Any Driveway Mechanics?

[CherryBomb]

Looks like there's a few out there! Lots of guys who have garages but just for storage, that's another category that hadn't really crossed my mind.

Never had a garage to work in until I built my own a dozen or so years ago (so, say over half my life).
Not sure that's something beneficial over having one (it isn't) or worth bragging over (again, it isn't)?

Seems you misread or misinterpreted the post, and I don't see anyone bragging in any of these comments. No one is out here saying "Guys with garages are sissies, real men like laying in the dirt!" Like I said, I have been busting my *** to save up for a garage or small shop as soon as possible, it's clearly the preferred situation.

 

[YY1]

Ooops, I for got the Carolina Carport "pole garage" I put up around 2008.

Nice that it's covered, but it still has a Florida "sugar sand" dirt floor.
Not conducive to many tasks.

 

[Slap Stick]

Never had a garage, just an uncovered carport. Either worked curbside or on the carport. Done engine/trans swaps on cars and moorsickles.
Don't see a garage in my future, either.

 

[YY1]

Isn't an "uncovered carport" a.........driveway?

 

[JackR]

That brings back some bad memories....in Buffalo NY.
Just one is the time my ear lobe was contacted by the fish hook that was in the blanket I took out of the trunk to lay on that cold winter day. And that I couldn't move for a couple hours until the neighbor came home and rescued me.

 

[moparedtn]

Looks like there's a few out there! Lots of guys who have garages but just for storage, that's another category that hadn't really crossed my mind.



Seems you misread or misinterpreted the post, and I don't see anyone bragging in any of these comments. No one is out here saying "Guys with garages are sissies, real men like laying in the dirt!" Like I said, I have been busting my *** to save up for a garage or small shop as soon as possible, it's clearly the preferred situation.

I'd say a goodly portion of this membership is of an age where garages were sparse, meaning most of us
are/were quite used to wrenching wherever in the great outdoors.
Roadside surgery, parking lot in front of the parts store, in the gravel driveway - wherever it was needed.
Climate and weather messed with that some, of course - but it wasn't anything out of the ordinary to block-n-tackle
an engine out of a car using a swingset frame (or a sturdy nearby tree).

What I'm saying is - I don't see the fuss and I can't imagine too many people out there (yes, even the young
generation with their faces stuffed in cell phones) think we all have fancy garages with the latest gadgets and lifts.
If they do, they're more clueless than even I thought.

 

[chargervert]

When I first got into the hobby,that's how it was. Laying in the dirt,changing engines and transmissions in the street in front of the house. Getting harrassed by the cops all the time. I can't tell you how many times I picked up my tools out of the dirt. My friend said to me you have to start working civilized man. He had a neat orderly garage with two lifts,welders, a plasma cutter etc. I said you are right! Now I have a 34x60 garage with lifts welders,a plasma cutter and lots of tools and equipment including two tire machines and an electronic wheel balancer! Living the dream out there!

 

[6PKRTSE]

I have a 2 car garage with 3 cars in it. I either pull one out to work on a side job or daily drivers, or in most cases just work on them in the driveway.

 

[Don selleck]

I remember at my dads house when i was 16 on a thursday night, in the winter in michigan back then we got snow, alot. I remember laying under a car in my dad's dirt driveway in a snow storm, putting a transmission in a 66 olds delta 88, dead lifting it and holding the tail shaft up with my leg and fumbling to get the bolt thru the trans case into the block. Actually wasn't that bad I piled up snow around the car and sealed it from the wind and had a lightbulb under there so I could see worked pretty well with the white snow reflecting the light. had to get the car going to chase some tail on friday night. mission accomplished, well the trans install anyways

 

[Slap Stick]

Isn't an "uncovered carport" a.........driveway?

Nope, the driveway leads to the carport.

 

[YY1]

Nope, the driveway leads to the carport.

So, what is an "uncovered" carport?

It has been my understanding that a carport is a roof covering a driveway that has one or more walls but no door.

 

[DeltaV]

I have a large concrete pad outside of my garage and typically I work outdoors on the cars; and even in the rain unless it is lightning. The 500, 300, and 928 are outdoors only on sunny days if I need more room to work on them.

Fortunately, I haven't had to be under a car on a gravel driveway since the late 1970's.

 

[GTXDAN]

I started out the same as most. Built my first (68 RR) in the back yard at home setting on concrete blocks. Cam, intake, carb, headers, clutch, brakes and interior all on the dirt. In 95 after move to GA, we moved to the country and I built my 30x40 shop. Still remember those days for sure. Don't want to go back.

 

[Budnicks]

AS a kid/teenager, often the garage was full of my step dad Bob's projects
or side jobs he did to make extra $$
I remember even working on them at/out on the street next to
or 2 tires up on 'the sidewalk' to crawl under it...
Or on dirt next to the garage side door...

Up at the ranch, it had no pavement or concrete
it, was/is still gravel or
it was the barn, for cover, but a dirt floor
or the shed floor on some plywood &/or cardboard
I survived...

When I turned 18,
I bought my 1st house, $33k pretty much had a garage ever since
still had to do the occasional work out in the elements/driveway repairs...

