View from the back looking in
This is "command central" from the before pictures
Passenger side and entry
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Early designs are in!
It's really a good thing that Jeremy is an engineer. In the matter of a couple hours last night (I presume), he put together some computer aided designs for Carmen. I gotta tell ya, I think he nailed it! This certainly gives us something to aim for. It will be interesting to see how close we get to this design. Take a look below...comments welcome!
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Now it's official. . .
Indeed, the saga that is our effort to create the ultimate tailgater is official. How is it official you ask? Let me count the ways. . .
It's officially ours
As of today, Carmen has some new owners - legally that is. The title has been issued, and the customized plates are on their way. See below for a sneak peek. It's amazing how many different combinations of Carmen and Carmen Ohio we tried, but we feel lucky to get something that's at least close!
It's officially a project
So we've spent the past few nights working on stripping the interior of the ambulance. This is a ton of fun...nothing better than demo. Our goal is get everything out from the back except for some built in cabinets that will be refaced. This includes all electric, lighting, ambulance type items, seating, and wall panels. There will definitely be some items we re-use and those are being set aside for refinishing and then will be reinstalled once the main build is done. So far, we're feeling pretty confident about our ability to re-do the interior of the ambulance on our own and will only outsource a few key jobs like recovering the seat cushions. The reality is that most of the things we need to build will use familiar home improvement materials. She's gonna take a lot of time and energy to get right, but really encouraged by what we're finding so far. See some pictures below of both before we started and after we started pulling things out.
It's officially ours
As of today, Carmen has some new owners - legally that is. The title has been issued, and the customized plates are on their way. See below for a sneak peek. It's amazing how many different combinations of Carmen and Carmen Ohio we tried, but we feel lucky to get something that's at least close!
It's officially a project
So we've spent the past few nights working on stripping the interior of the ambulance. This is a ton of fun...nothing better than demo. Our goal is get everything out from the back except for some built in cabinets that will be refaced. This includes all electric, lighting, ambulance type items, seating, and wall panels. There will definitely be some items we re-use and those are being set aside for refinishing and then will be reinstalled once the main build is done. So far, we're feeling pretty confident about our ability to re-do the interior of the ambulance on our own and will only outsource a few key jobs like recovering the seat cushions. The reality is that most of the things we need to build will use familiar home improvement materials. She's gonna take a lot of time and energy to get right, but really encouraged by what we're finding so far. See some pictures below of both before we started and after we started pulling things out.
She was being used as a work truck!
The original ceiling
Here's command central...future site of a TV
Tons of great interior storage
Notice the lights already pulled
Jeremy hiding out and admiring
It's officially a "family affair"
So remarkably, every night this week Rian and Grace have not only been out in the ambulance working, they've had to ask me when we're going to go work on Carmen. Amazing! After Monday night which was the first night of my drill wielding girls putting in some hours on our project, Grace looks at me and says "Dad, this is the best night ever!" Awesome...hope the enthusiasm continues and that they can join Jeremy and I as well as Mindy and Nancy in feeling like this was a true team effort. A little proof...you can't fake smiles like that!
It's officially a "Team Up North Killer"
For those that may not be familiar with ambulance construction (should be most of you), it's essentially a two part vehicle. The front (cab, engine, etc.) is made by companies you've heard of (Ford, Freightliner, International) and the back, or ambulance, is a big box that's mounted to the frame and made by an ambulance specialist. Ours happens to be made by a company called McCoy Miller out of Elkhart, Indiana. So as we're taking things apart, there are a ton of panels and pieces covered in blue vinyl. These pieces are nothing more than plywood cut to shape with vinyl stretched around it and then installed. On the back of every piece you can see the bare plywood and apparently we had some jokers who built Carmen originally as there were some writings on the back of certain pieces. Take a look at the picture below to see the most ironic and interesting of all the messages...
An omen? I think so...no way it's merely coincidence that we are creating a supreme Ohio State tailgate machine and along the way ripped out this feeble piece of fanfare for U of M. I mean Tebow passed 10 times at an average of 31.6 yards for a total of 316. That apparently wasn't a coincidence and neither is this.
The journey continues...
Uh Oh!
There has now been a few days where Sean and I have worked on Carmen since we got her. Last night when I came home after spending a few hours working on her, my wife asked me if I planned to spend every night this week with my new girl. I always figured if my wife was going to get jealous of me spending time with a 22 year old, it wouldn't be an ambulance.
