My garages. The short story. First of all I stole this idea from the HAMB car site. I sort of modified the idea and here is my post to it. In my infinite wisdom figured this may be a good topic for the station wagon forum. Read my post and add your own garage stories. I realize not everyone has a garage or one as large as they’d like. Available space, zoning, money, and other things affect what we have and would like to have. In fact after telling about your garage, shed, shack, or man cave, write something about that dream garage you’d have if you had bottomless pockets. My post is as follows………… These measurements may not be exact. But as close as I remember, mostly going by the size of each drive in door. Home number one, for six years, was no larger than a two car garage. This is where I’m really guessing. The cement block garage is a 1 ½ car with swing out wood barn doors I made. This makes the garage roughly 14X18. At most 15X20. My first car was a 1949 Dodge and it was only garaged from Oct 57 when we married and moved in till spring 1958 when I bought my first old car project, a 1931 Model A coupe. The coupe went in the garage for six years. I mostly worked on it outside in the 10’ X 75’ driveway. This is also where I worked on a 49 Olds, a 50 Buick, 54 Ford, 39 Ford 4-dr, and others. My biggest project there was swapping the 4-cyl Austin Healy Sprite engine/tranny for a 327 Chevy/powerglide. Yes outside partially under a shade tree. When doing any painting the Model A sat in the front yard so I could paint in the garage. At least three of those cars were painted there using a small Sears compressor. House #2 for 30+ years had a 24X28 garage with 16’ door with 4 old cars in it most of the time. Yes four! Sometimes another 4 or 5 sat outside. Again most work except painting was done on the drive way. This drive was roughly 10’ at the street and widened to 4-cars wide at the garage, about 50’ long. I later added a rear stall 8’ wide on one end and 14’ on the other by 24’ long. A white rock pad for the motor home or other RV was roughly 45’ by 12 next to the garage and side 8’ door of the addition. That rear addition had a 6’ overhang to work with the car partially outside. We lived on the end of a cul-de-sac on a pie shaped lot. I added an 8’X28 side addition on the left side. Half that for yard tools, the other half for work bench and welder/compressor, etc. The main garage had a high ceiling for storing crap. My 39 Ford was stored and forgotten in the rear addition. House #3 in Florida, 21 years, after moving most crap and most cars into garage roughly 24’X28’ with two 9‘ doors. Here we have a 18’X36’ shed filled with three cars and enough crap to build more plus a 12x 14’ workshop with a car port on each end. The 10’X 12’ pump house became my garden tool shed. Ended up adding two 10X20 vinyl shelters on the slab in front of the garage. This is my main work area. All of the garages I’ve owned but I still work outside where my DD and RV sits. Old age. Five acres and this larger place is getting to be too much for us. We decided we’d move back to Illinois. Lucked out and found a small home on ½ acre at the edge of our home town. Difficult to find a small place in the city with a garage or even a drive way. Again we lucked out. I now have a 20X20 garage and a 100’ long grass driveway. Hope to put in a 20X20 cement slab at the garage with a 10’ wide drive out to Memory Lane which is narrow and asphault. We bought this place off the internet so with the help of our grown kids and pictures bought it sort of site unseen. I do plan on getting rid of all but the two old cars in my old avatar. Gave son my 39 Ford and son-in-law my 48 Chevy panel truck. Still got cars and crap to sell. :confused:Will two cars, parts, and tools fit in a 20X20 very low raftered garage? Too old and lazy to add on the rear which is what I’d love to do. Lot is 105X210 with small home in middle. Nothing but a farm behind so plenty of room. Coincidentally we’ve only had four homes. All four on dead end streets. Each got shorter. This one is only 1/8 mile long. That’s my two car garage story and I’m stuck with it. Below are thumbnails of our modest garages beginning from #1. Sorry these are the best I have.
My house of the past 17 years was only 624 sq/ft and had no garage, and just a pair of dirt ruts for a driveway. I just moved into a major upgrade house with a 22 x 22 garage. Nothing is set up yet and everything is still in piles and boxes. I will post up pics once I get situated.
