My tandem garage.

[356vintage]

This is my first post and I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Rich and I live in Northern California. I like to collect automobilia, petrolania and vintage Porsche cars. My office is in my garage where I spend a good part of the day or evening just looking around (not getting much done). I'll attempt to post some photos of parts of the garage.
The tandem garage is approximately 650 s.f. with a single post lift to accommodate the vintage cars. I remodeled our home over about a 4 year period between working on a job. Most of the work was done by me with some help from friends occasionally.
I enjoy this forum and look forward to participating.

 

[river1]

WELCOME

love the look of that garage

how about pics of the inside

later jim

 

[356vintage]

Here are some pics of a bunch of stuff, a single post lift, and a hang out for friends.

 

[create]

Wow, that looks awesome. Nice set of cars you have there.

 

[Mr Long Hood]

super space. welcome to another Porsche dude.

 

[Tazfink]

Looks fun! Love the signs.

 

[luvair]

Rich, I love your 356's and garage!

What is height, length and width of your garage?

I am planning a tandem myself, and when built will be searching for a Speedster.

BTW, think I saw your cars in Monterey last month.

Thanks.

 

[356vintage]

Thanks for the feedback.

Mike, the silver car took 1st in class and Judge's Cup for Porsche at the Concours on the Avenue in Carmel, Ca.

Tazfink, Been collecting this stuff for a long time. It's fun. Lots more photos to come if there's interest.

Mr. Long Hood, fun stuff.

Create, thanks.

A little about the garage:
The inside width is 15' 6" x 21' 6" the wall height is 9' 6" and the ridge is 12'.
The main post of the lift is approximately 20" from the wall towards the center of the garage doors. The center line of the lift is not the center of the garage doors. I wanted more space on the bench side to work.

The remainder of the garage area is a flat 8' 2" ceiling height but the tandem depth helps make it look somewhat tunnel like. I have a mirrored display for collectibles on the far wall. Makes the space look bigger.
Rich

 

[river1]

WOW thanks for the interior pics.

it's even better then i thought it would be

later jim

 

[356vintage]

Thanks Jim.
Here's some photos of other parts of the garage.
Here's a close-up of the emergency shut off switch so the car won't go through the roof. Hey, I was concerned, so better safe than sorry. Works well, I carefully test it every so often.

 

[RbrtAWhyt]

Beautiful place you have there. Congrats...

 

[luvair]

Rich,

Thanks for info. Congrats on your wins @ Monterey area.

Not sure I enjoy your beautiful cars more than the garage. Clearly your garage is a first place winner too!

Mike

 

[JMURiz]

Great looking space, the decor looks perfect with the 356s.
What are the specs on the cars?

 

[michakaveli]

Beautiful, Thanks for posting

 

[356vintage]

Great looking space, the decor looks perfect with the 356s.
What are the specs on the cars?

The white car is a 1954 Porsche speedster. There were 200 hand built cars made in early to late '54. This car is the last one made, number 200.
The original motor is still running strong, although it's been re-built several times. It's a 1500 cc motor. We restored this car from 2001 to 2004 removing every nut, bolt, screw and piece and completing restoring each original piece with original plating, painting, etc. It's a lot of fun to drive. We put about 3,000 miles on it every year! We've owned the car since 1982.

The silver car is a 1954 Porsche sunroof coupe with green interior. Just completed the restoration like the speeder above. Restored from 2005 to 2009, we've owned this car since 1993. It's a 1600 cc super motor. The motor is original, but I've built a hot rod motor that doubles the horsepower to about 135 hp. I know not very much hp, but these cars are light and well balanced. Special gearbox gearing and lightweight wheels help the handling.
No track racing, but it goes like hell in the twisty curves.

The signs and stuff are mostly from Europe, twenty plus years and still collecting. Yep, addicted and out of my mind!

 

[Tazfink]

...and your favorite brand of oil would be....

 

[M Fan]

I have now looked at this thread now at least 10 times! Very neat!!

 

[ledfoot]

Fantastic. Thanks for sharing

 

[Rich]

Great space and beautiful cars...very nice.

When I was building my garage I had this nebulous vision of what the end product was going to look like and it was a lot like yours. In reality...not so much.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[missionview]

Not a big garage, but one of the best I have seen on this site. A great space.

 

[James E]

Really cool architectural details and I love the red upholstery with white piping on your couch and chairs. That's very Porsche-like.

 

[TAMPAGT07]

Not a big garage, but one of the best I have seen on this site. A great space.

I agree. It's really not about size, it's about what you do with what you got.

 

[356vintage]

Thanks guys.
I like to see before and afters pictures of garages myself, so thought I'd post these.
Rich

 

[51rider]

What a great looking garage.

