Dream Car Garage Complete!

[schorvitz]

After many weekends I have completed my dream car garage!

The lifts were delivered by 18-wheeler and I needed to rent a forklift and flatbed tow truck to get the [******] things into my garage. I put the lifts together myself with help from two of my friends (I owe them BIG). The doors had to be modified an extra 4' each and I had Overhead Door do that

Anyhow, enjoy the pictures. If you are going to the Georgia Viper Club meeting on Monday, April 21 you can follow me back to my place to see it in person. I only live 10-15 minutes away from where we're meeting.

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[Frank 03SRT]

I have a ladder just like the one in your first picture. Never use it -- too hard to wrestle with! BUT, nice garage and lifts. What brand lift are they?

 

[schorvitz]

The lifts are Greg Smith Equipment Pro Park 7.

 

[MHQC]

This is amazing...I am soooo jealous.

 

[J DAWG]

Schorvitz, nice setup. Thanks for the link. I did not realize lifts were that resonable.

 

[GR8_ASP]

Very nice. Like the chair molding. Hmmm, more to do!

 

[schorvitz]

Schorvitz, nice setup. Thanks for the link. I did not realize lifts were that reasonable.

Not only were they reasonably priced but Greg Smith was always available, he has on-staff tech support, and the lifts were delivered in two days. Finally, all the extras were included (casters, drip trays, and jack stands). Other companies charged hundreds of dollars for this stuff. The casters are a HUGE necessity!

If you're patient, you can usually find Greg Smith auctioning his lifts on eBay. You'll probably save $50-$100 finding his Pro Park 7 and winning the lift on eBay.

 

[Anthony - 98 GTS]

Looks great!!! How high is the ceiling in your garage?? It looks very high.

Now you just need to paint your floor or go with Race Deck.

 

[Frank00Viper]

Looks sweet

 

[schorvitz]

Looks great!!! How high is the ceiling in your garage?? It looks very high.

Now you just need to paint your floor or go with Race Deck.

The ceilings are about 15 feet tall

The floor _is_ painted, but it was done about 2 years ago.

Also, check out this picture. A friend of mine reminded me that the real benefit of these lifts is that I have just turned my two-car garage into a four-car garage.

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[AviSarfaraz]

you lucky [******]!!!

 

[Anthony - 98 GTS]

Again - lifts look great. I just can't get over the fact that you have 15 foot ceilings in your garage!!

 

[OutThere]

wow... looks great!

 

[schorvitz]

Again - lifts look great. I just can't get over the fact that you have 15 foot ceilings in your garage!!

I double checked the height and it's more like 13.5 feet

When the garage was originally built, they installed 8' doors which wasted all of the height of the garage. I thought it would be cool to make this mod to my garage as it now utilizes all the space. Since I can't build to the sides the only way I was going to get a 4 car garage was to build up

 

[Warren S]

Very nice! I was thinking about the conversion of adding the lifts to make mine into a 4-car garage too. But the wife wouldn't appreciate it if we had to move the bedroom downstairs

 

[snowmann]

Too clean...

 

[schorvitz]

Too clean...

I know

I used the air compressor and a vacuum to tidy up for the pictures.

 

[GR8_ASP]

Current Garage status. A job is just never complete when it comes to cars and garages. Note this picture is a couple of months old so is not quite up to date.

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Things yet to complete:
Add 1 panel to 16 ft door (allows tracks to be raised)
Raise 16 ft door tracks and opener to 12 ft (same as 8 ft door is now)
Paint walls and ceiling a lighter, semi-gloss color (ugh - I hate painting!)
Install sink - had this in previous house and miss it a lot
Put compressor in basement and install pressure taps in garage
Build a shed under the deck and get all the non car junk out of the garage
Relax and have a beer and dream about what is next

Important features completed to date:
TV and stereo systems, telephone
Central vacuum outlet (this is definitely worth it!)
Hoist
Added numerous 120 outlets and additional circuit and 240 outlet
Enclosed cabinet for storing trash bin, etc.
Added 8 ft door panel and raised tracks to 1 ft below ceiling (13 ft)
Tiled floor
Insulated and added furnace ducts
Installed kitchen cabinets and countertop all along Viper bay wall
Installed plastic cabinets on other 2 sides
Mounted numerous Viper related paraphernalia on walls, etc. (no one would take this as a Ford or GM household)
Installed mirrors to ease driving on or under hoist

If I have missed anything let me know.

