Lift going down: The million-dollar underground garage that you can only park your car in through an aircraft carrier elevator

Costs $25 a time to raise and lower the enormous car elevator
Capable of lifting a quarter of a million pounds
Elevator is heated and impervious to many types of natural disaster

Published: 20:26 GMT, 12 April 2012 | Updated: 18:23 GMT, 13 April 2012

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Disguised under rocks and pine trees you'd be forgiven for thinking that this secret launchpad was straight out of Thunderbirds.

While it may look like a 21st century version of the Tracy Island escape chute, this is actually an enormous lift used to raise cars and buses from a giant underground car park to the surface on a sprawling estate in Lake Tahoe, U.S.

It is the brainchild of multimillionaire Tom Gonzales who decided to build the aircraft carrier style elevator after selling his software engineering company.

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Hi-tech: Like something out of a Thunderbirds episode the enormous lift rises from a giant underground basement

Hi-tech: Like something out of a Thunderbirds episode the enormous lift rises from a giant underground garage

The elevator is impossible to see normally but with the press of a button a red light begins to flash and the ground begins to move as the 60ft long hydraulically-powered lift appears from below.

Speaking on the U.S. show Million Dollar Rooms Mr Gonzales says: 'When someone sees it for the first time they are speechless, overwhelmed, but one thing is for sure, in their lifetime they will never forget it.'

Nicknamed 'The Gigantor' the privately-owned engineering marvel is heated and 'completely impervious to any kind of natural disaster' according to its owner.

Disgusied: Covered by boulders and pine trees the massive lift is hidden from view in normal conditions

Turbo-charged: Tom Gonzales has rows of gleaming bikes on display at sprawling estate at Lake Tahoe

Millionaire: Tom Gonzales says he needs somewhere safe in which to store his 40 luxury cars and 60ft bus

Collection: The garage which contains cars and motorcycles was described as like a 'toybox' because of its collection of unused vehicles

It costs $25 a time in electricity to power the hefty bit of kit which is believed to be one of, if not the, largest privately-owned land vehicle lift in the country.

The 12ft wide elevator is capable of carrying more than a quarter of a million pounds and requires 800 gallons of hydraulic fluid to raise and lower.

Underneath is an immaculately finished 6,000 sq ft garage which can store 40 cars or nine buses.

Mr Gonzales adds: 'It reflects my personality because I truly was the one who designed it. It was what I wanted.

'I finally got my kid's toy box, the thing that I can put my cars in, my RVs, my motorcycles and it makes me feel good.'

Mr Gonzales' enormous property also features racks of gleaming new motorbikes, some of which have never even been started let alone ridden.

Garage: In the video the truck (pictured) lifts up as an elevator lifts the vehicles out of an underground garage

Lift-off: The garage is able to lift 257,000lb. It is surrounded by fake trees - so passers by would not even know it is there

Powerful: The 12ft wide elevator is capable of lifting more than a quarter of a million pounds and requires 800 gallons of hydraulic fluid to raise and lower