Between 265 & 485 SQ/FT The 12-Gauge Garage

[Jack Olsen]

I now have several magazines with your garage featured, but have lost track of how many there have been - can you provide a list of all of them? They may not have pictured your car, but they did mention it (a foreign car!) in Hot Rod - a very rare occurence!

Thanks. I really haven't kept good track of where it's been. But it hasn't been that many. It was in the first two issues of Great Garage Makeovers, which is put out by Wood Magazine. The fold-down bench was in another issue of Wood Magazine. It was in Popular Mechanics, Car Craft and now Hot Rod. It was in the Family Handyman issue about the Best in DIY Award winners. I just found out today that it is also in the 2013 edition of 'Best-Ever Woodworking Jigs, Tips and Ideas' (also by Wood Magazine).

Here it is -- pretty much a condensed-down version of the article from the second edition of Great Garage Makeovers. There are a lot of good reasons to buy the issue, but my garage really isn't one of them.

For completeness' sake, the garage was also in a South American magazine, and is slated to be in a French Magazine and two German magazines.

(The car has been in Excellence, Classic Motorsports, and Grassroots Motorsports.)

The garage has been in a lot of websites and blogs, too. I think Hemmings' was the one that got the ball rolling, and that led to Jalopnik and some others. The Petrolicious video opened the door to a whole storm of web coverage -- Autoweek, SpeedHunters, PistonHeads -- with Autoweek finally calling it "probably the most famous two-car garage in the U.S." That's impressive until you think about it. I mean, who is going to put together a garage worthy of being famous and only make it a two-car? (Answer: not many guys.)

But I think that also points to why my garage circulates around in the Car-Forums/Facebook/Tumblr world as much as it does. It's small, so you can look at a single picture of it and pretty much see the whole thing. There are a lot of shops on this board that would require many pictures to really get a feel for the place. They're just too big for a single shot. But mine is small enough so that one picture pretty much does it -- which makes for kind of the visual equivalent of a sound bite.

Case in point: a Facebook page for StanceNation put up a picture
of the garage a couple of days ago.

I'd never heard of StanceNation, but the picture got over 11,000 'likes' from that appearance, with almost a thousand Facebook users sharing the picture on their own walls. As a result, the web site for the garage got a big wave of visits. As you can see, normally the site gets fewer than 500 visits a day. But here's the impact of StanceWorks' posting the picture:

Are more visits better? Well, I don't make any money off of them -- in fact, it's just the opposite. But it's nice to see that people are visiting, I guess, since it means they appreciate (even in a minuscule, one-click way) what I've done. That's not why I put the shop together, of course. But it's like the community here on Garage Journal. We don't set up shops for any reason other than what we hope to do in them. But still, it's nice to share ideas, and also to know there are a fair number of like-minded people out there. That part makes us feel a little less crazy.

 

[ralphy99]

An amazing thread. It's going to take me weeks to mull over all the ideas presented here. Thank you Jack!

 

[Brens]

Jack, such a classy Garage. (Yes, a capital G for you!)

I'm just starting to renovate mine now, and trying to pull ideas from what you're doing. Thanks for sharing everything.

Oh yeah, not sure if you use Instagram, but I happen to follow StanceNation.

11k likes? That's cute:

 

[Jack Olsen]

Wow. Who knew?

And thanks. I just signed up for Instagram.

I'd already seen their instructional video.

 

[Brens]

Oh wow, that's hilarious!

Also, not sure if I missed it in the 100+ pages I've scanned through here, but besides the Porsche and the Jeep, do you have any other vehicles?

 

[Squankum]

I'd never heard of StanceNation...

Neither had I. I googled. I went. I... I... er...

Well... not my cup of tea. Or bag of air. I'll say no more.

 

[Delta88]

......Instagram.

... instructional video.

That right there is priceless. It would likely be even funnier if I were remotely familiar with the song being parodied. Or Instagram for that matter, but I've had enough exposure to other social media outlets to appreciate that video.

On topic: I'm just one more member that has enjoyed reading about the 12-Gauge Garage, Jack. One more member that has drawn inspiration for his own garage effort from some of your creativity and eye for detail. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Jack Olsen]

Thanks.

Yeah, the StanceNation site seems to be dedicated to cars with huge amounts of camber in a world without speed bumps or driveway aprons. But if that's the path that leads younger people into the car guy world, I guess it's as good as any other.

Whatever it takes to get 'em while they're young.

 

[mwbailey]

Another appeal of your garage, Jack, is that it IS a two-car; something that many of us have. So, if nothing else, we can realistically aspire to a goal of a really functional but nice garage like yours.

 

[Cris B]

You should be making money off your website and all these hits. Plenty of companies who can help you turn a buck on this and get some return on your investment...

