I chose j.a.f.e. as a joke with the personalized plates on my Explorer. At the time they were very popular vehicles so I kinda made fun of it with the plate - j.a.f.e. stands for just another Explorer. The first forum I joined was the Explorer Forum so that became my username.
That really was the best car I ever had - it had the OHV 5.0. I had it for 20 years and in all that time and mileage it needed virtually nothing beyond service parts and wear items.
The avatar is a design drawing Jim Henson did for a Muppet character named Bip Bippadotta. He's the guy that sings the mahna mahna song.
I found my avatar online by accident. For many years we lived in a neighborhood where everyone knew each other and helped each other out. I was fortunate enough to have a variety of welding equipment and it wasn't unusual for the local kids and their families to come over and ask me to weld something together, tack weld a kid's toy, or even braze a broken bike frame. I fixed a lot of small engine aluminum castings for lawn equipment.
Long story short, I became the neighborhood welder for many small jobs. Hence I stumbled across that avatar about two decades ago and used it as my moniker.
"goodfellow" goes back to the early 1980's when I rented some garage space in a small industrial section of town. While cleaning up the place I found a sign that advertised "Goodfellow's Garage". It was hand painted and really well done On a whim I decided to clean it up and just hang it up out front. Since I had a corner unit, over time locals would identify the intersection as "the corner of Goodfellow's Garage", or use the sign as a way to give directions to other folks. It wasn't long before everyone assumed I was "Goodfellow". The name stuck ---
This is what I recall the sign looked like. It's been 40 years, Hence my recollection is definitely fuzzy. Also the background wasn't pure white, but rather a light dirty charcoal faded grey.
The interesting aspect of this story is that there never was a "Goodfellow's Garage" in this garage space, nor the entire town. I checked the history of the place and went through city records, and even the Better Business Bureau. Not a clue where that old sign came from. Maybe the previous tenant brought it with him from some other part of the country., but the "Goodfellow's Garage" remains a mystery to this day. Also, since this was definitely a handmade sign, I have no clue where the Snap-On connection came into play. I'm quite certain that Snap-On didn't give away hand-painted advertising signs to their customers in those days
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/bae437b7-86f6-4a7e-ac8d-0ec8f6bd99f7/05297e2b-bdac-414c-a1c9-c736a6aa1a29.jpg) (https://hosting.photobucket.com/bae437b7-86f6-4a7e-ac8d-0ec8f6bd99f7/05297e2b-bdac-414c-a1c9-c736a6aa1a29.jpg)
I've always liked your avatar - I really like the way it's rendered.
Interesting story about the sign. Do you still have it?
Quote from: j.a.f.e. on Mar 22, 2025, 12:49 PMI've always liked your avatar - I really like the way it's rendered.
Interesting story about the sign. Do you still have it?
Thanks Steve. Unfortunately the sign was left at that old garage when I moved out into my own home shop a few years later. By that time it was pretty badly damaged by rot and weather. At the time it didn't even occur to me to save it.
I did go back in the early 2010s to revisit the location, but the old industrial buildings had been torn down and replaced with townhouses and trendy shops.
Short story short, I like hammers and axes.
As a traditionalist however I don't like the modern stuff eith titanium heads or fiberglass/ composite handles, it's Hickory and steel or nothing.
The user name stemmed for years ago when I created an email. Just randomly came up with muddyjoe and it stuck. Everyone assumed my name was Joe so after one of the first crashes of GG I dropped the Joe and just went with muddy.
As for the avatar it's always been a cow... And how cute are highland cattle calfs?!!!
I was using the same name on a number of VW related boards through the years so carried it forward. I was a bit of a VW fiend in the early days. Now I'm more about the Oldsmobiles, but some things just carry on. The avatar is a photo of my '57 Sunroof Bug. Nothing too exciting!
Other communities, other names...
I'd say the bug was exciting. I've always liked air cooled VW's - especially Type III's.
I am in Texas and My car is a T. I also worked in the oil field for a while so that kinda fit too.
Quote from: j.a.f.e. on Mar 22, 2025, 11:10 PMI'd say the bug was exciting. I've always liked air cooled VW's - especially Type III's.
Oh, the bug was (and still is) exciting! Especially when I was bracket racing with it. The origin of my username, not so much!
Back in the day (early 1950's) I bought a used 1951 Ford convertible and customized it, shaved and decked, lowered and painted it metallic lavender. Most who viewed it said "Cool Ford."
Cool story. Do you have pix?
Quote from: coolford on Mar 23, 2025, 01:03 PMBack in the day (early 1950's) I bought a used 1951 Ford convertible and customized it, shaved and decked, lowered and painted it metallic lavender. Most who viewed it said "Cool Ford."
Very good story CF, and I'm sure it looked the part of cool "lead sled".
When I first started with the online communities, the two bikes I had were a BMW R100 and Rd350. And I spent time as a phone company I&R man.
When I got my first house, the neighborhood, still had some horse rings to park horses, while the model T's were mid to near end of production. Down the street from Frank James inlaws, where he went to go sleep drunk off before going to jail many a time, and next door to Truman's cousin. The garages were built for model T's and A's, and a few neighbors still had model A's.
So the garages were slightly bigger then a yard shed (what most had become), and I took the name Wantedabiggergarage.
In 2020, my friend and late boss, passed, and as I knew the family for close to 40 years, and it was covid, I was asked to move in, help with the estate and take care of the pet. Most of his family wanted me to end up with the house and his part of the business, but his brother and partner had a hissy fit. Long story shortened, I finally ended up with the house officially in January of this year. Now, I have a bigger garage, but am not really in the shape to use it. (ironic), and expect to join my friend soon enough.
The garage at my house, built in 1913, is sized for a model T. It was the first garage, not carriage house, in town.
I get you about wanting a bigger garage!
Fatfillup was the name I came up with when I joined GJ years ago. I was about 250 lbs then. Was going to go with Phatphillup but didn't like the way it looked. Swithed the Ph's to f's and liked it better. As to an avatar, it was either Conductor or Looking4 who did the Fatfillups 66 sign for me and I really liked it. Too dumb to do it for myself so I don't have one now