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Sounds like Kansas, there's all kinds of critters you have to deal with when it's warm. The worst one was a badger in the trunk of a '54 Clipper on an abandoned farm. Those little guys don't take kind to surprises, and made me open trunk lids from the side on old cars from then on, as they tend to jump out towards the rear...

It's currently a balmy 1 degree above zero (wind chill is -13) here in Minnesota.

The first thing I did when we bought our house was insulate the garage (3 car). I use a 30,000 btu heater when I need to warm things up. It usually takes an hour or less for it to reach the 50's or so. Enough heat to work. The only bad thing is the concrete slab NEVER gets warm. You don't want to spend much time on your back.

One of the best things I installed was a super cheap ceiling fan. It really helps it heat up faster.


I'm lucky to have enough room at my business to roll in projects in the winter and work in comfort. Not too much gets done at home anymore.

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Are you serious? I'm still working in shirt sleeves in that kind of weather. Here in Cleveland, we just sailed through a relatively warm November (40s-50s F) which allowed me to finish siding my (very small) garage addition. And I was sweating!

That said, here we don't see the sun for three-quarters of the year, snow falls from October through May, and our pro sports teams all stink. Of course, we don't have to worry about killer insects or too much in the way of angry wildlife.

As for working in the garage, I do slow down in the winter as I have only a floating slab foundation under my 14'x20'garage. Once the ground freezes in January that slab is like an iceberg that my trusty little Mr. Heater just can't thaw.

Once I get the first frost of the year, I start mothballing the fleet one-by-one and putting them on life support till spring. I only go out and work on them if I have to. Most cases I'll just use another car till a good enough day comes. Instead, I use the winter to order and stockpile parts and get others rebuilt.

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I'd like to know what's so important in that garage that the Packard has sit outside in that kind of weather....

In SC, there is no off-season for working in the shop. Summers are hot, but a big fan makes it nice. Winter (all three weeks of it) is perfect. Insulated coveralls and you don't need any heat. I do have recliners and heat & A/C in my workshop/he-man woman-haters club. Most of my important thinking is done with a cigar and a beer and you need to have a comfortable environment for all that high-powered cipherin' that goes on. It's also very important to keep your eyes tightly closed and the recliner back while you're doing this. My barn is a workshop, bicycle racetrack, doghouse, basketball court, sidewalk chalk art exhibit, antique junk storage and gardening shed. The kids love to be out there. They have their trains and toys and all my tools to drag out. Air hoses to blow up rubber gloves and chase the dogs with.

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Re: kacarlson IMG_0041.jpg

Ah, the Man Cave!

Boy, do I envy you guys with garages! My baby is parked in a carport with a cover over her. There's just no question about working on her right now. I had enough of that crap being stationed in Alaska while in the Army. There's not a lot more miserable than working on a vehicle until you can't feel the parts or tools in your hands anymore, then going inside and dealing with the pain of recirculation, just so you can go out and do it again. Besides, it takes a LONG TIME to do much of anything that way!

Here in Upstate NY the temperate season is about 6 months, so working in the garage with doors open for grinding, welding and painting is limited to that period mostly, pretty nice from May to October, fans are sufficient for hot spells and in winter mechanical & detail work, wiring, and other small projects tend to come to the fore... my smallish 24 x 24 garage is insulated and has a ceiling making the big vented propane heater pretty effective, but expensive to run and as noted by others the concrete floor gets awfully cold!! I found the answer to that to be a big plush carpet remnant, it makes lying on the floor fairly tolerable as long as the heat is on. The space is cramped by a big workbench and loads of wall shelves so moving the smaller car out is necessary to accomplish any significant work. The big car at present is a 58 DeSoto Sportsman project kept company by a finished 70 MG roadster, but we rent several garage spaces for a couple of others and very soon the DeSi will join them and if all goes well a 40s Clipper will assume place of honor. There is plenty of yard space but funds for a long planned garage expansion always seem to get ploughed into yet another car!

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In time, I plan on building a second garage where the Packard is parked to keep it in as well as the "family Studebaker" which I've been charged with keeping. Currently, my 62 Lesabre and 59 Edsel are in there now. No current shots of the Edsel but do have one of the Buick. Those 2 cars are special to me for different reasons. The Buick because my grandfather had one just like it and I loved riding in it, also the Edsel because I wanted one since I was 13. You could say it was my "dream car".

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