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How a Shell Gas Station Set the Stage for My Life.

8/1/2019

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July/Aug 2019 edition
Issue #6 AutoMobilia Resource Magazine
AutoMotorPlex - written by Bruno Silikowski
DaveAirMeterShellPump.jpg
Finding a 1½ HP engine, led 17-year-old Dave down a path of affixing that engine to things. He then convinced his parents to let him buy a 1957 Chevrolet Convertible, which had to be pushed off of the dealer’s lot. All these endeavors took money, so Dave, the oldest of 5 siblings, started work at a Texaco full service gas station. 
At the time (1960s), a full-service station did everything automotive, from filling gas to changing tires. Dave took 3rd shift that summer. Customer traffic was light during 3rd shift and he was able to work on not only his vehicles, but also his friends. Enter two cars which touched his life twice, once in the late 1960s, the second time 50 years later, and one car still (unbelievably) had his name on it!
With his new-found friends, he was making while working at the Texaco station in Minneapolis, Dave had the opportunity to work on a 1965 Corvette being set up for drag racing. 

Numerous hours and monumental effort were needed to prepare this car to race well. The owner appreciated Dave’s work so much that he painted Dave’s name on the hood. The owner was a decade older than Dave, and after racing for awhile, he put the Corvette into storage, which ultimately ended up with a collector in Wisconsin. 
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Fast forward to 2017, when Dave and his wife Janet attended a car show... low and behold… there was “his” car on display with the original livery they had used when prepping the car for racing, including his name painted on the hood!
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Back to the Texaco station... during the period when the Corvette was being finished before it raced;  Dave was asked by the owner of the car, if he could make the trip to the competition in Indiana. He in turn asked the owner of the Texaco station for time off and was told “no!”  Well, you can imagine how that turned out, especially since Dave had other plans… just starting his engineering college career at the University of Minnesota. 
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Dave had recently traded his 1957 Chevy Convertible for a 1957 two-door hardtop (he had to piece together), and was drag racing with it as well as driving it to and from school.  He quickly realized paying for parking every day was taking a toll on his wallet. He had noticed a Shell full-service gas station just down the road… He quickly applied, was accepted, and again went for 3rd shift evening duties, knowing that he could get a lot of work done on his own car (and his friends) during those hours. 
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Not missing a beat Dave accepted the job with two conditions; that he would be able to park his car at the station while he was at the Univerisity of Minnesota Mechanical Engineering school and that the owner let him take time off to go racing with his friends. Thus, started his strong affection with Shell.  
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Back to 2017…  After 42 years of working in engineering at the TORO Company, Dave and his wife decided it was time for him to retire into the life he had when he was a teen. He began by acquiring and working on his favorite, a 1957 Chevrolet Coupe … a new-found California barn find.  
Garage Life ToroHatPic.jpg
Back to 2017…  After 42 years of working in engineering at the TORO Company, Dave and his wife decided it was time for him to retire into the life he had when he was a teen. He began by acquiring and working on his favorite, a 1957 Chevrolet Coupe … a new-found California barn find.  
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They purchased a 2,400 square-foot garage buildout to be finished at the Medina, Minnesota, AutoMotorPlex, where they knew they would be surrounded by other like-minded automotive enthusiasts. Then for a Christmas gift, Janet bought Dave (from Brinkman’s Auctions) a period-correct Shell gas pump, (from the time he worked at  the station). This beautiful gas pump became the central theme as they decorated their new garage condo
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Knowing their interest in this period of automobilia, AutoMotorPlex members and friends gifted Dave & Janet some original framed Mobil advertisements from 1936, and an early 1920’s car brand calendar showing what each brand/model of that vintage took in terms of oil and parts as well as other great automobilia.
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Janet is a C7 Corvette owner and did the factory pickup to drive it back home to their garage condo. Dave is almost done restoring his 1957 Coupe, the only question is…. what does chapter 2 hold? I’m thinking the vintage racing Corvette with his name on it might be arriving soon!
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Only Gulf Blue, Gulf Orange and Asphalt Gray will be Tolerated!

5/15/2019

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May/June 2019 edition
Issue #5 AutoMobilia Resource Magazine
AutoMotorPlex - written by Herve Gindre - Garage Condo Owner
GarageLifeGulfBlue
On the French Island of Corsica, August 9, 1970... an 11-year-old boy shopping with his dad, hands his dad a motorsport magazine he wants to buy instead of his usual comics…  “Are you sure?” his dad asks in disbelief. “Yes Dad, pleeeaaaase!” 

On the cover was a Gulf blue and orange Porsche 917 charging through the rain during the “24 Hours of Le Mans” with the title Porsche, finally! That was the beginning of how I got hooked on and connected to motorsport and Porsche!
GarageLifeGulfSignCar
The following year was the launch of the not yet iconic movie Le Mans with the unforgettable Steve McQueen. This movie made a great impression on my young mind! Now, as a testimony to that incredible era, it can be watched as an unbelievable project, and technical performance.

Five years later I was backpacking, traveling on a train, going to Le Mans to watch the race, and camp under the pine trees of the Dunlop Esses…. octane, cars, and pine trees! The passion was imbedded in me.
GarageLifeGulfHelmet
In 2010, after 25 years of traveling around the globe, my wife Veronique and I landed in Minneapolis, where we quickly got involved in the early days of the Medina, Minnesota, AutoMotorPlex by purchasing a car condo there. One of my dreams could finally come true; a couple of Porsches in a “Gulf Dream Garage.” A definitive place “all about cars” in which to do some work and meet other people (with their garage condos) sharing the same passion.
PorscheEngineeringDrawingsGarageLife2
My wife and I had very specific ideas about decor. Our contractor ended up at the paint shop with a 1:43 scale model of a Gulf Porsche trying to match colors off their computer.  We had very specific requirements; no colors other than gulf blue and orange, and asphalt grey were tolerated!  By the end of the project, he was teasing us with the fact that having worked with (us) French people, there was now “nothing he couldn’t do!”

Porsche and Steve McQueen posters were obvious selections. Then, while visiting the annual “Porsche LA Lit & Toy Show” in Los Angeles with our friend Bill Groschen, we found a dozen, old, hand-drawn Porsche engineering drawings, displayed on the small table of a retired Porsche engineer. We were not too sure how he procured these… maybe through “the back door”, but they were real, and covered mainly Porsche road and racing cars from 1952 to 1971, before computer and CAD systems took over. 
PorscheEngineeringDrawingsGarageLife
It was particularly mind-blowing that until 1971, these cars were entirely designed by hand, on tracing paper, including the iconic Porsche 917! All of the visitors to our car condo so far have been oblivious to this fact... including the Porsche North America team when they came to visit the Medina AutoMotorPlex!  Our handsomely framed, original, engineering drawings help us tell the true story, to all our guests and friends.

If you’re ever near Medina, Minnesota on a Saturday, stop by and see us. There’s even a regular car show the 2nd Saturday of the month, 9am-noon.  We’ll be glad to show you around our car condo with these wonderful 60-year-old hand-drawn Porsche engineering drawings, and chat about our passion!

Herve Gindre • Owner of a Garage Condo
​AutoMotorPlex.com • Medina, Minnesota

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