I’m moving next month. I’ve been living in this house for almost five years, but it’s too big, too far out from town, and we need to make a change. Luckily my wife and I managed to find a new place that also has a workshop I can use for my ridiculous car shenanigans. The garage I’ve wrenched out of for the last few years is no longer mine, and I have to outfit a new shop with the stuff I need to make the wrenching process more comfortable. So I am asking for your help. Show us your totally awesome garages, and maybe drop a few helpful hints for setting up a new shop. I want to hear your best top tips!

If I’m honest, the shop I’ve been working out of is a little on the shabby side. It’s nice in that it’s insulated, the lighting is pretty okay, and it has a nice big workbench, but it always seems to be cluttered and dirty. I live in rural Nevada so the dust and dirt is always making its way in through the cracks around the doors and windows.

My plan for the new shop is to downsize what I’ve got in here to help make it a little easier to live with. Next up, the new shop is a steel building, so I’ll need to put up some good insulation so I’m not frozen solid in the winter and baked out in the heat of the summer.

After years of misplacing tools I’m going to need to inventory the toolbox and try to fill the gaps with new purchases. And I’m extremely sick of traipsing off to Home Depot or Auto Zone to pick up the hardware and hoses I need piecemeal, so I’d like to have a good selection of that stuff hanging around to cut down on that time consuming mid-project break time. It kills the momentum, you know?

The ceiling height of either building is too short for a proper two-post lift, but I’d like to get some kind of mid-height lift installed, like a Quick Jack. The problem is, I’m having trouble finding a model that will work with both my 1997 Porsche Boxster and my 1976 Porsche 912E. The one that is short enough to fit the jack points of the 912E is too short to fit the jack points of the Boxster, and the one long enough to fit the Boxster won’t fit inside the wheelbase of the 912. These are real problems that matter, folks! Any suggestions?

[Feel free to disregard the multi-colored Boxster, the carbon fiber JGTC fenders, the ex-TRG 18x10" wheels, and the Nissan Leaf motor in the corner. Surely none of that would be interesting to any of you.]

Anyway, show me your totally bitchin’ garage setup. What advice can you give to someone who is looking to make a garage a better place to spin wrenches? What are some go-to pieces of equipment in your garage that you can’t live without? What is something I’m totally forgetting about that would make for a better garage experience? Sound off.