Step 15

This is about half the extra stuff we found in the cardboard boxes as we went through them. We’re confident they’re not Mini parts, so we’ll dispose of them appropriately or, in the case of the tools and jack, put them to use.

Step 16

The organization process can even unearth clues to a car’s past. We didn’t have much information about our basket case’s history, but we knew it had spent time on the West Coast and had been apart for a long time. Among the parts, we found some Washington State license plates from the 1980s. Plus, a lot of the parts were wrapped in “The Seattle Times” circa 1984. Looks like the car has been apart for about 25 years, and now it’s time to get it back together.

Step 17

Here are our shelves and bins again. We put the heavier parts on the bottom to keep the shelves stable, and the loose parts went up top since they tend to be lighter. We typically use wire to tie down some of the loose parts to the shelves so they don’t fall off. Additionally, we avoid using the top shelf: Experience has taught us that items are most likely to fall from that one. Most of the time, we can fit a complete car on one or two of these shelving units.

Step 18

Our photo inventories are as important as our shelves. We keep all the images digitally on one or more computers, but having a printed set of photos really helps. Not only can we scan through the photos to look for specific items, but we can write notes on the pages to remind us of what to order or what we’ve done.