The shop at the Proctor house was definitely a place that the boys hung out and learned a lot from their dad. There have been hundreds of different projects built inside this shop and I would have to guess that most of them were for other people. I really admire the service that Eddie freely gives to others and his willingness to share his talents. He is amazing with his metal working skills and his abilities to solve mechanical problems. Dallen and I both admire him for what he does, and are grateful for this shop and the memories and lessons it has built.
Not everything can be recorded of what has happened here, but we would like to share a few of our favorite memories of the shop.
The following are a few memories that Dallen has of the shop:
"When the sprinkling system at our house was installed, there ended up being a short in the box which was mounted on the side of the shop. Every time you would grab the door handle to walk into the shop it would shock you. It was pretty funny trying to figure out why you were being shocked."
"Another funny story, between the big door and the little door (you wouldn't really notice), but it's been hit by a car. Chuck Sheldon, an old neighbor, hit a deer and my dad promised to help him pull out some of the dents in his car. When my dad was backing him in the driveway and into the garage, Chuck decided to take his own route and hit the garage. Let's just say that dad wasn't very happy. Not only did he have to fix Chuck's car, but his garage as well."
The big garage door on the front came from the old conoco on main street.
When I was younger and it was too cold outside to throw baseballs, my dad would tie rags in knots and let me throw them at the big door where he spray painted a target.
Shooting mice with the BB gun was an adventure
Let's just say that there isn't really a Proctor lane in Nephi :)
This is the wind vein that Eddie built while Dallen was on his mission
Here are some of the cars that have been built/restored in this shop:
-1930 Plymouth Coupe
-1972 Buick Skylark
-1966 Lemans
-1983 Firebird Formula
-Candis' Cabriolet (from being hit sideways by a deer running into her haha)
-Candis' yellow car that had an awesome horn
-Derby Cars:
*Ford Grand Marquis
*Ford Country Squire
*Ford LTD
*Delta 88
*Mercury Montego
*Chrysler New Yorker
*1966 Dodge Monaco
*Cow Car
*Tornado
*Plymouth Fury 3
*3 Torino's
*1974 Cadillac
*Dodge Dart
*Two others by Briar
*And more that aren't mentioned
This ladder below reminds me of a time when I was helping dad build the garage and he had me carry the welder up the ladder. When I got to the top I somehow lost my footing and I fell backwards (dropping everything on the way down) and landed on my head. I saw stars for a little while but nothing too bad happened. This was another day that my dad quit working out on the shop because he was scared.
The garage has always been a place where we love to collect signs
Packing up the garage actually went pretty smooth with all of the help we had that day. Although it was a lot of work, Ed and Christine are glad to have it behind them.
See the big green lathe with the wood leaning against it?(below) ... That machine about killed Dallen. When they first got the lathe they cleared a spot in the garage to put it (where it is still sitting). Getting it to that spot however, was much easier said than done. They had to pick up one end of the lathe where they placed a pipe underneath and then rolled the lathe on the pipe to move it around. When they finally got the lathe to where it now sits, they had to remove the pipe from underneath it. When they were picking it up with the bottle-jack it was Dallen's job to remove the pipe. As the lathe got higher in the air, it started tipping over. Dallen was underneath it and could sense it falling. He scrambled out from underneath it just in time as it came crashing down. When the lathe hit the floor, Eddie was scared that Dallen was still underneath it. When this 3 ton machine fell, it punched holes into the concrete flooring! The fall scared Eddie so much that he left the lathe on the floor for the rest of the week and didn't return to the shop.
{Porter was a big helper while moving out the shop!}
Handprints from when the foundation was poured
(including a handprint from the house porch)
The trusses above Dallen's head have had supports added to them....
In the winter of 2010 it snowed a lot! Right on the south side of the garage there was a tree that shaded the roof of the garage and kept it from seeing any sunlight. The snow would slowly melt during the day and then freeze over at night. Throughout many snow storms the ice built up quickly. Eventually there was about 2 feet of ice covered in about a foot of snow on top of the garage where the shaded area was. While Dallen, Briar, and Eddie were working in the shop one day, they heard some popping noises. It was the trusses buckling and losing their strength from all the weight on top. Eddie ran to the hardware store and bought some 2x4's to support the trusses. Dallen, Briar, and Eddie climbed up onto the roof with brooms and a shovel and pushed all of the snow off. Later that month, Eddie went back on top of the roof and welded the support beams back into the trusses.
As you can see, a lot of the machinery was really heavy!
We're grateful that Clint and Camille were able to come down and help with the move! They did so much to help move out the shop!
One time Eddie told Dallen that speedway magazine was coming to take picture of his car. Dallen wanted to surprise him and so he spent a lot of time cleaning out the shop in preparation for the photo shoot. The place was spotless! The floors were swept, tools were put away, and everything was in it's place. When Eddie got home from work he was really surprised and shocked. He then told Dallen that he was just teasing about the photo shoot. The next day dad wanted to work out in the shop so he built a fire to heat it up. Spencer had a junior jazz basketball game that morning so my dad built the fire and left so the garage would be nice and warm when he got back. My mom came running down to the old gym to tell my dad that the garage was on fire! My dad came rushing home to find smoke. He tested out all the windows to see if they were hot only to find out that they were still cold. He opened all the garage doors and let the heavy black smoke roll out to investigate the problem. He was able to find that the stacks on the stove had fallen. Nothing was on fire, but it covered everything with a thick layer of black soot. It made the garage a complete mess again! To this day the garage ceilings still look like they had once caught on fire.
(Notice the black ceilings above Eddie's head)
...Some pictures of the crew moving out the shop
Dallen and I have had so many memories in this shop together beginning with building picture frames to welding derby cars, and fixing personal cars. Thank you Ed and Christine for all you did to make it possible to have a shop! It has taught Dallen everything he knows and has created a lot of family memories. We look forward to the new shop in Spanish Fork and know that there will be many adventures there just like this one in Nephi
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