If there's space and resources a four-post drive-on lift is superior. The good ones include sub-lifts on rollers in the middle for raising the vehicle further

If there's space and resources a four-post drive-on lift is superior. The good ones include sub-lifts on rollers in the middle for raising the vehicle further off its tires. Some of them can be annoyingly crowded underneath though, alignment racks tend to be this way to accommodate a maximum range of vehicle sizes. If there's no permanent dedicated space, you can get a lot done with robust safety using simple ramps made from stacked wide planks of wood. The first hot-rod shop I worked at in my youth had a simple four post lift and a big iron A-frame on wheels used like a gantry crane. We'd lift entire bodies off chassis or K members with it, and roll them out of the way into a corner so we could access the powertrain. It was a big shop space, usually with 5-6 cars in the air at a time, but most of the cars were on static stands. The A-frame would just move around the place as needed, it was just big enough to straddle the largest anticipated vehicle. But we weren't in a constant hurry like your typical muffler/brake shop full of butchers.