Nearly 80,000 Total Square Feet of Amazement
Nirvana is that place where total peace has been found, a clarity through which a mind has been deemed in perfect state. Or something to that effect. Jay Leno’s garage isn’t that place. Known as the Big Dog Garage, it’s stocked with tools and equipment for most any job, a crew of people to keep everything running smoothly, and cars in various stages of repair, restoration, or modification. It’s not exactly geared for peace and serenity – but if there’s an automotive job to be done, this is the perfect place to be.
“I bought the garage because I wanted to add onto the garage at my house, and the neighbors weren’t too happy about that idea,” said Leno. “So I moved in here, and it just kind of kept spreading.”
Spreading indeed. Leno has created a garage made up of two main buildings, each boasting multiple rooms adjacent to one another that house various genres of automobiles closely related to one another, with a few oddballs sprinkled in for good measure. For example, one room is a perplexing array of vehicles ranging from his 1,000-horsepower 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado to a 1954 Dodge station wagon to a small fleet of Lamborghinis to a Monteverdi to a 1937 Lincoln to an early-1990’s Bentley. Tucked in the corner, behind the cars is a horde of motorcycles, modern and vintage, foreign and domestic, running, and not. It’s an absolute organized cacophony of machinery that boggles the mind by its sheer size. And then there’s the next room, boasting turn-of-the-last century vehicles sharing floor with modern and classic muscle cars and luxury barges. Adjacent to this, is a space filled with European rarities such as a 2005 Mercedes SLR, a 1937 Fiat Topolino and a Mazda Cosmos. Ok, so the Mazda’s not exactly European, but it’s a rarity. And then there’s the unique art, much of which is from original automotive advertising…
But this is getting way ahead of where we need to be.
Leno granted Garage Style Magazine a rare opportunity to photograph the Big Dog Garage in its entirety, something Leno said hadn’t exactly been done before. Other publications have only photographed sections of the garage, so we were more than honored to have the chance to bring the Big Dog Garage to our readers. But, with every silver lining, there is a black cloud, and ours was the sheer size of the garage. By the time we were finished shooting, we realized, it’s simply too much for one issue. So, in order to create a more in-depth depiction of the Big Dog Garage, we’ve broken it up into two parts; the restoration shop, and everything else. This being our inaugural issue, we’ll be kicking off our two-part series on Leno’s place by looking into the restoration shop.
“It’s a real, working garage, it’s not a museum,” Leno says determinedly. “I drive everything here, we do our own work, and we even cook our own meals.”
And it’s true. Leno’s restoration shop actually boasts a beautiful, full kitchen, complete with all the amenities one would expect to find in any kitchen. With the pots and pans, a stove, oven, fridge, granite counters, cutlery, high-performance intake manifold salt-n-pepper shakers, and cook books help to create a gourmet kitchen. Situated near the office and engine room, the kitchen has steam cars on either side of it, overlooks the workshop and gives the crew a great place to take break.
“The guys are the greatest,” Leno beamed of his staff. “They work hard, know their stuff, and are great to be around. I couldn’t do anything without them.”
‘The guys’ as he puts it are the husband and wife duo of Bernard and Rosalie Juchli, Bob Sales, Per Blix, Jim Hall, and John Pera. Bernard is the general manager who keeps everything running smoothly; Rosalie is the detailer, keeping everything gleaming; Bob helps around the shop in any capacity needed, and takes people who’ve been granted permission to enter on tours; Per is a body tear down and restoration guy; while Jim and John seem gifted at being able to source and fix just about anything mentionable. Each one of them has such a professional background that to list all their work and accomplishments would be, once again, to have another issue devoted just to them. So, we settled on a sidebar.
While we were running around the garage in absolute awe, trying to act professional while hiding our overwhelmed expressions, and staying out of the way while photographing, an Audi R8 photo shoot took place, and Leno’s friend, race driver Phil Hill, showed up. Needless to say, you just never know what’s going to pop up at the garage. Or who.
“A couple of days ago, Billy Joel was here, and recently some NASCAR drivers came by,” said Rosalie on a subsequent visit.
While Leno is hopelessly devoted to cars, he has a true obsession with turn-of-the-last-century rides, especially steam-powered vehicles. And then there are the Duesenbergs, neither of which allow for a steady stream of parts. On top of that, Leno likes to have custom stuff done to his cars, which commands fabrication, design, and a lot of brainwork. This is where the team and the restoration facility come in very handy.
“We don’t have to wait several weeks for a custom-made part, we can make it right here,” said Per.
Equipped with a state-of-the-art water jet cutter, CNC mill, a collection of sheet metal equipment, a lathe, various welding apparatuses, and a myriad of other tools, the shop can yield just about any part required for any job. With Jim’s experience boasting years as a fabricator, he has the advantage of being able to design, cut out and shape just about any part needed for any one of the valuable cars in Leno’s fleet. After all, how easy can it be to find replace a gear in a 1906 Baker should it break? Leno even dragged in a 1901 Fairbanks gas engine pump from the desert, used to bring miners up from the mine, and it needed a valve, so Bernard made one. They even have their own paint booth allowing them to apply their own hues, something that made Per very happy, as the body guy.
“We do all of our own painting and bodywork right here,” Per said as he showed us inside the beautiful paint booth.
One car in particular that demonstrates the efficiency of the garage is the aforementioned 1966 Toronado. Sprayed a gorgeous golden hue, and looking every bit as stock as Oldsmobile would have had it, the car is as deceitful as a leprechaun. Under the hood is a GM Performance aluminum engine with heads from the Cadillac CTS-V Racing Program, and twin turbos. It’s also rear-wheel drive, something a lot of Olds buffs scoffed at, but a major engineering accomplishment achieved through a full rotisserie restoration requiring a lot of fab work. Even the frame is new. The crew had the task of taking the once dilapidated Olds and making it a rear-drive car, installing the massive engine, creating new replica 17-inch rims to accommodate the Corvette brakes, creating a custom overflow tank to fit in the right front fender, and working with vendors such as Banks Engineering for the turbo blow off valves, and Lear, who designed and built the interior seating and console. A lot of plumbing and wiring was required for this car, and each aspect of it truly tested and proved the crews professionalism, and the garage’s capabilities.
“This car’s a monster, it came out beautifully,” said Bernard.
An interesting thing about the Big Dog Garage is how green it is. Leno has taken great strides in covering the roof with solar panels to alleviate the electrical demands of the garage; and, in the engine room where parts are cleaned they use a solvent containing microbes that actually eat the old grease, oil, and grime.
“We’ve always been environmentally conscious, but recently it’s become even more so,” said Bernard.
All around the shop artwork of every variety hangs. From blueprints of an Hispano-Suiza engine to advertising art to original photographs of people at factories, races, and signage from various manufacturers, the Big Dog Garage is a busy place indeed. There is something to look at anywhere your eyes fall.
The floors have been painted red and grey, red marking work area, and the grey marking the walking or clear ways. Keeps it simple, and creates a mental boundary. Through it all, there is, in fact, a certain calm, a constant quiet which translates to a buzz in the ears. The buzz is that of all the activities taking place, from one job to another, the guys quietly go about their tasks, making the cars great. Maybe this is nirvana.
