COOL WHEELS...I'll show you mine, if you show me yours!

[Rick Bravo]

OK folks,

Many of you probably have your own, personal, or business rides that carry all of your gear to and from your shoots.

Any custom cabinets, charging stations, inovative ways to transport your camera?

Post some pics. Let's see of some of these dream machines!

***NOTE*** For security reasons, DO NOT show the exterior of the vehicle, or, discuss the make, model, year, color, where you park it, from what time to what time, the type of alarm installed, or where you hide the key on your car!***

RB

[Mike Rehmus]

A very plain looking minivan. Nothing fancy but everything fits and I don't cry too much when a piece of gear rips up something. I can carry enough gear for 5-6 shooters, a boom plus a PA system, tables and food and drink for the crew.

The only thing it is bad at is when I chase the local PD cars. No Code 3 as it is slow and has no red lights or siren.

At some point the seats come out and everything can be locked down (I don't want to be extruded through the dashboard by the load) but that's the extent of it.

Oh, and I carry a couple of folding camping chairs for the clients. Nothing too good for them!:-)) I let them sit under the rear hatch on wet days.

I do have a custom shooting cart that comes apart for carrying in the van. I use it for event shooting.

It is basically a 1 x 3 foot cart, about 3.5 foot high with a 3 foot bolt-on aluminum rectangle (wide-dimension horizontal) that fits across one end. To that I mount a camera tube (top end looks like the top of a tripod and carries a fluid-head). The tube is the same one I clamp to the camera mount on the front of the van when I use that.

The outer uprights on the main body carry two large hospital equipment wheels and a third wheel is mounted out on the far end of the rectangle. I stand inside the 'L' formed by the body and the cross rectangle. It acts as a nicely portable tripod and gives me room to operate even in the heavy press of a crowd.

The wheels are mounted on threaded studs and can be exchange for pneumatic wheels if the need arises (I've never used them though).

All of this is formed of heavy 2" square, 0.2" wall thickness aluminum tubing that is TIG welded. (I think I overbuilt it) The main body has 3 shelves with the top 2 being mounted on ball-bearing drawer extension arms so they slide all the way out. They are not so deep that they pinch cables connected to the rear of equipment mounted on them. Basically, the 2" square tubing creates cable-ways on the three inner sides of the main body.

Each of the 5 uprights (4 corners of the body plus the farside upright on the cross frame have machined plugs in the top of the 2" square tubes that accept 1" round aluminum tubes which have either light-stand studs or microphone-threaded studs on their top side. These are height adjustable with clamping collars for the tubes.

The bottom shelf is made of heavy expanded aluminum grill and is used to carry one or two 12 volt lead-acid batteries. If I ship the cart, I buy good used batteries at the destination and then give them away at the end. Makes good friends if you think to get a battery that fits one of their vehicles.

Usually I have two 100 Watt Varilight Pros (key and fill) on the forward outboard positions and a microphone boom on the forward inboard position.

The lights are switched on a fused control panel that has toggle switches for each 4-pin XLR power connection.

The microphones usually feed a 12 volt-powered mixer kept on the top shelf, sometimes with a DBX compressor for use in very noisy events.

The second shelf carries a 12 volt Sony voltage stabilizer that keeps the volts from the lead-acid cells at the 12 volts that the Sony cameras like even when the cells output droops to 10.5 volts. A single battery can power the lights for 2 days of shooting although they are getting a little dim at the end of the second day.

The top surface of the main body holds an eight inch Sony monitor and my shot log.

The outer surfaces of the main body are covered with thin aluminum panels on the three sides not facing me. Pop-riveted on, they can easily be replaced. Even after shipping the cart to Detroit from Northern California three times (the rectange bolts aross the open side of the body to lock everything in place) there is one small dent in the side. Kind of ugly from all the shipping labels. Looks sort of like a Halburton case after it's been used as hold baggage.

Oh, and I keep it outside during the winter under a tarp. Not so the van. It doesn't get a tarp.

P.S. I never leave the van unattended if it has equipment inside and I never leave equipment in it overnight. And the alarm is always on.

The studio has a much more capable alarm system and the Rottweiler doesn't hurt either.

[Rob Lohman]

I only have a fancy ride. Don't do that much shooting...

[Ed Smith]

Rob - you don't get much stuff in the back of your cc with the hood down :). I guess you store it behind the front seats - where I might add that there is absolutely no leg room for a fully grown adult (unless you’re a dwarf).

Mike - A full studio on wheels, I always fancied something like that but instead put it all in an MPV.

