History How about a vintage garage, build, work photo thread?

1957 photo with my brother's 1951 Oldsmobile sedan parked in our dad's normal parking space. It was our 2nd Westside of Long Beach house from 1953 to 1998.


Hello,

My brother and I lived through the young kid days of using the rear recreation building in our backyard from 1953 to 1959. We had birthday parties, summer gatherings of our own age friends and enjoyed being by ourselves, (without parents, they were in the main house) being kids. Our own music, played as loudly as we wanted, reading magazines, playing ping pong and of course, snacks.

But, when my brother got his license and bought his first car, it was sitting in the two car main garage next to our dad’s 53 Buick 4 door sedan, then in a few years, next to a 57 Buick 2 door Roadmaster. Unless our dad was at work, 5 am to 6pm, we had no work space for any car fixings. We had to wait until after school for a couple of hours before he got home. Then on the weekends, with our dad’s car outside in the shade, the 51 yellow Oldsmobile was allowed to take up the whole garage to work on the motor or insides, in the garage shade.
Thanks, @themoose
Then one day, my brother showed me his plans to convert the recreation room (rumpus room, a 50’s term) into a large door opening garage by taking out the two French doors and a row of casement windows. Our neighbor was a contractor and told us we needed a large beam across the garage door cut out opening. So, supporting the bare wood frame after taking off the shiplap cedar siding, we proceeded to cut out the opening for the normal size swinging up garage door. The big beam fit fine and supported, it was a walk in large opening.

With plenty of supports, we framed the opening and now measured the 2x4 frame and plywood covering. Once that was made, we bought some garage springs and installed the large door so it would open and close, along with a simple padlock. The exterior plywood door skin was given a coating of varnish and now we had a nice large opening for working on cars.

But, we did not plan ahead, despite the large garage door opening. The yard was such that even at an angle, the Oldsmobile sedan could not fit perfectly inside of the wide opening. There was not enough yard space to angle it in front end first, like a normal two car garage. It was a side opening one car garage if that. It was large enough to set up our workbench, converted picnic table and shelves to store our parts and tools. The Oldsmobile was able to nose in and under the hot summer, we had a shady place to work.

Then one day, my brother showed me his plans to convert the recreation room (rumpus room, a 50’s term) into a large door opening garage by taking out the two French doors and a row of casement windows. Our neighbor was a contractor and told us we needed a large beam across the garage door cut out opening. So, supporting the bare wood frame after taking off the shiplap cedar siding, we proceeded to cut out the opening for the normal size swinging up garage door. The big beam fit fine and supported, it was a walk in large opening.

With plenty of supports, we framed the opening and now measured the 2x4 frame and plywood covering. Once that was made, we bought some garage springs and installed the large door so it would open and close, along with a simple padlock. The exterior plywood door skin was given a coating of varnish and now we had a nice large opening for working on cars.

But, we did not plan ahead, despite the large garage door opening. The yard was such that even at an angle, the Oldsmobile sedan could not fit perfectly inside of the wide opening. There was not enough yard space to angle it in front end first, like a normal two car garage. It was a side opening one car garage if that. It was large enough to set up our workbench, converted picnic table and shelves to store our parts and tools. The Oldsmobile was able to nose in and under the hot summer, we had a shady place to work.

The numbers coincide with the phases of the planning and measuring. Our mom’s original backyard rose garden + fence. Then the garage door cutouts and removal of the casement windows. We sold the casement windows to earn some money and the French Doors brought a large sum to help out, too. The lift up custom made 2x4 frame and outdoor plywood finished the larger opening. The opening was nice, but the 40 Willys Coupe could not head into the workspace. It could, however, be rolled into place and the garage door down and locked.


Jnaki

With the experience of the “nose in” Oldsmobile sedan work space, the smaller Willys Coupe could actually fit inside when we were done with the day’s/night’s modifications and motor work. Now, we were able to push it forward and back to be straight, so we could lock the garage door. When we were ready for the next day’s work, we had to push it back and forth to get it out of the main assembly area.

If and when we needed to work on the motor inside and coupe body outside, we had a large canvas covering stretched out to create a large shade structure supported by ropes tied to the room’s structure and our mom’s laundry “T” bars supports.

Gone were a ton of pre-teen memories of parties and hang out timed in the old "rumpus room" as it was called in the early 50s. It was a fun place to play as young kids and it morphed into a fun place as teenagers and hot rod builders. When it was time to work on our desert racing motorcycles, there was much more room to spread out as the bikes were a lot smaller. So, where did we do our motor removal and exchanges on the Willys Coupe?

The normal two car garage was modified by supporting the overhead cross beams with larger 6 x 6 wooden posts bolted in place. Plus several 2 x 6 cross beams for more rigidity. Now a chain hoist could be attached to the 2x6 cross beams to lift the motor or place the motor in the rolling chassis below. Yes, our dad’s Buick had to be outside, but we only worked on it when he was not home. That gave us complete use of the whole two car garage without any mishaps.

But, if he was away at work, we had to remove the chain hoist and clean up the floor. So, when he drove in from work, it had to be in a pristine concrete garage space without anything hanging from the rafters. The large Buick sedan had its automatic, “reserved” parking space… YRMV