August 3, 2023 • 42 mins
This episode delves into Midwest Automotive Design's growth and approach to luxury in Van Life culture, including a factory tour. Discussion also covers the trend towards wood-free RV interiors, AC systems in motor homes, and the relationship between American Coach and Midwest Automotive Design. The importance of use case in RV customization and storytelling in the RV community is also explored.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Come back to the channel here.
(00:02):
This is the Vanasore podcast.
That's right.
We are going live every Thursday 2 pm Eastern.
Vanasaur podcast is all about exploring classB, RVs Overlanding, and van life culture.
Boom.
There we go.
We we're joined live today.
From Elkhart, we have Ron Preston Okay.
(00:25):
Of Midwest Midwest Automotive Design SlashAmerican Coach.
What's going on, Ron?
What's going on, Hank?
We're, sitting here with my good friends,Barbara Carl.
We got Jackie over here too and Mark.
Yeah.
I know.
I see.
Kart in Arizona, and we are doing themothership tour.
(00:48):
So, everyone here is here for a wrap.
We're having tours of all our suppliers here inElkhart.
We have all our suppliers here doing technicalStrange, and the biggest thing is we're here to
see the factory.
That's what all these people right here aregonna do.
And, we Hank a great time too.
We had dinner tonight.
We got food coming Saturday.
We have a lot of events going on.
(01:09):
Absolutely.
This is gonna be a fun episode 9, all aboutAmerican Coach slash Midwest Automotive Design
We've got some owners, Lola, and I see Lola inthe chat.
There's she says, there's miss Barbara.
Hello.
Jackie is there.
Hi.
I see a whole bunch of folks, Lola says hi toto Ron as well.
If you guys have questions about MidwestAutomotive Design's American Coach.
(01:31):
They make, to me, awesome, luxurious class bvans, and we're gonna talk all about that.
We'll get some we'll some questions andcomments and stuff like that from the lovely
owners behind you that are joining us, but,let's, Real the real people Absolutely.
The good folks out there.
Ron and I have been friends for a while.
(01:52):
I've been doing this for, I think, over 2years.
And so Ron's you know, you guys have been verygenerous to the channel for the folks who are
joining us, and they don't know about you andwhat you do at Midwest Automotive Design fill
us in, man.
Yeah.
So I'm the sales manager at a Midwest Tom ofDesigns, specializing in the American Coach
Patriot.
And we'll talk more about that, but that'ssomething are changing there as well.
(02:15):
Mhmm.
But, yeah, so I just evolved in sales or dealernetworks, customer relations, product
development, and a little bit of everything.
Know, we started as a very small company.
When I first started in 2015, doing roughlyaround two hundred vans a year, mostly limo,
factory direct.
And now last year, we did a little over 1500and all of them through a a dealer network.
(02:37):
So
Okay.
A lot
of transitions, a lot of growth, company isjust got larger and larger every year.
Okay.
Awesome.
And let me just say all those owners out there,they better go get their phones and their
different devices out, put them on mute, andthen go to YouTube.
Get the algorithm up?
Yes.
Get the algorithm up.
(02:58):
Smash the thumbs ups.
They could throw their own questions in there.
We'll give them shout outs, all those kinds ofthings.
Like I said, Barbara's behind you.
She's awesome.
And then I see Carl.
I'm gonna go back to I can see Carl trying tosneak it.
There he goes.
There's Carl.
Yeah.
Don't know, Carl, please.
There's Jackie right there.
Carl's got lucky to pay
as the guest does.
(03:20):
Yeah.
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
Product placement already happening in in theshow.
There you go.
So Lola says who are the suppliers that are outthere?
So let's get that as the first question.
Blue the suppliers you guys have at the eventand and explain, like, how the event works, you
know, what you guys do, but how many days, allthat kind
of stuff?
Yeah.
(03:40):
I'm gonna let Carl talk a little bit aboutthat.
Carl.
Okay.
Carl and Jackie are really the mastermindsbehind me.
This.
Obviously, I help with the relations between usand the factory, but Carl and Jackie are the
masterminds behind this, and Barbara keeps himstraight.
