Hello from a tight CA garage!

[JP_CA]

Hey all,

I've been lurking but I figured posting can't hurt! Been active on vehicle-specific forums in the past. Love tools, cars, bicycles, etc.

Living in the San Francisco Bay Area, working as a mechanical design engineer at the larger local electrical vehicle company

Given the extraordinary rent in the area and the fact that I work and live in the same city, I'm sharing space with my folks. This gives me the bonus of garage space!

Thankfully I have a thing for small cars (except my 2000 Tahoe Limited), so this small garage is just large enough. We moved the garage from the other side of the property years ago and tried our best to maximize the size, but it's still not huge as you can see. Fortunately the driveway is long!

I've got a 7-foot butcher block workbench in the back with steel racks distributed around the garage. Toolboxes have been multiplying while I'm not looking, along with tools. There's a storage loft above the Mini's spot and not shown is a bike shed that also holds camping gear, etc.

Currently the garage houses my project car, a 1967 Morris Mini Deluxe, and my dad's 1972 Ginetta G4. Both fun, unique, RHD cars! The Mini is "in recovery" from getting an engine rebuild - a whopping 1310 ccs replacing 998.

 

[JP_CA]

Almost forgot - one of the biggest improvements I've made other than the loft is an external extension cord reel and LEDs under the awning. Killer for working on cars in the driveway.

 

[MikeF2316]

That garage makes that Mini look as big as the new ones!

And welcome!

 

[JP_CA]

That garage makes that Mini look as big as the new ones!

And welcome!

No kidding . . I'd love to have more storage room elsewhere so I could clear the racks from beside the Mini. But it works out.

 

[driftpin]

Looks like good use of small space.

I had to look-up the Ginetta, and saw this current offering: https://www.ginetta.com/g55

The one you have reminds me if a Siata Spring. I haven't finished my internet search on yours, but I assume it's a FIAT-powered, or maybe Alfa-Romeo powered small-production roadster from the 1960's.

From the name, I assumed it was Italian, but now I've discovered it's a British enthusiast's automobile, and powered by Ford.

The company remains in business today producing a small number of both racing and road cars, and they are highly collectible and sought after. The “lightweight” Ginetta body was first used on the G3 race-only cars beginning in 1959, and was carried over to the G4 line the following year, and on all subsequent years of G4 production.

The G4/R is the racing version of the G4 road cars, which used the new Ford 105E engine and had a glass fiber GT style body and the suspension was updated to coil springing at the front with Ford live axle at the rear.

Whereas the earlier Ginetta G2 and G3 had been designed only for competition, the G4 was usable as an everyday car but still was very competitive in Motor Sport with numerous successes. Over 500 were made up to 1969 with a variety of Ford engines. In 1963 a coupé was introduced alongside the open car and a BMC axle replaced the Ford one at the rear. On test the car reached 120-mph with a 1500-cc engine. Production ended in 1968 but was revived in 1981 with the Series IV which was two inches wider and three inches longer than the G4-III.

http://brightonmotorsports.com/wordpress/project/1965-ginetta-g4r-roadster/

Like a Lotus/Caterham 7, a Marcos, or a Costin GT (burgundy car), those were coupes and roadsters, and only a few built.

https://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/547/Costin-Nathan-GT.html

http://www.marcoscars.net/models.htm

 

[Motorman55]

Beats a 1 car garage that's for sure!

 

[JP_CA]

Certainly beats a 1-car!!

The Ginetta is an odd bird for sure, but tons of fun to drive. Ours is Ford-powered, with a lot of parts from other British cars (steering rack, knuckles, rear end, etc.) as they all were. In period they were raced with BMC motors and the like. It was "factory" built in very low quantities - "factory" being more like "blokes in a shed." The car weights 1,400 lbs.

 

[Odowda]

Looks like you are using the limited space well! Like the toys. Lived in S.F. (Van Ness & Bay) for four plus years while I did grad school at SFSU back in the '70s; it was really a fun place to live back then before the tech boom. At that time I had a '67 Mini Cooper S and a Triumph TR6 for a couple years. Fun times. Wish you the best on you projects.