Citrogarage

[lucajack2cv]

Hi, I'm Luca from Italy, this is a great forum also for european "garagists"!

Here's the country house I'm restorating since one year with of course a great place destinated to old small cars I love, Citroen 2CV and similar vehicles.

Sorry about my poor english, here's some pictures:




This old rural porch/barn will be the garage, after 150 yaears a complete restoration of the roof was necessary..



At the end of winter '07-'08 it become Absolutely Necessary!!




Lot of work to keep in place the oldest biggest old wood parts, except fot the the to much "eaten" ones..




.. and completely change the smallest parts, then cover again everything..




.. as my "old" workshop and a little Trabant pray for their life..



Half-work done as a Renault Estafette and a Citroen 2CV Truckette wait at security-distance.



At last, water and snow are out of the garage It looks as a cathedral or not?

(to be continued..)


See you soon for next steps!

Ciao, Lucaj

 

[rockvr4]

Nice garage. Keep us updated.

Don't worry about your English you get the point across.

 

[jwhcars]

Thanks for sharing...it is good to see old buildings restored and I think it makes a fantastic shop-garage.

 

[Fins/413]

That is cool and it does look like a church.

 

[lucajack2cv]

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoy it..

Here's some more from last winter works: we'd like to have a parking-out-of-dust-area for best cars and an upstairs-place to keep spare-parts, tires and more, consider the building is more than 6 meters hight!

We decided to build the upstair stage in wood, and to cover only half of the place in order to keep an ensemble-vision of the roof structure from inside..

Here we go:



First of all we make sure that our highest car, the Citroen HY Van, could stay under the stage.. 2,5 meters is ok: yes it can, but the snow must stay outside!!




Here's me and my father tryig to build a solid stair.. was a very cold december, we look like the Zar Family working in their siberian prison camp!




Hot-tea-break..




.. as our cat Romeo checks everything it's right..




Maybe's better if my dad checks one last time..




Next morning.. et Voilà




In a small area downstair I finally built with some residual woods a nice palce to store the small 2CV engines and gearboxes..




This old building is really hard to use as a workshop in wintertime becouse it would be unuseful to warm it: so hight, so open and completely without any kind of isolation..

.. but it is very "agreable" in spring and summer becouse of it's East-open-side that keeps it cool al the day..


I will update you next week becouse the neverending-works must continue also during this w.e.!

See you soon, ciao Lucaj.

 

[sammerdog]

Lucajack - Thank you for sharing your garage re-build. What a cool older building.

Any chance of a few more exterior shots?
....and perhaps a shot or two of the Citroen van's interior?

You have a neat set-up going on it Italy!

 

[rieferman]

I have to re-build the stairs in my old barn soon and was considering the various options... seeing your finished stairs, I think that style will look really nice in my shop, plus save me the "triangle cuts" over and over! Nice work!

Really cool to save that old space!

 

[tonyvlx]

lucajack2cv

What part of italy are u from?? My parents are from Isernia(Molise) region.

 

[lucajack2cv]

Lucajack - Thank you for sharing your garage re-build. What a cool older building.

Any chance of a few more exterior shots?
....and perhaps a shot or two of the Citroen van's interior?

You have a neat set-up going on it Italy!

Thanks Sammerdog. Yes I have some, here's the exterior of the barn and of the big country-house, it's an old farm coming from XVII century but changed a lot during all these years.. (me and the house we are in the North-west of Italy, 60 km from Torino, 90 km from France, Isernia is instade in the center of Italy )








the house excaped from being destroyed and rebuilt as a modern house but now is in good hands (mine ) and I hope to save it's old "charme" .. and put a little more with my cars and my hand-works, maybe!




These are some pictures of the Citroen "H van" interior I have here.. they're from last summer holydays (during my trip from Torino to Rome in order to take part to the International Citroen Car Club Rally http://nuke.icccr2008.it/ in the autodrome of Vallelunga)






This '66 Citroen Van carried successfully the 4.000 T-shirts fot the meeting!



almost succesfully..






It is half campig-car and half normal-van becouse I would keep it's possibility to carry a complete rebuilding-2CV in it's back





I must go now, See you as soon as possible, Ciao Luca.

 

[lucajack2cv]

I have to re-build the stairs in my old barn soon and was considering the various options... seeing your finished stairs, I think that style will look really nice in my shop, plus save me the "triangle cuts" over and over! Nice work!
[...]

Quite nice.. and fast to build (4-5 hours)

Ciao Luca.

 

[nonhog]

Wow, cool set up. great variety from the stuff we see in the states.
Keep sharing !

 

[M5 LiTE]

Talk about olde-world character and charm. I love it!

 

[justinmc]

Nice post/beam setup! Do you have any idea to the age of the structure? Thats got all kinds of old world cool to it! Nice Cit's too.

 

[sharpe427]

Awesome building!

