My blog has been void of weather discussion of late. Ever since that last storm (the night of the explosion), the plains have been under the influence of a summer like high pressure ridge in the upper air that has effectively put us into late June/July like weather instead of the usual stormy May. There have been some very isolated and very marginal severe events, but not much to write home about.
For me however. this could not have come at a better time. As you read in my last blog entries, the other chase vehicle was significantly damaged by debris from a tank battery explosion. I’ve spend the last week and a half working out the details of all that. In the end, the trucking company that owned the facility offered to pay the vehicle damage estimate. Evidently they are a great company from what I have been hearing from all the employees and even the fire department there in Lamesa.
Been also busy dealing with production companies. Looks like the explosion story will be on a couple of cable networks in the near future as well. More details on that when they are finalized.
The place I was buying the vehicle from let me pay them the damage, and they rolled me into a 2008 Town and Country, and transferred what I had paid so far over to the new one! So after gathering supplies the last couple days, I started converting it over to a chase vehicle today. This new van is awesome and very high tech.
This will be the most high tech and safe chase vehicle I have ever owned. 5 star front and side crash rating, with not only dual front airbags, but full length side curtain airbags as well. All of the rear seats fold down into the floor which I love and when they are up the wells make huge storage space for things like tripods and whatnot. The van abounds with little storage spots all over it which will be quite handy.
All of the interior lights are LED and it has indirect theater style lighting as well that is pretty cool. The in dash stereo is one of the new MyGig units that has a touch screen, built in hard drive to load your MP3s on, a DVD system, backup camera, Sirius Satellite radio…the list just goes on. There is even a built in 110v power inverter in the back!
The gas tank isn’t quite as large as the one on my previous vehicle, so I won’t get quite the range, but it’s supposed to get better mileage though.
I started gutting it today to prepare to get everything installed. These pics will probably disturb some people to see a new vehicle disassembled and half the interior parts in a pile!
I’m taking this opportunity to upgrade most of the equipment as well. I’ll try to do more updates and progress continues.
Tags: chase vehicle
Very smart. Kudos to the trucking company for helping you out with this.
The weather’s been in a funny mood lately. I blame the solar minimum.
btw, that front grille – not plastic is it?
Do they make a grill that isn’t plastic that is factory?
I’m already considering hail shielding options. Especially for those headlights. $175 a pop!
I think the old van should be retired with full decorum; after all, it did endure and survive monster hail, a direct lightning strike and a vicious attack by a wooden pallet – only to by finally done in by a massive explosion. Maybe you should only use the new one to go and fetch the groceries!
Eh, $31,0000 is a bit much for a grocery getter. This is a long way from the ol’ Windstar eh Chris?
Looking forward to seeing the pics when it’s fully tricked out.
Whats up with the roof?
I’ve seen economy cars that were beefier under the headliner.
Thats a huge area and not much structure…
It’s a sheet of metal with a few strips running across it
and some goo squirted on to deaden the noise.
If it was that flimsy to begin with did you reinforce it to carry the equipment or were you comfortable enough with it not to worry?
or maybe is it not as bad as it looks?
was the electrical as tedious as it looked like?
Regards
Orlando: It’s not flimsy at all. In fact there is a luggage rack on top. It will hold things just fine. Oh and yeah, the electrical work IS tedious!