brakes (once and for all), swap the steel rims/white walls on (for pictures with my new sport covers), re-hang the rear exhaust pipes to line up with the cut-outs in the rear valance, and run the speedometer cable. Other than that, I should be able to finish up everything else at home in the garage. Hopefully, I'll be able to get the car home and tucked in either Sunday or Monday afternoon. If I have time, I'll help Jim with his Galaxie and figure out what to do with the parts cars that auron73mach1 and I went in on together. They're both pretty much immobile, so it'll be a challenge. Hopefully, we'll be able to work on those next weekend (if we're permitted). If not - I don't know what to do, except start harvesting the 'good' parts and tell them to simply dispose of them on their own. Hopefully, the Flight Chief will understand that he's deployed and work with us for some more time to get them taken care of.

 
Man Eric, that sucks big time. %$@ number crunchers, we've let the accountants and lawyers run this country (no offense to actual accountants and lawyers, I am friends of several). Unbelievable.

 
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Over my 20 years in the Army I have seen the Auto Craft Shops continue to go down hill. I barely even bother to do any work there anymore. Got tired of them never having the right tools, tools were broken and never got replaced. Nothing pisses me off more than paying 10-15 + tool box fees an hour for a lift bay and can't get simple working tools like a spring compressor that won't possibly kill you. I can say that every post I have been assigned at has been the same way. Unfortunately many people who are making the decissions are part of the good old boy system and didn't get where they are by being over achievers. That and to many of the employee's are not to bright(byproduct of not paying squat). With little respect for people's property at all.

A few years ago I built and installed the 4 Link Suspension under my 03 Harley F150 completely in my garage at home instead of using the Auto Craft Shop here at Fort Lee. Had no interest in returning after they kind enough to tear up a nice set of wheels I had installing new tires because customers aren't allowed to run the tire machine.

 
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Sound like crap to me Eric! On the bright side you knew this was coming and you beat the clock.:cool: The closing would have really sucked a year or 2 ago when you where in the middle your reconstruction. I'm not trying to take away the fact of the closing of the hobby shop SUCKS. I'm just saying that in the back of your mind you new this was coming and you took full advantage of the shop to get you car done.Congrats.

 
Yeah... no kidding. Since the last 'closing scare,' I've been planning out each major project I had to do based on complexity and how bad I really needed the lifts, welder, 'blaster, and other tools at the shop. When we were asked to run the shop, I figured we would pretty much have enough time to finish both of our cars - Jim's still working on his '63 1/2 Galaxie 500 XL... except that lately, he's been taking more stuff apart, rather than getting back together... so he's kind of screwed right now.

Fortunately, I've gotten to the point I no longer actually 'need' the shop to finish it, so project-wise, I'm actually in pretty good shape. It would've been nice to finish it up at the shop - it's been a great conversation piece for all the gear heads when they come in, and everybody's been anxious to see my progress and watch it come together. It's made a pretty damn good PR symbol for the shop as well, since most of the people I talk to that were leery of doing their own stuff, seem to relax and gain a little confidence seeing what can be done and know that I'm standing right there looking over their shoulders when they start doing something they've never done before.

There's more being lost than just a cool, fun place to work on our cars. I believe morale is going to suffer somewhat for many people, as well as their finances, because I know a lot of people who've saved a ton of money coming to the shop, rather than pay the ridiculously expensive mechanic bills downtown.

For instance, I had a guy bring in a really nice '05 Bonneville GT last weekend... but the rear end was making a clunking noise, and the car was all over the place. The Chevy stealership wanted over $2500 to essentially replace everything associated with the rear wheels (axle, control arms, bushings, brakes, shocks, et al). He didn't know who else in town to go to (he's a student and was getting ready to leave), so he came to the shop, we talked about his problems, and put the car up in the air to look it all over. The seals on his air-ride shocks had given up and were leaking... that's it. Everything else was awesome. I didn't charge him for the 5 minutes it took to look everything over, and he came back the next morning with a new set of shocks (I think he paid $120 for the set). We knocked it out in about an hour, and he was back on the road - good as new. So, I'd say a drastic savings was had there. That's the kind of stuff that really kept me motivated - it feels good helping our troops not get screwed by the local mechanics who are either too greedy, unskilled hacks, or both. I've been through all of that before (gotten burned by every hack in town I've ever taken my stuff to), which is why I took to doing everything myself and using the shop as much as possible.

Sorry to keep rambling... I just have some really strong feelings about all of this.

