Filed under: Gadgets, Etc., Tech
Now you see it, Now you don't: The Phantom Park subterranean garage lift
David Copperfield ain't got nothing on this device. The Phantom Park lift from American Custom Lifts is a hydraulic scissor lift that when installed in your garage can lower a prized collector's vehicle or billion dollar supercar beneath the floor for safe keeping. The lift can raise and lower a vehicle as fast as 65 seconds and the company offers a catalogue of additional safety equipment and sensors to ensure your investment doesn't get its nose clipped off during the lowering or raising process. This is also a great device for people with garages that have ceilings too low for a traditional hydraulic lift, or for the mega rich that have a below-ground parking structure and need access that's less conspicuous than a ramp. AC Lifts offers units that can handle the weight and size of anything up to a mid-size SUV, and you can even have the top of the canopy covered in any flooring material you'd like to make the lift completely transparent when it's below ground. You know, Christmas is coming up and we've been good all year long, so hopefully Santa will see fit to have his elves install a Phantom Park in the Autoblog Garage while we're asleep.
[Source: AC Lifts]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Paul j. 2:13PM (10/09/2006)
Would one still be able to operate the lift when a car is parked on top of it??
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hmmm 2:21PM (10/09/2006)
Ya neat device, but i called them and the price for the 5000 lb lift starts at 60k for the basic model, IN my eyes if you can afford 60k it seems to be cheaper to just add on to your garage ! also if you can afford a maserati and a lotus it seems like you can afford a bigger home than a duplex with a single car garage... Also loose the power in a storm and ya need to call a taxi, cause the lift wont work !
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JayP 2:24PM (10/09/2006)
Soneone buy one quick! So they can afford real voice talent and get off the trial software to produce this video!
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2009 Mustang 2:24PM (10/09/2006)
I like the idea of having an underground garage with this as the only way to get the cars in and out because it would make it quite hard for a thief to get to your prized exotics, nevermind even knowing they're there.
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cowboy bob 2:35PM (10/09/2006)
Screw the cars, I'm buy'n one for an inlaw apartment!
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Steve 2:43PM (10/09/2006)
Sorry, I dozed off for a minute...Narration cured my insomnia.
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Bryan 2:52PM (10/09/2006)
I bought one of those Park-Zone things with the red/yellow/green lights they show for about $10 off Ebay a long time ago.
I watched it with the sound off, but apparently I didn't miss much. And yeah, for 60K you'd think they could afford a licensed copy of a video program.
Finally - these aren't anything new. One of the hotels I used to stay at in Germany had these in its underground garage to double parking spaces. Apologies to the owner of the Mercedes whose antenna I bent when I raised it up against the garage roof.
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Hamud 3:21PM (10/09/2006)
I guess this is just to safekeep your exotic and not to double the space of the garage. Since anyone with 60k to buy this surely would be able to build a bigger garage.
Anyway, is a great idea.
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Taylor Alexander 3:39PM (10/09/2006)
Yeah...
That narrator/music sounded like something I'd hear on an ad for a nursing home... "Here at Sunshine Villas, you'll have the peace of mind to know you'll be cared for..." Is he marketing a car lift or trying to calm down the elderly?
-Taylor
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Mercedes Owner 3:43PM (10/09/2006)
So it was you, Bryan? Grrr!!!
haha, just kidding
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Curt Chambers 3:43PM (10/09/2006)
Why are they calling that a scissors lift? I thought a scissors lift mechanism typically has two large scissor like jack units on each end - that looks like a 4 post lift to me of some kind. Am I not seeing everything?
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Bob Dobbs 4:01PM (10/09/2006)
A four-post lift would be 1/20 the price and give you the same functionality.
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Edsel 5:38PM (10/09/2006)
Imagine, daddy's 911 getting pushed through the garage roof as mommy retrieves her SUV.
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Green Lotus Elise 5:56PM (10/09/2006)
My Elise will sooo have its own batcave whenever we build a house! What would be cooler is if it was an elevator down to an underground garage (or basement).
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John B 12:10AM (10/10/2006)
I used to work for a guy who had an engineer design and install something like this @ his house over 15 years ago, only it lowered the whole garage and it looked like a garden when it was lowered. This was in a high dollar area that actually (at the time) prohibited extra building and his neighbors soooo wanted to bet something similar for themselves. Now, they just knock down the houses and build mini MacMansions.
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jim 10:19AM (10/10/2006)
you better pray your not in a high water table, subject to local flooding etc.....also what about humidity " down below".
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Brad Davies 10:54AM (10/11/2006)
Hello to all Readers:
First, I want to thank you all for your comments and for the laughs. I'm still smiling. My name is Brad Davies, owner and operator of American Custom Lifts. I wasn't even aware of this blog being posted or written until yesterday. I also want to thank John Neff for posting this editorial about the PhantomPark.
I will respond to all the comments in the order that they're posted.
1. Paul J, if one has enough ceiling height, they could retrieve the lower vehicle without having to remove the upper vehicle. We do have a safeguard sensor option interfaced with the controls that will prevent one from raising the lift in a low ceiling application. It will automatically shut down the power unit.
