Housing the Automobile 
By harry B. HAINES 
T O the man who has invested several hundred 
and perhaps several thousand dollars in the 
purchase of an automobile there is no more 
important question to be considered than that of the 
proper storage and care of the car. This resolves 
itself into a choice between storing the machine in a 
public garage or hiring or building a private garage. 
Either course has its advantages and its disadvan¬ 
tages. 
The storage charges in public garages range from 
^12 to $']^ a month, the rate being controlled by the 
size of the car and the-population of the city in which 
the garage is located. In cities like New York 
medium sized machines are stored for ^40 a month. 
This includes washing the machine, polishing the 
brass and keeping the tanks filled. It is safe to say 
that with tips and the incidental expenses attendant 
upon keeping the car in a public garage, the yearly 
cost will amount to ^550. This allows nothing for 
the time charges for repairs, small replacements and 
other little expenses that the owner of an automobile 
must meet. The man who stores at the public 
garage gets into the habit of ordering things done to 
his car in the way of small adjustments and repairs 
that he would do himself if he had his own place. 
Of course, the mechanics’ time is charged up on all 
of these items and amounts to no small sum in the 
course of a year. 
Eliminating the man to whom money is no object 
and dealing with the 
question of storage 
from the standpoint 
of the owner of a 
medium class car 
who wants to keep 
his expenses down 
to a reasonable 
figure, there is no 
doubt that a private 
garage is a desirable 
and profitable in¬ 
vestment. 
Placing the an¬ 
nual storage cost 
of a car in a public 
garage at ^550, it is 
easy to see that this 
sum is the yearly 
interest at five per 
cent on 1,000, and 
when one realizes 
that a private gar¬ 
age fitted for the 
storage of two cars can be built and equipped for less 
than ^1,500, it will be apparent that a considerable 
saving can be effected at once in this one item. 
Conceding that the matter of expense is in favor 
of the private garage for the man who likes to work 
around his car and is not afraid of soiling his hands 
in keeping the machine clean and in good operating 
condition, the next consideration of importance is 
what sort of a garage to build. 
It may be said with equal advisability to the man 
with the runabout or the owner of a touring car: 
Ho not build your garage too small. The cost will 
not be much greater for a garage that will accom¬ 
modate two cars instead of one, and even if you never 
expect to own two machines yourself, it is often very 
convenient to be able to quarter a friend’s machine 
over night. If possible the garage should be large 
enough so that the car can be turned around inside 
of it, but if space will not permit this, a turntable 
may be installed. But it is not even necessary to go 
to that additional expense, as the car can be turned in 
the street and backed into the garage so that it will 
face in the direction to start out again. 
A primary essential is to select a suitable site for the 
garage. Many men have made the mistake of think¬ 
ing that any vacant spot will do and that the building 
should be as far from the owner’s dwelling as possible. 
A garage, unlike a stable, is clean and no offensive 
odors come from it. Use of a buried gasoline 
tank minimizes the 
danger of fire, and 
the structure, in¬ 
stead of being de¬ 
signed on the lines 
of a shed, should 
have some archi¬ 
tectural merit. If 
the cost is not too 
great, a very attrac¬ 
tive effect is secured 
by having it re¬ 
semble the general 
style of architecture 
of the home of the 
owner. 
Select, if possible, 
a site where there 
will be a good ap¬ 
proach to the gar¬ 
age, endeavoring to 
erect the house 
where it will not be 
necessary to nego- 
U3 
Garage built with walls of rough field stone backed with 
reinforced concrete and roof of reinforced concrete 
Benjamin A. Howes, Engineer 
