Happy New Year everyone!
Well, let's do some expectations management here : let's wish for this year to be just slightly better than the previous one, that'd be a great improvement.

Spoiler alert, real life being ahead of my articles published here (which is a nice way of saying I'm late on my articles) : the '59 beetle is back on the road! The picture above was shot a couple of days ago while cruising around the cape of Antibes.
I'm currently finalizing an article about the engine installation and first start, but it takes time to write, translate, etc... You'll just have to wait a bit longer!

Another article to come soon is the putting the Thing (181) back on the road (again), which has been quite a rabbit hole... Brace yourselves for a lengthy article there.

Finally, Santa Claus has been kind enough to give me a 360° camera, so I'm experimenting... And I'll leave you with two videos shot the past couple of weeks. Have a good trip!

Yeah, I know, it's been two years since I last posted here... But for those who wondered, ShamWerks is not dead!

Those past two years have ben pretty heavy, and I did not have the opportunity to tighten a single nut at the garage. A new and very stressful job, the little one growing up fast, the death of my grand-mother, of my cat, moving places, a bit of an health issue, and still no electricity at the garage... Yep, life hasn't exactly been relaxed.

But I didn't stand still though! As I had mentioned in my last post, I indeed ended up buying that house, and after almost a year of pointless discussions with the architectural review board (bloody Architecte des Bâtiments de France), I finally managed to get the authorization to renovate the workshop in my new backyard!

TL;DR : building is underway, and ShamWerks will soon have a new playground! I'm not telling you any more right now, but bear with me, it'll change in a couple of months! Let's face it, the web has changed a lot since I launched this blog, a bit over 21 years ago (first version launched in October 1998... Feel old yet?).
The type of content I provide is not of interest to a lot of people, especially due to it's redactionnal aspect, when everyone and their mother's on Facebook, Instagram or TikTok (well there are a few exceptions fortunately, like Rascals Cats, Olivier Relic...).

But ShamWerks will stand its grounds, with more detailed posts in the future. And maybe a couple of videos, who knows...

Happy New Year 2020 everyone!
Take care of your loved ones, be safe on the road, and see you back here soon(ish)!

As tradition goes, now's the time to wish y'all a Fantastic New Year 2018! (better late than never hmm?)
So, as usual, may you be healthy, happy, wealthy, oh-but-you-know,as-long-as-you're-healthy, etc.

And as per the tradition as well, it's time to do a short review of the year past, and of the projects to come in the future, reminding us that time goes by...

You may have noticed that ShamWerks has been a bit slow on updates recently. Well, it's kind of a transition period for me, there's a lot going on backstage...

Baby

As expected, and without an ounce of surprise, raising a lil' baby is a pretty time-consuming endeavor!

As a result, I have less spare time to tinker around. But alledgedly, it should get better a few months from now!

And to be honest, how could you not melt in front of this smile?

(Whaaaaaaaaat? My son is the most beautiful baby in the world, I'm just stating an obvious, scientific fact)

Jack has hit the road...

My father, Jacques, passed away on November 17^th, aged 90.

He died peacefully, in his sleep, at home, while keeping his wits about him until the last day (and also while chainsmoking a pack a day...) : in the end, not the worst way to go.

Our relationship was complicated, and as he was bed-ridden for the past few years following a stroke, I had a lot to deal with taking care of him...

In any case, he leaves a big void behind him, and not only because he was 1.94m tall. (that's 6ft 4" for you yankees).
He returned to the sea he loved so much... With his departure, I'm turning over a new leaf, and it's not an easy one to turn.

Good bye "le Père", have a safe journey...

Black-out

Direct consequence of the previous information : my garages were electrically powered through my father's apartment, since he lived in the same building.
With his passing, the lighting in my workshop is no more... And I'm too old to tinker around with a headlamp.

I could go through the administrative procedure to get a proper power outlet installed, but it's a lot of paperwork (and a good chunck of money, too!).
There's a new law in France, which favours access to power outlets for electric vehicles, but it's still a hassle to set up...

Long story short, all projects in the shop are at a dead stop until further notice.
But all this could change thanks to...

A real estate project!

I plan to buy a house, which boasts a really nice worshop!

Nothing final yet, and it'll take some time to sort out.

If it doesn't work out, I'll go back to the "garage power outlet installation" option.

But if it does, you can expect a whole lot of "workshop" articles for sure!

Job swap

Yeah, why not... Let's change all the things, amirite??

So I'm changing jobs : new challenges, new exciting context, some travelling to be expected... Hoping I've made the right decision!

It's gonna take a lot of work and energy, but I'll keep moving forward! #keepHustling

In Conclusion

The first thing is that unfortunately, in the short term, updates on ShamWerks will probably be thin on the ground.

But the positive counterpart is that if everything goes as planned, 2018 could be the starting point of many new articles! (including a collaboration... More on that later)


Anyway, that's it for now! Let's begin a new trip around the sun on our little rock, have a safe trip everyone!

One glance to the odometer :
Half a million visitors came ome this website! Champagne!!
In July 2000 we celebrated the 5000^th visitor... Damn, we did ride a long way since then!

One glance in the rear view mirror :
ShamWerks as of today, it's 19 years of online presence, 317 posts, 95% of which translated to english, over 450 comments by visitors, and over 5000 pictures!

Both hands on the steering wheel :
Even though probably no one noticed, there's been quite a lot of evolutions on the site, to make it faster, and up-to-date with the technical state-of-the-art. In particular, ShamWerks is now mobile-friendly (say "responsive" if you wanna look fancy), so you can read it on your smartphone or tablet! (I had to go through over 300 posts to make sure it was bulletproof...).

Eyes on the road :
Right now, I have over 20 articles being written, and quite a lot of ideas for future projects. Well, let's be honest, probably way more projets than I have spare time for... But anyway, expect some heavy stuff soon!

In July 1999, we barely reached the 2000^th visitor ; it took 17 years to reach this half million milestone... But if I follow the current trend, see you in Summer 2024 for the 1.000.000^th visitor party!
As usual, thanks to all of you for your interest, I know many of you are long time followers. Have a good trip!

Crédit photo : Sherif Mokbel

Precisely one month ago, on June 20^th at 9:00PM, arrived Enoha, the new intern in the ShamWerks team.

Let's face it : my new fatherly activities will certainly slow down the current projects in the works... But you just wait till I can give him a 13mm wrench!

Happy Monthversary lil'Baaaaaaby!