Van Life
One winter morning at
ISLE headquarters in San Diego, the team decided it was time to give our shabby white 2002 Ford company van a much-needed makeover.
As it sat alone in the parking lot next to our office, we knew it deserved some tender loving care. A few weeks later, our shabby white van was sent off to Baja Mexico with a vision to be properly pimped out. The goal was to create the
raddest, off road, surf style adventure mobile.
After a month of being pampered, our van’s transformation was complete. We said our goodbyes to shabby white van and welcomed The Black Pearl to the ISLE family. Next stop – the desert to shoot our
new 2017 models.
History of our company van
Our shabby white van had seen better days, but held a lot of memories from past adventures with the ISLE team. It was originally a carpet cleaning van which is why there were metal grates installed on the sides. This van helped us transport thousands of boards over the last few years and will continue to move more and more in the future.
The starting point - paint & coat
First and foremost, the van needed a new coat of paint. We used our good friend,
Sergio in Baja. Contact information; 001-52-16-611071053 (Mexico Number)
Lift
As ISLE grows so does our van. Local San Diego company,
Weldtec Designs gave our van the Baja Grocery Getter treatment – a 6” lift. They added bent I beams and lift coils to the front, and lift blocks in the rear. Furthermore, he added custom valve
Fox Shocks on all four corners.
Front, rear bumpers & ladder
To add some additional flare to our van, Weldtec added a one off custom front bumper with a 30” LED light. In addition, we went with the Movaje rear bumper and added a ladder to make loading and unloading boards on the Yakima roof racks easy.
Wheel & tires
Our van’s transformation wouldn’t be complete without a new set of tires and rims. We chose the classic Soft 8 16” and wrapped them in LT285/75R16 BFG All Terrain K/O2s.
Wrap
Lastly, we had our logo and mantra decaled by
Custom Auto Wrap in Lemon Grove.
Final Product
Once our van’s transformation was complete, we set off to the
Imperial Sand Dunes to test out the new wheels and suspension. Imperial Sand Dunes is not only a great destination for testing out your rig, but also a super photogenic spot for insane van photos.