 

[Frank Elson]

nice work you have there.
Did I spot a DS Pallas in an early shot? Does it run?

 

[ripsnortMN]

That has got to be in the top five for garage with the most character.

 

[RRmech]

Kinda reminds me of those European heist films.....where they always stash the getaway Van.....in a garage that looks just like that?

Steve

 

[kfainf]

Very cool old building to save as a garage. Looks like you're doing great work.
That old Citroen van is cool also. Keep the posts coming.

 

[chiefav8r]

Looks like you are going to have your hands full with that project, can't wait to see how it turns out. And by the way your English is great, a whole lot better than my Italian.

 

[lucajack2cv]

Hi friends, tanks everybody,today I'm so deep in my (not-garagist-unfortunately) work that I can just post some shots of the citrogarage' yard great flood of some weeks ago









In fact a canal very next to my home was "overload" becouse of hard rains butI've been lucky, me and my nearbour were able to move some gates and situation changed very fast, in few hours situation turn normal again.

The ground is now perfectly dry and in fact in this time I'm making an hand-made stone-yard-pavement

It will be the explained in my next posts!

Lj

 

[PurdueSD]

Love the open beam ceiling and all of the character!

Great job!

 

[joehalford01]

that is so cool. i love your garage and all the shots you provided. it's really cool to see something different like that.

 

[lucajack2cv]

Thanks PurdueSD and joehalford01

Here's some news about the exterior pavement: I decided to use a traditonal way: the round-stone pavement tipical of farm-yard but also some important old squares of north-Italy hystorical towns as..

Lodi:


Mantova:


and also a lot of very small jewels, as this forgotten middle age abbey in Staffarda..





.. and of course it's farms..





My yard and next fields are full of these round-rocks: this old house has already some yard-parts with this pavement, unfortunatly half-ruined or in a bad level, becouse the whole ground level had been increased in XIX century in order to come out of an ancient swamp.

This pavement made of sand and stones is able to "drain" 80% of rain directly in the ground indstade to create concentrations, it is good for my "swamp" problems..

This part of old pavemente was almost-ok and first of all I tried to complete it to have a little experience..







(to be continued..)

 

[lucajack2cv]

Then I attak a bigger area in the front. It was necessary to dig it in order to have correct levels in the four sides and corners of this area..




I've not a bulldozer but a little 1 dog-power- carriot and lot of hours of a working man where enough:




Here's the rest of an ancient pavement, unfortunately too deep in the ground to be used as it is, , but but it gave lot of perfect-stones coming from an old and wise selection..



My little trabant, waiting for it's front wheels, is again isulated from the free world..




At last, the hole is finished, almost ready to fill it with sand and stones..



(to be continued..)

 

[BooUrns!]

My hat is off to you. You are truely a DIY master! Incredible work, and incredibly difficult!

 

[CaliNapco]

I love your place!.. I'd take it in a heart beat over a lot of the High dollar US garages....

The Citroens are really cool too....

 

[JohnK007]

LJ, this is going to sound really out there, but the very first photo you posted looks almost exactly the same as a scene from a WWII movie called "Von Ryan's Express" starring Frank Sinatra! It looks identical to the train station scene where Frank Sinatra's character has to shoot Gabriella. I don't have the movie to check for sure but, the similarity is uncanny. The bridge over the RR tracks, the building's proximity to the tracks, everything! Any chance your garage was used for this scene? The movie was made in 1965.

 

[thomask]

Being from Florida, but also having visited Italy, we very much enjoyed the work you are doing. The driveway made of stones is very neat. Please keep posting pictures and we wish you the best our friend.

"If all people could spend time sharing their hobbies and garages the world would be a better place."

 

[rieferman]

Regarding the stairs you built... What is your riser height for each step and are the steps comfortable for you?

I have a restriction on my run distance that will require 9 inch risers (or cutting more clearing out of above floor... oh no my storage space!), and I'm wondering if it's going to drive me nuts

 

[PAToyota]

Very cool! Lots of character with both the garage and the vehicles.

When I was young, my father had a Citroen DS. I loved that car - as did he!

 

[Mtrhd0024]

Sweett garage!!

Love the character of your place! And sweet collection of cars too! Between all the french cars, and the pictures you've shown us, it almost looks like france!

I myself currently live in the UK, and have owned a couple of french cars, (from the early 90's, so newer than your collection, but still oldish) so I can appreciate the character that comes with owning one, as well as their simplistic construction and how easy they are to work on!

I also had a little laugh at your collection of Trabants! Seems like everything you own had lots of character! I've always wondered what a two-stroke car would be like haha!

Keep showing us pictures, I love your place!

 

[T56 Impala]

First off, WELCOME. Thank you so much for sharing. The photos make me want to go back to Italy so bad! I absolutely love every part of the country. It is indeed nice to see someone with the skills you have. Even nicer is that you put those skill to use!

Again, very nice and keep us posted.

