Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

Those doors and the car were definitely made for a time without narrow parking lot stalls and you relied on street parking. Another thing I found interesting is for a typical car of the period, the size is average. My house was built in 52 and had a single car garage when I bought it. My 56 would fit and garage door could be closed IF the front bumper touched one wall. The car door (hardtop) had to open so wide to be able to get out, you could do it barely by also hugging the passenger side wall and working at it. Anything larger that came later like a big Caddy or Lincoln,--no way. There are a lot of houses in the older part of town with garages even smaller.

Guscha posted a video link a while back that while a bit more extreme, almost reminded me of that garage. At least I didn't have to line up with the house door to exit my car.

Howard, perhaps all the old garages were built for either carriages or model A's & T's?

Length wise, my clipper only has about 18" of clearance from door to wall in my garage (circa 1956 California ranch style house).

Maybe so -- I knew I was surprised. 50's house, 50's car, no problem right?? Wrong!! The condo I was living in before buying the house & built in the late 60's had a bigger garage --more like yours-- and a lot of the work on the car had been done in that one.

Needless to say, the old garage soon became an extra room and a 3 car garage was built. Still kicking myself because the contractor had tried to get me to make the new one 4' deeper but being stubborn and cheap, I said no.

Four extra feet would be a godsend. Then you could have the garage door closed and walk around the car.