No Man Caves....Just real Garages! Okay if you have a man cave with floors so clean we can eat off them show us and brag. The rest of you tell us about your attached or detached garage, the place you play with your wagons and other toys. Size don't matter! Thanks Steve 22X22 is close to my new old garage. Without actually seeing it I believe mine will be tight with two cars and my basic tools. The part that worries me is the ultra low rafters. Thanks for getting this thread going. I figured other members would tell about their drive way, car port, lean two, barn, or 100X1000 pole building.
My shop. 65' x 38', with a 12' x 24' patio/carport. Full bath, insulated walls and doors. NO heat or air. Yet. Built on the footprint of my tornado-destroyed house and shop in '03. Yes, it's full. Three trucks, three cars, one tractor, one ZTR mower.
Nice Patrick. Looks great but obviously you don't know what FULL means. I had four cars in one 24X28 garage. Now that's full. Maybe later you can close in the car port and add on the rear of the garage!
I moved in here a few years back.. My ex got to keep my 26x24 with sea-can storage.. enclosed trailers etc.. so its a little cramped in here LOL! First thing I did was build benches and storage because I have TOO MUCH CRAP Hung up some wall art 19x24 means this is a big 1 car working garage or two parking... working on big cars sucks lol
Garages, big and small.... we love em all! Thanks guys. These are a working man's garage. Bandwagon's wagon sideways reminds me how I got four in a 2 1/2 car garage. The 33 Chevy and Model T had no bumpers or brackets on them. I put the 33 Chevy on the far right rear almost touching the tailpan to the rear wall. Then the T was slid in with jacks to slide barely under the 33 front end with its rear. That put both tightly against the right wall lined up. Another car was tight against the left wall leaving room to actually drive the fourth in and out and get out the drivers door! After I bought three more cars I added the stall across the rear. I was addicted! I'm still dreaming about Patrick's garage! But I was looking at real estate adds back in Illinois and saw a 1/2 million $ home with a bigger garage!
ModelT1, we started out similarly, you with a 49 Dodge, me with a 49 Plymouth for my first car. I've been thru the no garage, small one car garage stuff, but I'll just tell you about the last 30 years since I moved to Tucson........... Bought and had built, a 2 story townhouse with a 2 and a half car garage. I learned all about homeowner's associations in this place. Had 8 ft fluorescent lights put in the garage. One night shortly after, I was out in the garage waxing my 62 Dodge. Some one on the association board walked by and informed me I was in violation of two rules. 1. Unapproved lighting in my garage 2. Working on a vehicle I said that it was my garage, and I was only waxing my car in my garage. I didn't win the argument. We looked around at other land options/home options and finally bought 5 acres out in the desert, raw land. We put up a 28x76, 4 bdrm, 3 bath manufactured home. Shortly after that, put up a 24x30 shop, and thought I was in hog heaven. That sure filled up fast, and after I got work benches and tools and stuff in there, I couldn't get 2 cars in anymore, jut one. That shop has ac and heat, hot and cold running water with a utility sink, a stackable washer and dryer (something about a small black ring around the tub in HER washing machine led to that), an oven for powdercoating, a refrigerator for water, pop, and 3 30 packs of my favorite adult beverages, a compressor, welder, press, satellite tv........and enough area to park a car and my grandson's go-cart and my golfcart. (No, I don't play golf, but it carries my yard tools around the property for yard work.) Outside my shop, I have a slab with my 4 post Rotary lift on it. About 12 years ago, my wife sold my 56 Studebaker President wagon, and the sale provided enough money to finish my 66 Chevelle and build a 24x50 garage. All it has is electricity and garage door openers. I'm usually able to keep all my vehicles under roof this way. They currently are 1947 Chevy 2 dr sedan, in pieces.......a 1956 Chevy 2 dr sedan, a 1966 Chevelle 4 sp 2 dr ht, a 1971 Chevy C30 pickup, a 1986 Chevy Monte Carlo SS, and my wife's 01 Tahoe. Lately, my pickup has to sleep outside, because my daughter and son-in-law's 67 Malibu wagon is in my shop, up on jack stands, getting all new brakes and suspension, and fresh 327/TH350. I feel I need more garage space, but it seems SHE is outvoting me, and I may have reached the limit. I'll get by............I think.
