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Thread: SLM buys a flower shop van

  1. #1
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    SLM buys a flower shop van

    This is not a vehicle purchase I anticipated myself ever making. That's right, I've gotten an old flower mobile!

    The plan is to turn it into a mobile home on wheels to go on cross-country adventures. If it seems feasible, I will probably load it into the garage to work on through this winter. I have a ton of wild ideas to load so many innovative inventions into this thing that it might be a loooong time until my dreams are realized. So far I'm thinking about:

    -Making a measurement device from a laser distance sensor and an accelerometer so I can accurately measure out the contours of the inside of the van to custom cut wood shelving that lines right up with the curves of the interior
    -Modifying the passenger seat to fold forward flat, and then the bed will unfold from that, utilizing the passenger side of the cab as living space as opposed to it just being wasted space when parked
    -A shower. I'm not kidding. The way I look at it, if all this beast has in it is a bed and some shelves, it doesn't get me a whole lot closer to truly be able to forego staying in hotels than if I didn't have the van at all. I know it's extremely ambitious to think I can fit an honest to god shower in a Transit Connect, but I think I can rig something up that functions like a shower. I also have a plan to use a fluid heat exchanger and Arduino controlled circulation pumps to pull heat directly from the engine to heat and regulate the temperature of my shower water. Also the thought of people seeing steam from a hot shower coming out of a roof vent on a Transit Connect is hilarious to me.
    -Reinforced storage for keeping expensive camera gear in. I'm thinking of adding a reinforced lock to one of the sliding doors, and then building a steel box around the opening for me to keep my valuables in.
    -An RGB lighting system that's tied to a clock that will simulate sunrise and sunset lighting inside the van. Because let's face it, it's a little small in there.







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  2. #2
    Corvette Enthusiast Kchrpm's Avatar
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    Looks good, have fun!
    Get that weak shit off my track

  3. #3
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    It's definitely a 10ft away kind of vehicle. It has some rust on the rockers, a few dents, and 145,000 miles. But it was only $4,700, so whatever.

  4. #4
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    #vanlife?
    -Formerly Stabulator

  5. #5
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    Something like that, at least intermittent van life. The thing is that every time I go on one of these wild trips around the country, I end up blowing about 2 grand on hotels and a rental car in the span of two weeks. (Rental car is so I don't pile more miles on the Milan, which is already at 188,000mi.) I skipped doing a trip last year to save money, which I'm really kicking myself for now in 2020 because it's pretty much out of the question. And also let's be honest, COVID will not be totally gone by next summer, and I don't want to spend a second summer cooped up in the house in 2021.

  6. #6
    Jedi Cam's Avatar
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    Cute! Good luck with it.

  7. #7
    Senior Member Leon's Avatar
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    That's in the venn diagram overlap between hilarious, and awesome.

    Looks like a cool project.

  8. #8
    Junior Potato
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    Hey…

    If you fail to achieve your goal of setting up for travel, at least you can still deliver flowers in it!

  9. #9
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    Me likes it a lot!

  10. #10
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    Everyone, I'm very excited to announce that I finally own a vehicle with rear fog lamps. And while I was taking a photo of them, I just discovered that I have city lights too. Ford let this one slip into the country with very few changes compared to its European counterpart. Rest assured I will be using my rear fog lamps to fool tailgaters into thinking I'm stepping on my brakes, and I will rock the hell out of my city lights at dusk. I never thought I'd have such beautiful lighting features in my life.





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