Have you ever heard of a 'shade tree' mechanic or inventor? According to humorist Jack McCall, shade tree mechanics are "a special breed." He writes, "These men and women (mostly men) were endowed by their creator with exceptional mechanical skills which they applied in their back yard, side yard, and, sometimes, in their front yard. They were called 'shade tree' because their work usually found them laboring under the shade of a tree."
Here you'll meet one of our own shade tree mechanics: Mr. Julius Camel James, Sr. GC's Blake Williams met up with him at the Brooklet Peanut Festival last month to see his rides and hear about his work.
For a long as he can remember, Mr. James has been working on automobiles. If you know him, this may not shock you, but he is no ordinary mechanic. He likes to take vehicles apart and put them back together better than they were before.
He likes being told something won’t work, so he can make it work. If he can’t think of a way to fix it, he will go to bed and think on it. When he wakes up the next morning, he’ll look at the problem one more time with a solution.
Recently, Mr. James had a motor blow up on him, and he decided that it is time to stop fiddling with his contraptions in the yard because “you got to know when to stop.”
When speaking with him, we went on about how he would bring all of his rides up to the Brooklet Peanut Festival, but this year would be his last one. He set up his rides right were he always does, on the corner of Warnock Street and Railroad Street.
He brought one of his golf carts that runs off of a lawnmower motor.
And of course, he brought his prized puppy: the Get Up.
When you look at these rides, your first thought is probably that some of the parts don’t look right. Well that is Mr. James’s specialty. Like I stated before, he likes to be told something won’t work so he can make it work.
For example, look at that vehicle he calls the “Get Up.” What would you classify that as? Is it a lawnmower? Motorcycle? Four Wheeler? By the looks of the front wheels, maybe even a tractor.
Now look at this ride right here. Took your average lawnmower and threw some different tires on and added what I’d like to call tusks on the front.
Everything in his yard has a story to it. He says that the shed in this picture has enough motors to run a factory. His brain is a never-ending factory of ideas. Mr. James says he has done this his entire life and he loves every minute.
I asked him why, with all his know-how, does he not work on full size vehicles, or even work as a mechanic? He explained that he used to work on vehicles from time to time, and he and his son worked on his son’s car together. Whenever his son passed away, he said he was done working on cars because that was his and his son’s thing to do.
His creations are so unique, and the stories that he provided were great to listen to. Before I headed back home after meeting him, he pointed at his old pick-up truck. He was telling me that he and his wife rode down to Florida to pick her up a brand new Honda vehicle. Looking at his truck, I knew it had a few miles on it, but I wouldn't go all the way to Florida on it.
He said his wife had tore that new car up not long after having it, so I had to ask, how have you had this truck here and it still run as good as it does?
He replied, "If you drive something the way it was meant to be drove, you won't have a problem with it." I smiled and took this as a much deeper comment on how he has been able to do what he loves as long as he has -- all under the shade of the Bulloch County trees.
