You wouldn’t know it to look at Jim and Karyn’s garage, but it’s more than just a showplace. It’s a real working private garage. The only tell tale signs are the grease splotches on the concrete floor, a work area in the corner, and miscellaneous clues that work has been performed within these walls: rims and tires lean against the walls, a few older jacks and stands linger in the shadows, a couple of engines rest waiting a body and chassis, and a Hitchockesque collection of oil cans overlook everything in sight. Tin Man heaven. Outside of these items, however, the space is immaculate.
“We really like it, it came out pretty well,” said Jim.
This is in reference to their extensive renovation, during which they razed the original single-car structure and replaced it with this 1,280-square foot garage, complete with an office that resembles something from a ’50s gas station. While this was a daunting task, it really only took about six months for them to complete the project, a good deal of which was deciphering the codes and conditions the city had concerning such a project.
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“We had to jump through a lot of hoops,” Jim explains. “There were restrictions on water, electricity, window sizes, and a bunch of things that one would never even think of. But, I did what they wanted; I wanted it legal and nice.”
And nice it is. A salesman his whole life, Jim currently sells truck bodies, but has also sold exotic sports cars, family cars, and everything in between. As such, the garage has had the benefit of a lifetime of gathering exceptionally eclectic art, memorabilia, books, and other forms of eye candy and needful things. It’s a passion he and Karyn share alike, especially when it comes to hot rods, of which they have a healthy fleet around the house all the time.
“We go to a lot of shows, and really enjoy working on them and playing with them,” Jim says as he shows his primer blue 1951 Pontiac fit with a ’60s era GTO 389 Tri-Power under the hood.
Jim confesses to spending about 15-20 hours a week in the garage, either just getting away from the world, or working on a project demanding his attention. Despite the near perfection of their garage, Jim admits he really likes how the office turned out.
“It juts out a bit, but it actually worked out pretty well,” he said. “I thought it might be a nice place to work, and got carried away with all the books and memorabilia.”
For so long, garages were a place to park the cars, or store years of rambling things that we couldn’t bear to throw away. Often, the man of the house would organize it a bit, and turn it into his personal sanctuary, a place for him to get away, which is still a major case. However, as so many families are popping up and turning the frequently unsightly garage into a reflection of their personal play tastes, more and more are finding that it’s a great place for families to escape and just enjoy each other’s company.
“It’s a lot of fun just chatting out here in the early evenings,” said Karyn. “It’s a relaxing place, it’s so open, and with a breeze, it’s just a comfortable place.”
While it’s a popular notion that a project car is never really done, for Jim and Karyn, the garage certainly is. Both are content and happy with how it all turned out. In retrospect, could they do it over again, they would prefer to take it back a few more feet toward the property line, and create a four-car garage, as opposed to the three, but it’s worked out well, he said. For now, about the only thing they’ll change around is the art, taking some things off the wall, and trading them out for items in storage.
“It keeps it fresh,” said Jim.
