Thanks for the compliments, guys.
I do very much enjoy working in the new garage and am learning to do more things for myself on the vintage cars. Regular maintenance, tuning, interior work, detailing, general fixing is where I'm at now. I did pull the ****** on the 190 SL when the throw out bearing was binding and fixed that, but that's about as deep as I've gone. Suspension work, engine rebuilds, rear end rebuilds, brake jobs, welding, are all skills I need to learn. The problem is, other than paid professionals, I have no one to teach me. The guys who do the heavy lifting on my Mercedes,
www.blackforestllc.com are a great bunch and top notch professionals. I'm very friendly with them and they're very helpful and willing, but, I can only make so much of a pest of myself. After all, they are running a business. I don't know qualified DIYers, locally, that want to just play on a weekend doing heavy lifting. My buddy for that is in Georgia. Anyway, I'll get there eventually.
Johnny, the brick is new. It's not an uncommon brick, but, I agree, I couldn't believe how it matched right out of the box. The house is 23 years old. The brick on the walks and aprons are the same, just the other surface.
JC, the cars in the pics are the toys. The daily drivers are in the other garage, the grey one that I did first. I think the UCoatit product is excellent. Water based and very easy to use. It lifted under the tires, but who's to say I prepared the floor as well as I should have. Also, there was some cement patching that was done that was not holding, no fault of the paint. After doing the hobby garage in the epoxy slurry, it was inevitable that I would eventually do the same in the daily garage. The stuff just performs unbelievably, I can't say enough about it. It's not cheap, but it is forever.
Garage is 21 X 32. Eight foot doors. Trellis, being attached, satisfied the city that the second garage is attached and allowed me to max out at those dimensions because of setback codes.
I've been fortunate to be able to pursue my hobby and build a garage I enjoy. I've been reading the "how does everyone afford so much" thread with great interest. I'm 56 now and closed a family business when I was 33 and just married. Had no money to speak of (I'd put it all in the business) and was living off my wife's $14K/year income. Took nine months off, it was some of the best time of my life. Went into the investment business, advising individuals and did well. I've never paid interest on a credit card balance and paid off the mortgages on my previous house and my current house (many years ago), the one you see. Since 1984, I have not had a new car. I used to buy cars for my wife and me for 6K, usually used Cadillacs, drive them for a few years and sell them for 3 or 4K. Just comfortable transportation. I started driving nicer cars in 1999, when I bought a '97 Mercedes with 6K miles on it. Three weeks ago, we just sold my wife's 1999 BMW 540i wagon that I bought in 2002 with 85K miles on it for $24K ($60K new). It had 200k miles on it and I got a whopping $4K for it. Bought her a 2004 Lexus RX330 with 28K miles on it for $19K. 4 wheel drive, hatchback, reliable...she'll be happy in the snow (unlike the BMW). What I've saved over the years not driving the latest and greatest, like many of my coworkers and neighbors, probably paid for the new garage. I live way below my means, save 50% or more of my after tax. No cleaning help, no landscape help, no snow plowers, one family trip/year, not a lot spent on clothes, no fancy private schools (although I'll have two in college next two years), not all the trappings that a lot of folks who can't afford it seem to need. I'm not depriving myself (as you can see), my wife and I just don't feel a lot of need for the things that end up being worthless. So, as someone in the other thread mentioned, sure, at today's mortgage rates, one conceivably could earn more on their money. But, it's not without risk. Paying off debt is the riskless investment. Without debt, a whole lot can go wrong, job, health, economy, weather, etc., before the trouble hits home for real. It's not how much you make (although it helps), it's how you choose to live.
I live this way and can NEVER hear it enough. So many of my colleagues wonder HOW I have 6 cars, a big well-equiped shop, hot tub, etc....but they all live in the $600K new homes, drive new cars, have had the big-screens and all that for years ahead of us. 
