Dream Garage

[Jim Oaks]

I've always wanted an old gas station styled like this (60's-70's). I always thought they'd make a cool garage. What would your dream garage look like

 

[RobbieD]

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

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I've always wanted an old gas station styled like this (60's-70's). I always thought they'd make a cool garage. What would your dream garage look like

That would be a cool garage to have, but too small for my preference. Probably something more practical, but if I’m gonna dream, I’m gonna dream big, lol

 

[rumblecloud]

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I've always wanted an old gas station styled like this (60's-70's). I always thought they'd make a cool garage. What would your dream garage look like

Oh Hell yeah!

 

[sgtsandman]

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I've always wanted an old gas station styled like this (60's-70's). I always thought they'd make a cool garage. What would your dream garage look like

That would be a huge step up compared to what I have and would probably more than meet my needs. Maybe even a lot of my wants.

 

[Curious Hound]

I never really thought of it this way. I think I would even go with earlier styling, back to the cool art deco styles. Surely lots of bays and work area, but with cool style.

It makes me think back to service stations i knew in my grandparent’s town. They weren’t quite so stylish. My grandparents even had a good friend who owned a service station. He and his wife lived on the second floor. Any time I ever saw the work area, it was dark. Just incandescent lighting. But Fritzy was a short, wiry little guy. I remember it seemed like he projected cleanliness, organization and professionalism. His wife was petite and kept their apartment impeccably clean. My brother and I were always expected to be on our best behavior - seen and not heard, but that wasn’t enforced in a cold or harsh way.

There was another big Texaco station where dad always filled up with gas before we went home. That was a 4 or 5 story building right on main street in Hazleton, PA. It was a little bit tight because the pump island was in a cutout in the front of the building. So when fueling, your car was under the second floor of the building.

 

[Uncle Gump]

My first mechanic job was at a three bay Shell station. The roof line created a covered parking area for four... five vehicles if put in tight off the garage side. Had a storage room in back that was full width of the building and was 12 to 15 feet wide. With the show room, office and rest rooms... would be easy to build a sweet apartment in.

 

[RobbieD]

I never really thought of it this way. I think I would even go with earlier styling, back to the cool art deco styles. Surely lots of bays and work area, but with cool style.View attachment 137408

It makes me think back to service stations i knew in my grandparent’s town. They weren’t quite so stylish. My grandparents even had a good friend who owned a service station. He and his wife lived on the second floor. Any time I ever saw the work area, it was dark. Just incandescent lighting. But Fritzy was a short, wiry little guy. I remember it seemed like he projected cleanliness, organization and professionalism. His wife was petite and kept their apartment impeccably clean. My brother and I were always expected to be on our best behavior - seen and not heard, but that wasn’t enforced in a cold or harsh way.

There was another big Texaco station where dad always filled up with gas before we went home. That was a 4 or 5 story building right on main street in Hazleton, PA. It was a little bit tight because the pump island was in a cutout in the front of the building. So when fueling, your car was under the second floor of the building.

Now that IS a cool building, and nicely done. Definitely art deco, probably 1930s.

I wonder if that building started out as a car dealership?

This old building, in the little town that's close to me, started out as a Ford dealership, late nineteen tens or 1920s. It has some similar features to your building, but in a plainer (earlier?) architectural style and it's only single story with kind of a loft over the old showroom. It's been a tire store since I've been here (around 35 years now). I'm not sure when it stopped being a Ford dealership; maybe the 40s?

 

[rubydist]

I would love an old gas station as a shop, preferably larger than just 2 bays though.

 

[97RangerXLT]

An old fire station. One sold in Indianapolis before covid hit, only wanted 300k for it. quite a big building, and if I was to live in a city/ urban setting, that is how I would do it

AJ

 

[Jim Oaks]

There's an old car dealership here in town that someone brought back to life and use it to store their car collection in:

There was a guy that had a lot of rare and expensive cars in his collection that he kept in this building and opened it as a museum and let people come in. He died a couple of years ago and his wife sold everything!

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And then we have (2) old gas stations in town that are privately owned:

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Something I like about Texas is that there's a ton of old gas stations across the state. Many have been restored.

And then this guy likes the tall signs:

 

[scotts90ranger]

Those are cool and all but I'm more for function than form... I like my shop but would be nice to have one more bay and deeper like my friends 40x60... sounds huge but 36x48 gets full fast...