whats your dream garage???

I picture a shop 40' x 60' with a heated slab with floor drains, 1 stall paint booth, a restroom with a shower, a lounge with a fridge sat tv couches a lazy boy, maybe 2 hot dawg heaters up in the corners across from eachother, 1 car lift (to pick up a body off the frame), just a hotrod car haven ya know what i'm sayin? a home away from home. a place for me and my buddys to hang out and bullshit an play poker or whatever. but when i do build a garage it'll be 40 x60 and have a heated slab, floor drains, and a restroom with a shower to start out with the rest can come later.:rolleyes:

I like simple stuff. A 40 x 80 shop with two apartments on top would be perfect. I would dedicate part of it to a paint booth, part to a fabricating section, and part as an assembly/parking area for finished cars. I would put a paved concrete carport across the enire backside, so I could park more projects under roof until their time came.

For equipment, I would add the very biggest air compressor I could find, plus a Bridgeport and a lathe. I would enclose part of the carport for a sandblasting booth and install a commercial grade sandblaster. I would also intall one lift outside and one inside.

I just checked my lottery numbers for tonights drawing, and I won't be building that shop anytime soon. :CRY: :CRY:

Don

About 100 x 100' and the money to afford it.:LOL:

One just like Jay leno`s!! If were dreaming here, im going for at least 30,000 square feet, loaded with every tool known to man!

All the above! :D
and below :3dSMILE: :p

Pat

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Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

I like simple stuff. A 40 x 80 shop with two apartments on top would be perfect. I would dedicate part of it to a paint booth, part to a fabricating section, and part as an assembly/parking area for finished cars. I would put a paved concrete carport across the enire backside, so I could park more projects under roof until their time came.

For equipment, I would add the very biggest air compressor I could find, plus a Bridgeport and a lathe. I would enclose part of the carport for a sandblasting booth and install a commercial grade sandblaster. I would also intall one lift outside and one inside.

I just checked my lottery numbers for tonights drawing, and I won't be building that shop anytime soon. :CRY: :CRY:

Don

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i gave up on the lottery LOL but you guys have the right idea

Anything big enough for three cars and is no further north than Ocala Florida.:3dSMILE: :3dSMILE:

I like Leno's as well. But seriously, I was in a shop of a friend of mine who gets to use it free through the generosity of his cousin. It's in Caanan CT, huge, has a heated slab, multiple bays, a paint booth, and a lounge area with fully stocked fridge, great bulk containers of snack food, big screen TV with couch area, shower and bath, phones, plus killer stereo system. My friend's cousin is a sponsored NASCAR driver, so all the food and boose are free. He did a frame off restoration on a 1972 240 Z there. It was wild because it's sorta in the middle of nowhere, we were there in the winter -5 degrees out side, 70's inside, with no one there! I guess NASCAR people don't worry about their electric and gas bills! Got to check out a couple of his cousin's cars that were there too!:cool:

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Originally Posted by stovens

I like Leno's as well. But seriously, I was in a shop of a friend of mine who gets to use it free through the generosity of his cousin. It's in Caanan CT, huge, has a heated slab, multiple bays, a paint booth, and a lounge area with fully stocked fridge, great bulk containers of snack food, big screen TV with couch area, shower and bath, phones, plus killer stereo system. My friend's cousin is a sponsored NASCAR driver, so all the food and boose are free. He did a frame off restoration on a 1972 240 Z there. It was wild because it's sorta in the middle of nowhere, we were there in the winter -5 degrees out side, 70's inside, with no one there! I guess NASCAR people don't worry about their electric and gas bills! Got to check out a couple of his cousin's cars that were there too!:cool:

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thats what i'm talking about a home away from home:D :D :D

i think if i did have a shop like that the old lady would miss me cause i'd always be at the shop instead of at home. but would be even better if she was right there with you.

my little man cave is a 24x24 with heat/ac/cable/phone/fridge built just for my old car hobby. Will get my son to put up some pics.

how about a 30X50 two-story with a wood shop on top

about a 400-400 split up into seperate bays with a giant loft as my bedroom/house and a dragstrip right outside to test and a dyno room. also would have a pit for oil change and a lift.

