This morning at 6:45am I was sitting in front of Vintage Hot Rod & Design in Chico, CA, the shop designated by Tire Rack as an installer.

They had yet to open the front gate although I could hear activity inside.


It's a Fascinating place! As you can see, it's actually Landscaped! And everything is well cared for!

The shop is just as well cared for and just as well arranged.

I could positively lust after this 4-post lift! Look at that Clean Floor! The whole place is like this.


Rather than dinkin' around looking for jack points, they had the Cutest feature on this lift, one I've not seen before.


This is like a Jack within a Jack. It spans the main beams and carries a scissor jack thingy that can be positioned anywhere along the length of the vehicle and is width-adjustable. Then the car can be lifted safely with the aid of rubber pads. You can see they jacked up the front by the spring pans. There was a similar arrangement in the back.


One of the first things I noticed about this place, aside from how Clean and Neat it is, how Quiet it is! This tire machine for example, usually they are positively Deafening! This one was nearly silent. In fact, this is the first tire shop in my experience where you could easily hear another person speak in a normal tone of voice. Even air tools were subdued. There was no CLANG as someone dropped a 30 inch breaker bar on the floor, no loud, obnoxious Talk Radio (all Talk Radio is obnoxious) or Rap "Music." Although some of the Crew had radios in their work stations, they were very polite about it.

And, they didn't shoo me off to a Waiting Room so I couldn't watch either. Although the Owner did fall by and ask if I would like to go in there, which I had done briefly and found it quite interesting, but the Shop was much more fun for me and I told him so. He smiled, nodded and left.

I wandered around and found Lots of goodies. For example, I think this is an antique commercial refrigerator/freezer.

They were locating shelves for it.


Plate says 32 Ford. It's for sale if anyone is interested.


Bins and bins of fittings, nuts and bolts. And still that clean floor.
There was a complete machine shop tucked into a corner, boring bars, line boring machine, milling machine, just about everything one could need/want for automotive fabrication. Most of it showed signs of recent use; within the past month or so.

Tools were put back, no air hoses cluttering up the floors or work areas. Crew knew where special tools were and put them back when finished with them.


One might think these are long term residents. But No! These were being worked on as I watched! This is merely the quality of care taken with customers' vehicles. They all even knew Not to Touch Nix's Paint!! I am SO impressed!

And then there was this Rag Rack.

It had obviously seen better days. I have no idea what the engine is other than HUGE! You can just see the stubbed off exhaust pipes (4 of course) to the left. There was a proper roll cage, nitrous tank, drag chute, lines and pipes running Everywhere, all Custom Fabricated. The tires are down to cord all around. The place is so clean there's no telling how long since this has moved, but this morning, its job was Rag Rack. You can see many other projects back behind and around corners.

Nix drives Way better with 4 new Radials just as I knew she would. I have been told by some who should have known better, that new radials will Not make a car drive any better. I know from my own experience that they in fact do! Today was another case in point.

The Alignment guy was on vacation (I have an appointment for it) so that didn't get done, but the improvement is noticeable. I got stuck in a line of snails on the way back so I couldn't even check out cornering on my favorite S-curve!

Oh Well, that will wait for another day.

Oh. You probably want to know what tires I got her.
Riken Raptor HR. I've had Riken tires before and they served me well. These had the best quiet rating of any they had at the time, no matter the price.
(';')

 

Elinor, the next time you are in their shop, would you ask them to open a store in the Anchorage, Alaska area. I would be their best customer! Very nice write-up.

Dave

 

the kind of shop I would like to see too.

 

Wow, people actually work on cars in a standing position!!! To see this shop and all its tool toys after 25 hours of kneeling, sitting , laying, crouching , sweating and swearing while I refreshed the front brakes this past weekend makes me go green with envy. You sure take excellent care of Nix. It really shows.

How did you come to name your car Nix? Ren

 

That right there is why I went into hock to buy my lift. I would love to snag a couple of those pneumatic scissor jacks for mine. Alas, it's not in the budget (right now at least).

 

Thanks, Fellas,
I neglected to mention, very few air tools are used here actually, hence the lack of air hoses lying about. Lug nuts for example, were removed by a battery powered rattle wrench of considerable constitution with a hefty power unit.

But yes, everything seems to be about waist high. Of course the guys working on the other cars were working over their heads a bit, but that's way better in my opinion than dropping a front suspension on the floor and dragging it out to the bench like I have recently done.

Imagine lowering the front cross member with the likes of a Goliath transmission jack, transferring to a proper work space, and when finished, raising it again to proper position with the same Goliath jack.
It's the stuff of Dreams!

I do take care of my Jag, yes, thank you for noticing. Cleaning, servicing, maintaining, primping her are some of my most Relaxing activities. When my life gets to be more than I want to deal with, I go work on the car. In a pinch Any of them will do, but working on none of the others is so relaxing as working on Nix.

About her name:
Husband spent time in Germany in the military and one of his favorite expressions has been, Mox Nix (phonetically) which he says means, Means Nothing. (As in, Don't worry about it.)

The car is as velvety BLACK as any I've ever seen.
Space is velvety BLACK, space has Nothing.
The car is as velvety BLACK as the Nothing of space.
The name Nix just seemed to fit.
(';')

 

Just gotta see know more about the rag rack !!!! Two magneto's decry dragster Hemi!!!!

 

I'll look more closely next time I'm there, Carl, which will be the 17th for alignment.
Lots more stuff to check out too, as they tell me to do a *Proper* Alignment job, they need a couple hours.
That's what I want! A *Proper* job! Probably be the first time since factory if that one was even Proper.
(';')

 

Those drive on lifts are the ducks guts as we used to say when I was young and dinosaurs roamed. Those accessory tray, wheel lifts, drain pan thingies make them extra good I think. I watch a couple of US workshop Youtube channels (my one remaining Google vice) Vice Grip Garage and Mustie1 and they both installed this type of lift from Wildfire (I think the name is) Mustie also did a video of the install. Pretty amazing , with his you can wheel the whole unit about if needed. They where both very happy campers after getting the lift in, it opened up a lot of possibilities and I guess maybe helps longevity body wise vs grovelling around on the floor, with all the up and down stuff that generates.

 

Aye, I recall Mox Nix very well from my service in Germany, and the guys that came from Korean service brought ichiban! akin to slick...

 

I agree a lift is a thing of my dreams. Getting old is a “lady dog”. I can get down on the floor and get under the car but then getting up on two legs again looks like the seals and sea lions that sun on the beaches around La Jolla. Not pretty.

 

^^^
That's why I keep the best Chiropractor in town on retainer.
In order to be considered half the worth of a man at a job, a woman must be twice as good at it.
Fortunately, most of the time this is not difficult.
(';')

 

Chico!!! My ol' haunting ground. Went to college there. Next time there stop at Sierra Nevada Brewing Co and have lunch in the restaurant. Yummmmmm. Grew up in Paradise. So sad it all went up in flames.

Jeff H

 

Hello, Jeff,
Been there, done that. T'was Excellent.
Small world, eh?
(';')

 

Aye. when i Ias working, I spent a couple of days in Chico and paradise chasing down witnesses. Beautiful country,. Nice people. I was working hard, but enjoyed it a lot.

 

And be paid at 84% !! Complex math...