V8 MAN CAVE PART 4 | V8CREATIVE

THE V8 MAN CAVE

PART 4

The end is in sight. My ten-year dream of turning my draughty garage into a spannering heaven is about to be realised. Amazing. My wife is mystified at the fascination of a man cave, and probably miffed at the expenditure truth be told, but when the going gets tough I simply remind her I sold my Ultima GTR to build her a hand-painted kitchen. A lovely kitchen it is too, but it won’t get you from 0 to 60 mph in under 4 seconds. So what’s in store for this month apart from the sexy pictures of the completed project? Most important to discuss is the entertainment zone: a corner of the garage I have dedicated to TV, Xbox, fridge … you get the idea. It’s the ideal space for beer-fuelled evenings over a game or two of pool.

THE ENTERTAINMENT ZONE

On the far wall I have fitted a large number of units to house tools, consumables, etc. The bench is also fitted out with tools, so this is definitely the business end where kit cars will be crafted. I decided early on in the project that I also wanted to create a clean area to allow PC work (I work from home on Fridays) and provide a relaxing zone after some serious spannering sessions. The ideal solution was to fit a selection of floor and wall cabinets to replicate the end wall but on a smaller scale. Sad, I know, but I have a secret fetish for low-profile drawers, those about an inch deep, ideal for holding tools and fasteners. They look so good when you see half a dozen drawers in one unit. The problem is New Age (unit manufacturers) do not produce a base unit in this format. They do a 600mm wide unit with a couple of drawers at the top, but not with them all the way to the floor. The answer was staring me in the face on the Garage Price website: the massive 42 inch-wide tool chest with lots and lots of sexy shallow drawers – mmm! In two parts (lower and upper), the unit is designed to be mounted on large wheels in order to be rolled around a garage so tools are always in close proximity to jobs. Very logical, of course, but my plan was to discard the wheels and use the lower and upper drawer units as base units, if that makes sense? Some fabrication would be required to get the two drawer units at the same height (they are differing heights), but once topped with a bamboo worktop I hoped the end result would be both impressive and perfect for storage.

Taking the larger unit first, I slid it into the corner, and, sure enough, the height was pretty much spot-on – similar to those on the rear wall. I lifted the lower, smaller unit by a wooden frame to make the heights equal. Covered in textured vinyl to match the finish on the cabinets, the end result looks totally professional. Fitting the bamboo worktops was again easy, with the same stunning result.

Turning my attention to the wall, I needed to somehow frame my 50-inch flat screen TV. Luck would have it a wall unit either side of the TV worked out exactly the same width as the base units. Result! Bolting the units to the wall offered little challenge. One had additional holes drilled in its rear so Xbox, Sky box etc., could be hidden away. No wires on show here, just like the engine bay of my DAX Cobra in fact! To finish off the entertainment zone all I needed was a two seater leather sofa. eBay, a mate with a van (thanks, James), a 60-mile round trip and £21 saw a lovely squashy sofa nestled in my hideaway.

So apart from a few finishing touches it’s complete. Let me give you a guided tour of my V8 Man Cave.

Viewed from the front I have divided the garage floor area into a parking space on the left and fun stuff on the right. Using graphite floor tiles to indicate the position to park - or to build a kit car - was a good move: stationary tyres do tend to transfer a small amount of rubber to the floor which would undoubtedly show on the light grey alternatives (great advice from Ken at Garage Pride). The entire rear wall is decked out with floor and wall cabinets, which I must say simply swallow all my tools - and I have a lot of tools! The pool table has already been put to good use, and even though a luxury, I won’t feel guilty for looking forward to hitting a few balls around on a summer’s evening with the garage door open. As for the entertainment zone, well, it’s seriously cool. No garage worth its salt should be without its relaxation area. Fitting a large number of LED lights was a good move and highlighted just how bad the lighting was in my old workshop.

BEER TIME

So that’s it, the V8 Man Cave is finished. I can’t express enough how an organised, well-lit environment makes working on cars so much easier and enjoyable. I find myself on Sunday mornings wandering down to the garage, sitting on the sofa, coffee in hand contemplating my next build. The final cost of a smidgen over nine grand is not cheap, but the result will last a lifetime. Thanks for reading and remember to visit my youtube channel V8CREATIVE where I share my latest projects with moving pictures and sound.