Edinburgh Multis demolition reveals chod.

[Skut]

https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/our-region/edinburgh/cars-found-trapped-in-edinburgh-s-robot-car-park-15-years-on-1-4668656

 

Despite working in Edinburgh around this time I'd never heard of this high tech car park.  The Maestro and Uno look remarkably unmolested. I guess reaching them was impossible without the automation.  Nice to see some effort ill be made to preserve them. 

 

image (1) by Giacosa1, on Flickr

[phil_lihp]

I do hope they save those, presumably the owners had to be compensated for the loss of their cars, I guess once the place closed down, no-one would be available to operate the machinery - or the power was cut off.

 

Seems like a hideously complicated solution to a pretty basic problem, clever though.

 

[Dick Cheeseburger]

That’s progress; convert a shitty office block into a ground-breaking electronic car park from the future.

Oh, hang on. They’re converting the car park from the future into an office block? Next thing you know we’ll have the gubbermint spending billions of our readies on a shiteheap nuclear power station for the future*.

 

At least the Uno will live again, I guess.

[chaseracer]

If that Uno's LHD, check it for dents and paint scrapes from a black Mercedes...

[mercrocker]

Reading the link, it seems the cars belonged to the car park company and were used as test vehicles rather than belonging to actual customers.   Good to see they are not just being pushed in a skip...

[xkjagnz]

If that Uno's LHD, check it for dents and paint scrapes from a black Mercedes...

Too soon?!

[Bren]

A skypark. From 1970.

[somewhatfoolish]

A skypark. From 1970.

5311457697_a6faccd7d1_b.jpg

Ideal for budding Donald Goslings everywhere.

[Laseraligningfoofooflanges]

I do hope they save those, presumably the owners had to be compensated for the loss of their cars, I guess once the place closed down, no-one would be available to operate the machinery - or the power was cut off.

 

Seems like a hideously complicated solution to a pretty basic problem, clever though.

 

 

Cripes mr SEL Seems like a bit of a cunt almost takes out the motorcycle at 0:30... And THAT parking! Haha nice car though 

[Mr A Lawrence]

There was one of these things in Leeds in the 80's and I remember* reading something about it trying to park a car in an occupied space with predictable results. 

 

 

 

*might be shite

[Kiltox]

I wonder why this failed so soon - it sounds amazing in theory (I hate multi storey car parks!)

[Skut]

This 1932 Chicago ferris wheel thing is superb.

 

On the subject of the Edin multi it warms the cockles to think a Maestro was given free city centre parking in the heart of Edinburgh for 15 years.

[martc]

Cripes mr SEL Seems like a bit of a cunt almost takes out the motorcycle at 0:30... And THAT parking! Haha nice car though 

 But he's cool* as well, look at the casual angle of his fag.

[Guest Hooli]

What an excellently overly complicated answer for a problem that didn't exist. I'm amazed they've not made a comeback with all the pointless tech to make life harder that exists these days.

[CortinaDave]

i stumbled on this car park when i was going on a date in 2002. I was blown away by it hoovering away my car in front of my very eyes.

 

Ive never been able to find it since... i know now because it closed the following year.

 

id actually started to wonder if I really had been to it or dreamed it as no one else had ever heard of it!

 

I reckon it failed as it was at the wrong side of town too far from the shops etc. What a bloody shame.

 

I also wish my car had been one of the ones trapped as it was an immaculate electric blue mk1 mondeo 2.0 ghia auto. How id love to get M388HVK back now

[eddyramrod]

My first encounter with automated parking was in the remarkably prescient Thunderbirds in about 1966.  The tech, predictably, went wrong, smashing up several cars and causing a major fire that required the services of International Rescue.  As a result, I can't be alone in my generation in thinking that such things are Not To Be Trusted.

[hennabm]

A skypark. From 1970.

5311457697_a6faccd7d1_b.jpg

I had one of those as a kid. Great fun.

[somewhatfoolish]

What an excellently overly complicated answer for a problem that didn't exist. I'm amazed they've not made a comeback with all the pointless tech to make life harder that exists these days.

The problem does exist; parking is a premium in central Edinburgh, despite this and the council's current disincentives for people driving in(trams, perpetual road works, it's bloody Edinburgh) folk insist on visiting the place in cars.

[Slartibartfast]

As with many potentially great ideas I suspect it was a big struggle to keep this cost competitive.

[chaseracer]

i stumbled on this car park when i was going on a date in 2002. I was blown away by it hoovering away my car in front of my very eyes.

 

Ive never been able to find it since...

 

The machinery's still looking for it!  Oh, ISWYM... 

[lisbon_road]

I've seen this sort of thing in Far Eastern cities.  Not as big as this, but years since I have been so I would not be surprised if they are doing all sorts now.

 

Be fun to have an old rust free car to sort out from something like that.  

[Parky]

Its basically a car vending machine. Put a quid in, press the relevant button and a Fiat Uno falls down.

 

Should it snag on its exhaust on the way out, pop in another quid and buy the Maestro above it - hopefully it will snag the Fiat as it descends and you'll get both!*

 

 

 

 

(* in a big pile of twisted metal and plastic)

[DSdriver]

There used to be something similar near Victoria in London. It wouldn't take my Citroen DS because it worked by little trolleys going under the car and jacking it up to move about. The trolleys wouldn't fit under the Citroen after the suspension had depressurised. Does anyone else remember parking there?

[uk_senator]

That's pretty much my dream storage facility, including random old Uno`s..

Surely there's a loaded Scot who'd wanna adopt it, reinstate the mechanism & turn it into the chod capital of the world? FOAD? 

[Guest Hooli]

The problem does exist; parking is a premium in central Edinburgh, despite this and the council's current disincentives for people driving in(trams, perpetual road works, it's bloody Edinburgh) folk insist on visiting the place in cars.

 

I seriously doubt it saves much space compared to a normal car park.

[mk2_craig]

I lived round the corner from this when it was built, I had no freaking idea it closed so soon after opening. I like the idea of entombed Unos being in almost new condition, though I suspect they were probably pretty fucked even back then if theyd already managed a dozen winters in East Central Scotland.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

There used to be something similar near Victoria in London. It wouldn't take my Citroen DS because it worked by little trolleys going under the car and jacking it up to move about. The trolleys wouldn't fit under the Citroen after the suspension had depressurised. Does anyone else remember parking there?

Is that the one which wouldn't take any Citroën?

[catsinthewelder]

I seriously doubt it saves much space compared to a normal car park.

 

I think it would save a lot of space on a small carpark but would be somewhat pointless on a big one.  There is a tiny multistory carpark in Knighton that has about 6 spaces on each floor then a ramp 1/2 a floor up to the next level so level 3 is directly above level 1.  Using this system would almost double the capacity as it is currently mostly ramp.

 

On a big carpark the ramps take up a comparatively small area,  this would save a bit of space as the cars are parked slightly closer together but adding an extra floor would be an awful lot simpler.

 

As a Land Rover owner I would be embasrassed to park in one of these as whoever parked below would get their car back covered in drips of oil.

[chaseracer]

A skypark. From 1970.

 

One hundred and nineteen shillings and sixpence.  Or £5.95 in decimal.

 

That's NINETY QUID, adjusted for inflation...

 

[vaughant]

We use an almost identical albeit on a smaller scale to store engines for vehicles in Honda, it's genuinely pretty reliable and with modern technology controlling unwanted double stores and a computer system checking where everything is and should be, very efficient.