It's tough for anyone to get excited about a parking lot, with the possible exception of vintage car owners in Los Angeles. Those folks have been waiting several months for the grand opening of the Westside Collector Car Storage facility. What's the big deal? Once it opens, which owner Matt Farah has promised will be very soon, the WCCS complex will be the closest thing a parking lot gets to a palace.
Building Codes Galore
There's been no shortage of anticipation over the eventual opening of WCCS, which has been hinted at for months. But Farah admitted on his own Smoking Tire podcast that the search for proper materials to deal with California's earthquake, fire, and low-development impact (which deals with stormwater treatment and any toxic chemicals in the effluence) codes accounted for much of the delays.
But Smoking Tire let it be known on a Tuesday Instagram posting that the WCCS's grand opening was around the corner. Making the most out of calling the spot the most photogenic car facility since L.A.'s Peterson Automotive Museum was renovated seemed like hype. That is until Farah shared with his followers that there wasn't a single spot of bad light in the whole complex.
Stacking Cars
Looks are one thing, but functionality is another. Farah told the folks at videocast channel Eat Sleep Drive that once completed, the 14,000 square-foot facility will be the first indoor quad-based stacking system available in Southern California and one with such an infrastructure built over a basement on the planet. The complex is capable of hosting anything from vintage vehicles to the latest luxury cars with the latest snazzy features.
It was built to store 130 cars, with 40 of them in the basement and the rest on a series of aerial contraptions called ParkPlus QP 1000 Quad stackers. Each unit, supported by four steel columns from floor to ceiling can store four cars vertically, with additional lifts for retrieval and storage. The platforms on each level are strong enough to support the weight of a Chevrolet Tahoe, which if you include the 2021 law enforcement version, can be up to 5,800 lbs.
It Comes With An App
Customers will also get access to an app, which opens to a virtual layout of the garage and a menu that lets WCCS staff know what needs to be done from washing the vehicle to getting it ready for transport. Farah claimed that it takes roughly two minutes to move a car from a platform to the ground.
"Even if you live five minutes away," said Farah on Eat Sleep Drive, "if you click that app that said 'Make My Car Ready,' it would be waiting for you in the wash bay by the time you got here."
Sources: Eat Sleep Drive, The Smoking Tire, Westside Collector Car Storage