Vintage Picking and Road Tripping with Dinerman

There's a whole world of work that goes into the vintage business beyond what you see in the road trip pictures. Here's a view into more of the process and what it's like dealing vintage as a real job.

 

Still figuring out the video thing, but here's what we were able to cobble together from what little we shot on the Vegas trip last month.
<

 

We took a loop through Ennis, Pony, Harrison, Boulder and Basin. It was mostly a photo trip to round out Alex's latest series, but we hit a couple of thrift shops, which yielded a handful of good vintage ties each.

 

Updates on the bus.

Spent some more time in the shop last week, cutting parts. I got someone to take the wheelchair lift (thanks, Craigslist!), so now we have that space open for our bathroom, storage, windowseat, flip out outdoor picnic table, shower, etc. With such limited space, everything has to be multi-function.


I've had a lot of questions and concerns elsewhere about how we're going to attach the cabinets and all so that they don't fall over when we're going around a corner and kill someone. Seven years of architecture school and construction experience to the rescue! The bus has four strips of L-track (the same stuff they use to tie down cargo on airplanes), that was originally intended to mount straps to tie down wheelchairs. It's bolted very solidly into the floor and frame of the bus. I bought a bunch more double stud fasteners for the track, which are bolted into dado blade notched 4x4s, two per cabinet, with a bolt at each end, providing a big solid piece of wood to screw into. The cabinets are screwed into these, then screwed into each other. I'm hoping we never have to pull them out for any reason, because they're in there for keeps.


I got a delivery of putting green astro-turf and have carpeted the front stairs and entry area with it. It's totally goofy and we've been laughing at it every time we've gone out there to do more work, but that's kind of the point. If we're going to be living in this thing for six months, we need it to feel homey and not get oppressive. You can also see in that shot that we've been reinforcing all the corners of the shelves/cabinets.

 

I had a fun visit the other day from Brit Eaton of Carpe Denim. He's one of the biggest denim and workwear pickers/dealers in the country, with warehouses full of turn of the century denim back in Colorado. He had just come from clearing out a Montana ranch outbuilding, and when he pulled up to the house, his truck was full of bags of vintage suits and work clothes from the '30s-'50s. We had a good visit, chatted picking, road trips, reality television and the state of the vintage world. With a practiced eye, he zeroed in on the best of my as-of-yet unsold workwear. It's always nice to talk shop with someone as knowledgeable as Brit- hopefully I'll get the chance to visit him on his home turf during the upcoming trip. (5 more weeks!)

 

A bit from Bozeman, which even though I live here and do weekly runs around to the shops in town, I haven't ever really photographed.

 

More headway in the bus. Finished framing out and bolting down all the cabinets, installed the countertops, sink and range. Re-built the vintage dresser we're using and bolted it into the rest of the cabinets. The lighting is in, as is some more storage. I just laid down the first coat of stain on the counters and am in the process of priming the insides of the cabinets. Doors will go on tomorrow.

 

Getting closer

 

The inside is progressing nicely too.

 

It's all been building to this.
At long last- the bus is done! Vintage Haberdashers is in the process of being dismantled and the stock moved into storage. And we're nearly ready to go- on the big one!

Six months on the road in the bus, 16,000+ miles exploring every small town in America we can find, photographing, documenting, collecting artifacts, drawing, painting and conducting interviews. We'll be posting regular updates at theroadramblers.com, on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/theroadramblers/ and on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/roadramblers/. Then, there's the book, at the conclusion, we will be putting together a photo book of all the places we see and people we meet. We will, that is, if we can get your help.

Get your vintage fix! Get great original art and photography (supporters get a lot of bang for your buck). I'd love to be able to share everything with you!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/263559793/road-ramblers