Yeah.
Right.
Hey, Carl.
Oh, hey.
We started.
What's up, man?
Hi, sir.
(04:01):
We started this about a year ago.
It was actually a just a one group Meaning, wecalled Ron and said, hey.
Would you be willing to help us?
And he jumped right in, which I was stunned.
He said, yes.
So our first rally was back last October had a50 van showed up in the in Florida.
We had 75 really big.
Yeah.
We got about 55 here.
Now we started a whole YouTube channel, Hank.
We've got 325 subscribers, 25,000 views, 7different Facebook channels.
(04:26):
It's it's really grown quickly.
Yeah.
But it's all because frankly, Midwest hasreally stepped up.
And because I Hank this awesome partner namedJackie who is the mastermind, the MadHatter, of
Midwest.
So it's called the Matt about you tour, MidwestAutomotive Designs, and the channel is the love
learning channel.
We've just had a lot of fun, and we do thisfour or five times a year.
Yeah.
(04:46):
Absolutely.
No.
It's Mhmm.
It's been amazing working with Carl and Jackie.
Man, they have brilliant ideas they, will takethe extra mile for everybody.
I mean, everyone here's giving them gifts.
Everyone here just absolutely loves these 2.
And, Carl here, you know, he's starting his ownYouTube channel, doing videos, doing all these
(05:06):
things to help out his fellow owners.
Mhmm.
Just it's so wonderful and really makes youfeel good, having owners such as them.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
I think that, you know, when getting into vansor anything else, to be honest, but we're here
to talk about vans.
The a big part of the experience is the owner'sgroups.
(05:26):
Right?
All the folks out there who can help you outwith questions tell you about things you you
didn't even think that you would need to dealwith.
I think it's really, really important, and it'sgreat to see that you guys have such a great
community going there.
When was it that I joined you guys in Ocala?
How how long ago was that?
There's a video that's up for whoever wants tosee it.
That that was early March.
We did at the week after the Ocala RV show.
(05:49):
Alright.
Okay.
So here's a here's a question for me.
And like I said, everyone out there Since we'vegot all these owners, how many owners are at
the how many people do you have out there atthis at this rally?
Yeah.
So we have 55 vans, a 110 owners.
Okay.
What's really cool about this compared to Ocalashow now co Kao show is larger, but only 10
(06:13):
returning, owners from the Kao show.
So these are all new owners.
Wow.
You know, we're we're in a differentdestination.
We're in the Midwest versus Florida.
And so 45 new vans, 90 new people from now,don't get me wrong.
I I'm sure everybody Ocala loved it.
This is it's amazing.
Ocala was fantastic.
It was it was awesome.
(06:34):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, Carl,
how many people will be having O'Caller?
Remind me a little bit.
O'Caller was unbelievable because we hadplanned for 50, 50 book, and we had 6 or 7
more.
Mhmm.
But then what happened was local dealers weresaying there was a rally, so people were
showing up going, okay, we had more food andand we had this, as you know, paint.
We had sunshine.
I said RV there are phenomenal.
Help us food, text.
(06:56):
Oh, this, the t shirts.
Yeah.
I better get one of these I better get one ofthese t shirts in the jacket.
Hold on.
Absolutely.
There's actually a pretty cool story about thist Sure.
So Jackie's daughter designed us.
Oh, cool.
Let's get it up closer.
Looks like it's, sci fi theme.
Yep.
Yep.
So this is the mother ship.
(07:17):
Obviously, we're coming back to the Madfactory.
Right there.
So there it is a Midwest van getting beamed up.
Very cool.
And Alright.
The government tells us that UFO is a real now.
So this is a real situation happening.
Yes.
And we have a comment from Sunshine State RV.
That looks like a great crowd.
(07:40):
That's the, comment over there from from, thefolks at
San Antonio.
Right now, these are just a few of the cool.
Everybody around us is going around Hank out.
We trying to keep the mini away.
It's possible, but You just look around to seeeverybody's not having a good time.
Yeah.
Well, spread the word.