2. Mr. Hmmm, you're correct about the price being about 60K. But this also includes the freight, installation and all the safety control interfacing. Many of the areas where we have installed the PhantomPark, the property value is much more costly than the PhantomPark. In these cases, is it more cost effective to dig a pit or basement than it is to purchase additional property and build a new garage. Many of our applications have a basement level of 11' and a upper garage ceiling height of 8'. Therefore we have designed a detachable canopy, thus allowing the lower platform to continue to descend until it's flush with the basement floor while the top canopy is already at rest filling in the opening at the upper garage level. One cannot raise the lift until the upper vehicle is removed.
3. J Paul, I must agree. We have several professional recordings in house, but a decision has not yet been made as to which voice to use. The voice currently being heard is of the gentleman who shot the video. He's not a professional narrator obviously. We're still searching for other voices. If you'd like, I can email you some sample recordings. Your feedback would be appreciated. My favorite recording is of this British gal, but then we thought it may not be appropriate to use a foreign voice when we're promoting American made.
4. Mr. 2009 Mustang, many of our customers have purchased the PhantomPark for the exact benefit you'd mentioned. The collectable vehicle is safely secured below grade. An intruder may not even be aware that there's a vehicle(s) stored below grade.
5. Cowboy Bob, that is a great idea. I appreciate the laugh also. We may go to print with your idea.
6. Steve, we will have a narrator soon that will keep you awake. I did get a laugh from your post. Thanks.
7. Bryan, besides the light signal, we also offer wheel locators that are installed flush into the platform. The signal lights shown in the video were designed to interface with our controls. As for the idea not being new, you're right, it's been around for years. But nothing quite like the PhantomPark. The PhantomPark is the only American made Phantom that is code compliant in every U.S. city. We also offer a safety option that will prevent one from bending their antenna or sending a car through the ceiling.
8. Hamud, The PhantomPark has been installed for the purpose you'd mentioned, "safe keeping". There are many reasons why one would install a PhantomPark opposed to building a new garage. One being, their property space may be limited, therefore their only solution is to go below grade.
9. Taylor, I appreciate your comment. Soon we'll have a new voice-over and possibly a different background music, thanks to feedback such as yours.
10. Mercedes owner, you will receive a discount.
11. Curt, we offer both a scissors style and a four post style PhantomPark. You're correct, it is a four post style shown in the video. Most of our installations are a scissors style.
12. Bob, you're right, a four post is much less expensive. We offer them for around $3000 delivered and installed. However, one must enough ceiling height for an above ground parking system. We also offer a four post style subterranean lift that is less costly than the scissors style, but more costly to install. The cost for either model installed is comparable in price.
13. Hello Edsel. That would be bad to put Daddy's 911 through the roof. However, once the vehicle present sensor system is installed, one cannot raise the lift with a vehicle on the upper deck. Unless one has enough ceiling clearance, then one would not need the vehicle present sensor.
14. Green Lotus Elise, we do offer a PhantomPark elevator that would transport vehicles to a basement level or to an upper level.
15. John B, I also saw the same or very similar application. It was pretty cool. We could also do the same, but very costly.
16. Jim, the home you see in the video is located right on the beach in Newport Beach. A good GC will know how to build a pit or basement in a low water table application.
Again, I thank all of you for your posted comments. It's folks like yourselves that help us improve our marketing tools and our products.
If any of you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact me directly using our toll free number 888.711,5438.
Sincerely,
Brad Davies
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Donald Roark 2:26PM (10/11/2006)
You've a good idea here. Now add to it a foor that rotates so the driver drives out as well as in. I saw that in a home here in Omaha that was about a hundread years old or more. Folks live on a very busy street and backing out wasn't ideal.Teaching his wife how to drive is probably why he had it built I'm sure but just think of how practical that would be.
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Brad Davies 6:20PM (10/11/2006)
Hi Donald,
Thanks for your comment. We're building a PhantomPark for a gentleman in NY that is using a turn-table at the lower level. We can build a turn-table to be recessed into the deck, but it is costly.
We're also designing a special PhantomPark for BMW in Munich, which will will have 13' of travel with a built-in turntable in both decks. However, instead of transport vehicles to a lower level, BMW will be transporting vehicles to an upper level.
I found two websites that all manufacture car tun tables. For your reference, please visit the following links: http://www.carturntables.com and http://www.carturns.com/.
Please note that I rarely visit these sites such as autoblog, so I don't respond to a posted comment, please understand. Anyone is welcome to call me directly using our toll free number 888.711.5438.
Thanks again.
Brad Davies
American Custom Lifts
http://www.aclifts.com
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AJ Quick 11:37PM (10/15/2006)
Thats really cool.. but I'd probably forget and still raise the car with one on top. Or I'd do it on purpose!
It really is pretty much a tool only for the super rich living in small cities. Normal people use their garage for storage and other things... and could probably more easily expand horizontally or with a thing called a driveway.
-AJ Quick
http://www.AutoVendors.net/
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