Good examples of bad garages!

[REFLEXX]

I don't understand why someone would leave a $50,000 car outside and keep **** in the garage!!!

Enjoy!

http://www.wallstreetfighter.com/2007/01/remember-when-garages-were-for-cars.html

 

[MAD]

I have solved the problem by heaping all of the junk on top of the car in the garage.

 

[Danglerb]

The pictures that make me wacko are the ones with the vintage Ferrari stacked with laundry baskets etc.

Personally I have two Porsche's in the driveway, wife's car on the street in front under a pine tree, my old Mustang on a street behind the complex, and pay $300 a month for storage beyond my loaded garage for items that could not sanely be considered worth more than $2k.

The problem with all of these orphaned bits of whatever, is that instead of going into a dumpster 10 years ago I rescued them, and now have a responsibility to make sure they all get good homes. I have done quite well at that, making a number of collectors of the same junk very happy, as well as hauling loads to the recycle center, but I seem to have also now purchased an almost equal volume of tools and automotive bits.

 

[TerryG]

In my line of work as a repair man I'm in 5, 6, or more garages everyday. Seems like a garage full of stuff rather than cars are more and more becoming the norm.

 

[JMURiz]

The first couple of pictures look like my parents' garage...full of old furniture they "will get around to refinishing some day", while their cars sit outside.

 

[Kevin54]

Those garages look like half of the ones in my neighborhood."Can't throw it away....Might need it someday". Right!!!

Kevin

 

[Top_Notch]

The pictures that make me wacko are the ones with the vintage Ferrari stacked with laundry baskets etc.

This is a picture of the garage of a home that I purchased several years ago. Hard to tell, but within this mound of rubble were two Midyear Corvettes. An all original low mileage 1964 Roadster (hint: it's White) and a low mileage non original 1966 Roadster. Worked out for me since the owner didn't want to pull the '66 out so I purchased it with the home. Attached is what it looks like once I cleaned up 'a little'.

 

[NWOhioChevyGuy]

Sweet, Maybe I'll have to look closer in the corners of my garage and see if they left any vettes in the garage at my new house....LOL

O that's right, we bought it out of foreclosure, if it wasn't bolted down or concreted in it's gone.

 

[Matti]

I keep my BMW outside and my 'Cuda inside my tiny 12x22 garage.

The reason people have their garages full of stuff is because:
1) Lots of people are pack rats (all that junk is still good)
2) People have too much stuff in general
3) Garages are almost always too small
4) Lots of houses don't have basements (even the ones that do have stuffed garages)

 

[Bigger Hammer]

4) Lots of houses don't have basements (even the ones that do have stuffed garages)

This is the key right here. The big developers realized that they can get a huge impressive house if they just move the basement above grade and finish it out. There is no cost of having a true foundation and basement walls. Soooo, the storage that used to be in the basement has to go some where and since most Home owners associations don't allow mini barns the garage is pretty much the only option.

My wife and I realized this as we shopped around for a house 3+ years ago. I'm glad we didn't fall into the developed neighborhood trap. I would have been miserable ever since.

 

[Billdozer]

Try buying a typical Southern California suburban house built in the last 30 years or so. Never a basement, generally no attic and sometimes, not even rafters in the garage. For a single dude, maybe not a big deal. Once the family grows it's a non-stop closet organizing, shed building, rafter hanging, Christmas decoration-hating dad who (as my wife recently pointed out) still only parks cars that don't run in the garage. And then there is the motorcycle projects... Well, at least we don't have snow.

 

[BigKev]

Bill,

I understand where you are coming from. I live in Riverside (next city over from Bill's town). My house was not part of a development, but is typical of a 1950s California Ranch Style house. I built a mini-barn out back for storage, but as I told my wife that the house is hers, but the garage is mine. So besides a part of the loft I built in the garage to hold the holiday decorations and camping gear, then rest of the garage is mine. I park my 2006 Taurus, and her 2005 Sportage in the driveway. The garage holds my '54 Packard project car, and gives me plenty of workspace.

My thread: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12923

I wish California houses had basements. My house has a crawl space underneath it, but that is it. Also the rafters are in the garage are spaced 48 inches on center. So basically I have a open ceiling that cannot be used for rafter storage. I built a storage loft that sits 7" off the ground along the back wall. This gives me extra off floor storage, and yet is easy to reach without a ladder or step stool. I am 6'4", so it gives me about space to walk underneath it without banging my head.