Let`s not forget the "stripper pole"

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Your supposed to call it: The Fireman's Pole !!

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Yeah - easy access to overhead storage . . .

hows a 28x75 - 1 lift heated and air cond and still wish it wer bigger

I think this is the epidome of the man's shed. I saw this a while back!:LOL:
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Working on embedding youtube video!
Here's the link
YouTube - mans shed

this is a shed, it makes no difference what kind of garage you have ,i started out in this shed in 19 57 and built this 34 roadster that made the cover of hot rod magazine 19 59 august ,that was working under horrible conditions ,joe

Joe
You more than anyone deserve the man's shed!:D :LOL:

Actually I think I would like one like my wife's father's (which is south of Ocala). His is 30 by 60, three 16' doors, two on front one on the side. Has a 4 post lift at one end with work space and storage for up to 8 cars. On the rear of his garage he had a lean-to built the same dimensions (30 x 60). Both ends are open, with space to store 4 car haulers, a vehicle or two plus assorted other stuff.. like compressors, etc. Total floor space 60x60 (3600 sq ft), plus additional space for a car under the lift.

All in all, a nice setup complete with a refrigerator, table and chairs for quests. Now if he would on just get a 42" flat panel tv for the wall, it could be near perfect.:LOL: :LOL:

To think I'm going to be happy once I get the electric upgrade to run more than a 60watt bulb and the air compressor at the same time.....LOL
BradC

my theroy is i cant afford but one or the other had a woman cost to much car cost to much but car is better!:eek: :LOL:

mine is one where the kids pick up after themselves and do not touch my tools. getting ready to build a garage that is 18 by 41 in a couple of weeks. nothing fancy yet but keeps the weather off me and i am not laying on concrete to work on car. I had to let the hubby have the back end for him and his buds to watch nascar and drink beer. My end is to work on car and watch nhra. ought to be alot of fun on sundays:LOL:

There is never enough room. You think you got it all figured out and then before you even get into your new shop you realize its too small.

Im purchasing a new house 2 weeks from Tomorrow. The garage is 28x29'. Has air lines run throughout the walls; 2 connrections on each wall so compressed as is within arms reach. I coated the floor is Epoxy-coat and Im psyched. Only when I think about it I have room for my 66 Chevelle SS and the 70 Convertible and nowhere to work!

Ive already got the plans to build another detached shop just for working which will be 16' x 24'. How much you wanna bet before Im done building it Im gonna say son of a bitch, this friggin shop is gonna be too small.

30-A RIDER

You are so right, I started with 1 1/2-car garage with a carport in front of that, and I did more work in that small garage, and under the carport then the next two garages being bigger each time. Second garage was 24 x 30 then added another 24 x 30 ten years later. The new section went from an 8’ceiling to a 9’ ceiling for more room. We matched the new section with the old by adding another 16’ door, and adding one more 9’ door at each end.
Having more room equaled more cars, which equaled less room to work. Present garage now in the country 42 x 60 I had be visions of heat, water, shower, a room to do auto upholstery, paint room, I did get the lift which makes it easier. Still I do not have enough room it just gets always gets filled up. More room, more tools, and now more time being retired, and less work. When I have to fix one of our daily drivers it becomes the musical car game being push, pulled, and rolled to make room to squeeze a car inside. I forgot to mention over the years the wife needs her space after all she has junk also to use up more space, then the Grandkids with their bikes and what not. To be honest I would go back to the first small garage where at least I had room to walk around a car. I had steel tubing to support a 2x6 and pulled motors, a window fan to pull the over spray, and fumes out with a open flame furnace on the wall, it's a wonder that I'm able to be here today safety wasn't a real big concern back then. I cut a top off from a 56 4dr. Cadillac in a friends garage with a stick welder, turn the heat up, the neighbor called the fire department on us, he thought we had the garage on fire. Those were the days in the late 60's the good old days.

