Anne Arundel Garage Crawl

Jim Earlbeck & Randy Richter

After a long year without the tech guys serving up a dose of tech-liciousness, July brought out the faithful to enjoy a garage crawl.

Both garages we visited were the product of the owner’s long time planning to produce their dream garage. It should be noted that both owners are perennial car geeks with a wide-ranging interest in different vehicles. They both have a great propensity to get their hands dirty and

turn their own wrenches.

As folks showed up on Saturday morning at the first venue, they found a well-groomed colonial home with attractive landscaping and freshly laid sod. The home showed no sign externally of the extremely spacious and well thought out garage. It was clear the owner had carefully planned to ensure the garage did not architecturally overwhelm the house. The owner graciously shared his thoughts about his goals for the garage and how he developed the plans for his garage. When the garage door opened there were audible gasps about the amazing space and cars in the garage. Inside was a red Porsche Targa, a wonderful 1967 Corvette, a Jaguar XKE roadster in mid restoration and E production race car. The garage featured excellent lighting, an epoxy floor, a four post lift for storage and a two post lift for repairs.

Garage Crawl (cont’d)

Garage Crawl (cont’d)

We arrived at the second garage to find an immaculate older house in an isolated neighborhood. On display outside were a red, white and blue Porsche trio along with a stunning blast from past 60’s Camaro with a beautiful classic 70’s psychedelic paint job. Before the garage doors were opened for us to enjoy the owner explained how zoning limited the garage size on the nearly 100 year old building.

The owner was also kind enough to share their experience trailering their Porsche’s behind their Cayenne. Many tricks such as their weight measuring hitch and how they raise the floor to have the car doors clear the fender wells making ingress and

egress to the car easier.

The owner then explained the history of the house and garage and how much rebuilding they have done since they purchased property. He then covered the philosophy of the garage given that zoning limited the garage size. Once the doors were

opened the first thing that captured everyone’s attention was another 60’s Camaro with a big block residing in the engine compartment and a new crate engine nearby. The garage has a sparkling floor, a blasting cabinet and an amazing amount of storage given its zoning limited size. The owner chose a Max Jack two post lift because of the limited ceiling height. He chose to bolt it to the floor for maximum safety. Both garages were filled with the humanity of it all. The stories of the garage owner’s youth and stories of how cars had

Garage Crawl (cont’d)

it is the people. At the conclusion of the official PCA CHS garage crawl, a number of folks got together for lunch at a local restaurant off a River by the Chesapeake Bay. Many thanks to the thoughtful owners who generously opened their wonderful garages. We could not have had such a fabulous event without their kindness. Thank you also to our members who came out to the event. enhanced their life and their families lives. In the first garage hung the owner’s Boy Scout uniform. It was fun to read the Signal chat’s postings about who was in the Scouts and what artifacts they still had and held dear. In the trailer of the second garage owner’s were family pictures of the family as the kids helped their parents work on the cars as they grew up. Stories were told about the kids driving the Camaro to high school. It is not just the cars,

Garage Crawl (cont’d)

Front Alley parking on the Garage Crawl.