The Garage, Part Two

Jeffrey Butts

I have previously written about my garage, twice in fact. The first time I chronicled my garage genealogy, from driveway to apartment carports and so on to my current garage. That story ended with dreamy eyed anticipation as I at last moved into a home, which was made with an appreciation of the automobile in mind. Recently I found myself desiring to improve the utility of the garage by culling out some of the collateral debris and organizing the remainder in cabinets. In addition to being a practical change, it was a cosmetic improvement. Make no mistake; I was not at all dissatisfied with my garage as it was. On the contrary, it stores three cars and a motorcycle and still allows me to get in and out of the car without being Harry Houdini. Television was the problem. Television and books. Television and books and car magazines.and the Internet. And an active imagination.

I admit to being a fan of some of the home remodeling shows. On cable, Horsepower TV has a lot of the cool stuff in their garage. And plenty of room. And light. I have never seen the remodelers do a garage show although "Curb Appeal" has come close. Right about the time we bought this house, Car and Driver magazine came out with an article entitled "Garage Majal." It was a feature on some of the coolest garages around. What a great story concept. I can't understand why the TV shows haven't picked up on this. Garages are a common thread in today's home and each one, no matter how utilitarian or grandiose, or how big or small, has its' own appeal and stories. The stories may be the best part of all. There has to be a humorous anecdote for everyone's garage. Like the time (and it wasn't particularly funny at the time) the handymen painted my garage door shut. When I went to open it, the overhead motor strained for a few seconds and then fired the two bolts holding the door to the track bar right across the room like bullets. Coulda' been ugly. I have heard about car clubs doing garage crawls. These events are similar to pub-crawls. Participants drive to one member's garage and have a hors d'oeuvre and a beverage to accompany the open house (garage). Each garage may feature something of interest belonging to the owner, a car, boat, or collection of some kind, for example. When completed, members would mount up and drive to the next garage. Some more affluent clubs might sip mineral water or champagne accompanied by caviar and truffles. For GTS it may be a Coke or a Henry's while we look at home video or mop up oil stains. Well, anyway, you get the general idea.

Right about the time that this tour idea was fading into the chemically modified recesses of my flower-power brain, I happened across a book at Borders in Beaverton, one of my favorite hangouts. I have a wonderful selection of bookstores close by. I especially like Borders because they turn their inventory quickly and have a good selection in my favorite subject areas. That is precisely where I came across "Garage: Reinventing the Place We Park", by Kira Obolensky. This book gives an overview of the garage from original purpose to multi-purpose. The history of the garage is covered, including its evolution from being an out-building to its integration with the suburban home. She has photos of famous garages, but not just the kind you would imagine. Included in this list are the garage of Henry Ford (predictable), and the garages of Steven Jobs, Buddy Holly and Walt Disney. From little acorns might oaks grow. Many of the garages in Obolinsky's book are very practical including those that have apartments or offices attached and those used for professional or hobby purposes. She has a sampling of upscale garages for those with seven figure incomes and a collector stable to match. On a more recent "run to the Borders," I found another book in the same genre. Author Phil Berg pursues a slightly different tack than the Obolinksy essay. "Ultimate Garages" is more about garages for car and bike junkies, albeit tuned to the upscale collector. This book is a direct result of the Car and Driver article, for which Berg was the original author. The premise is straightforward, highlighting the building(s), owner's thoughts, and features found in twenty-four different garages. Even though the people featured in this book are out of our income league (Jay Leno is one of the subjects) they all talk our language and would probably be as comfortable with us in their garage as we would with them in ours. An interesting thing about these books, both feature a garage with a 1937 Talbot Lago coupe (different garages, different cars, same year, style, and color) and both feature a Batmobile, one from the TV series and one from the recent movie. Now that Christmas has past, it is too late to recommend these books as a gift for someone or to drop the hint for yourself. Maybe when you are returning that pair of plaid pants you can get the money back and buy them. If you are really lucky, you might have received a gift certificate for your local bookstore. Either or both of these would be a good addition to the gearhead's library.

Well, back to my garage. I made that jump to high quality cabinetry. My plan, as you may recall, was to clear out enough of my junk so as to make room for the remainder to be stored neatly behind the cabinet doors and then have room to set up the slot car track again. I was also going to clean out our storage cube at the local rental space and have that extra money to add to the fortune I would make in the garage sale. Well, the garage sale never did take place. I did get rid of some of the excess, offloading it to neighbors for far less than a garage sale price. I only removed about 10% of the stuff in storage too, a disappointing result. My cabinet planning was another flop, but in retrospect it would have made little difference. I had chosen my most plentiful Tupperware container size as my template (Sidebar: there are many different styles and sizes of Tupperware boxes, choose the ones that will weigh less than fifty pounds loaded and, most importantly, have a good latching system). What I didn't figure on was the foundation footing taking away just enough from my critical dimensions so as to make it difficult to load multiple boxes. I was choosing from three different cabinet options; Lowe's, custom cabinets from the guys who did our kitchen, and a specialty maker "We're Organized." You can see their product at their website. I chose the specialty shop and the job they did was great. The cabinets are cantilever mounted, allowing for sweeping (or hosing) underneath. For the layout, I wanted cabinets on all three walls, but no tall cabinets, preferring instead to have work surfaces. On one sidewall the cabinets are a little higher than the ergonomic standard with the flat surface at 57". The other sidewall and the back wall are more ideal for work, standing at 37". On the lower sidewall, I have bookshelves mounted above. The installers asked me why I didn't go with higher cabinets and why I didn't put doors on the upper "bookshelf" cabinets. Simple. I have art and memorabilia that goes on the wall. The guy who built this house finished the walls in the garage and it seems complimentary to the layout to have something that looks more distinctive than a refrigerator factory. I want my collectibles and books to show.

The garages in the Phil Berg book all have share some common essentials. Outlets, plenty of outlets, including a 220v for big tools. Light, both artificial and powered. Floor treatment (some questionable). Music or video, or both. Many have lifts. Some have compressed air. One even has a turntable. I have plenty of outlets and I made sure that none were blocked by the cabinetry. I even have 220v but not the tools nor the skill to use them. I have plenty of artificial light actually but have been thinking about a future project where I could replace the top panel of my garage doors with one containing windows. I could have taken advantage of this remodel and done my garage floor with epoxy paint but my neighbor told me enough scary stories that I decided that the existing polished concrete was good enough. Besides, I have a Triumph and I shouldn't have to explain that impact. Compressed air would be cool but I can't really justify the expense given my limited mechanical skills (see above). I have music and a TV. Stephanie gave away my VCR but they are cheap enough that I can pick up another so that I can have a video going in the background while in the garage (Le Mans, Ronin, On Any Sunday, Rendezvous, Backdraft, you pick 'em). Not only that, I have a refrigerator and a microwave, even a roll-away bed, facts that Stephanie has been quick to point out when we don't see eye to eye. I have room for a lift but that means that I would try and get another car without getting rid of something I already have. Lord knows that I don't get a chance to drive these enough.

There are always things that I would change or upgrade if I could, just as we all would, but I am quite satisfied with what I have. The next step would have to be a quantum leap, say perhaps to a good sized barn, industrial garage, or the like. The disadvantage to those types of places is pointed out in the Phil Berg book, "Why get a place that you have to drive to just to drive you car that is there?" Yep, the garage is coming along just fine. Now if I could only get rid of some more of the other stuff I could set up my slot cars on a permanent layout. Why was it we needed all those seasonal decorations anyway?