duncanmartin
Club Retro Rides Member
Out of retro ownership
Posts: 1,320
Club RR Member Number: 70
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Jul 14, 2020 15:37:01 GMT
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I'm looking for a new car, and in addition to the usual sorts of requirements (retro, fun, 2+2 minimum seats, reasonable condition, under £5k), I have one I'm struggling with. I want it to be able to fit in my garage, which is an odd shape, and 5m long with a workbench at the end. It means that the longest car I can get into it is around 4.2m (assuming it's around 1.7m wide - if it's extra wide then it needs to be shorter). Is there any good source of length information? I've been resorting to using Wikipedia, which helps me include exclude cars 1 by 1 (though it doesn't always have dimensions), but I'm not sure I trust Wikipedia, and it would be loads easier if there was some sort of length database I could use to filter things. Another question is how much space would you try to achieve around a car to be able to do any work on it? Obviously the more the better, but is there a minimum? I know people have done amazing work in single garages - is this only possible on little cars? I measured up before I got my 924, but while it fitted just about, it was so awkward to park it in the garage I ended up putting it under a cover on the driveway. No thread should be started without pictures, so here's: A car that would give me space all around it  One that would fit with mm to spare (how cool is this, much want)  One that definitely wont fit!  |
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Give you a clue. This is the space up front...  (New bumper goes on Saturday!) and round back...  And one side, it's hard against the wall on the other...  No, it's not big enough!  |
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Last Edit: Jul 15, 2020 8:58:26 GMT by georgeb
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duncanmartin
Club Retro Rides Member
Out of retro ownership
Posts: 1,320
Club RR Member Number: 70
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Looks a little on the tight side.  Can you work on it in there? |
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Jul 15, 2020 14:19:30 GMT
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If you go to www.ultimatespecs.com and hit the Advanced Search option you can filter cars up to a certain length, as well as a ton of other parameters. Should help you narrow things down a bit (forgive the pun...) |
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Jul 15, 2020 15:40:30 GMT
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I may be teaching you to suck eggs here, but don't forget how much space you need to open the doors. A 4 door car will give you a slight margin over a 2 door equivalent. And there's mirrors to consider too. If they fold in you've got a few cm to spare, plus some retros only had one door mirror, especially poverty spec models.
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Jul 15, 2020 15:54:53 GMT
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I may be teaching you to suck eggs here, but don't forget how much space you need to open the doors. A 4 door car will give you a slight margin over a 2 door equivalent. And there's mirrors to consider too. If they fold in you've got a few cm to spare, plus some retros only had one door mirror, especially poverty spec models. Or buy a Delorean & then contrary to popular ignorance, you can open the doors & get in & out with less than a foot |
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Jul 15, 2020 16:28:19 GMT
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Building my Hot Rod in a council garage was a pain in the bum, if it could be moved outside to do whatever was needed to be done, then it would be moved outside. If rain was in the forecast for any length of time we used to push it as far against one side of the garage as possible to work on the other side that had the most space.
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duncanmartin
Club Retro Rides Member
Out of retro ownership
Posts: 1,320
Club RR Member Number: 70
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Jul 15, 2020 16:37:03 GMT
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Opening one door isn't so bad because the garage is 2.6m wide in the front half (it then tapers down at the back). And I guess if I get a hatchback and drive in forwards I can get out of the boot! |
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Jul 15, 2020 21:30:00 GMT
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Have you thought about an Aixam? They're quite small.  No, don't do that to yourself, honestly, just don't |
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Jul 15, 2020 22:32:12 GMT
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How about a Spitfire? Or an MG Midget. Both very affordable, tiny, great to work on and great fun when sorted |
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,712
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Jul 15, 2020 22:38:45 GMT
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Well, if the garage tapers it would make sense if the car did too. Just got to choose end you want it to taper at.   |
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A friend from school once came up with a cunning plan to convert his mother's hen house into a garage for his Mini. Got it all cleaned out, drove in, then found that he couldn't open the door to get out.
