Pop-up Garage Stows Your Car Safely Underground

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The Cardok garage is an interesting parking solution that is starting to be seen around more affluent London locales. The owner’s car is raised and lowered by means of a hydraulic lift. At present there are eight in action around London, four under construction and another ten that have been ordered, which is no small feat as the price for the single model is $61,181 and if you want an over and under double it will be $72,816.

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Incidentally, here in Japan these are even creeping into cities in the more rural parts of the country. [Daily Mail via Design Blog, Born Rich]

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C.S. Magor is the editor-in-chief and a reporter at large for We Interrupt and Uberreview. He currently resides in the Japanese countryside approximately two hours from Tokyo - where he has spent the better part of a decade testing his hypothesis that Japan is neither as quirky nor as interesting as others would have you believe.
65 Comments on this post.
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    3 April 2009 at 12:37 pm
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  • 101ebay
    4 April 2009 at 8:14 am
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    It’s cool and like me !

    • Donnie_darco
      19 July 2011 at 4:39 pm
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      What about rain?  My grandpa’s house had a terrible water table problem and whenever we had a heavy rain the level below ground would flood.  It seems possible for this garage to get water logged.

      • guest
        16 August 2011 at 12:59 pm
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        its hard to tell in the picture but when it closes it has a seal

  • 101ebay
    4 April 2009 at 3:14 am
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    It’s cool and like me !

  • Dave
    4 April 2009 at 3:10 pm
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    I’ve always wanted my very own bat-cave!

    • C. S. Magor
      4 April 2009 at 3:13 pm
      Leave a Reply

      And now you can have one for almost as much as a small house.

  • Dave
    4 April 2009 at 10:10 am
    Leave a Reply

    I’ve always wanted my very own bat-cave!

    • C. S. Magor
      4 April 2009 at 10:13 am
      Leave a Reply

      And now you can have one for almost as much as a small house.

  • Tina Gleisner, Founder Assn of
    7 April 2009 at 1:53 pm
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    Pretty cool & reminds me of same thing in Tokyo where you pay incredibly high rent for a parking space, i.e. $500/mo in 1992

  • Tina Gleisner, Founder Assn of Home Professionals
    7 April 2009 at 8:53 am
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    Pretty cool & reminds me of same thing in Tokyo where you pay incredibly high rent for a parking space, i.e. $500/mo in 1992

  • SB
    7 April 2009 at 3:28 pm
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    Ill have 4 of them then! Might as well make a pop out toilet too!

    • Vic
      7 April 2009 at 7:13 pm
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      SB,

      Your order has been processed. Unfortunately the pop up toilet is on back order. 🙂

  • SB
    7 April 2009 at 10:28 am
    Leave a Reply

    Ill have 4 of them then! Might as well make a pop out toilet too!

    • Vic
      7 April 2009 at 2:13 pm
      Leave a Reply

      SB,

      Your order has been processed. Unfortunately the pop up toilet is on back order. 🙂

  • Last week’s Coolest Gadget Winners are… » Coolest Gadgets
    10 April 2009 at 6:38 am
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    […] winner of last week’s coolest gadget competition is the Pop-up Garage Stows Your Car Safely Underground. The Cardok garage is an interesting parking solution that is starting to be seen around more […]

  • David
    10 April 2009 at 1:38 pm
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    This is totally cool — and pretty inpracticle.All of the work to get it set up would be costly. BUT what a great idea to maximize space. Plus I could buy a Corvette and hide it from my wife!

    • C. S. Magor
      10 April 2009 at 10:27 pm
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      The smaller a country is and the more a parking space costs the more practical it becomes. In Japan they go three high at a lot of apartment buildings: underground, ground, above ground. The ground places cost the most because they are more convenient. I’ve heard of people paying $500+ per month for a parking space, so there is a good incentive for people to build them.

  • David
    10 April 2009 at 8:38 am
    Leave a Reply

    This is totally cool — and pretty inpracticle.All of the work to get it set up would be costly. BUT what a great idea to maximize space. Plus I could buy a Corvette and hide it from my wife!

    • C. S. Magor
      10 April 2009 at 5:27 pm
      Leave a Reply

      The smaller a country is and the more a parking space costs the more practical it becomes. In Japan they go three high at a lot of apartment buildings: underground, ground, above ground. The ground places cost the most because they are more convenient. I’ve heard of people paying $500+ per month for a parking space, so there is a good incentive for people to build them.

  • Maria
    11 April 2009 at 9:12 am
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    Hey! That’s definitely a great gadget for people who don’t have much room to store their cars. Not to mention it then becomes really hard to steal if they could even find it.

  • Maria
    11 April 2009 at 4:12 am
    Leave a Reply

    Hey! That’s definitely a great gadget for people who don’t have much room to store their cars. Not to mention it then becomes really hard to steal if they could even find it.

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    16 April 2009 at 6:16 am
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  • Aparca el coche bajo el jardín de tu casa @ world news
    29 November 2009 at 10:22 am
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    […] eso una posible y cara solución son los parkings que se esconden bajo tierra. Los de la foto corresponden a unos que se están comenzando a construir por encargo en […]

  • Lisa
    27 January 2010 at 8:40 pm
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    wonder what happens if the power goes out?

    • Patrick
      4 March 2010 at 1:00 pm
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      You’ll have to hand crank it, or use the included foot pump 😛

      of course, you WILL be late to work….

  • Lisa
    27 January 2010 at 3:40 pm
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    wonder what happens if the power goes out?