I need to get since there's a 110 folks outthere, I need at least 220 thumbs ups.
(08:03):
I want people to go sign on twice and thumbs uptwice.
Let's get started with this It's
probably the helmet beforehand.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
It's all good, though.
I as folks are coming in and they do that, Iappreciate it.
So I think you guys, I think America coach ofMidwest Automotive Design, that that's where
the mad comes from, Midwest Automotive Design.
(08:25):
It's a lot.
It's a lot to say.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
So I'm gonna I'm gonna go between those.
The one I'm the most familiar with is AmericanCoach.
You guys kind of, like, define luxury in thespace.
Can you tell me how you guys look at that andhow you think it's changing from you and even
the folks around there, you know, is that thethe number one thing that everyone's going for.
(08:48):
And what how do you think that's changing astime goes on?
So, we are in an interesting time right nowbecause the prices on everything are climbing.
Mercedes Benz price has dropped nearly 15% onchassis alone.
In the last 2 years, which means it's pushingit towards a luxury segment.
So if you if you notice, you know, there's beenmore players now on the luxury side.
(09:13):
You got Gretch, air stream, us.
We're all growing in the middle of a recession.
Which is, hard to come by.
And, so I would say the luxury side is growing,and I think it's probably price price driven,
because of anybody who's looking for a cheapMercedes doesn't exist.
(09:33):
That's hurting.
I think a lot of the people who are trying tobe the true, if you will, scenario type van
lifers with the Mercedes chassis.
I think they're going to dodge.
I think they're going to forwards.
Even though they're both significantly moremoney than they to be.
It's becoming a luxury game.
The whole man life is right now because ofdisinflation of the cost.
(09:54):
And, as for us, we're embracing it.
You know, we've always it seems like everymonth, there's at least one of us in, our
product development room talking about a, let'slet's do an off order.
Let's do something like that, and we realizeit's already flooding.
You know, we we know what we do best.
We do luxury best.
(10:15):
And no one else has our seat shop, no one elsehas our wood shop.
So why change or deviate from that?
We said, we'd love to add more exterioroptions, but I think I've told you many times.
I always think of it as kind of like a a, aMercedes G wagon.
AMG.
You know, if it makes serious standpoints, arug gets beat up, you know, but when she go
(10:36):
inside, it's an s class Mercedes.
And, I,
I think
that's the motion behind us, you know, andagain, we're our background, our heart is
limos, personal use limos, so nothing likecrazy, you know, like a party bus.
But, it's always been high end executive,personal use vehicles.
So it I I don't think that's changing for us atmy enemies.
(10:58):
Yeah.
You guys definitely have an eye on D as well, Ithink.
Right?
So you could just throw a bunch of, you know,you could throw everything in the kitchen sink
at something, but that doesn't really, youknow, blend that feel that someone would spec
to go over from their luxury sedan, you know,into a van.
I think you guys have a really good eye ondetail.
Do you wanna just just give us some secrets onwhat, you know, your philosophy and what you
(11:21):
think is different that makes American Coachstand out.
Sure.
Again, it's coming from that personal executiveuse side of things.
Mhmm.
All of our seating is done in house.
There is no other class being manufactured.
Out there that does their seating in house hastheir own upholstery department.
Mhmm.
The fabric lining everywhere.
The hardwood, our, you know, our dip shop, Ourfront cabin is the only one that's re
(11:46):
upholstered even in the luxury side.
So when you step in and sit in the driver'sseat, someone who's used to driving an s class
Mercedes day in and day out, they're gonna feelmore a home in our vehicle.
It doesn't feel like a logistics fan up front,even though what it is, you know, before we get
done with it.
It feels like a nice luxurious fan, and it willalways feel that way.
(12:08):
I that's just what Midwest does.
Okay.
Very cool.
Can we get from some of the owners that arethere with you?
What's the elements that made them buy, forexample?
I see my friend, Barbara there.
What are the things that make those firstfiles?
Yeah.
Excuse me.
There we go.
There we go.
There we go.
Here's my budget.
I like Yeah.
