[Malcolm]

I have a 4 post lift. It is called a wheels free lift as it has two steels that run the length of the lift and they slide side to side. Therefore you put them in the centre of the car as you drive on, raise the lift normally, and then move the steels outwards so that they are where you need them to be, pull a locking lever at each end of the lift to lock the steels to the posts, lower the lift and now the car is supported by the chassis sitting on the steels (I use small blocks of wood to pad the chassis) leaving the wheels and suspension uncompressed and free to work/dismantle.

With this lift I can play with single seaters, vintage or modern cars as it covers the whole range of jacking points. Plus it cost £500 to buy and £750 to have the system refurbished and the lift professionally installed.

The external ridge height in my workshop is 4m (13ft). The ceiling is pitched and has 8 inches of insulation. I get full lift with regular cars on the lift plus also when the front and rear clips on my 40 are open. I had the floor dropped when the workshop was being built to enable full lift but also to give me a totally flat run on to the lift ramps. Now very low ground clearance cars just roll on easily. The lift is off centre to the workshop so that the power column doesn't puncture the external roof covering.

The picture below is not photoshopped but shows you can store 2 cars on the lift easily. The red car is on the two steels mentioned above, just under the tyres and not the chassis. This picture was taken for fun as I wasn't storing a car with its wheels on a narrow beam long term. We worked out that if we had had a third 40 to hand, with the top car at full lift on the steels, the second car on the normal ramps, we could have got a third 40 in underneath! However bit short on 40's to play with that day.....