Need more Room Busterwivell a bad situation turned into a good one! I'm sitting here trying to explain to my bullheaded son about homeowners associations. He just does not understand! He thinks we live in the home of the free! So a 24X30 garage plus another 24X50 garage and a lift. And you need more space?
Somehow, I call BS on that. Unless you had four Subaru 360s or four BMW Isettas. If you don't have pics, it didn't happen, as they say... I have all the room I need. When you get to the point of having so much in a garage or shop that you can't manipulate around, what's the point? I can go to any storage facility and find plenty of them stuffed to the rafters with crap.
No BS, I had four cars in one 24X28 garage. I had four cars in one 24X28 garage. This was back in central Illinois. Even here in Florida I had three cars in the main garage fo awhile. As for the four cars in one 24X28 garage; on left was my 1939 Ford coupe tightly against the left wall. I'd added a roughly 8'X28' side addition for a workbench and yard tools. Against the right wall I first parked a 1933 Chevy master 4-door without bumpers on. The rear pan was inches from the back wall. In front of that against the right wall I slid a 1926 Model T touring in sideways. Also removed bumpers. The T sat higher so the rear section overlapped the 33 Chevy without fenders or front pan. To get the T in I used jacks :floor_jack::floor_jack: to raise and push it sideways into the space. At the front the T fenders were inches from that wall. With four foot or so space to the right of the 16' door only a few feet of the T stuck out in the doorway. This left the center of the garage to drive various cars in and out and still be able to open the driver door. I had a 55 Chevy wagon in there at times then a 1977 Corvette coupe. It was later I added a stall across the rear and moved the 39 Ford giving me more room for 55-57 Chevys. Sadly I had to work on cars on the cement drive. Back then with film cameras we didn't take many pictures. I could see the cars anytime! As I type my son has moved the 39 Ford out of 21 years hybernation plus 14 more years sitting in Illinois to get it ready to move back. Hoses, belts, points, etc are rotted. Low mileage 40+ year old bias tires still holding air. Five gallon of gas was in tank and still smelled like gas. Probably been in there since 1979. Last driven 1979 or 80. Oil looks good, added tranny fluid after removing plugs, 283 engine cranked like it was ran yesterday. Today son is rebuilding Rochester 2-barrel, new points, plugs, wires, oil, etc. and hopes to be driving it around the yard. I was gonna sell it but decided to drive it till I'm finished with old cars then let oldest son have it. Son wanted to put an HEI and spare aluminum 4-barrel manifold and Edelbrock on it. I said let's keep it like it was in 1979 when I drove it. Hanging on the pegboard he found a new point condensor set and rotor dated 1972 when I got the car. All he needed were plugs, wires, carb kit, dist cap, oil. Now I need another garage in Illinois. This ain't no BS!
So, there was no room to do anything. A mini-storage. Plus, the cars were partially disassembled, so by the letter of the law; yeah, you had four cars in there.
Correct. At least I got them inside under cover. I've never had enough room. When I did have room to work on one I'd buy two more cars.:banghead3: Speaking of the law just before we moved it was illegal to work on your own car in your own garage. This included changing oil! So when we move back at least we are gonna be on the edge of town, or out of town but most likely under city laws. I'm going to miss the boonies!
What's in Your Garage? Looking for more home garage stories. Where do you park your pride and joy and the rest of your junk? I know some members use portable vinyl shelters and others rent storage buildings and even a few store them in barns. These will be future barn finds when they come up for sale. Whether you work under a shade tree, out behind the barn, at the curb, or in a 30 car man cave let's hear your story.
