Category Archives: hobby

GBR Mud 4 Blood Drive

Saturday, 03 May 2008 15:02

Written by Lane Bailey

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If you are a blood donor in the Atlanta area… or if you want to be, the GBR 4WD Club is hosting its 5th Annual Mud 4 Blood Drive on May 10th at Bass Pro Shops. M4B has worked its way up to being one of LifeSouth‘s biggest one day drives of the year, and this year will be no exception.

The GBR hosts this event each year in conjunction with almost all of the 4WD clubs in the Atlanta area. In addition to the blood drive, the event features a GIANT raffle. Area restaurants donate food certificates and 4WD vendors donate all sorts of cool products. In 2007, the raffle and donor goodie bags delivered $4000 in prizes and thank you’s. This year’s event looks to eclipse that. Pit Bull Tires is giving away a set of 37″ tires, 4WD Parts/Performance is giving away a winch. Sonic Drive-Ins is giving away 90 hamburgers. And that is just the tip of the iceberg. Here is a fairly complete list.

There is also a silent auction of cool prizes and parts. This year’s silent auction will be benefiting Rescue Tellico. In previous years there has been ferocious bidding for some incredible cheesecakes… Don’t miss those.

Of course, there are kid’s games and plenty to see. New this year is a live band. Serene will be playing throughout the day.

And then there is the truck show. No polishing cloths. Not a wax mitt in sight. These are hardcore trail rigs. Mud and chunks can come off. Some look like a little league team took batting practice on them, others are incredibly stock looking, but with owners that seem oblivious to the damage they could do to their vehicles.

Of course there are sponsor and crowd favorite awards given out, but the ones everyone waits for are the “unique” awards. They happen on the fly, and could be for things like “The Most Interesting Use of a Windshield Wiper Arm.”

So, come out to Bass Pro Shops at Discover Mills in Gwinnett County, On Sugarloaf Parkway at I-85. The event will run from 9:00 to 5:00, and the truck show will be from 10:00 to 3:00. For more information, feel free to visit Mud4Blood.org.

GarageHomesUSA is a sponsor, and I will be on-site all day long. Any of the GBR folks will know where to find me. They will be in blue GBR T-shirts for the event. Stop by, say hello… give some blood.

Sunday, Rally Sunday

Sunday, 27 April 2008 22:48

Written by Lane Bailey

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I just can’t help myself…

This one goes from Monte Carlo to Turkey… the hard way.

And here is another. This is how we do it in the US…

I hope these were fun for you.

Garage wish list

Wednesday, 23 April 2008 22:36

Written by Lane Bailey

4 Comments

As a “Garage Guy” I am asked occasionally by builders and other about what the “perfect garage” might look like… I have a lot of answers, so I will break them down a little. I’d also LOVE to get reactions and input from anyone that has them.

For a two car garage:

Find someone that makes a 17′ wide double door… or better yet an 18′ wide door. 8′ tall would be good, too. Just forget about single doors.
Put in more than two outlets. In fact, two per wall is a good minimum… and then at least one more on the ceiling for the garage door opener.
Add a 220v outlet. Two would be better… they can be next to each other, or not.
Having a couple of feet on the side would be good. Rolling tool chests and other items need a home. A couple of feet at the back is good too. 24′ wide would be good. 25′ deep would be good too.
(here is one for the builders). Vapor barrier under the slab. This allows the owner to put down epoxy on the floor.

For a three car garage:

Many have a taller “SUV” door on the single. Those doors are generally 8′ wide… SUV is 6 1/2 to 7′ wide… mirrors have to be folded in to drive into the bay. Maybe the tall door should be the double.
Make one deeper bay. A lot of people that want three car garages have either a boat of a long vehicle (Suburbans come to mind). A 25+’ deep bay would be appreciated.
Again, keep a couple extra feet on the side for tool boxes and other storage.
More outlets on the back wall… it is wider, so it needs more outlets.

For a four car garage (or more):

Generally the same stuff.
Splitting it into two garages is ok… maybe. Assume one is for the daily drivers and the other is for working.

For any garage:

Size matters, and bigger is better.
On new construction, adding the options for garage organization and storage would be a great idea.
Ditto for epoxied floors or other floor treatments.
A sink in the garage is a great idea.
Real lighting is a necessity. A couple of little ceiling mounted lights for the garage are inadequate. At the very least having a few switched outlets on the ceiling would be good. Most fluorescent fixtures can be set up to plug in.

If you are a builder or developer, I hope that helps. If you are a homeowner, these might give you a few ideas on how to make your garage more inviting for auto enthusiasts.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Do you do del.icio.us?

Friday, 18 April 2008 20:14

Written by Lane Bailey

5 Comments

if you aren’t already familiar, del.icio.us is a “Social Bookmarking” site. I ran across it last year, bookmarked it (how appropriate…) and then just kind of left it alone. At the same time I downloaded a plug-in for FireFox… and left it alone. I thought it was cool, but got sidetracked with running a business and building my website and logo.

Want coverage for your car show?

Thursday, 17 April 2008 14:39

Written by Lane Bailey

0 Comments

I am a car guy, and I need a business excuse to go to more car shows… I can tell my wife that I am “networking”… Seriously.

photo credit: omniNate

So, to that end, I want to have a new feature on GarageHomesUSA. It will take a little while to spin up to full speed, but here is the plan:

Visit cruise-ins, car shows and other enthusiast events
Take pictures
Shoot video
Upload pictures and video in a searchable database
As part of the videos, profile both the cars and the owners

My clients that move into Atlanta from other areas are car people. Many are looking for car clubs in the area. Many are also looking for cruise-ins, car shows and other events.

photo credit: p-duke

I’m also finding out something else… it is tough to find most of the events in the area. There are a few clubs that have calendars of their events. But, there are no central databases that seem to have up to date information.

Last year I set up a calendar on my old site. Even though I only supported it with one blog post, Google picked it up for several events… #1 placement. I’d like to get together a list of car shows, cruise-ins, autocrosses and other local events… all compiled in one place, and in front of other local enthusiasts.

I have also previously asked for local car club banners to put on GarageHomesUSA… and only had one response. It seems that some are worried that I want email lists or other info about members. I don’t. I just want to be a great resource for others iin the area that want to hang out with car people.

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Category Archives: hobby

GBR Mud 4 Blood Drive

Sunday, Rally Sunday

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Want coverage for your car show?

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Category Archives: hobby

GBR Mud 4 Blood Drive

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