ford2custom

hi ford2custom your situation sounds like mine , outside of the shed i built my 34 roadster out a few years later i bought another house with a 1and a half car garage ,i was building my cars out of my auto upholstery shop for 10 years i use to get angry when customers interupted me from working on my cars ,what a idiot i was customers wer my lively hood ,than when the gas crunch came in 72 business started to drop off so i decided to ad on to my garage at home ,i worked out of my home on auto interiors mostly street rods for 22 years and in between jobs work on my own cars but still working on the concrete floors when i retired i still kept the shop functional just incase i needed extra money but i cleaned up the whole garage and re did the walls and floors,but as you said my wife wanted some space so i built her a place for herself she haunted meand haunted me for the space but she hardly uses it , i still keep very active with my cars and go to the shooting range every saturday ,my garage will hold 8 cars but like you said getting them out is like musicle cars it just has 4 doors its a real task getting them out.

My advice would be to build your garage as big as you can possibly afford. I built a 30x40x10 with 2 8x10 doors less than 2 years ago. With my Model A, 2 Mustangs and my sons Probe the thing is just about full. Now I wish I had built it 20 feet longer, still might add it on. I'm also kicking around the idea of tearing off the roof and adding a hip roof so I can have a second story for a lounge/ parts storage. I love mine anyway. I'm just glad to be fortunate enough not to be working out in the yard... CTJ

joe brienza

I had to have my wife see the roadster you built in your small space, what a jewel. I wish my garage was just fraction as clean as yours. Nice looking cars also. Do you know if the roadster is still around today? I may have that hot rod book in my collection.

That roadster looks as good as what would come out of one the big time shops today. I bought some books at a swap meet, and that book looks familiar, it would take me along time to try to find it though.

I have just about every book I have ever bought on cars, and I try to keep them in good shape but they are in the garage, and house. I’m running out of room for them also.Cars was just an addiction to me so, and I didn’t have the knowledge to earn a living at working on them, I just tried to keep them running.

I hate to admit it but I thought I was buying a car that would be good on gas and something I wouldn’t have to work on to get to and from work. So I committed the ultimate sin {I was stupid and bought A brand new 71 Toyota] not even thinking of it as a threat to our Country but as God is my witness I have never bought another car that had a foreign name on it. I worked on that car as much as I did the Junkers I used for work. I had to pull the head off under my carport in the wintertime to have a valve job, and the car had less then 5000 on it. I had no books or even metric tools; I used American tools that would fit. My Brother had all of the in-between sizes like 32 seconds. When I got that piece of junk back together I sold it and went back to the $100 55 Chevy’s.

I was working construction and I tried to take an uholsterey class through the mail around 1970 but I wasn’t able to buy a sewing machine so I quit, then in 1988 I drove to Larmie, Wyoming to take a class at Wyo Tech for auto upholstery, and I took their custom painting class also. I only took the class for my own use, not to long after I went back to my job I got hurt pretty bad so once again didn’t I even get started doing my own cars but now that I’m retired I still want to mess with cars. I just do not have the expertise or as much knowledge as I would like to have. In the 60’s cars were less complicated but if you didn’t have much money you had to keep your car working or walk.

I had the inside of the 41 Chevy gutted except for a temporary seat that came with a van that the class did as a project. It was not too comfortable but that was all I had to drive. It was hard leaving my family for three months to complete the class but when it was over. It was an experience that I will always remember. You can imagine in 1988 pulling into gas stations, restaurants, motels anyplace I went people were excited about seeing a red Chevy coupe, especially the older guys saying then had one just like that. It was nice driving a street rod cross country 1000 miles each way. I would like to take that trip again someday.

Sorry for the long reply. This is a link to my site some of what I have been messing with since moving to the country. Most of the cars are gone now and I haven’t updated the site lately. Chevyoldies

<h1>Chevyoldies</h1>

ChoptopJimmy

You are right, do what you can do at the time, and keep adding on as time and money allows. I had to have my garage put up pretty quick so the cars would not sit under the pine trees to long. I would have put an upstairs on now looking back, it would have ben a good place for the in-laws, just kidding the cats could have stayed up there.

ford2custom

Mine dream garage is one with heat....LOL!