 

[MarcBergeon]

I saw that photo on StanceNation too, congrats on the big leap of website traffic, Jack! Looks like the slammed/camber loving parking lot queens actually appreciate a proper garage.

 

[e-tek]

You should be making money off your website and all these hits. Plenty of companies who can help you turn a buck on this and get some return on your investment...

Nah, Jacks not into it for da payola. He's all about the silent adoration of the masses - plus GJ already went ahead and made him a "SUPER-moderator", so he's got all the titles he needs too!

 

[Hot Chop shop]

Hey jack,

I have read several post on here and the other welding forms comparing the chop saw vs cold cut chop saw and the *********** portaband saw...

I made the mistake of not doing enough homework on the subject and I purchased a chop saw... And it makes a mess of the garage... I plan on selling it on Craigslist and upgrading to a cold cut and a portaband...

Which saw do you use more often ? Does the portaband pretty much replace pulling out the cold cut saw?

Thanks

 

[Jack Olsen]

You should be making money off your website and all these hits. Plenty of companies who can help you turn a buck on this and get some return on your investment...

I'm not against anyone making money. But I wouldn't want advertising on the garage's website. And even though I don't give out a whole lot of advice or recommendations for gear, I wouldn't want anyone to think I was doing that sort of thing (or including a link to the site) for the money.

Hey jack,

I have read several post on here and the other welding forms comparing the chop saw vs cold cut chop saw and the *********** portaband saw...

I made the mistake of not doing enough homework on the subject and I purchased a chop saw... And it makes a mess of the garage... I plan on selling it on Craigslist and upgrading to a cold cut and a portaband...

Which saw do you use more often ? Does the portaband pretty much replace pulling out the cold cut saw?

Thanks

I still use the dry cut saw the most. I use the portaband with the base a lot -- but it's more of a replacement for stuff I might have cut with a hacksaw in the past, or particular types of cuts. But for straight stock that I need to cut, the dry cut saw is my go-to tool.

 

[marcball]

Hi Jack,
great garage.
This is my first post from France where I live and plan on renovating a garage to work on my '66 Mustang, which I brought back from my days working in Houston Texas.
I'll be sure to tile the floor and put a lot of paint everywhere, that should get me halfway towards having a decent looking car-cave. I just have to pick a color that i feel ready to live with for the rest of my life...
Enjoy !

 

[Squankum]

This is my first post from France where I live and plan on renovating a garage to work on my '66 Mustang....I'll be sure to tile the floor and put a lot of paint everywhere, that should get me halfway towards having a decent looking car-cave. I just have to pick a color that i feel ready to live with for the rest of my life...
Enjoy !

The Buddha teaches that all is impermanent, even your nearly 50 year old car... but he never heard of POR-15, so what the hell does he know?!

You can always pick another color. Or, as the punchline to the corny old joke about the preacher and the unimpressive results of the volunteer painters in the rectory went, "Repaint! Repaint! And thin no more!"

 

[jesse72]

Congrats on the Hot Rod mag article, cant wait to get it in the mail! I haven't posted here before but man this garage is awesome and so are the projects, good work Jack!

 

[red_baron]

Congrats on all the cover Jack. Social Media is a crazy thing

 

[82_454_shorty]

Just wanted to add my congrats as well. I picked up the issue of Hot Rod yesterday. Nice feature.

 

[Jack Olsen]

Thanks, guys.

Hot Rod put the story up on their website today, so if there's any interest here's a link.

http://www.hotrod.com/feature_stories/1310_jack_olsen_12_gauge_garage/

 

[alpinewhite]

Was the model as pretty in person as she was on the article?

 

[Jack Olsen]

Like I've noticed with actors and other people who look good on camera, she looked different in real life. Not prettier or less pretty -- but different. She was very nice. From a small town in Michigan, originally.

Since this has bumped to another page, I'll include the HOT ROD link again.

http://www.hotrod.com/feature_stories/1310_jack_olsen_12_gauge_garage/

 

[HOTFR8]

Still waiting to find a copy here. We are usually a couple of months behind .

 

[ScottyVetteGuy]

Really enjoyed this thread just amazing.

 

[taumac]

Just catching up on the garage... love the work to the Lista and the patio came out great. I love the attention to detail you have.

 

[e-tek]

Odd how they decided not to have your Porsche in the photo's, then have a large bit about the new Porsche engine further on in the same issue.....

Maybe you're broadening their readership! LOL!

 

[Zeke]

I wanted my 5000th post to land on Jack's thread here on this page. The thread alone has 3/5ths the number of posts that I have posted allover this forum. It's close enough for Jack hisownself at 5300 posts. I have posted on this thread alone 67 times.

