The initial idea for the van, like so many of my 'creations', didn't come from one place or one thing or place. I've seen so many things over the years that I thought were good ideas, and from that I googled for hours based on what I could remember. The following link to the key sources of inspiration:
The images below link to a number of online galleries I compiled of numerous vans and conversions. Just from geekily studying these at length I worked out how many of the elements were put together, or how I'd make my own version:
I also looked at a lot of websites for firms running commercial operations converting vans into campers. The following are those that I got the most inspiration from:
A good way of working out how to make things work was to see how others had done it, and how the parts worked. The following sites and resources were invaluable to that end:
Finally, I spent a fair bit of time looking at both professional van conversions for sale on
Autotrader and
Gumtree, and a pictures on the
Wicked Campers site (last time I was in New Zealand I rented a camper from them for a week, which partly inspired the end paint job - or lack of - and there's a gallery of some
here).