Monday, January 9, 2012
My two cents
So Sean pretty much said it all, but usually when I get a crazy idea like this my wife talks me out of it. For whatever reason, she bought into this one. I don't think she realizes that with Sean and I, there is no one who is going to put the brakes on and ask "Do we really need the 12 hp gas powered margarita machine?" This could get stupid. Stay tuned....
The scenery at our pickup
As a quick follow-up to yesterday's post, I thought I would let everyone bear witness to the livestock that greeted us when we picked up Carmen on Saturday. See picture and video below. . .I smell bacon!
Sunday, January 8, 2012
The Beginning
So this was an interesting weekend. For some reason, I got on one of my tangents searching the internet for random things that are generally useless or not relevant to the day-to-day of my life. Some people watch TV for an escape...apparently I like to search ebay and cragslist. My target this past Friday - a tailgate vehicle. Before you pass judgment on just how right my earlier comment was - useless or not relevant to the day-to-day of my life - my partner in crime for tailgates, Jeremy Tancredi and I have been talking about getting a dedicated tailgate mobile for some time now. With my teams officially done for the year, I guess thinking about tailgating is the only solace I have until the NFL draft when the Browns will undoubtedly give me false hope yet again...but I digress. Jeremy and I don't even tailgate for the Browns (at least not yet!). The object of our tailgating efforts is focused on the hometown Buckeyes.
So during my search, I stumble upon a couple good candidates. One is a white cargo van with a camper loft up top. Looks real clean and is in Cleveland. This one would be a nice candidate, but it's a shell and is probably a little bit on the high side of our price range knowing that this is purely a recreation vehicle and would still need a lot of time and money to make it true tailgate machine. So the search continues at which point I stumble upon a 1990 Ford ambulance that is currently being used as a work truck. Truth be told, an ambulance has been at the center of the focus after learning from some others the great advantages of an ambulance as a tailgater. . .tons of storage inside and out, a heavy duty vehicle, power galore inside and out, and the best part - according to OSU this is the largest dimension for a vehicle that they'll allow in a regular parking spot. HUGE advantage to not be pushed all the way out to RV lot. This one looks pretty good. Decent miles, fairly clean, and CHEAP.
So over the course of the next 30 minutes Jeremy and I trade several text messages. He looks, and is thinking the same way I am...looks perfect. So the interest and excitement starts to build. The only issue at this point was figuring out exactly how I was going to tell Mindy that I was planning to buy a 22 year old ambulance that would be yet another "project". I grease the skids. . .the only pushback comes in the form of an edict that it's not being parked in the garage (wouldn't fit anyway), and that we're not building a new garage to hold it...Really?! Well, it is me. I've been known to have some pretty cooky ideas. So with everyone seemingly OK with moving forward including Nancy (Jeremy's wife), I call the owner on Saturday to ask some questions. Seems like a decent dude and the story he tells furthers the idea that we need to go look at it.
So mid-afternoon on Saturday, all of us including wives and our two girls, head down to Jeffersonville which is close to where the object of our interest is living. It's an easy sell as I can drop Mindy and the girls off at the outlet mall. Nancy decides to come along with us and forgo shopping. She says she's interested in looking, but I suspect it might just be her making sure we don't do something foolish :). A few minutes after leaving the outlet mall, we're officially in "the sticks". 10 minutes later we arrive at the country abode that the ambulance has been calling home for the past year. Before we're greeted by any living beings of the human variety we meet two dogs in the their pen and...wait for it...a rooster! He is keen on meeting us and walks right over to the ambulance. Maybe it's his and he knows we're there to look?
We end up meeting Jeff, talk for a bit, take it for a nice country drive, negotiate a bit, and within a matter of 30 minutes we had bought it. Jeremy, in the midst of trying to hide the happy glow from buying this mass of steel, leans to me and says "this is probably the best worst idea we've ever had". The truth is that this thing could have had some serious problems but once Jeremy heard the air horn (which is pretty impressive BTW), he was sold. "You had me at air horn!" So we bought it. Then the fun and excitement was put on hold as we helped Jeff unload random tools and whole bunch of useless stuff (mostly trash) out of the ambulance and into the barn. This is when we meet the livestock...a few sheep, a goat, and a 400 lb. pig that Jeff said he couldn't butcher because she was "too cute". We finish, get the title and we were out of there.