Jack is a great neighbor even though he is 30 miles away in what is some of the worst traffic in the nation. So, we don't cross paths much. There was a time when he was out Porschin' that I was in the group. I don't think he runs around on the streets as much as he used to and I sold my 911 so chasing him in a truck wouldn't work out well.

Anyway, so far, it's been a good ride on the GJ and like many others this is one of my favorite threads. Thanks for the invite for me to come over here back in '09 when I think it was that you were posting about the garage and the strike on Pelican.

OH, BTW, Jack is slowing down. I'm closing in on 30,000 posts on the Pelican. I remember year after year that JO was the leader of the pack over there when no one had more than 12,000 posts.

Good times!

But who's counting?

 

[Jack Olsen]

Thank you, Zeke.

For those that don't know about the Pelican Porsche website, Zeke is a force of nature there. One of the cool things he's done was to make a one-off set of body parts that bridged/merged several generations of the 911, style-wise, and was pretty awesome.

(Now, everybody who reads this should go and 'like' the TigMcStick page on FaceBook.)

 

[mattyschopshop]

just saw your garage in hot rod mag, simply awesome

 

[Jack Olsen]

Thanks!

Here's a question I had to think about yesterday: Will the quality of a paint job suffer when a 5-year-old is responsible for a substantial portion of the work? Yes. No two ways about it.

At the same time, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Here's a cabinet and bookcase thing (I'm sure there's a correct term for it) that we pulled off of our patio recently.

I thought it could be a good source for a smaller cabinet for the deck, so I cut the top off and reduced its depth by cutting out a vertical section and reassembling it.

My son Max was invited to help with these parts, but he opted to hammer nails on his own bench instead.

Here it is with a makeshift top.

I think one of the reasons Max was not interested in the building part was that it was hard for him to get his head around the idea of turning a piece of furniture into something else. But painting was something he understood. So I fitted him into one of my old t-shirts and we went to work.

And here is the thing in place. It covers up a hole I had to leave for the sprinkler controls and a hose bib. We'll store a coiled up hose inside it, and it will also hold some stuff for my wife and the projector we use on movie nights.

 

[WarrenJ]

Another great Jack project. I also enjoyed the write up in Hot Rod.

 

[1/2 Cup]

Yet another great example of repurposing.

 

[Jack Olsen]

Thanks!

Here's a clearer picture of the cabinet:

And here's the one part that I gave some thought to. The gate opens in either direction, but I wanted to maximize the amount it could open when it was pushed in -- so I raised the height slightly in order to have the candle part fit as well as it could against the cabinet:

 

[marcball]

We also have a projector for movie nights in my home here in rural France. Our 14-month old kids are very intrigued by it.
Now i'm amazed by your use of the gate as a toilet paper roll holder. Very creative...

 

[VMX42]

A chip off the old block... great photo Jack!!!

 

[Gixxer603]

We also have a projector for movie nights in my home here in rural France. Our 14-month old kids are very intrigued by it.
Now i'm amazed by your use of the gate as a toilet paper roll holder. Very creative...

 

[Grizz1963]

You wear a small T-shirt Jack

Great progress. Glad he enjoys doing stuff with you.

You know how I feel about re-use and so called upcycling.

Not for the environment but for my pocket and pleasure.

 

[bazzateer]

Jack,

Over here we call that a Welsh Dresser. Great work Max!

https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=...1.0....0...1ac.1.26.img..0.13.910.FCDVBTKrVzo

 

[Jack Olsen]

Thanks.

I like the term upcycling.

It looks like it might also be called a hutch or a step-back cupboard. (In any case, it's gone -- and I hope the one I cut up wasn't worth very much. It came with the house.)

I'd never thought of that candle resembling a roll of toilet paper. But it suggests a dispenser design if I ever make a wrought-iron outdoor bathroom.

This is what the corner looked like before. The problem was that the sprinkler control valves, cut-off valves for the water supply to the garage and low voltage lighting power supply were all clustered together and were slightly higher than deck level. So I'd made an opening with a slightly raised top piece (which apparently got kicked out of position before this picture was taken).

Before and after:

Now I can store a hose coil inside the bottom of the cabinet. I also made the bottom shelf removable so that I can get access to the valves down below.

It also saved me the trouble of patching some of that plaster.

 

[lowbucktruck]

Just had to give you kudos and congrats, Jack. Very cool that your garage made it into Hot Rod! Ironic, I was cleaning up my garage (2-car) after a big project... took a break and went to the grocery store to get some bottled water and decided to pick up the latest issue of Hot Rod mag... and there was your garage! That made my day.
Your 12-gauge garage has been an inspiration to those of us who are limited to a standard 2-car garage for work space... but try to be inventive and work around our space limitation to make a functional work space.

P.S. Good to see your son slinging paint! Great pic, thanks for sharing that!