Could you give some more details on the lighting in the ceiling? The pictures recently posted in the 'Garages at night 'thread look as though they throw out a fair bit of light.
I'm currently researching lighting options & should end up with a similar ceiling style; those lights might be exactly what I need.

 

[356vintage]

51rider, They are 5" can lights with 75w halogen lamps in the sloped ceiling area. On the flat portion, they are 5" can lights with 75w fluorescent that are encapsulated. It takes a while for the fluorescent to warm up to full brightness, and they are fairly bright. I thought of installing track lighting on the beams, but quickly nixed that idea because it would look bad. Actually, I made the beams by mitering the edges of 1 1/4" cedar material and joining them with a spline so they wouldn't come apart. They are three sided beams with my sprinkler system hidden inside. Only the heads protrude out of the face of the beam. More information than you were looking for, sorry, got carried away.
Rich

 

[type550]

Great to resurrect this thread - any more photos to share Rich? The 356s fit so well - great use of space!

 

[Buzz Lightyear]

My god that is just the most beautiful thing I have ever seen!!!!

It's a fantastic garage with awesome cars in it and if you need someone to drive one of them just give me a shout. I don't even mind paying for my own flight to get there.

 

[JMURiz]

Good to see postings about this garage again...BTW what brand/model is your lift?

 

[356vintage]

The lift is from www.geminilift.com, a small company out of Texas.
I had it modified to fit the size of the cars. Basically, cut 4" out of the width and 12" off the length of the ramps. I had it painted machinery gray which is a nice contrast to the Griot's Garage epoxy floor paint. By the way, had I seen this site earlier and learned from the rest of you, I would have recessed the base into the concrete floor for a cleaner look.
A little about the rest of the construction of the garage; We dug out about 30 yards of dirt to get the space, poured a 3 1/2" to 5 1/2" slab (5 1/2 at the car end) with major re-bar reinforcement (#4 bars at 18" on center each direction).
You see we live in earthquake country.
Additionally, the walls are framed w/2x6 and insulated, 5/8" plywood is nailed to the inside walls after insulation and wiring was completed. 5/8" drywall was hung (not by me, hired the young guns to do that), and textured with several coats of heavy compound similar to a stucco finish. The house was built in 1929 in the California Spanish style and never remodeled before we bought it in 1998. I digress.
The paint is just plain ole flat white paint. Easy to patch, fill and touch-up.
Oh, buy the way, some of you may ask why the 5/8" thick plywood on the inside of the walls and under the drywall (?) Well, no big structural issue, although it helps I'm sure, but it's just to make it easier to hang my signs and automobilia.
Oh, I forgot to say, I installed sprinklers also.
I thought that any air line system I put in may be better exposed. Not sure why, just not much thought went into it. Guess we don't need that much air. My wife says I have enough (hot) air anyway.

 

[aqr81]

Absolutely beautiful space you have 356vintage. The garage is a perfect match for your stunning cars.

 

[abstamaria]

Very nice garage, Rich. That was also a very successful remodel of the house. I have always liked 356s, but unfortunately have never had one. Congratulations.

Andres

 

[AndrewBigA]

still one of my fav garages on this site. i love it!

 

[JetLinkin]

I love the bougainvillea and swing out doors on the exterior. Interior is pretty cool too!

 

[356vintage]

Coming soon is an automatic garage door opener that will hang and pivot on the jambs. While it's not a big deal to open it now, just thought it would be neat to open from outside. Actually someone on this site recommended the garage door guys from the Seattle, Wa. area. They specialize in building carriage and sliding doors, but they have some really neat openers too.

Thanks to all that have kind words. It's a labor of loving the details.
Rich

 

[abstamaria]

bouganvillas

I love the bougainvillea ...

Having just posted a photo of a flower on my thread (we are planting on the garage roof deck), I hesitated to comment on the bouganvilla. But, yes, I thought the flowering vine added much to the look of the garage. Andres

 

[Vince B]

great garage. tell me about the lift. vince b.

 

[356vintage]

Vince B...... the lift is a single post, shortened and modified (width and length) to accommodate a new model Porsche 911. (just in case I bought one in the future)
The lift is from www.geminilift.com, a small company out of Texas.
An earlier post........
I had it modified to fit the size of the cars. Basically, cut 4" out of the width and 12" off the length of the ramps. I had it painted machinery gray which is a nice contrast to the Griot's Garage epoxy floor paint. By the way, had I seen this site earlier and learned from the rest of you, I would have recessed the base into the concrete floor for a cleaner look.

 

[29bowtie]

I love the "old world" feeling the outside view has, then the spotlessly clean meticulous "shrine" interior, is just so perfect with the choice of cars. Put a couch in the corner, I would live in a place like that.

 

[356vintage]

Hey 29bowtie,

Not exactly a sleeping type couch but I guess I've taken a few naps on it myself.

 

[redlinetoys]

Very, very cool shop. Love it!