As for me, just a 3 door hatch back which has a large boot space to carry my 4 boxes plus tripod. Plus I can fit 4 adults in if required.
http://www.tcar.co.uk/Cars/R200/R200.jpg

As with rob I don't really do much shooting.

Cheers,

Ed

[Rob Lohman]

Actually if I have some equipment to move I leave the top on. You
then get quite a large storage space in the trunk (for such a car).
My laptop and camera usually travel with me on the small back-
seat or the passenger seat.

[Imran Zaidi]

Small cars rock. I have a Mini Cooper, which doubles as my grip truck... When you fold those seats down, it's pretty amazing how much room you actually have. It's a deceptive design because it really looks smaller than it is.

Then again, I don't do shoots with 5000 Watt HMIs.

[Rick Bravo]

Sorry folks, a little server problem.
I'll post some cool pics a little later this evening.


Mike,

I think you'll find these especially interesting given some of the stuff you do with your local PD.

RB

[Mike Rehmus]

I keep asking for the old SWAT van. The Chief has no sense of the fun I could have with that.

[Adrian Douglas]

That's because he knew that Holywood would need it whe they ran out of original ideas for movies. He must have seen Charles Angles and thought "We'll better got the ole SWAT van out of the garage and give her a wash, Hollywood will be calling soon".

[John C Heid]

Sorry these fine young ladies stood in front of my wheels! I participate in 20+ car shows / season, and photograph / video on site, and compete. The XL-1S is killing my trunk space, so I am ordering a GL2 for this gig. Nikon D100 for stills.

http://home.insightbb.com/~jcheid/ws...tos.html-.html

[Rick Bravo]

Damn John, I have to go back and check out your pic, you said there's a car in there somewhere? Must have missed it!

My pride and joy!

This is the third in a progression of vehicles that just seem to get better and better.

When I say, "If it 'aint in here, you don't need it", I really mean it. Tried to get the kitchen sink installed but the County balked at the expense! To say that I am running out of space is probably an understatement.

Mike, I think you will really appreciate this. Helicopter to underwater and everything in between with just one phone call. The emergency equipment is low key. A removable, revolving blue light on the dash, a red/blue visor strobe, four-corner white strobes and red/blue LEDs in the rear, all neatly wired and run to three rocker switches in the dash.

The vehicle carries everything you can imagine including light kits, multiple audio setups, multiple cameras, three different clothing changes, including wet suits and a whole lot more!

http://home.mindspring.com/~ricks-pics/responsevehicle/

Regards to all, RB.

[Dylan Couper]

http://www.pyroglyphfilms.com/galler...belcarra_a.jpg

Here's mine. Like John's, its a little short on cargo space, although two weekends ago, I packed two XL1's in seperate cases, a 3 head light kit, a bag of manfrotto light stands, and two tripods into it. Barely had room to shift.

Modifications include a 355hp Chevy ZZ4 motor, a .373 rear end, Xcellerator intake, shift kit, Borla exhaust, and Boyd rims.

Oh, I have a minivan too, and while it holds considerably more gear, its a lot less fun to drive to work.

[Aaron Rosen]

Rick -

How do I get your job!?! We only have ambulances here. While we have more lights and an hair horn, we don't have the tach. gear and cool stuff...

My dream job.

- Aaron

[Mike Rehmus]

Hey, Rick.
Your's looks more like our Sergeant's cars. Ford Expedition with lowered modified suspension and very good tires. Interior is like a Watch Commander's desk plus emergency gear.

Not as much diamond plate though.

[Rick Bravo]

Aaron,

The luck of the dumb! I did this for six years, for FREE, and loved it enough to take a huge pay cut in order to do it officially. Just lucky, I guess, and loving every minute of it!

Mike,

I teach a block on outfitting the "Ultimate Response Vehicle" for LEVA, leva.org, maybe something you might want to take a look at. I am on the Board of Directors.

If you had any idea as to the amount of gear in this vehicle, you'd have a heart attack.

I designed it to be functional, discreet, and, as self contained as possible to deal with any type of situation which may arise.

The diamond plate was designed to double as storage and as a bench, which is padded, giving me a place to covertly shoot from, with interior tripod tie-downs, as well as a place to change in and out of different outfits, including dive suits.

There are a few other additions, which I would be happy to discuss with you personally, but not here, for the obvious reasons, that make it that much, more special!

Pretty cool, but a nightmare to unload when sending out for any kind of serious repairs!

I LOVE TOYS!

RB