 

[bluesman2a]

Soooo, the storage that used to be in the basement has to go some where and since most Home owners associations don't allow mini barns the garage is pretty much the only option.

My wife and I realized this as we shopped around for a house 3+ years ago. I'm glad we didn't fall into the developed neighborhood trap. I would have been miserable ever since.

Amen to that!!! Our recent house is NOT in a sub-division and it's a good thing, cause we never would have survived.

 

[Matti]

Well I've got the basement for some storage but try getting creative with a garage design with a 47' wide lot. There's not a lot of options. Whatever I build it will be better than my 12x22!

 

[Ken P]

Here is my brother's 94 Cobra. I was over there at Thanksgiving trying to figure out if it is an early build date and what it may be worth. It sat outside at his old house for a few years but at least it is inside now.

It's been bumped in the front enough to blow both airbags. He also said it has something knocking / rapping in the right side of the block.

 

[PhantomEB]

FAWK.... I hate packrats, I had to fight so much to get my folks to stop keepin useless ****, they keep claiming one day they will use it.... ya right, they are 65+ and always have to ask me to install this, move that... I KNOW what they will use and not use. Now we have come to the agreement, the workshop can be parking for their little minivan and NOTHING else of theirs, the rest is mine.

Same with my best bud... he WAS a packrat, now that I bug the hell out of him these past 6 months, his garage has come from similar to the cobra pic above to a very well laid out garage, shitloads of cubbyholes but that was the one thing I couldnt win.... now hes got a 66 Early bronco hes doing body work on. Still way cleaner than most peoples!

Cant wait til I get mine, if its going into storage, fine its going up in the attic, its NOT gonna be stored in the workshop area!

 

[bigdav160]

FAWK.... I hate packrats,

Proud packrat here

I guess I should have thrown out the engines stored under the workbench for decades, but damn, some of them turned out to have desirable date codes

Obviously, all my toys can't fit in the garage (no basements here in south Texas neither) so some sit outside. Our trucks were pretty expensive and have never been in the garage. It doesn't bother me.

Now, if my wife tried to put some of her stuff out there, well, I put it straight in the trashcan. :

 

[moogoob]

I keep my BMW outside and my 'Cuda inside my tiny 12x22 garage.

The reason people have their garages full of stuff is because:
1) Lots of people are pack rats (all that junk is still good)
2) People have too much stuff in general
3) Garages are almost always too small
4) Lots of houses don't have basements (even the ones that do have stuffed garages)

I never would have guessed #3 by looking at this site.

 

[Danglerb]

If I had an aircraft hanger I think I could fill it up in a year or two.

OTOH all the crazy old junkmen I know seem pretty happy. Its their kids that have to deal with the stuff.

 

[Willy Victor]

The guy next door to me is 88yrs. old and every garbage day he prowls the neighborhood looking for junk. His garage is full of non-working lawnmowers. I keep telling him there is a reason why people throw them away, they don't work. If he knew how to fix them I could see it but he doesn't have a clue. You see that in people that grew up during the Depression, they just can't bring themselves to throw anything away.

Willy

 

[gotta56forme]

By way of example...

Some people draw really well (artists); some can't at all or really badly...
some people play basketball really well; some can't play it all or really badly...
some people _(fill-in-the-blank)_ really well; others can't do it at all or really badly...

I heard/read that hoard'ers are the same way. Some hoarders are at the opposite end of the spectrum from the people who are really wasteful. Some pathological hoarders are not even conscious of the fact that they think they need to take responsibility for the most simple of things like an old newspaper. They feel the item has value or will have value. They will save it for that moment for when it's needed. They take responsibility for it. Some of them have this acute sense of responsibility.

An elderly woman whose lawn I mow in exchange for using her garage to store one of my cars in, is a hoarder. She has rabbit trails in her house to walk through, and has stacks of stuff that were placed there 20 years ago or more.

 

[milkovich]

I'm a pathological hoarder.

The sad part is I don't keep stuff, I buy it. If it's a TH350 or a ten bolt, I give it away if I can but everytime I come across a TH400 I complusively buy it. I throw away or ebay as much as I can. Magazines, blow molded cases for tools, take off parts from project cars and bikes, etc. I just habitually go to swap meets and keep buying parts for projects I don't even own yet.

