Background:
I am an outside account manager (glorified salesman w/database) and my friend is a student soon to graduate from NJIT w/Engineering Degree. I like to make money and know how to invest it; he just wants to work on cars. I'd also like to store my 02WRX there b/c the harsh snow, rain, and sun just isn't good for the suby anymore.

The beginning of a good idea:
Recently I found a Prelude w/4 wheel steering. I bought it on the spot as the only issue was the transmission and engine. With my friends assistance, we repaired the vehicle, and with the assistance of a few junkyards we were able to bring the interior back to life. The car looked brand new and was sold for a pretty good profit. We’re now working on a 1992 Mustang and already have some buyers lined up. Well I have the opportunity to purchase two more vehicles I know we can fix and sell (well, I may want to keep the 91 GSX for myself) but we have no place to put them and our parents have had enough of the chop-shop backyards.

The Idea:
Since we need the space I suggested we rent a garage(s). They would have to be big enough to store anywhere from 3-5 cars at a time comfortably with enough space to work on one of them and some storage (albeit small space, maybe just racks). The only garages I’ve been able to find are single vehicle or multi residential garages. Although many of them are very nice, they don’t have the space we need to fulfill our needs, many of them don’t even have electricity or heat.
I then had the idea that we should buy/rent an older unused mechanics garage or empty warehouse space to use for the vehicles. We don’t necessarily want to turn a large profit with any of this; we just want to learn more about cars and not lose a lot of our own money. We would fund the rental/purchase with our “fix & sale” business model as well as your typical oil change and bolt on for our friends and their families.

Where all of you come in handy:
Well my financial background will not let me simply jump into this situation without a careful business plan moving forward for the life of the lease/mortgage. I’ve decided to open this up to my peers…

- Would anyone want to rent a lift/space in a garage/warehouse for a day or weekend in order to work on their own car themselves?
- Would anyone consider storing their vehicles in something of this sort for a small monthly fee?
- Would the idea of paying someone to build your project car be a conceivable idea?
- What are some of the other idea’s we could adapt into this to make this work?
- Has anyone tried this and failed/succeeded?
- Does anyone care?
- Anyone know a garage owner looking to leverage their unused space?

I’d be interested to hear your ideas.

 

no one has had any ideas?