What Would Your Automotive Fortress of Solitude Look Like?
While it’s true that many of us refer to this space as a Man Cave, isn’t it true that this space performs the same job no matter what name you give it? While Hagerty clearly caters to the car enthusiast, we don’t want to assume you must treat this space like a stereotypical garage.
There are also She Sheds, spare bedrooms, basements, attics, and even sanctuaries for sacred thoughts and actions. Well, maybe the last one isn’t available to everyone.
References to campy, dystopian 1970s Sci-Fi movies aside, we all want a sanctuary where we can lean into our passion for the automotive hobby. What that entails might be unique to you. I write that with full knowledge that my tastes are certainly, ahem, distinctive.
I’d want a massive water feature with concrete steps taking me to a perfectly curated, fully equipped Garage Mahal. It should look a lot like a certain location used for the above movie, as that will inspire me with every entrance and exit from my sanctuary.
From there it would be any ol’ storage facility used to collect many old cars and the stuff needed to keep them in pristine condition.
I know that my sanctuary would be someone else’s nightmare. It’s horrendously expensive to build and maintain. It completely detracts from the intended purpose of collecting old cars. But I hope my vision inspires you to think big.
Big on the scale of Superman’s Fortress of Solitude, because you can have an unlimited budget for this question. So let’s hear it from you:
What would your automotive Fortress of Solitude look like?
60X120x18 pole barn on 5 acres on fairly flat ground, wainscoated 2 tone gray with white trim and 24″ overhangs all around, LED’s in the eaves. 12′ covered patio 10′ high across the front with Ceiling fans and 12′ wide covered storage down one side. 2 Storage lifts on one end, 2 2-post lifts in shop area, with spray booth and exhaust hood deck. Kaeser Compressor and dryer with 3/4″ aluminum line running the perimeter. Cannon cracker audio system tied into the 70″ TV and Roku box in the shop area. Bathroom and deep sink and floor drains in wash/polish bay. Basically a way bigger version of the 26X28 I currently have. You won’t know I won the Powerball, but there’ll be signs….
Is it safe to assume that your car collection inside the building would include the Solarcar and Sandman ground cars from the short-lived Logan’s Run TV series?
Oh man, the things I would do for the shuttle train car thingie from the movie.
That said, I have a 1983 Ford Sierra in a Logan-worthy shade of brown, so that’s close enough.
I have what I want now. 24×36 shop and a 24×26 second parking garage.
I have heat, water, LED light. web. Big Screen, Surround sound. Many tools and boxes, Welding and Torch, Lifting equipment. etc.
The only thing I would like is more space and some more equipment.
I am more than blessed so if I do not expend I will not be disappointed as I have more now than most.
Also I have 5 cars under locked roof now and I could get one more in if needed.
I even have some art. I made a coffee table from a Short Block from a Top Fuel Funny Car. The pistons are all signed buy NHRA greats and a glass top on it. I have two 911 seats on legs beside it and arm rest made from the headers from the funny car. Sadly you can’t see the work of art crank. I have the blower case in the corner as a umbrellas holder. The windshield from he car is behind the table. This is for sitting and watching TV.
I have to have this space as the wife would not let these items in the house.
The walls have a full size Corvette Bill board and other things I have collected. The hood from Greg Pickets burned Jaguar Trans Am car and the tail gate from the #3 Bass Pro truck.
Signed posters from my hero’s like Smokey Yunick and the Lemans Corvette winners.
It is just a fun place to spend time and work.
If I could pick up the Lemay Auto Museum (with all contents) from Tacoma, WA and plunk it down adjacent to my barn, I might only be seen 2-3 times a year outside of it.
I like this answer so much I want to change mine to it.
Your wish is granted, Sajeev – your answer is now officially changed to, “pick up the Lemay Auto Museum (with all contents) from Tacoma, WA and plunk it down adjacent to DUB6’s barn, so that he might only be seen 2-3 times a year outside of it”. Thanks, man! 😜
And here I forgot to ensure you’d let me in once its completed! LOL!!!
Sir, at the risk of us being chided here for conducting a bromance, I hope you know that you would be welcome in my Fortress any and all times you would care to visit…
I do believe that we could and would entertain each other ad infinitum with stories (mostly lies) of our experiences in our automotive lives.
Bromance initiated. Thank you very kindly!
You guys got room for an abettor? I’ll bring the coffee and beer, and can lie with the best of them!
Life is always abetter with another abettor.
Especially an abettor who is also a tinkerah!
I’m going to go with the trend and say what I have now.
My not as mechanically inclined neighbors have the social spot garages. Mine is a little too mechanically oriented and I don’t get a lot of lookie-loo drop-ins. No beer fridge, no TV, no couch
With the unlimited budget, I would probably need to add some space for metalworking tools and a chassis dyno, but the car count would probably not change much. The current stable is probably at the limit of what I can maintain operable and actually operate, and I’m not much for garage trophies
I privately own Laguna Seca, not open to the public. Staffed to help me care for my extensive collection of 50-70’s race and street exotica (4 and 2 wheel) which I drive weekly. Each quarter I open to people of like passion to share laughs, food, stories and libations. Most importantly we drive! Of course all this is free to my passionate brothers and sisters.