I have a small attached garage 20'x20' here,
I also have 2 covered car ports too now , one 'one car' with asphalt under it
& a big one 26'x42', 2 sides 1 is 12'x26' other is 14'x42'
I used to store my RV/5th wheel Trailer or boat/trailer in, it's on base-gravel
I avoid working out there if I can help it...
In the garage if it's a bigger job, 'I have to pull something out',
to do any serious work, so I have room, it holds my 99 Dakota & my 68 RR
I'd sometimes move the car or truck over to the center & have lots or room...
Tools & shelves of car stuff down one side or plastic storage containers under it
& a work bench & bottles/welder etc. on the other side...

When I had my facility management/construction business
I had a big ol' 42k sqft warehouse I could pull my stuff in, 16'x12' rollup doors
I got a couple 'take out' lifts, from the dealerships I serviced
a 2 post & 4 post, wish I still had...

It sucks working on concrete on my back or knees...
I won't in the cold now

I like to have stuff high enough I can roll around on my creeper
getting older sucks, not as limber or nimble as I once was

I need another lift... my lil' garage does have 10'-10" ceiling

driveway is wide but a 1%-2% slope

I no longer own the travel trail 5th wheel

or the dually

I do have the Jeep parked where the dually used to park
I don't work on the Jeep 2020 Gladiator Rubicon Limited Launch Edition, hardly ever

 

[71RRHI]

When I was younger, high school thru mid thirties, I did not have a garage or shop. Did everything in the dirt, no concrete, complete driveline changes (engine, trans, and rearend). And all types of maintenance work. Done with minimal tools and equipment. All done in very little time. Now that I'm older. I have indoor work space, a lift, and every tool need to do most any job. I don't seem to get as much done as I did back in the day working in the dirt. But I still enjoy it.

 

[chargervert]

More importantly,here in New England these cars turn to schit quickly if you leave them out in the weather. It's not just about having a place to work,it's about the storage. You can have a project go backwards rapidly just by leaving it outside for a season,even if you cover it.

 

[Don selleck]

More importantly,here in New England these cars turn to schit quickly if you leave them out in the weather. It's not just about having a place to work,it's about the storage. You can have a project go backwards rapidly just by leaving it outside for a season,even if you cover it.

same here in michigan, I finally scraped enough together to build a 1500 sq. ft. pole barn back in 2000. took me till 05 to get it finished with permanent heat, and added a 300 sq. ft. addition. Then with the metal work I like to do I had to protect the cars from that and not to mention enough room to move around in it. Thus my new shop, a place to do the dirty, My pole barn is now storage and someday hopefully will have a permanent paint booth cleanable enough to shoot an exterior finish on a car.

 

[BMosely]

The upper picture is where the rollback spotted the car on day 1. All the way down and back up in 14 months including paint in that location until it drove down the hill. 17,000 miles on it currently so I seemed to have most of the bolts tight enough.

 

[CherryBomb]

I'd say a goodly portion of this membership is of an age where garages were sparse, meaning most of us
are/were quite used to wrenching wherever in the great outdoors.
Roadside surgery, parking lot in front of the parts store, in the gravel driveway - wherever it was needed.
Climate and weather messed with that some, of course - but it wasn't anything out of the ordinary to block-n-tackle
an engine out of a car using a swingset frame (or a sturdy nearby tree).

What I'm saying is - I don't see the fuss and I can't imagine too many people out there (yes, even the young
generation with their faces stuffed in cell phones) think we all have fancy garages with the latest gadgets and lifts.
If they do, they're more clueless than even I thought.

I suppose the obvious is that no car guy would pass up the garage given the opportunity. The distinction is that some never take the leap and get that car they wanted because they don't have a place to work on it, which in their mind, is something covered. For me, and clearly the majority of folks chiming in here, that place to work is anywhere level enough to not drop the car on your head haha. Not all that surprising on a forum, as I feel most that take the time here are passionate enough to turn their own wrenches or at least used to.

I am one of the young ones (at least I still feel young) and am still in that scraping things together phase. I live in a city where garages and covered parking are available on less than half of the homes, mostly the newer ones that are way too expensive. I guess the whole topic boils down to the "how bad do you want it" equation. For me the joy that rescuing these old cars brings has always been well worth it, I am willing to put up with all the crap to get there. For someone else, the juice may not be worth the squeeze.

 

[68BabyBlue]

More importantly,here in New England these cars turn to schit quickly if you leave them out in the weather. It's not just about having a place to work,it's about the storage. You can have a project go backwards rapidly just by leaving it outside for a season,even if you cover it.

When my friend Bob owned Baby Blue in the 70s, he wrenched on the car in the street, so he wouldn't block his dad's driveway. He kept the car amazingly rust free by hunting down and sealing leaks, and blowing out the trouble spots with a hair dryer. But when he got married, and the acquisition of his wife's new car left the GTX sitting idle in the driveway, he sold it to me. Years later, he told me that after what he had invested in preservation while driving it, there was no way he would let it rot away in a driveway, like many others he'd seen.