 
Over my 20 years in the Army I have seen the Auto Craft Shops continue to go down hill. I barely even bother to do any work there anymore. Got tired of them never having the right tools, tools were broken and never got replaced. Nothing pisses me off more than paying 10-15 + tool box fees an hour for a lift bay and can't get simple working tools like a spring compressor that won't possibly kill you. I can say that every post I have been assigned at has been the same way. Unfortunately many people who are making the decissions are part of the good old boy system and didn't get where they are by being over achievers. That and to many of the employee's are not to bright(byproduct of not paying squat). With little respect for people's property at all.

A few years ago I built and installed the 4 Link Suspension under my 03 Harley F150 completely in my garage at home instead of using the Auto Craft Shop here at Fort Lee. Had no interest in returning after they kind enough to tear up a nice set of wheels I had installing new tires because customers aren't allowed to run the tire machine.
Click to expand...
I wasn't very impressed with the Auto Hobby Shop at Ft. Lee, either, but I was able to save $350 replacing the clutch in my truck. The shops at Ft. Bragg and Ft. Detrick were pretty nice, though. Now that I'm retired and the closest base is about 30-40 min away, I don't really use the NSA Mid-South auto shop. When I decided to rebuild my truck in my garage, I did it in my two car garage. Complete frame off resto-mod. Boxed the frame, custom 4-bar coilover rear suspension, built a 408W Stroker, etc. When I was a young soldier, I really appreciated the Auto Craft shops on post. They saved me a ton of money, and taught me a lot of stuff, too.

Sad to see them decline.

 
How did we not turn a profit to pay a single naf employee ?
Click to expand...
It gets worse: Chuck was billed to the Recreation Camp, as a 'gift' from the Rec Camp Manager. So, no salary coming from the AHS for Chuck.

Let's review:

  • No NAF Employee salary
  • Two motivated and qualified volunteers to run the shop (no salaries)
  • Other volunteers coming in to help when they can, doing whatever needs to be done
  • Full stalls each day can only max out earnings at $658
  • Shop was averaging 80% full when open both days ($450-500)
  • More income from other services, too (A/C service, diagnostics, nitrogen, mounting and balancing tires, et al)
  • Customers paid at the Arts & Crafts Center (who were supposed to split out AHS monies)


Add it all up and you get: the Arts & Crafts Center looks great on paper, and the AHS isn't making a dime.

A good friend of mine who did a stint at the Mission Support Group Deputy Commander, told me this has been in the works for a few years. The last time the 'we're going to close the AHS' scare came around, Col Damiano (the former Wing Commander, and a stereotypical balding-little-short-guy-Porsche-driving-elitist-douche-bag) actually made the comment, "To Hell with the Auto Hobby Shop. I don't change my own oil... why would anybody else want to?" Funny how he never had any problem coming to the shop when he needed to top off the nitrogen in his tires (for free... he's the boss after all), or keep putting air in the one on his wife's Jeep that he never could seem to get fixed. Asshole...

I'll help Jim with his Galaxie and figure out what to do with the parts cars that auron73mach1 and I went in on together. They're both pretty much immobile, so it'll be a challenge. Hopefully, we'll be able to work on those next weekend (if we're permitted).
Click to expand...


Funny story about Mrs. D. Every time she came through the gate I would basically sing praise about the ahs. Like how much good it does for the base populous and the latest car in need that I worked on in my free time. Usually right after working since 0430 and she said wanted to keep it going because of all of the hard work us volunteers but into keeping it open. She even went to go look at all of our cars (mine, your's, Jim's, and Gonzo's ) and dragged her hubby along before they left

Good news though I should be home in about 2 weeks all I want to save is the 72 rear axle fuel system and trim parts and the 73 disk brake spindles and any part that welded in place ... maybe the 73 front clip with engine ( shame to see a second clevo slip though my fingers and into the scrap heap or a good front clip with cowl )

 
These are the BLANKety blank blanks that started all this B.S. They were the first ones to make each MWR entity fund itself. We lost tons of amenities for troops and dependents under them. Clinton, and Osama just finishing the deal. Remember rec centers, wood shops, ceramic shops, youth centers to name a few. Instead of MWR burger joints that employed dependents, you get Mcdonald's and Pizza hut that pay MWR fund. I knew a manager at one and they would actively discriminate against dependents. He said they didn't need jobs, their dad's make too much money from the military. Really? I used to work for free here for years. They combined several times and closed all but one. The only reason it stays afloat, is because the NEX actually rents it from MWR. Needless to say it's all hosed up. Haven't gone forever except fro using the sandblast cabinet. Costs 4 times as much as it did. Oh don't worry guys Congress is trying to make the commissaries go away too. they say there is no need for them, even most places overseas. I would love those clowns to be on a military or retired budget for a few years. See bitch then.

