1956 XK-140 Front brakes assy

As I was, deeply, when Joe Way retired, and his daughter was unable to keep the shop afloat.

Lost my last brake arcing shop 20 years ago. Same with my old-fashioned generator rebuilding shop.

Seems the repository of craftsmen and -women, are mostly in forums like this.

Since this thread has skewed to another of my favorite topics ā€“ old time repair shops and services ā€“ Iā€™ll give a bit more background on this experience.

For decades the go-to place for brake work in Salt Lake City was Page Brake. About a decade ago they sold their downtown property for big bucks (I assume) and moved to a shiny new facility in an industrial area west of town. But then the recession hit, and they were over leveraged and sold out.

The buyer (after a few intermediate owners) was Fleet Pride, a national truck parts and service firm. They continue to have a few of the old Page Brake guys on hand, and they are extremely helpful to collector car folks like me. The downside is they donā€™t have much of the old equipment still in good working order - for example they said the have a brake shoe arcing machine but distrust it - ā€œcauses ripplesā€.

They do have access to a good relining and arcing facility in Portland OR (strange coincidence?) which they are using on our parts. Not fast or cheap, but still available, thank lucky stars.

Final note: my go-to SLC radiator shop for decades was Intermountain Radiator, who closed in December. At least there is still at least one good shop left - J-Mac in Murray UT. I brought them the radiator from the 1953 Alvis Grey Lady DHC I am freshening and they said they could recore it with an original looking V-cell modern copper/brass unit complete with crank hole!

J-Mac appears to be alive and well ā€“ in fact the owner just bought the best chrome shop in the area, Ogden Chrome, which is now specializing in collector car work. Again, not fast or cheap, but does beautiful work.

Donā€™t know what weā€™re going to do after all these guys shut down ā€¦ .

I donā€™t know either what will replace them, When the last ā€œrealā€ radiator shops closed down here, I talked to an old timer at Gilroy Generator and he said there were some cottage industry tor people who removed the tanks, rodded them out, and replaced the tanks. I left it with him and he dropped it off on the way home, and it was a great job when it came back. He said they existed because of all the tractors , combines and other agricultural machinery here in this area.

Funny, that: since the 30s, up to the early 89s, the go-to generator/alternator shop in Denver wasā€¦

Page Auto Electric!

Old guy, in the wooden-floored basement, could rebuild ANYTHING, reliably and inexpensively.

Gone. :disappointed: