For a number of years I have lurked on this site gaining many great ideas for my dream toy garage. While I did not take any progress pictures I wanted to share pictures of the finished toy garage.
I started out designing the garage of my dreams. It quickly turned out to over 15,000 SF which would include storage for my cars, trucks, trailers, motor home, etc. When the cost came in I quickly decided this was not a smart thing to do.
I own several multi tenant office warehouse buildings and happened to lose a tenant in a 3,000 SF space. I looked at this space and decided it would be perfect! I cannot store anything there except for my cars, but that is OK since I have nearby storage for them. I especially liked that it would force me to keep under my control my disease of buying classic cars due to its size.
Some of the things on my wish list:
A. I am retired and need a place to go every day and play.
B. I do very little work on the cars other than light detailing, etc. so I did not need a heavy duty mechanical shop. My cars are all trailer queens. I enjoy regional and national competition and keep myself busy throughout the year going to the meets.
C. My hobby had become very disorganized. I wanted a dedicated parts and storage room with **** neat storage for all of my other car maintenance items.
D. Over the years I have accumulated some memorabilia plus other memories that I wanted to display.
E. I did not want my toy garage to look like the Cracker Barrel. I wanted it to look like a Chevrolet showroom.
The suite is 30x100. We started by totally gutting the space. We developed a set of plans which are attached. The hardest part was adding a second floor for the storage room and a second overhead 12'x14' overhead door for access.
I spent substantial time on the electrical plan. I did want to see cords if at all possible. This required adding floor outlets under all cars, planning closely where neon lights would be, etc. We installed the latest T5 technology throughout. This included switches that allow me to dim the florescents
.
I am a novice at adding files so I will post pictures on successive posts.
The link to this build can be found at: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=137714&highlight=1carguy
I started out designing the garage of my dreams. It quickly turned out to over 15,000 SF which would include storage for my cars, trucks, trailers, motor home, etc. When the cost came in I quickly decided this was not a smart thing to do.
I own several multi tenant office warehouse buildings and happened to lose a tenant in a 3,000 SF space. I looked at this space and decided it would be perfect! I cannot store anything there except for my cars, but that is OK since I have nearby storage for them. I especially liked that it would force me to keep under my control my disease of buying classic cars due to its size.
Some of the things on my wish list:
A. I am retired and need a place to go every day and play.
B. I do very little work on the cars other than light detailing, etc. so I did not need a heavy duty mechanical shop. My cars are all trailer queens. I enjoy regional and national competition and keep myself busy throughout the year going to the meets.
C. My hobby had become very disorganized. I wanted a dedicated parts and storage room with **** neat storage for all of my other car maintenance items.
D. Over the years I have accumulated some memorabilia plus other memories that I wanted to display.
E. I did not want my toy garage to look like the Cracker Barrel. I wanted it to look like a Chevrolet showroom.
The suite is 30x100. We started by totally gutting the space. We developed a set of plans which are attached. The hardest part was adding a second floor for the storage room and a second overhead 12'x14' overhead door for access.
I spent substantial time on the electrical plan. I did want to see cords if at all possible. This required adding floor outlets under all cars, planning closely where neon lights would be, etc. We installed the latest T5 technology throughout. This included switches that allow me to dim the florescents
I am a novice at adding files so I will post pictures on successive posts.
The link to this build can be found at: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=137714&highlight=1carguy
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and beautiful place but where is the service area and where are the lifts 
I'll even do the maintenance.