It's the
(12:28):
reason I chose is because, I do not likepropane.
I the all electric.
I love to be able to go off the grid and havemy solar and have my batteries charged all the
time and never have to look to find propane torun a generator.
I don't need a generator.
And, I mean, the 4 day trip here, we were 3nights, boondocking, harvest host, cracker
(12:52):
Barrel is always great too.
It is.
It is.
Yeah.
And it's just,
and
it's so I just love the freedom of it.
We've had bigger ones before, and I am the,driver.
My everyday driver is A Jeep Grand Cherokee,and this drives just like that.
I mean, it's not any harder to drive than myJeep.
(13:13):
Okay.
I love it.
Awesome.
Awesome.
Anyone else can hear
you.
Mhmm.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No.
Just talk a little bit about what Barbara said,you know.
Okay.
Saying that we come from a luxury mindset, wewere the 1st class B manufacturer to do a
lithium system without any propane use.
You know, it's well, it's kinda Now, all ofthem are pretty much heading that way.
(13:35):
Mhmm.
But we are ahead of the game 5 years.
That was 2017 when we launched our firstFreedom system that had no propane on board.
Mhmm.
You know,
and we started out of the gate 600.
You know, we didn't start out at 300 like someof these other ones did.
And, again, playing in that luxury field, we'reable to, you know, push the envelope because
price isn't as much of an issue.
It's always fun to basically have a budgetthat's a little bit bigger than your
(13:58):
competition.
You know?
And, yeah, yeah, stuff like that matters.
Jackie here, Jackie travels around with herkids everywhere, does all these cool trips.
I just got back I live in South Florida, and Ijust got back from Alaska and Canada.
Oh, wow.
35100 Imperial Trail.
Yeah.
I'm ending here at the rally before we headback to go to school, which starts early in
(14:22):
Florida.
Okay.
Also, your kids your kids are on the road withyou.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
They're here at the rally with us.
Everyone knows them now.
That king bed in the back?
We fit very nicely, like a puzzle.
You make it work, and, actually, we all sleepvery well.
A lot of spooning doing a lot of spooning
and a dog.
Right.
So
(14:42):
I'm coming from, I'm coming another class bthat I won't mention, the name, that I own for
6 years, and I'm a single mom.
So I am the I'm the only adult, and I don'thave anybody to bounce any worries and issues
off of and, you know, nobody else drives, butbut me.
(15:02):
And, you know, coming from an AGM batterysystem and and a generator to the lithium and
the the freedom package, it is it is suchluxury.
I can't even besides you know, the leather allaround me.
And I came from, like, a tin box, which was notcheap No.
(15:24):
To this beautiful.
I mean, I am I cannot be happier.
With my Mad Van.
You know?
Oh, awesome.
If I ever get another van, it will be a a newerMad Van.
I'll just I'll just Hey.
We got all the yes.
That's I'm Jackie.
Hi.
Oh, boy.
We we're, yeah, checking in now.
Yeah.
We Hank checking at 1 o'clock.
Oh, okay.
(15:44):
We're just
about an hour
I'm guessing today.
I'm guessing I'm guessing today is the 1st day.
By the way, such Sunshine State RV.
That is Nick over there.
Nick is saying hi to all of you guys.
So
Hi, Nick.
Oh, boy.
Here you do that again.
Now we're full there you go.
He'll love it.
(16:07):
Wait.
Wait.
Wow.
It just tastes better.
I don't know why.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Shout out to Nick.
You know, a lot of owners here, bought fromNick, a Sunshine Strange, and, we're just
talking about just before this podcast, talkingabout the, initial owner's experience when it
(16:27):
comes to being a walk through the van, what doyou expect for a PDI prop assess, and, they
just could not speak highly enough about Nickand his team down at Sunshine State.
Yeah.
It's actually one of the reasons why we haveasked them to come because it Yeah.
If you'll call her out, we had a whole courseon good PDIs or deliveries.
And Nick had five or six people in.
(16:48):
They're all singing his praises and that wasn'thappening with other dealers.
No.
It At all.