 
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Funny story about Mrs. D. Every time she came through the gate I would basically sing praise about the ahs. Like how much good it does for the base populous and the latest car in need that I worked on in my free time. Usually right after working since 0430 and she said wanted to keep it going because of all of the hard work us volunteers but into keeping it open. She even went to go look at all of our cars (mine, your's, Jim's, and Gonzo's ) and dragged her hubby along before they left

Good news though I should be home in about 2 weeks all I want to save is the 72 rear axle fuel system and trim parts and the 73 disk brake spindles and any part that welded in place ... maybe the 73 front clip with engine ( shame to see a second clevo slip though my fingers and into the scrap heap or a good front clip with cowl )
Click to expand...
Mrs. D was obviously a cheerleader in high school and/or college. ;)

Shouldn't be a problem to get into the shop on a weekend. Here's some irony: They changed the keys (locked us out) and we need to be escorted by a NAF employee while we're there. But they've made a drug deal to transfer the majority of the heavy equipment to the Transportation Squadron Vehicle Maintenance Shop. Jim happens to work at Trans, and guess who is the liaison to make the drug deal run smoothly?

How freaken ridiculous is that (after the way we've treated like criminals by the leadership)?

Shouldn't be a problem getting what you need. Personally, I'd keep the clip from the '72 (it's nicer than the '73)... but it's all up to you.

All I'm still really after is the rear glass and door glass from the '72, and any of the dashboard switch bezels (if they're better than mine). I think it would be a good idea to harvest the door hinges (from both) to see if Mustang Steve needs some cores for hinge conversions. Whatever you think can be sold, is all up to you - I pretty much already got my money back out of the deal. :)

 
Eric -

I've been following this thread and couldn't really start to post anything without automatically typing four letter words before I could get my thoughts together. I am really pissed off about the Auto Hobby Shop mess.

When I was stationed at the Naval Regional Medical Center in San Diego about 100 years ago, I had an unmolested '74 Nova (easy, guys, I was a kid back then and didn't know any better) that I wanted to hop up, so I took it to the AHS at the Naval Station on 32nd Street. It's hard to remember exactly, but there was an old dude there that helped me install headers and a glass packs, and put bigger jets into the Quadrajet carb. It turned the Nova into the fastest car in my county back in Montana.

But more important than that was the camaraderie that I learned at a place away from the stress of the hospital. Sadly, many of the big wigs in command don't understand the value that the AHS and similar MWR facilities have.

/rant/

 
Thanks Doc. I know there's been lots of drama over the years when I've relayed the things going on with our shop... and for the most part, it's been just that: drama. But now that it's officially closed, I'm having a rough time keeping everything straight. There are a LOT of mixed feelings churning inside of me right now, ranging from being distraught to disgruntled.

You nailed it with one word: camaraderie. My time at the shop was not only beneficial to my project, but to my very being in the way of all the friends I've made and interracted with each time it was open. It was literally a social club, with the added benefit of getting to work on your car(s) and save money at the same time. If you're a 'car guy,' it was one of the best things ever - the almost-ultimate man-cave (throw in a big screen and a beer fridge...). But if you're someone who just doesn't care for such things - sure, it's probably more of a PITA than it needed to be... and you're probably the guy that lost a lot of lunch money to the cool kids in shop class. ;) (nails our former Wing Commander to a Tee) rofl

Oh well... one door closes, and another opens... or something deep like that.

 
Eric, yep, the new door is open. So that simply means the AHS will be re-located to your garage (no rofl here. I expect that to be a reality sometime soon, and with Jordan finally ending his hiatus, I think that will be pretty cool). The Jeep has a new bedroom for now, so the Mustang can stretch out close to the beer fridge and tools. I'll swing by once everything is in place. :p

 
You have no idea how close you are to that truth. I already have some of the old signage from the shop:

  • Clean-Up begins 30 minutes prior to closing
  • Hours of Operation: W-F 1000-1800 Sat 1000-1700 Sun 1200-1900
  • Do Not Block - sign-in with Staff prior to pulling into stall
  • Lifts to be run by Staff Only


Also, have some cool 'shop-like' signs coming home with me as well:

  • Marvel Mystery Oil
  • Sinclair Oil (round w/dinosaur)


I also have dibs on the 'old shop side' radio (Larry left it there years ago when it closed for renovations, and I claimed it the last time the threat of being closed came about).

 

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