Cool Garage



""I must congratulate you, sir. You dynamited an entrance through a hundred feet of shale. Carved a flight of steps from solid stone. And all to create for yourself a rather remarkable... garage.""

- Alfred Pennyworth

Does the hero have a Cool Car? Then the hero needs a cool garage. The garage has to come up to the car's level. It's only fair.

If the Cool Car in your series is not bringing in the Ratings, well... you forgot the Cool Garage.

The Cool Garage may come with its own resident Gadgeteer Genius to serve as a mechanic, if the Cool Car is so advanced that the hero cannot work on it himself.

An Elaborate Underground Base or Supervillain Lair is frequently equipped with one of these. Indeed, many Cool Garages could just about serve as Elaborate Underground Bases, given an addition or two.

Some people attempt to build these in Real Life, in which case it may be referred to as a "Man Cave."

Anime & Manga

 * Roger Smith of The Big O had two of these -- one was a giant hangar in his mansion that stored the Big O (his giant robot) and his car, and the other was the left foot of the Big O.

Comic Books

 * Batman had the Batcave. The animated series version not only contains the Batmobile, but a whole fleet of cars of various models when Batman needs a less conspicuous ride.
 * Taking it even further: in the Hush story arc, the Batcave has revolving racks featuring just about every Batmobile ever seen.
 * And this one, kinda.
 * Bizarrely, the Batcave came with it's own resident genius, Harold, that nobody remembered until Hush got ahold of him.

Film

 * Iron Man the movie, included a surprisingly Cool Garage that is literally, Tony Stark's garage. An article in Popular Science even says that the Cool Toys in said garage was more interesting than the rest of the movie.
 * Well, given that one of them was Captain America's shield...
 * Not to mention that it's less of a Shout-Out and more of a hint at the now confirmed Avengers film, where Iron Man, Captain America (comics) and Thor will be teaming up.
 * Similarly, The Green Hornets protagonist has a cool garage filled with cars.
 * Due to the burning down of Wayne Manor in Batman Begins, Bruce Wayne has settled in a high-rise apartment in The Dark Knight. In lieu of the Batcave, Batman stores the Tumbler, Batsuits, and odd looking motorcycle Batpod in, what else, a brand new Cool Garage.
 * This was a reference to the Bat Bunker from the comics, located under the Wayne Foundation building. Bruce once moved into the penthouse and utilized this facility because he wanted to be closer to his city.
 * In Batman Forever, Batman also keeps the Cool Boat and Cool Plane in the Batcave.
 * In Tron: Legacy Sam Flynn lives in a garage/house he built out of re-purposed shipping containers.

Literature

 * In different incarnations of the Zorro franchise his cave with hidden entrance in the manor is always a fine example of a this trope.
 * Dirk Pitt actually lives in his in some volumes, amenities like a bed being something of an afterthought.

Live Action TV

 * Dan Tanna on Vegas (1978) parked his 1957 Ford Thunderbird in his warehouse/office.
 * Airwolf followed this pattern with only slight modifications. The titular helicopter was the Cool Car, and the secret hollowed-out mesa hangar was the Cool Garage.
 * The Green Hornet parked his Black Beauty in a revolving garage.
 * To clarify: Black Beauty was underneath a revolving platform in his garage. Kato hit a button and the regular car was clamped down and the whole thing turned over, revealing the formerly hidden Black Beauty.
 * Street Hawk has Command Central with part garage, gym and command center for Tully to monitor Street Hawk's activities in the field. It also has a neat secret exit for the hero to leap out of when on a mission.
 * In Knight Rider, "The Rook," a cool garage which was an 18-wheeler tractor trailer, which had a fully functional high-tech auto shop, a cute Wrench Wench, and a ramp from which KITT could drive into and out of the truck while it was in motion.
 * In the Pilot Movie, the cool garage becomes a C-130 cargo plane, with all the aforementioned awesomeness, but with flight capabilities.
 * Thunderbirds Tracey Island has to represent the Mother of all Cool Garages.
 * Since Power Rangers RPM had a racing/cars theme, the cool garage was mandatory, complete with pool table, kitchen, and refrigerator-mounted cannon (yes, you read that right.)
 * Angel got one of these in Season Five.
 * In one episode of Monk, Adrian Monk saw a garage that was so clean, neat, and organized that he became ecstatic at the sight. In his eyes, it was this trope.

Video Games

 * Grand Theft Auto. Early games had garages that were infamous because a brief close of the door repaired any car in a second. This glitch become so well loved it was purposely kept in later games.
 * Sadly, later glitches showed up, such as garages that eat customized paint jobs and custom license plates in Grand Theft Auto San Andreas.
 * The Need for Speed series, especially in Most Wanted.

Western Animation

 * In Batman: The Animated Series an entire episode was devoted to the character Earl Cooper, who was not only the Batmobile's mechanic, but its designer. Cooper had a hidden Cool Garage where Bats took the Batmobile after its front end was crushed under a closing draw bridge.
 * It also contained a hilarious flashback to when Cooper first met Batman-his old Batmobile had coincidentally broken down next to Cooper.
 * An animated example could be Rude Dog and the Dweebs, where the garage was the house.
 * In Transformers the Autobots' crashed space ship served this function for the entire team.
 * In Darkwing Duck, the cool garage is referred to as Darkwing Tower, and it is (secretly) located atop one of the main support pillars of the suspension bridge that spans Audubon Bay. This bridge is the principle route into Saint Canard, Darkwing's City of Adventure. The requisite Cool Car is herein replaced with a cool motorcycle, the Ratcatcher, and a Cool Plane, the Thunderquack.
 * In the case of Motor Ed from Kim Possible, his Cool Garage is his Supervillain Lair.
 * In Swat Kats, the civilian identities of the title Superhero duo are mechanics who live at their garage--which also doubles as their Elaborate Underground Base.
 * Freakazoid had a giant garage that he used in one episode, to fit his personal Cool Car, the Freakmobile. The building was filled with hundreds of identical vehicles, which the Freak wandered around for a time before picking a favorite: "This one! 'Cause it runs!"
 * Lightning McQueen's trailer from Cars.

Real Life

 * Jay Leno's garage. Being a lover of all things car and motorcycle related Leno has the largest collection of cars and motorcycles ever. Now that's a pretty cool garage - especially seeing as Jay's got quite a lot of cool cars. The mini-series Jay Leno's Garage shows off how cool Jay's car collection is.
 * Garage Mahal, on the DIY Network, is all about building these.
 * The Living Garage - ca. 1958, "House & Garden" magazine was playing up the idea of upgrading the garage with fancy materials, plant beds, and furniture, for the homeowner to spend more quality time with the car. It didn't catch on.
 * While not as extensive as Leno's (Whose is though?) Adam Carrolla has a wonderful garage full of vintage Datsuns, Porches, and Cobras.