I just can't pass up a good deal.

 

[l_bilyk]

This is a picture of the garage of a home that I purchased several years ago. Hard to tell, but within this mound of rubble were two Midyear Corvettes. An all original low mileage 1964 Roadster (hint: it's White) and a low mileage non original 1966 Roadster. Worked out for me since the owner didn't want to pull the '66 out so I purchased it with the home. Attached is what it looks like once I cleaned up 'a little'.

You have got to be kidding! Nice score

 

[john56h]

My problem....too many cars. A lot of them are race cars. When the off-season comes around it is always fun to try to squirrel them away for winter. We usually will put one in the shop to accomplish major overhaul and the rest go to places wherever we can find some indoor space for a few months. Here is a picture of how one garage looked by spring....my Dad's garage. And he is a "pack-rat". Actually, we are all pack-rats! I can't even get Dad to keep the garage door closed (notice all the leaves that blew in), he says the weather is hurting the door. Duh...the weather is hurting what's inside the door too!



Here's the "shop"...not too much better. We still have a lot of work to do to get it the way we wnat it.

 

[justinking060310]

My problem....too many cars. A lot of them are race cars. When the off-season comes around it is always fun to try to squirrel them away for winter. We usually will put one in the shop to accomplish major overhaul and the rest go to places wherever we can find some indoor space for a few months. Here is a picture of how one garage looked by spring....my Dad's garage. And he is a "pack-rat". Actually, we are all pack-rats! I can't even get Dad to keep the garage door closed (notice all the leaves that blew in), he says the weather is hurting the door. Duh...the weather is hurting what's inside the door too!



Here's the "shop"...not too much better. We still have a lot of work to do to get it the way we wnat it.

Is that a RAT i see just above the propane tank on the lower right?

 

[Woffski]

When I caught myself saving alot of junk, I went to a garbage company. I ordered a 6 yard container and threw away everything that I had not used in a year. Alot of junk went away. I try to do that once a year now, and my garage is pretty much clean.

 

[john56h]

"Is that a RAT i see just above the propane tank on the lower right?"


Oh...that's just Scruffy!
Seriously....I never noticed it before! Upon looking at the picture blown up, no it is just some leaves that decided to group together and pass themselves off as a rat.


I did unfold my car cover and find a mice nest inside though. Pesky little buggers chewed about 5 or 6 fist sized holes in it.

 

[bgarrett]

heres a bad one

 

[shopforeman]

Here now! There are no bad garages...only bad garage owners!

 

[WolverineCoatings]

I love this board! We have a woman in our neighborhood who couldn't fit a pencil in her garage if she tried! i bet there is nothing in there worth more than $1.50 !

 

[dodgepolara500]

The guy next door to me is 88yrs. old and every garbage day he prowls the neighborhood looking for junk. His garage is full of non-working lawnmowers. I keep telling him there is a reason why people throw them away, they don't work. If he knew how to fix them I could see it but he doesn't have a clue. You see that in people that grew up during the Depression, they just can't bring themselves to throw anything away.

Willy

This is so true. The next door neighbor to my parents was the same way. They hoarded everything including old gift wrap and bows. His garage has every imaginable nut, bolt and screw he ever laid hands on. He was able to get a car in there though. When you have nothing as a kid, everything is valuable.

 

[trust]

My father in law was that way, but understandably, he was a real old time cowboy and running to town for bolts or belts or *** was an all day event and meant the loss of a full day of work. His shop has dirt floors, not a level place in them but more good stuff than you can imagine. i still wonder how I can justify bringing home his treadle sharpening wheel, drill press, etc and where to put them if I did

 

[beardking]

My Dodge Ram and my wife's Honda Accord get wedged together on our driveway while my bike and my buddies bike takes up a good portion of my garage. Of course, it's overrun by the obligatory 1/2 empty cans of paint and Christmas decorations too. About this time last year, I actually had 5 different motorcycles wedged into it, and it's only a 1 car garage.

Also, if I actually put my truck fully into my garage, I would have a brand new hood shaped hole in my living room wall. and I'd be trapped in my truck because I wouldn't be able to open the doors. Even if it was the only thing in there.