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cjj
Part of things
Posts: 275
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All of this points directly in the 'what car' flow diagram to a BMW Isetta  |
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duncanmartin
Club Retro Rides Member
Out of retro ownership
Posts: 1,320
Club RR Member Number: 70
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Except for the 2+2 requirement. Unfortunately, while the ultimate specs website that BenzBoy linked to (thank you) is really useful for lengths, it doesn't have a number of seats filter. If it had that, it would be perfect I always liked the 3 wheelers (especially the Grinall Scorpion), but sadly only 2 seats.  Tiny stuff like Minis, 500/126, Kei cars would have loads of space and make working on them a breeze. Mid size hatches like the Golf (up to the 4th gen at least), 145, Tipo, Delta (I wish) would just about fit with a few inches to spare. Most sports cars with enough seats (GTV, Fiat Coupe, RX8, Integra etc) are super tight or a few inches too big. Given this is a second car, with daily duties being taken by the Zoe, fun driving experience and potential tinkering is the aim. So I'm wondering if a small engine in a small car is the way to go. There are some interesting rare superminis about at the moment, eg www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1196363or www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1240043 (thanks for the heads up fer4l ) |
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I know someone who had an E24 and decided to take it off the road. He parked it in his garage but, being a 60s/70s garage the car was same size as the building. Luckily, there was a side access door to the garage right next to his driver's door, so he opened the window and climbed out of the garage. The garage door itself rested right on the rear bumper.
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I'd say little garage - Kei Car. How about a nice Daihatsu Cuore / Mira Gino?  |
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duncanmartin
Club Retro Rides Member
Out of retro ownership
Posts: 1,320
Club RR Member Number: 70
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Jul 24, 2020 11:36:49 GMT
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I'm kinda stuck. I've found 2 different cars around the same price, both old, rare and interesting, one should fit with mm to spare, and one would have loads of space around it. The bigger one is more powerful and refined, with space for people and stuff, but getting it into the garage every time I use it will be a bit of a mission and I'll have to move it every time I want to do anything in there. It's also 250 miles away, so not like I can trial fit it before buying! The smaller one should be a hoot to drive, and easy to get in/out of the garage, but is probably not as usable as transport, especially with the family. It would make the garage more usable though. The ideal size would be between 3.4 and 3.7m long. I've been through 35 pages on the Ultimate Specs site, and very little jumped out at me that size.  There are 75 pages of 3.7-4m! Having been through them all, only the Alfa 145 and MGBGT jumped out at me as interesting and in my price range. Too many options, typical of me to be interested in ones that are a little too big or small! |
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Jul 24, 2020 11:46:58 GMT
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I'd go for the smaller one. Faffing about getting a car squeezed into a garage every day will make you want to torch it after a week.
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Jul 24, 2020 12:02:16 GMT
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Another couple of things to consider are ride height / ground clearance and also engine positioning. One of the great things about my acty is that at standard height (or max raised height on it's hydros) I can crawl underneath it and do a lot of jobs lying on my back with all four of it's wheels on the ground. The engine is at the rear accessible via a hatch in the bed so things at the top of the engine i can access by sitting in the bed and things at the bottom i can access by lying on the floor. Cars like a herald on which you can lift the whole front end up could be ideal as in theory you could access everything mechanical at the front end - if you remove the front clip completely - and possibly from underneath too if left at standard height? (I'm not sure what the ground clearance is like or how skinny you are! ) |
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Jul 24, 2020 12:03:45 GMT
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A friend from school once came up with a cunning plan to convert his mother's hen house into a garage for his Mini. Got it all cleaned out, drove in, then found that he couldn't open the door to get out. I bet he was spitting feathers! |
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Can you work on it in there?
There are 75 pages of 3.7-4m! Having been through them all, only the Alfa 145 and MGBGT jumped out at me as interesting and in my price range. Too many options, typical of me to be interested in ones that are a little too big or small!