I have a pit too. 6ft long, 3ft 6in wide, 5ft 6in deep, approx. Pretty generous. I'm a fairly big 6 footer so I wanted to be able to work on the Chim just by driving over it. I can get front or back over half of the pit while the other half (with the steps) is open for access, and I can leave the handbrake off and pull the car over the top if I need access to the other end of it. This is also useful for a bit of peace and quiet! I had it excavated when I levelled the plot for the garage and driveway, with a mini digger, and finished by hand - well shovel actually. Steel reenforcment was driven into the ground and also into the walls, and these were tied. I then constructed formwork in sterling board with a timber framework, leaving 4in gap for the concrete. A extra formwork boundary went around the top, 4in outside of the first, to create a ledge for the woodwork that would cover the pit (2in x 10in timber). I had cut steps into one end; after the concrete had set and the formwork was removed (I left it a week just in case) I then built new formwork for the steps and concreted those separately - the reenforcing rods were already in place and tied in with the rest. Floor is as yet unfinished, but I will lay concrete at some point. Several years on there are no problems with damp, and the garage itself is 18in below garden level, never mind the pit, and we have very wet clay soil. the walls stay completely dry (4in thick, not surprising!) so there is no risk in a solid concrete floor, but I will dig a soakaway and leave a drainage grille anyway. I had intended to paint the walls but never got round to that. I also laid power in conduit through the concrete base before it was laid, but haven't connected anything yet - a couple of sockets and some lighting would be useful!

He led me into the garage and there before me was something I had never seen before: a two-post hydraulic car lift in someone’s home garage. "Wow," I thought, "Verell must be rich! Maybe I really don’t have enough money to own a Ferrari after all." We pulled my car into the garage, slipped the lifting arms beneath it, lined them up with the lifting points on the frame and up she went. Within minutes, we were standing under the car, inspecting, tinkering, and cleaning. Now this is the way to work on a car.