I have a two bay garage, just need to get it heated. I plan on putting a wood stove in it buy next winter. I also plan to paint the floors with the epoxy paint.

hi ford2custom , dont be sorry for that long reply thats great ,listening to you you are around my age ? maybe i am a little older married to the same woman for 52 years she was 16 and i was 18 we ran away and got married he parent had me arrested but the charges wer droped , 8 grand children 4 great grand children later, i sold the 34 roadster in 19 61 it got 28 firdt place trophes in 7 shows rite after i sold the car they started handing out 6 foot trophies and larger the new owner took the car all over the country even in pueratico,than it wound up in a chevy dealer showroom window in new jersey ,than it vanished i tried finding it but to no avail i wanted to buy it back,i sold the car because i was living with my parents thats wher the shed was wher it was built ,selling the car was the only way to buy my own home,since than i built many cars wich eventually sold when you need money to survive , if you look on this site under my name you can see some of the other cars i built not all of them , i currently own a 58 chrysler convertable hemi power ,and a 2006 dodge magnum srt 8 ,still ride motorcycles only in the summer cant handle the cold no more,nice talking to you ,joe brienza

joe brienza
I just went through your pictures, I love cars and have had close to two hundred the last time I counted but all of those cars would not add up to one of yours.

It would have been nice if you could have been able to get your car back. Have you ever thought to put one back together to resemble the 34? With your skills you could probably get one close without laying a lot of money in all the chrome and some of the other high dollar items but using the front section and same paint color, it would give you a little of that deja vu all over again.

I’m just a little younger then you but physically I have to be much older if you can still keep a motorcycle upright. I will check out your other cars the two in your garage look very nice and I fell in love with the Dodge Magnum when I first saw it. I would like to get a used someday if I can scrape up enough cash. I wish I could have move to a place with warm weather, some of the guys I worked with have relocated after retiring but we have three grand children here in Indiana. I have been married to the same woman now for almost 40 years. I went in the U.S. Army just when I turned 17 I was tired of people telling me what to do I got a big surprise. I had a 31 Ford coupe 283 with a 3 speed, I bought a 60 Pontiac just for the 4speed to put in the coupe but I traded it for a 60 Corvette. I was driving or cruising from one drive inn to another and a guy pulled up along side of me and asked if I wanted to trade. I gave him the 31 coupe, a 62 Pontiac Catalina 2dr. ht. Nice car and the 4speed for the Corvette. Then when someone stole the top off from the Corvette I got disgusted and traded it for a 39 Ford coupe, which I still have today. It has been inside most of the 41 years that I’ve owned it but it did spend enough time outside to do some damage. I just cannot let it go and I do not have the confidence anymore to do a lot of the work but I’m still dreaming. I sold a set of wheels for $60 and bought a 55 Chevy 2dr. sedan bel air 6 cyl. I drove that car to my hometown to get my 65 GTO and ended up trading that 55 Chevy for a 55 Chevy 2dr. ht minus motor and transmission. I had a guy rig up a tow bar for the GTO to hook onto the 55 ht. And brought it back to Indiana. I bought a wrecked 55 Chevy for $40 and took the engine; trans put it in the 55ht. The 55 ht top had power windows and the power bench seat. I drove it for a while and sold it for $350. Back then we could buy and sell 55 56 57’s for $100 to $300 and have a nice car. If we only knew what those cars would be worth today. I still love everything to do with 50’s and 60’s I can still remember watching the brand new 57 Chevy’s at the drag strip. I always wanted a 49 to 51 Mercury, almost had a nice about ten years ago but I kept telling the guy how nice it was and then he backed out it was a 50 original just changed over to twelve volts, baby blue looked like a new car for $20,000 it had a continental kit skirts really nice. I have a chopped 50 Ford that’s as close as the Mercury as I could get. I have a 454 I would like to put in it someday. Take care Joe
Thanks for the reply

Richard
Ford2custom