I have good news, dear reader. A car genie has emerged from your vehicle’s oil pressure warning light. He wants to grant you one wish, but with one caveat. He is willing to give you a brand-new garage and any vehicles that you want to put into it. The catch is that this garage has a magical limit of 10 wheels. You can put anything in this garage so long as the wheel count doesn’t surpass that. How are you going to spend your 10-wheel budget?
For the purpose of this exercise, dually rears are counted as four wheels. Likewise, if your vice is aviation, every landing gear with more than one tire counts as more than one wheel. However, I will add a twist, and it’s that this magical garage will fit an unlimited number of vehicles with zero wheels. So, if your dream is to own a fleet of Sea-Doos that don’t have trailers, congratulations!
I sometimes like to think about what I would do if I were forced to dramatically cut down on my fleet. What if I were allowed to have no more than maybe three vehicles total? What would I do?
I think I would go back to my roots. As much as I love my Volkswagen Touareg V10 TDI and as much as I adore my MGF, they would have to go. I would spend eight tires of my 10-tire budget on Smarts.
Specifically, I would keep my very first Smart, my 2012 Smart Fortwo Passion Coupe, and I would keep my second Smart, my 2016 Smart Fortwo Edition #1. These two cars got me through some of the hardest parts of my life and were there for some of the best parts of my life. Yes, I have “better” cars in my fleet, but I don’t think that there’s a better pair of cars that represent who I am as a car enthusiast and person.
That leaves me with two tires, and I would spend them on my 1976 Suzuki RE-5 Rotary. This motorcycle was one of my holy grails, and I finally have it. I’m never letting it go!
Now, it’s time to have some fun with my wildcard. For my vehicle without wheels, I’d choose a Saunders-Roe Princess.
Only one of these was ever built, and it was the largest all-metal flying boat ever constructed. Look, my garage is really big. The Princess is so huge that, come to think of it, the flying boat could have made for a pretty awesome flying home. The failure of the Princess project could be a fun story for another time.
Here’s where I turn things to you. You have a budget of 10 wheels and as many vehicles without wheels as you want. What are you choosing?
Top graphic: Audi
I’ll have an OG pre-facelift 3.2 NSX, FD RX7, S15 Silvia, R32 Skyline GTS-t, SW20 MR2 and a V6 Exige. Plus a Honda RVF750 and an original Yamaha R7.
The two bikes get the wheel count up to four, and nearly all the cars share the same 114.3×5 stud pattern and so could share one set of four wheels.
The car that doesn’t take the 114.3×5 pattern is the V6 Exige, which is deeply weird in that the front hubs are GM spec 110×5 from the Europa S/VX220 and the rears Toyota spec 114.3×5 from the Evora. I can’t think of any other production road car with different stud patterns front and rear.
So I’d have a pair of dedicated front wheels for the Exige.
A BMW R60 factory sidecar rig, a Toyota Chaser, and a Goliath Goli for those times when I need a truck.
Easy. A Cessna 172, my Accord or its replacement, and my scooter. That’s nine wheels. I still want room for a Bell 407 or something from Airbus in the H130-145 range. But they don’t ordinarily have wheels, so I think I can sneak one of those in. Unless you’re going to count the wheels on the dolly for the helicopter. Otherwise, I guess the Cessna goes.
My favorite 40 or so cars; I’ll store the wheels in the basement. There will definitely be a Monteverdi 375/4 and a Ferrari 512 BB amongst them, and maybe a Peugeot Django 150 (scooter) for actually getting around.
I live in Boulder, so I have to say 4 regular bicycles, and one 3-seater e-bike.
I live in a 1980s UK house with a “single” garage designed for a 1980s UK car.
My 2019 car just about fits, provided I haven’t had dinner before trying to extract myself from it.
If I put 10 wheels in the garage, there’s no way I’ll get a car in there too.
My UK garage felt cramped with two motorcycles and a tool cabinet in it.
I only know one person who keeps a car in their garage, and that’s an S1 Elise that he gets in and out of through where the roof would be.
One of every vehicle ever made by Lamborghini, Ferrari, all Mustangs, (excluding late 70s/80s), one each for McLarens, Bugattis, Bentleys, a nice mix of Aston Martins, and a few dozen more. Oh and 1 of each Ford GT generation. Oh and a 1949 Mercury Coupe chopped, slammed, and ported with a Desoto grill
Keep the wheels on the 2010s GT and Aventador with a spare for each. Jack stands for everything else, I’ll deal with the wheels later ????
Any OBS GMC with “The Lords Engine” (350)
Some form of 60’s GTO
Something spicy from KTM
I have got five bicycles and I use them all. So…
A hovercraft!
Oh wait. One is actually a unicycle. That means I can hold on to my trusty wheelbarrow as well.
Mclaren P1, Mercedes G500 4X4^2 in limerock green and a BMW M1000RR
Late 80’s 911
Recent Cayenne Diesel
Malibu Response LXi on a single axle trailer.
Honda Monkey
Honda Monkey
Honda Monkey
Honda Monkey
Honda Monkey
I like this! So, a troop of monkeys. Good call!
Do tracks count? Because I want a skid steer loader and a micro excavator for messing around in the yard. After that a Mazda Bongo Friendee Auto Free Top, an NA Miata and a BMW R1200RT.
911 S/T
Defender Octa
Single axle trailer with Ariel Atom atop
A pair of His and His Bentley Continental GT Mulliners
A Verdant coupe for my Husband – A Dragon Red convertible for me.
A Mulder 36
(Which comes with a Williams 625 tender and two jet skis)
https://www.muldershipyard.nl/serie/mulder-thirtysix/
And a Vespa GTS 310 Super
Two newer cars with spare tires (remember those?)
I just spent real money to put a spare tire kit in a recently purchased car. I resent having to do it, but I don’t regret a dime.
Spot on!
We ditched a BMW X5 for an Acura MDX that had not only a space-saver spare, but a well big enough to accommodate a REAL tire, after one of the BMW’s run flat tires left us stranded in BFE, Texas on a very warm Sunday afternoon.
8 of those 10 wheels are already in my garage – a 2001 Toyota MR2 Roadster and a 2011 Mercedes-Benz C-Class Diesel (however: no wagon, no manual and no brown). For the last two wheels I‘d add an electric bike like the wonderfully retro Meijs Motorman (made in the Netherlands):
https://shop.meijsmotorman.com/shop/
One 351 Peterbuilt.