Let me know the next “free” date, I’ll bring sandwiches and chips! 👍👍
I bought a 14,000 square foot in tear down condition of various warehouses and garages with a little house on top. It was for my cars and others. Now my time is mostly construction instead of cars for the last 8 years, but slowly that is starting to change.
A nice big spot with room for all the cars and a couple lifts plus all the tools and room to workshop on things. Oh and a killer stereo and PC setup for the videos and manuals I need to look at.
👍👍
I’ve imagined this many times. An old airfield with multiple hangers converted into a track and modernized to house around 200 cars. I would also have a lavish home and guest house built on the premises. The guest home would house a full time mechanic/grounds keeper/manager and his family. I imagine an additional daytime staff of 5-10 or so. My collection would include mostly late 60s to current vehicles from around the world with a focus on 80’s. Of course, in this fantasy I’d also be a multi-billionaire married to Ana de Armas.
All of this sounds reasonable – and great! 👍👍
I personally dislike the term man cave. It implies a place where no work is done. My garage is for working and storing vehicles. No couches, no TV. Just a nice music system, lot of good bench space, plenty of toolboxes stocked with all the regular and specialty tools, numerous welders and other required tools, 2-post lift for working, and one or more 4-post for storing and cleaning underside. Need lot of shelves to store fluids/parts/whatever needed for a project. A paint booth would be nice. Of course a good HVAC system to allow year-round comfort inside. Size probably 5000 sq ft so lot of storage room.
The Ultimate Car/ Truck Nirvana. A old wrecking yard. Nothing newer than 1972. No stuff not from North America. No EPA issues. With a 19th century timber frame barn in middle of it all.
I think I’d start with a nice used Carvana vending machine, and then set it up on a defunct drag strip. This is beginning to sound like a life sized Hot Wheels setup. And now you can guess where the car obsession began…
This idea is pure brilliance!
I sold a Vette to Carvana and delivered it to a Tower location in Metro Chicago. They are simply awesome facilities, and would make the ultimate statement when fully stuffed with however many beautiful assorted rides will fit. Plus there is an adequate shop out back.
I like the Carvana idea, and the Laguna Seca concept.
I pretty much have my ideal space right now. Just before I retired 10+ years ago, I got the wife’s support to build a shop on our 5-acre property. It is 40′ x 50′ inside steel building with a 24′ x 50′ covered overhang on the slab in front of the shop. The closed part of the building has 16′ walls front & rear and a 24′ peak. Inside, it is set up for both a 2-post and 4-post lift; has an enclosed 20′ x 20′ x 9′ high office/sanctuary with TV, desk, bathroom, wi-fi, bookcases, etc. On top of the office, I have made a storage area for all of the stuff that otherwise takes up needed floor space in the shop. I will be adding stairs to the “loft area” and a swivel crane hoist to make it easier to move things between the loft and the main floor. In the 20′ area in front of the office is my fabrication area with all of my shop equipment (welders, drill press, grinders, sheet metal brake, engine hoist, engine stands, etc) and steel topped work bench, plus another butcher block work bench.
I have built 4′ tall cabinets in the shop area on the inside of the exterior walls to store large tools, parts, equipment out of sight and open 3′ bookcases/shelves above the cabinets to hold reference books, parts, bolt dispensers, etc. I have 2 powered roll-up doors (an 18′ wide x 10′ high and another 10′ wide x 15′ high), plus a people door on the front of the shop, opening to the covered 24′ x 50′ slab in the front of the shop. The 24′ depth allows me to park my box trailer under the roof and out of the weather and the 50′ width lets me roll my projects, etc outside of the building to wash, sand-blast, etc without getting the shop dirty, or just to enjoy the nice weather when we have it. The shop is plumbed with 5-each 220V cut-off boxes around the work area as well as 1″ Ingersoll Rand compressed air lines running throughout the shop to my compressor, which is outside the shop on a covered concrete pad (to keep the compressor noise out of the shop.)
I currently have 5 cars in the shop and have floor space for 2 more, leaving working space around each one. I prefer not to park cars raised on my lifts because I want to keep them available for any work needs that may come up.
All-in-all, I am very happy with my existing shop and, best of all, it is only 150′ from my front door. I’m just glad I did it while I was still working and could afford to get it built. It has taken me several years to finish it properly, but it is almost done.
Sounds yummy! 👍
I’d hopefully do my best to be restrained in this regard instead of trying to create a mechanical Xanadu. If not I’d end up with a climate controlled junkyard and a bunch of new high tech tools that I’d spend more time figuring out how to use than using. Keep it simple. I’d only ask for two separated areas for completed projects and in the works. Showroom and shop. So it really just comes down to location, location, location. The Guggenheim in New York would work. Drive the restored Checker uptown in the morning. Show the cars in the original ramp section, use the more recent annex for the guts of the operation. Of course that would mean acquiring the Guggenheim in Bilboa Spain for the foreign collection to avoid unnecessary complications. I’m still working out the small details.
Glad to see you’re being “restrained” with your plans! 😂
Well you know Dub I’m a simple man with simple tastes so I’m willing to forgo the place on the French Riviera to stay on the practical side. Besides as Yogi said – “No one goes there anymore. It’s too crowded ” And it’s less than half a days ride from Bilboa to Monaco so… I always like to check in to my hotel a couple days early before the grand prix anyway. The driving in Monte Carlo that week has become simply intolerable don’t you think?
👏👏👏