Since I first got the Minibago it has seemed to me that the space under the dash, in front of the gear selector, was wasted. It probably seems quite silly to think that when the thing is so big and has so many potential storage opportunities, but, think it I did.
A console seemed to be the answer and, having come up with the idea, I became increasingly restive about trying to make it happen. So I started out taking some measurements and found that there were so many complex curves and so few fixed points that it was an exercise in frustration. My next idea was to make a mock-up one out of cardboard and sticky tape and see if it made sense in concrete terms rather than just in theory. A few hours and the destruction of a cardboard box later I had a rough template of what I was hoping to achieve.
So far so good, but the depressing part about it was that, this was the easy part. Now I had to find some way of making a workable version. If I haven’t told you before I should tell you now that, of all the subjects that I did at school woodwork and metalwork were at the absolute bottom. Despite the patient efforts of the kind and gentle Mr Holmes and the manic angst of Mr McKern, I totally failed to grasp the essentials and, at the end of first years, when it was time to choose electives, WW and MW were not on the list. So, who could I find to turn my design into the finished product?
Down the street from me there is a cabinet maker who makes custom furniture to order. Surely he would the perfect choice. However, when presented with my prototype, he hummed and hahed and rubbed his chin a lot before pronouncing that he wouldn’t do it as there was too much fiddling around involved. “Well,” I asked, “Do you have any ideas about where I could find someone who could do it?” More humming before he suggested that I find some old retired bloke who liked tinkering around with woodwork and who had the time to do it. Thinking to myself that I met two of the three qualifications he had just mentioned but only lacked the third, vital one, I asked if he knew such a person. “You should try the Mens’ Shed, mate, that would be right up their alley.”
It was a small lightbulb moment. Of course I should try the Mens’ Shed, I should have tried them FIRST. A quick perusal of the internet and I found that there was such a beast very close by my home. So the next day I headed off, prototype in hand and made my enquiries. Yes, there were at least two or three people there who could do that job; one of them, Greg, was a retired cabinet maker who, Ron said, would love to get his teeth into a job like that. This was Tuesday and their next work day was Thursday.
I spent all day there yesterday watching and assisting where possible as, between the two of us, and several other men fascinated with the project, we turned some 5 ply into the job you can see above. I am amazed at how much storage space it provides and tickled to death with the outcome.
Not only that, but I have made some new friends and intend to continue attending the Mens’ Shed to see if I can help out with many of the other worthwhile and fun projects that they do.
A win-win situation, I would say.
dunc says
very good job there phil
those men sheds are proof that the oldies know how to still make stuff by hand
no mass production for them
a sign of the times that exp is a dying art with working with your hands
Phil Hall says
And, added to that, it’s fun!