[Ed and Sandra]

Perhaps some of you will enjoy a little light hearted humor at our expense. We made a post a couple of months ago sharing the results of our garage project http://www.xlrforum.com/showthread.php?t=1517 and the write-up and pictures referenced the Bend-Pak car lift we had installed.

Today we were visiting some local car dealerships “just looking” and doing some research in anticipation of eventually replacing our old Mountaineer with some sort of truck as an everyday knock around type vehicle for Ed to use. As things would have it, at the Ford dealership we instantly became enamoured with a 2007 4x4 Limited Sport Trac with all the options except the navigation system.

Being mindful of the height limitations of our new car lift upon which the XLR normally resides, before purchasing the Sport Trac we took it to the house and actually parked it beneath the raised lift. It was a snug but OK fit with about 1” clearance between the top rails of the vehicle and the bottom of the lift. So, with that out of the way we returned to the dealership and proceeded to make the purchase.

We had a rather rude surprise when we arrived back at the house with our new acquisition and discovered it would no longer fit in the bay beneath the lift. :eek What made the difference? The XLR was now parked on the lift whereas there was nothing on it before and its weight was just enough to depress the rear most bottom edge of the lift about 1 ½”.

Oh well – live and learn. It would seem the Sport Trac will be residing in an adjacent bay on its own and the electric garden truck now has the place of honor beneath the XLR.

Best regards,
Ed and Sandra

 

[xlr47]

Not impressed.....

and definitely not funny.
:nopity

 

[motorboat]

Missed it by that much!!!!

Ed and Sandra,

I am glad you can look on the lite side of this. I can't say its funny BUT it did put a smile on my face. :rolleyes I was thinking SEE I am not the only one out there that things like this happen too..
As they say "The best laid plans of mice and men"...

What are the chances you can have 4 2" high metal spacers made and putting them under the car lift legs to give you the add height you need?

By the way I never told you I love the way you dressed up your garage..:thumbs

motorboat

 

[Guest]

Ed and Sandra,
Two suggestions:
Get a concrete grinder and take down your floor until you have enough room, then reseal the floor, or let the air out of your tires.
That sure was an expensive lesson, but knowing the vehicles you have and the best damn looking garage in the nation, I would suppose that money isn't really an issue.
Bob

Perhaps some of you will enjoy a little light hearted humor at our expense. We made a post a couple of months ago sharing the results of our garage project http://www.xlrforum.com/showthread.php?t=1517 and the write-up and pictures referenced the Bend-Pak car lift we had installed.

Today we were visiting some local car dealerships “just looking” and doing some research in anticipation of eventually replacing our old Mountaineer with some sort of truck as an everyday knock around type vehicle for Ed to use. As things would have it, at the Ford dealership we instantly became enamoured with a 2007 4x4 Limited Sport Trac with all the options except the navigation system.

Being mindful of the height limitations of our new car lift upon which the XLR normally resides, before purchasing the Sport Trac we took it to the house and actually parked it beneath the raised lift. It was a snug but OK fit with about 1” clearance between the top rails of the vehicle and the bottom of the lift. So, with that out of the way we returned to the dealership and proceeded to make the purchase.

We had a rather rude surprise when we arrived back at the house with our new acquisition and discovered it would no longer fit in the bay beneath the lift. :eek What made the difference? The XLR was now parked on the lift whereas there was nothing on it before and its weight was just enough to depress the rear most bottom edge of the lift about 1 ½”.

Oh well – live and learn. It would seem the Sport Trac will be residing in an adjacent bay on its own and the electric garden truck now has the place of honor beneath the XLR.

Best regards,
Ed and Sandra

 

[xlr47]

could take the xlr to SXM to drive....

be a real nice car to tool around the island with the top down, and top off!!!

 

[Ed and Sandra]

Thanks to all of you who commiserated with us and offered suggestions both here and privately via emails. We’re still shaking our heads and laughing at ourselves about our screw-up, much as we were the day it happened and when we decided to share the episode here thinking some of you might get a chuckle from it also.

As indicated, the various suggestions for dealing with the problem were appreciated, but retrospectively we realize we may have made it seem more of an issue than it is. Because of the car lift we have a good bit of flexibility and therefore alternatives. We can actually park the new Sport Trac on top with the XLR underneath or as we indicated in the earlier post in an adjacent bay all by itself. Another combination is to put the Workhorse (fabulous little vehicle for landscape work) beneath either the Sport Trac or the XLR.

For those of you who don’t understand XLR47’s cryptic comment about SXM, it refers to the fact that we’ve visited St. Martin / St. Maarten a number of times over the past few years and have written extensive travelogues and also published other material related to our experiences. The most recent one can be found here: http://home.carolina.rr.com/stmartin2005/TraveloguePage1.htm We greatly enjoy using our XLR but wouldn’t consider subjecting it to the road and traffic conditions that exist on the island!

Best regards,
Ed and Sandra