 

[Jay Herbert]

Is the Pro-Park 7 an "Eagle Lift"?

It is amazing how much the prices for lifts have dropped in the last few years. Multiple lifts for less than $2000 I was doing a little web surfing, and found this one for $1995:

American automotive four-post lift

 

[schorvitz]

Is the Pro-Park 7 an "Eagle Lift"?

It is amazing how much the prices for lifts have dropped in the last few years. Multiple lifts for less than $2000 I was doing a little web surfing, and found this one for $1995:

American automotive four-post lift

No, the Pro-Park 7 is not built by Eagle although it looks (and pretty much is) exactly the same. If you call Greg Smith he'll fill you in on all the details of the Pro-Park 7 and how it compares to Eagle. I went with Greg's lift over Eagle's lift first and foremost because of customer service. When I called Eagle they were VERY short with me. Greg, on the other hand, answered every single one of my questions (I must have called 5 or 6 times) and always took my calls personally (unless it was a technical question and then he'd pass me on to his in-house experts). The clincher is the fact that his lifts are way less expensive and _include_ the casters, drip pans, and lift trays (hundreds of dollars more from Eagle).

I did my homework, looked at about 5 different lift vendors and settled on Greg Smith. Now that I've had the lifts for a while (and I use the one with the Viper on it at least 5 times a week) I can confirm that Greg Smith is the way to go.

 

[GR8_ASP]

Pics that were supposed to be shown above. Guess I can't reliably use the Kodak site.

 

[opnwide]

lets see more pictures of dream garages. I am finishing mine soon and will post in a week or two.

 

[Qualitywires.com]

That is sooo sweet!

 

[jimandela]

Viper_SRT,
what type of floor tiles?
sweet!!

 

[J DAWG]

schorvitz, any idea what the minimum ceiling height would be. My garage ihas 10'6 ceilings.

 

[GR8_ASP]

Jim - the floor tiles are the commercial tile from Home Depot. Chose them over the plastic snap together type for easier clean-up, etc. I have central vac in the garage so clean-up is not a problem.

J Smith - 10'6" should work okay. To gain maximum clearance so you can go to full height you may want to raise the garage door to as high as possible and locate the opener to the side. On a different thread we discussed ceiling heights and measurements some time during the winter.

 

[schorvitz]

schorvitz, any idea what the minimum ceiling height would be. My garage ihas 10'6 ceilings.

I think Greg Smith's site has some measurement requirements, but my guess would be 6' for the first car, a foot or so for the platform and another 6' or so to raise the car all the way to the top.

So 12'-13' would be required if you wanted to park another car under the first car. If you only want to use the lift to work on cars you could park a car under the lift when it wasn't in use and then lift the car you are working on 4 or so feet to get under it.

Hope this helps...

 

[schorvitz]

Jim - the floor tiles are the commercial tile from Home Depot. Chose them over the plastic snap together type for easier clean-up, etc. I have central vac in the garage so clean-up is not a problem.

J Smith - 10'6" should work okay. To gain maximum clearance so you can go to full height you may want to raise the garage door to as high as possible and locate the opener to the side. On a different thread we discussed ceiling heights and measurements some time during the winter.

I had to have a garage door company come over and move the garage motor up another 4'. They had to add 4' of door to make this happen. It makes the inside of my garage look very commercial

 

[schorvitz]

BTW, for anyone that is interested...

I just bought a BMW X5 (need something to tow the Viper to the track). It fits under the lift but I need to lift it higher than the top locking plate AND I have to pull the mirrors in (this should give some idea of just how much room is under the lift).

Anyway, it seems most appropriate for me to get rid of one of my lifts. If someone is local to the Atlanta area and would like to buy one of my lifts, please contact me through my ViperClub.org userid. I will help you with moving the lift and assembling it onsite - which is no easy task At least I've had experience building two of them already

What I will probably put in place of the lift is a pulley system for hoisting a trailer up to the ceiling of my garage! Anyone have any idea if this is possible or not?

Thanks!

 

[VIPERESS]

Congratulations! The garage looks great. I have the Perfect Park garage lift, and I am very happy with it. It is extremely sturdy.