    • Patrick
      4 March 2010 at 8:00 am
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      You’ll have to hand crank it, or use the included foot pump 😛

      of course, you WILL be late to work….

  • prototype cars
    22 February 2010 at 6:37 pm
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    ya this is really very nice people having space problems and have many cars can adopt it

  • prototype cars
    22 February 2010 at 1:37 pm
    Leave a Reply

    ya this is really very nice people having space problems and have many cars can adopt it

  • El parking de tu casa…en el jardin ;-) « Razor's Tech Blog
    24 February 2010 at 3:40 pm
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    […] eso una posible y cara solución son los parkings que se esconden bajo tierra. Los de la foto corresponden a unos que se están comenzando a construir por encargo en Londres. […]

  • shane
    16 May 2010 at 7:27 am
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    wouldn’t like to get a lot of rain tho. 🙂

  • shane
    16 May 2010 at 2:27 am
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    wouldn’t like to get a lot of rain tho. 🙂

  • idris
    30 July 2010 at 9:15 am
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    how long does it take for the lift to rise up? If its more than 10 minutes, its not worth $ 60 grand

    • C. S. Magor
      30 July 2010 at 11:02 pm
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      I’ve seen similar systems here in Japan, it usually takes just a minute or two.

  • idris
    30 July 2010 at 4:15 am
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    how long does it take for the lift to rise up? If its more than 10 minutes, its not worth $ 60 grand

    • C. S. Magor
      30 July 2010 at 6:02 pm
      Leave a Reply

      I’ve seen similar systems here in Japan, it usually takes just a minute or two.

  • Jonnyrox
    29 October 2010 at 1:00 pm
    Leave a Reply

    Well I don’t think it would take that long to go up/down. I work in the motor trade and you can get a ramp for around £15000 and that dose exactly the same thing goes up/down when you want it to, which takes a minute to send the ramp up/down!! down motion is faster. So you could buy a ramp and just get some heavy duty/steel plates have them welded for less and put it in a big hole in you garden. £72,816 WHAT!

    • JagSee
      26 November 2010 at 2:42 pm
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      I think the price is $72,816 but not £72,816

  • dondon
    4 November 2010 at 8:51 am
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    nice idea!

  • IBA
    8 November 2010 at 1:52 am
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    $72k is a real high price to pay.
    It can be built for way less.

  • Potty
    22 November 2010 at 2:09 pm
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    what if someones in the car when u close it

    • Dhollist
      20 December 2010 at 12:48 pm
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      Then you’re an idiot?

    • Anonymous
      7 January 2011 at 1:57 am
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      Did u just seriously f@#kin ask that? let’s put it this way… if u’re dumb enough for that to even possibly happen, then u’re too dumb to ever make the 60K+ to get one, so don’t worry about it!!!

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    5 December 2010 at 10:24 pm
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  • Big K
    8 December 2010 at 4:16 am
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    oh well i guess they sleep inside the car ha ha to bad so sad but nice hideing place for the mafia

  • Charlie453
    14 December 2010 at 4:42 pm
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    I have one too, its called a garage.

  • fordcorona
    16 December 2010 at 7:36 pm
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    72 mil ? :O

  • Jesse_6027
    23 December 2010 at 2:30 am
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    What if it floods? Good bye car…

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    31 December 2010 at 12:31 am
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  • Mr Bockelmann
    11 January 2011 at 8:03 pm
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    So when your final moments come, you can get in your favorite car and ‘bury’ yourself and save on funeral expenses!!!

    • Dguyer86
      17 June 2011 at 8:59 pm
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      Theres a garage under there. its just not a hole.

      • Zelfarion
        5 September 2011 at 10:57 pm
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        Nope its not a garage under there its just the lift. I have seen one of these and its just a hole nothing more. Its just the lift that costs around 60k. Wherever you heard that there was a garage under there aswell is a lie. if you yourself build a garage and then build one of these then its gonna cost lets say 100k in total to build.

  • Dfljksfaskjhl
    25 January 2011 at 4:23 am
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    yaay! now i can hide how much i’m really worth from the taxman!!!

  • WICKED
    30 September 2011 at 9:49 am
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    So, are these sound proof, where you can lock the doors in your car then shut it down to hide from your gf, or in some other cases the guys wife?, also would be badass to connect it to your basement, so you can work on your car without going out in the storm, or when it gets dark out I guess, or maybe a nice park garage style basement to house your bikes if you have more than 4 motorcycles.

  • Matt
    12 October 2011 at 5:59 am
    Leave a Reply

    I can’t even afford to pave my driveway for goodness sake

  • kk
    22 October 2011 at 2:23 am
    Leave a Reply

    RE: What do you do if the power goes out..? Does it have a crank by hand system?

    What to do if the gas runs out in the car? Does it have pedals to pedal to the gas station?

    Next stupid question…

  • Dfma
    25 December 2011 at 8:43 am
    Leave a Reply

    buying a bigger house is much cheaper!!!!

  • Gary
    1 March 2012 at 4:43 pm
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    this is hardly new, my brothers apartment block had these for all residents in an underground car park 15 years ago. It was a way to double the capacity of the parking area.

  • BUBBA
    3 March 2012 at 3:28 pm
    Leave a Reply

    WOW  ……. Just got mine and it is great will order two more for my friends ! 

  • Andre
    10 July 2012 at 6:52 am
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    Looks nice, but when it start raining, it will probably become a mess.

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