Went by a chrome shop

[BobT-47P15]

In the small town of Greenfield, MO. This is the place (a one man operation) that rechromed my rear bumper. As the fellow picked up and delivered that bumper about 5 years ago, I had never been to the shop. Greenfield is about 45 minutes to an hour drive from Joplin. I would have never guessed that this building housed his operation. Pretty seedy looking joint.

The fellow told me he is investing money in a metal press type machine in order to reproduce some certain parts for the 1954-59 Chevy Cameo Carrier. He has been making some pieces already and selling them thru a place in Kansas City. One thing he produces is the center section of the rear bumper/pan where the license plate goes. Also the bumper ends.

He had what appeared to be a 1950 Dodge bumper and two guards lying on the ground outside......they looked pretty straight and not really very beat up. He said that would be around a $500 job. He said that like everything else, the cost of materials for plating have gone up.

I asked when he could rechrome my front bumper and two guards, plus the heads of some bumper bolts......to which he replied.....not til after the first of the year.

Since the weather was so warm (in the 80s) I decided to eat lunch at this little old fashioned drive-in I ran onto. "Red's Drive In".

Walk-up, or call in orders only. No inside seating. So I took my burger, fries and coke out behind the place to a little pavillion they had with 4 picnic tables. That burger was goood!! Just another fun thing related to the old car hobby.

[thedahmer]

By looking at the picture I would say it is a hole in the wall or at least till someone put a door in it==

[bob westphal]

Sadly both of the type of businesses you visited are rapidly disappearing!

The EPA is hitting the chrome shops hard with regs and big corporations the diners. Oh well, nothing stays the same for long.

[Brad Lustig]

They are also great places to work. More like an extended family in most cases. At the machine shop I worked at was that way. There were only 7 of us in the office counting the plant manager. Each week we'd each pay a small amount to the lunch fund. Then the two women (one the purchasing agent and the other the receptionist) would cook lunch or prepare the cold cuts each day. Then we all would eat lunch together just like a family would. That included the owner of the company. Was a good place to work' date=' just no room for advancement.[/quote']

You want to talk about businesses that are dying! There were so many of those businesses until just recently down here. Seems that the sons take over the business and either completely revamp the way the business is being run or they try to run it exactly like their dad and demanding the respect their dad earned through years and years.

[Don Coatney]

demanding the respect their dad earned through years and years.

Brad;

I have known and quoted many times over the years that respect is earned and never given. Some folks just dont get it.