3 Car Southern MI

[SgtHawkUSMC]

I love garages and I love this site, so I figure it's time to add my $.02 in. I moved from Mass and bought my current house about two years ago. It had a newly built 28’x40’ 3 car garage. I love it, but I'd love it more if it were attached. Over time there's a list of things that I'll do to it, but the priority list of other projects is rough. I need to insulate and cover the walls and ceiling and add a real heating system to it. Right now it has eight foot ceilings, but I plan on raising it to 10-12 feet for a lift at some point. Hopefully sooner rather than later. I've also been thinking about turning it 90 degrees and putting it in the area of the tall grass to the right of my car trailer. That way I'd be able to build an attached garage. That'll be a ways down the road though.
This is a working garage so I brought my 60 gallon 2 stage air compressor with me. I plumbed it in with copper and added drops all over the place. I wired in my 220v for the mig welder also.
Here are a few pics of it with my biggest project that I’m working on. It’s a 69 SS396 Camaro. I’ve put new floors, quarters and whole lot of other work into it.

Thanks for looking...









As it's sitting right now:

 

[shortykorte]

Welcome aboard. (No I'm not Navy)

Hey you have 4 walls and a ceiling, can't ask for much more except space, taller ceilings, more tools. At least you have a nice project to distract you!

 

[ajohno]

Car looks great so far.

 

[matt_i]

Excellent work! You might be able to add on, a short ways from me there is a very nice shop that's in the shape of an "L". I believe, but don't know for certain that they built in 2 stages this way.

Insulating, heating, and finishing will add a ton of comfort to your workspace

 

[dlewis]

Welcome.Looks good Hard Charger.

 

[SgtHawkUSMC]

Thanks guys. I'm pretty happy with how the Camaro is coming out. Hopefully I'll be firing up the 396 on the stand in the next few weeks. I'm not sweating the garage space right now. I know I have nothing to really complain about. I have a great space to work and it leaves me future projects. Just time and materials and I'll be good to go.
I've also thought about raising the garage and connecting it to the house. Aesthetically I have to be a little careful if I do that though. Victorians are a little harder to work with sometimes and it might be just a little too far away from the house.

 

[mcirish101]

Welcome Dave...the camaro looks great so far. The house and garage too!!

Where in southern Mi are you? I have a 2nd place in Hillsdale County - Osseo, Mi - Bird Lake.

Lookin' forward to seeing more progress as your time permits!!

 

[SgtHawkUSMC]

Welcome Dave...the camaro looks great so far. The house and garage too!!

Where in southern Mi are you? I have a 2nd place in Hillsdale County - Osseo, Mi - Bird Lake.

Lookin' forward to seeing more progress as your time permits!!

Thanks a lot. I'm a little south of Ann Arbor.
The house was actually moved to where it is about 13 years ago. We have the best of both worlds. Antique and a full basement with 9' ceilings as well as modern electricity and plumbing etc. The inside was remodeled at that time too, but most of the original hardwood etc was kept.
Here are a couple more pics of the SS.



Here are some of the details that I got into:

Rear seatbelt mounts didn't look anything like factory, so I transferred my originals over.







Heater box originally


After a little clean up


Wiper/washer motor before




After a little love

 

[Dodge]

Nice place you have there. What did you use on the underside of the Camaro? It sure looks good. Good idea installing the fuel and brake lines while on rotisserie. The car looks to be in pretty good condition.

 

[SgtHawkUSMC]

Nice place you have there. What did you use on the underside of the Camaro? It sure looks good. Good idea installing the fuel and brake lines while on rotisserie. The car looks to be in pretty good condition.

I sprayed it with epoxy primer first and then shot the black with SEM Trim Black. It was real easy to spray and the big bonus is that it comes in rattle cans for touch ups down the road.
I lucked into the rotisserie. She's in good condition now, but it wasn't when I started in 2008. My son and I laid a couple of dark black marks up the driveway before I pulled it in our garage back east. I started tearing it down that day and never looked back.
Here's a shot of what it looked like at one point. She's come a long way since then... Luckily most parts are original and I was able to re-use them. Just not the floor and rear quarters.

 

[iceman510]

Welcome. Nice house, garage and sky. I am just north of you in Howell.

I get what you are saying about the aesthetic of the garage and victorian house. I left behind a 120 year old house in Illinois where they had added a 4 car to the back, behind the house where you couldn't really see it from the road.

 

[86turbodsl]

Welcome neighbor! I'm in south central Mi, near Jackson and work in AA.

Looking forward to more of your work. My uncle is a 69 Z28 owner. Awesome car, and part of what got me started in old cars.

 

[SgtHawkUSMC]

I appreciate it guys. I think in the end we'll be able to build a connection between the house and the garage, raise the garage a few feet and re-side it with brick. The only problem is that the addition will be nearly the same square footage as the house... I still like the idea of turning the garage 90 degrees, pushing it back and then building an addition with a new attached garage. That way the current garage can end up as a great storage garage & workshop for the toys. We'll see in time... Plans are ever evolving.