The goal 

We are seeking funding to allow us to set up a fibreglass campervan manufacturing business from scratch.

What we need......everything!

We have a unit in mind and are in negotiations with the letting agent.

We need a one year only production model Fleetline van (mother) from South Africa for which I have sourced numerous contacts both in the UK and South Africa.Mother will be the basis for the fibreglass mould, once we've made some modifications.

A new chassis would be nice! check! I already have the basic measurements to set one out, once we get mother we can finalise the chassis design on my 3d structural steel modelling software, I'm an engineer by trade. We build the chassis jig and table around the chassis in the model and then get all the bits laser cut to ensure accuracy.

Bolt on independant front and rear units with disc brakes on all corners by Red 9 Design, tie the back wheels to a purpose built Cog Box gearbox and an Arnie Levics 1776cc engine ........bits that make you go wow!

Fibreglass bodyshells, the bit that makes you go oooh, Matt at Dub Box (fibreglass god) is the man dealing with this, his dub box caravan is gorgeous and he was the ideal choice for our project.

So we've got all the sexy bits to start and stop us, a gorgeous bodyshell to keep us looking cool ......interior!

Lets be safe first, Custom Cages are pencilled in for our roll cage design they've got years of experience in the motor sport industry.

Front seats by Corbeau and the camping interior by VanWurks all matching fabrics.....are you getting excited yet?

Fittings and fixtures by Alan H Schofield and VW Heritage, they'll be supplying the wheels too fooks alloys 5.5 x 15........ more oohing!

With regard to tools etc...keep your jokes to yourselves, we've designed everything to fit together with a standard toolset, 4 axle stands and a couple of trolley jacks.

Keep it nice and simple.

The final thing we need is customers please.

Phasing the project: A brief breakdown of costs

Phase 1 - funding target = £40000.......I know it's a lot!

To get us started, we need "Mother", our template vehicle. We already have a van sourced, it's not ours yet but we do have first refusal. She's unique and is currently on the high seas making her way over to us from South Africa.

These vans change hands from £15000 up depending on their condition - we've budgeted £25000 because we want a straight one.

Once we have her in the UK some changes need to be made to make her even more individual.

The van will have body panels cut and replaced to get the Vanana Splits unique look, we may need to do other repairs too, please bear in mind when "Mother" is ready to have the mould taken, the exterior will be to a show winning standard. There's no point having a dent in your mould that you have to fill everytime you create a new shell! - We've budgeted £10000 for panels and paint

Whilst the body is being restyled, the chassis will be measured and the information transferred to our 3D modelling package to finalise our chassis design.

We can purchase and fabricate the chassis table, jig and first chassis.

The chassis, table and jig need to be engineered, steel purchased, precision fabricated and galvanised this will account for the remaining £5000

Phase 2 - funding target = £18000........still a lot!

We'll buy the Red 9 Design suspension units, the wheels and tyres and attach them to the galvanised chassis. That will be a milestone!

Suspension and wheels will account for £6000

"Mother" will be sent to Dub-box to have the mould made and the very first bodyshell created from that mould. Another milestone!

The mould creation and bodyshell including transportation costs to Dub-Box will account for £12000

Phase 3 - funding target = £35000.......the final push!

Shopping time! We purchase all the parts we require to finish and the big build begins.

We continue to keep you informed on our progress.

The remaining items vary from the dished washers to hold the interior trim in place to the gearbox and engine. We also have transportation costs for the safe return of Mother, there is a cost for the Vosa test all the associated paperwork and getting VS1 to the test center in Beverley on the East coast and back.

JUST TO BE CLEAR.

Our project will be funded over three phases. We need all three phases to be a success to fulfill our commitments to the rewards we are offering in return for your pledges. When we have a successful phase 1 we will spend the fund as noted above, posting images of our progress online to create more interest and boost phase 2.

Phase 2 will follow phase 1 immediately. If phase 2 is unsuccesful ( it won't be i'm sure ) we will review, adapt and resubmit our pitch.

If it is still unsuccessful then we cannot proceed. Unfortunately this means that phase 1 contributors will not get their rewards as their money will be tied up in the van and steel. I don't want anyone feeling let down or cheated at any point during our project. You earned your money and have been kind enough to share it with us. So what we'll do is stop the project, sell the van and all the parts we've bought and reimburse those from phase 1 with a percentage of the receipts in relation to the amount they pledged.

The same applies to phase 3, should it be unsuccesful, only this time we'll be reimbursing the contributors from phases 1 and 2.

Hope this is acceptable to all.

October 2010 - When it all started

My daughter found some old photos of my splitty van and we started to look into buying one but they were very expensive for a restoration project and even more for a fully restored one. With all the panels available I wondered if it would be possible to put one together from these, we soon knocked that idea on the head.

Not to be outdone I  investigated the idea of using a beetle chassis/floorpan arrangement, ( the wheelbase is almost identical) with a custom made radically charicaturised van.

I investigated the possibility of creating the shape from clay, like the big boys do, that was more expensive than the steel panels and the wife wasn't pleased about the idea of 6 ton plus of clay in the garage!

So we move on, what to use that doesn't react with resin and is lightweight and easy to shape?, why that would be Polyisocyanurate foam, trouble is it comes in 1m x 2m x 0.6m blocks It's expensive but not as bad as the previous options.

Thats when we find Dub Box, ideas started to fly and before long the design changed again from a charicature to an altered replica.its to do with copyrights!

How is this going to roll? I knew there were bolt on aftermarket independent front suspension units for American muscle cars and sought to adapt one of those, didn't need to really, as luck would have it Red 9 Design had just created exactly what I wanted for the front and the back !

From here we added engines and gearboxes, lookes into electric engines via TESSLA, they gave me some time but thought me mad as did Smith Electric Vehicles. So the electric engine was shelved for the time being but not forgotten.

So there you are 22 months in a nutshell its been interesting, infuriating and I've met some lovely people on the way, remember for every stockist on the list there are at least 2 other stockists that were considered!

Thank you for your support, now go fund us like crazy!