Team-building for Party Bus Conversion and "Gypsy Wagons"

Hello, it’s Jon; I’m reactivating soon and wanting to assemble a team for various “mobile contraption” projects. I’d like to spend the next few months converting my ideas into our plans and preparing ourselves to implement them!

Specifically, my limo-bus project has been paused, indefinitely, for many years and I’d like to get it rolling again, literally. Rather than farm people to work on my bus, for free, I would like to establish a small society, donate the bus to it, and work on our bus, together, also for free. The Bus is an El Dorado conversion, 1995ish model with flap doors, on a 1999ish Ford powertrain; the wheelchair lift was removed, but the door remains and would still be useful for loading/unloading, if we don’t decide to obstruct it.

Electricians drive vehicles specifically designed to help them do their job, with spools of wire, toolboxes, a vice on the rear bumper, flood lights, bucket cranes, etc… Many people that attend festivals don’t realize how much work it takes to make it happen. With 14+ hour shifts, for days at a time, hot or cold, food truck and hotel expenses, by the end of the first day, simply being there, and conscious, can seem like an achievement. Sometimes, the “booth” you rent is an invisible square; you have to transport and assemble your own booth. With those things in mind, our contraptions can get booth-renting creators to their weekend-long festivals with a climate-controlled living space, room for storage, and work-space to create.

A “gypsy wagon” is the same concept applied to a basic, towed, utility trailer. These are equally useful, but can be better suited for smaller ventures, like camping.

It’s not fancy; this is The Bus 1.0 and doesn’t have to be perfect. Scavenged, scrap, and left-over materials are fine. Whatever it takes, it only needs to look like a million bucks. We could make generic models, for rent, as well as, customer-specific models, to sell… Eventually. Let’s avoid scope-creep, for now, start and finish this one, then talk about how much better 2.0 will be.

Questions:
-Could we turn having a blast making these things into a new career?
-Could we own and operate a limousine, party-bus, and contraption fleet?

I have:
The Bus
Some budget
Not enough time

We’ll need:
Logistics - a social media pro to grow and maintain a presence, schedule, and talent pool
Mechanical - I drove the bus to its’ current hangout; it goes, and stops, but needs love
Electrical - I can handle the wiring and custom circuitry, some of which, is already fabbed
Carpentry - Bench seats, cabinets, routed LED paths, etc.
Upholstery - Foam-stretched cloth/vinyl seats, carpeting, etc.
Interior art - Resin-casted, 3D-printed, and foam-sculpted, bezels, features, and bling
Exterior art - Original designs, whether we paint or wrap

Sounds fun!

The Bus:

Someone else’s bus:

A “gypsy wagon”:

This sounds very interesting. I’m at least down to come to an intro discussion and I’d he happy to help with woodworking and more.

honestly i know of 2 makers that are currently doing exactly this on their own. i’m going to cross tag them so y’all can be cute together

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100%interested in this kind of sig,

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I’d like to meet all of you, soon, even if not about these specific projects. You too, brenly.
Thank you!

When could we meet?

thread bump. @Cgfrager just got a school bus.

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Thank you, again, @brenly.

@Cgfrager
@Holliday
@indytruks138

Is anyone available to meet up, soon?

Jon, since you were last a member there have been some changes to the rules that you should know with regards to your build.

First, the bus can’t be stored on site. This is a rule in our lease. So it needs to leave each night when work is complete.

Second, work allowed to be done outside the space is restricted to classes and events, like blacksmithing does. We can’t work on vehicles outside anymore.

That said, it’s still possible to do builds like this here. @patrickpleez1 has started a special interest group for it and has been working on his own build using the resources at the space. He would be a good resource to navigate how to get your job done without running into trouble with our lease and the city.

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Speaking as a Stockholm Syndrome victim veteran of a previous bus project at DMS, I can state with some confidence that the following won’t go over well with the landlord:

  • Spray-painting with its tendency to overspray because plains state and constant wind
  • Dropped metal fasteners, which naturally seek tires to lodge themselves into
  • Major mechanical work if you need to drop a transmission or overhaul an engine, don’t do it at DMS
  • Long-tern parking the bus needs to leave daily especially M-F during the workday
  • Semistatic work areas popping up in the parking lot ala materials staging areas, workbenches, etc

Edit: The site hasn’t been updated in ~18 months, but if you look at the July 2016 and earlier entries you can get a sense of how work progressed on said project - highlight being the sketchy roof lift.

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Not a problem; just team building.
Thank you.

Yes, we currently are starting a SIG under automotive, it’s called The Outdoor Conversion Vehicles SIG. feel free to message.

Maybe something like this (only full scale)?

https://thumbs.worthpoint.com/zoom/images1/1/0218/22/li-gypsy-wagon-amt-model-kit-box_1_1288d231dfd97e5faa17f7386c5a38ba.jpg

How about this variety of gypsy wagon?
image

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How do I find the sig?

Currently, it doesn’t have a wiki. I’m working on that.

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