 

[Vicegrip]

Outstanding garage and thread! Please keep updating with you fine work and interesting travels.

 

[Skyline]

Jack;

You place is really beautiful. And it is folks like you who are willing to do thing's the "old" way that make Italy one of the best places in the world to visit. Newer is not necessarily better.

I can really appreciate the club atmosphere you must share with your other 2CV enthusiasts. I just don't get why, as an Italian, you chose that Marque? During my last visit to Italy about 20 years ago, I drove all over the country, traveling over 3,000 km. I had rented one of the bigger Alfas, and I sometimes struggled to keep up to traffic in that. I remember on several occasions where I was cruising at over 220km/hr on the highway, and had cars blow by me like I was standing still. Your countrymen are not know for being relaxed drivers! (One of the many, many things I love about Italy....I seem to no longer be in the minority as a crazy driver!) I can't imagine even a secondary road in a 2CV, not to mention the Autostrada. And there are SO many wonderful Italian machines you could have chosen that are equally quirky and perverse as a 2CV....but go better.

Please keep the pictures coming!

 

[lucajack2cv]

Really thanks to everybody, many works I saw in this forum have great caracter, more or less DIY, they express the personality of the owner, often more of other rooms of their house.

June 10thy will be one year me and my girlfriend live is country house (my cars some more).


Before I alwaws lived in a flat with a 3x5 square meters car-box (in italy houses and land-surfaces are very expensive becouse of speculation and several people don't has even this possibility) but in that small space everithing of my interest in cars, bikes, iron, wood, etc.. was born. The same for many people everywhere in the world, as a young or old man, a rich or poor man.

When I had possibility to find a home I serched for something to save: this old farm was too-big for one family having more place for cars than living, too ruined and too next to railroad to be destroyed and rebuilt to be high-price-sold as a multi-family-"villa".. So it was perfect for us!

JohnK007: I've not seen that movie but i'm interested in cinema I will serch for: I've read the train was from Germany to Italy and several Ilatian actors took part (Adolfo Celi, Raffaella Carra) put I'm almost sure italian scenes had be turned in another region.

Skyline, lot of italian people drive 2000Km/h Alfa Romeo, Fiat or Lancia or german and japanese big modern cars, It'me me and my friend we are ab-normals! We love 2CV and similar cars becouse of theyr style of living unfortunately not-prevalent nowadays in Italy, a slow-drive slow-food slow-living we can resume in the french (but everywhere diffured) "motto" Ceci n'est pas un voiture, c'est un art de vivre!

Finally for you Rieferman: for me "perfect stair" in metrical numbers is: 17 cm high, 30 cm deep, but for this stair was impossible: I think it's 19 cm higt and less than 25 deep..

Ciao I must go now, next week next photos!

Lj

 

[lucajack2cv]

Here's some news from Fossano, Italy.

First of all, an exposition of misterious archeological pieces found during digging:

Now the stones can be placed on a bed not of normal sand but of "sabbia granita", it means a special mixture of sand, clay and very small gravel:

Under it a draining but solid substrate of compacted ground and gravel:

Here we go..

I try to put biggest stones in the front part (stones coming from ancient pavement they were bigger than normal use, probably due to the rural situation: cows, loaded carriages, maybe first tractors) and smaller ones next to the home not to walk on a sort of river-bed.

In the very first part we're making a rounded canal of small stones able to take away water to the main drain.

Female hands are more sharp and artistical for this, Here's Rosanna at work

Finally a little more mixed sand and wash everything. On the left you can se a different solution, the wood-pavement in front of the garage, coming from the demolition of an old Fiat factory in Torino!

(to be continued..)

 

[lucajack2cv]

Here's Roxie putting stones in the central area in a nice way, dommàge we've not started with this design since the beginning..








Very long work and you must always keep an eye to the rope becouse of the two directions to follow..




"Sous le pavè, la plage..."






At the end of two w.e. working days, here's the result:





Great Roxie!!! ..And the circle start to close.

 

[fotoflojoe]

Lucajack - Thank you for sharing your garage re-build. What a cool older building.

Any chance of a few more exterior shots?
....and perhaps a shot or two of the Citroen van's interior?

You have a neat set-up going on it Italy!

Yes, yes! Let's see more of that Citroen van!

Great work so far!

Edit: Oops, didn't see your reply to Sammerdog's post.
Your home... It looks like a small village! It's amazing.

 

[lucajack2cv]

here's one more shot of the H van:



Yes this big farm seems a little village in fact, and every part is useful for also the old barn we use to stock citroen 2cv bodies and preserve them for hard times..

 

[alberto]

LJ:

My goodness, this is the coolest thing going. Absolutely great job.

Please keep posting pictures of your efforts.

I've coveted one of those Agipgas Servizio signs for some time, are they hard to find in Italy? I am going to be in Italy later this year, where would you suggest looking? I've tried e-bay Italia, without much luck.


Thanks for posting this.