Jeremy and Nancy drive it home and I go their place for a celebratory beer, and of course to start talking about ideas. We call it a night, and Nancy takes a few pictures before I go (no big surprise there!). We go our separate ways and then begin trading some txts on all kinds of ideas. Jeremy tells me he's working on a Powerpoint which elicits a nice hearty laugh from Mindy. We start talking about names...Mindy suggests Carmen and we both immediately like it. So for now, she's "Carmen". For those that don't know, the Ohio State alma mater is called "Carmen Ohio".
There's much on the list to tackle before next season starts, but for now here's a quick picture of her in current form.
This blog will track the conversion of Carmen over the next several months. We already started today! More to come in the near future, but until then looking forward to next football season! Even more than I already was...
So during my search, I stumble upon a couple good candidates. One is a white cargo van with a camper loft up top. Looks real clean and is in Cleveland. This one would be a nice candidate, but it's a shell and is probably a little bit on the high side of our price range knowing that this is purely a recreation vehicle and would still need a lot of time and money to make it true tailgate machine. So the search continues at which point I stumble upon a 1990 Ford ambulance that is currently being used as a work truck. Truth be told, an ambulance has been at the center of the focus after learning from some others the great advantages of an ambulance as a tailgater. . .tons of storage inside and out, a heavy duty vehicle, power galore inside and out, and the best part - according to OSU this is the largest dimension for a vehicle that they'll allow in a regular parking spot. HUGE advantage to not be pushed all the way out to RV lot. This one looks pretty good. Decent miles, fairly clean, and CHEAP.
So over the course of the next 30 minutes Jeremy and I trade several text messages. He looks, and is thinking the same way I am...looks perfect. So the interest and excitement starts to build. The only issue at this point was figuring out exactly how I was going to tell Mindy that I was planning to buy a 22 year old ambulance that would be yet another "project". I grease the skids. . .the only pushback comes in the form of an edict that it's not being parked in the garage (wouldn't fit anyway), and that we're not building a new garage to hold it...Really?! Well, it is me. I've been known to have some pretty cooky ideas. So with everyone seemingly OK with moving forward including Nancy (Jeremy's wife), I call the owner on Saturday to ask some questions. Seems like a decent dude and the story he tells furthers the idea that we need to go look at it.
So mid-afternoon on Saturday, all of us including wives and our two girls, head down to Jeffersonville which is close to where the object of our interest is living. It's an easy sell as I can drop Mindy and the girls off at the outlet mall. Nancy decides to come along with us and forgo shopping. She says she's interested in looking, but I suspect it might just be her making sure we don't do something foolish :). A few minutes after leaving the outlet mall, we're officially in "the sticks". 10 minutes later we arrive at the country abode that the ambulance has been calling home for the past year. Before we're greeted by any living beings of the human variety we meet two dogs in the their pen and...wait for it...a rooster! He is keen on meeting us and walks right over to the ambulance. Maybe it's his and he knows we're there to look?
We end up meeting Jeff, talk for a bit, take it for a nice country drive, negotiate a bit, and within a matter of 30 minutes we had bought it. Jeremy, in the midst of trying to hide the happy glow from buying this mass of steel, leans to me and says "this is probably the best worst idea we've ever had". The truth is that this thing could have had some serious problems but once Jeremy heard the air horn (which is pretty impressive BTW), he was sold. "You had me at air horn!" So we bought it. Then the fun and excitement was put on hold as we helped Jeff unload random tools and whole bunch of useless stuff (mostly trash) out of the ambulance and into the barn. This is when we meet the livestock...a few sheep, a goat, and a 400 lb. pig that Jeff said he couldn't butcher because she was "too cute". We finish, get the title and we were out of there.
Jeremy and Nancy drive it home and I go their place for a celebratory beer, and of course to start talking about ideas. We call it a night, and Nancy takes a few pictures before I go (no big surprise there!). We go our separate ways and then begin trading some txts on all kinds of ideas. Jeremy tells me he's working on a Powerpoint which elicits a nice hearty laugh from Mindy. We start talking about names...Mindy suggests Carmen and we both immediately like it. So for now, she's "Carmen". For those that don't know, the Ohio State alma mater is called "Carmen Ohio".
There's much on the list to tackle before next season starts, but for now here's a quick picture of her in current form.
This blog will track the conversion of Carmen over the next several months. We already started today! More to come in the near future, but until then looking forward to next football season! Even more than I already was...
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