I'm gonna I'm gonna be honest if if I invitedsome dealer to a rally full of owners.
They wanna be have a good reception.
Mhmm.
You know?
Right.
And, Nick shows up.
Everything's great.
So I
(17:08):
just, I just told you.
Yeah.
Nick loves to take care of people.
He loves a he loves a party.
He loves to take care of people.
Yeah.
Hey, Hank.
I wanna throw one more thing and I agree witheverything they said, but I have a different
view, and I don't think I've ever told youthis.
That's fine.
But when
I was during COVID, we been about 2 years.
So we looked in every single brand.
Oh, yeah.
Well, an elementary school friend of mine sellsRB warranties.
(17:31):
Sure.
So I called her and said, hey.
Here are the different ones.
American Coach has won a couple others.
I said, tell me about the warranty work.
And she came back.
She said, the lowest warranty rate of everymodel.
Is American Coach by far.
And she said it's not even close.
So I said, she goes, they must make a reallygood van because the warranty claims are so
low.
And that, I would say that that's probably thethe last thing to push from the top corner.
(17:52):
I don't wanna deal with this on the road a lot.
Mhmm.
I don't wanna deal with these issues, and Ihave had issues.
So that's the real reason why I choose a goodhappy coach.
Yeah.
No.
And then if you go to our Google reviews rightnow, I've been pushing a little bit on service
team to just go out there and, you know, asksomebody for review.
And if you read all of the experiences, if youdo have an issue, it is a moving house on
(18:14):
wheels.
Okay?
It does have many parts.
We're gonna take care of you.
Okay?
We're not gonna leave you behind.
We're we're gonna take care of you.
You know, we we have seven people in ourservice department with a phone.
Okay?
Okay.
And
that that's not all the other people workingservice that, work out back.
I mean, parts, working on coaches and stuff,but there's seven people that you can get to on
(18:36):
a phone in our service department.
And from what I seen at other manufacturers.
Again, I don't know what a bad mouth, but, wedefinitely have a lot more and a lot more pride
in that.
You know, it's a luxury good.
You should be able to have good service thatcomes with that luxury service.
And I think we provide that, and I think thatsometimes, some of the bigger name brands can't
do.
(18:57):
Yeah.
I think that is an important part of it.
Could you spend all this money?
You know, it is important what happens there.
And then also, let me just say this.
If you're if you're not breaking anything,you're not driving it hard enough.
You know, you need to break break something inthere, but it is really important how, the
folks out there, who the place that you boughtit from and the company that built it.
(19:18):
What's that?
Yeah.
Thanks.
Mhmm.
I was talking about being the only adult.
I mean, you know, I have nobody to ask, like,what do I do?
This happened or whatever.
Mhmm.
These guys these mad guys are there.
I mean, I send a text, or I make a phone call,and I'm back on the road in 30 seconds.
I mean, everybody is so quick.
(19:40):
So accommodating.
That's
Even when you're in Alaska, Annacobelos.
Right.
Exactly.
Okay.
That's good to hear.
Comfortable
with this company, I feel so comfortable withthe company.
I feel so comfortable with all of our owners.
Everybody's, you know, our Our Facebook page,everybody's, like, right there to help.
I they're fun.
(20:01):
Yeah.
That's it.
You know, it it's good to sell to fun people.
This is a good time.
I know Carl's gonna get the margarita out Yeah.
Machine out here very soon.
We're we're gonna take a break here.
We're gonna we're gonna take a break.
Hold on.
We're coming right back.
You guys might have already heard Lola andmyself are brand ambassadors for Sunshine State
RV.
And as Vanasource, I wanna take this moment toencourage anyone who is in the market for a
(20:26):
class b van to start their journey with SSRV.
Sunshine State RVs specializes in selling classB vans and B plus RVs.
That is the reason why they are the number onedealer in all of the state of Florida.
Number 3 in the whole United States.
SSRV will fly you right to their location inGainesville, Florida.
They'll give you a very detailed and thoroughwalk through of your van, and they'll give you
(20:51):
a 2 night stay at a local campground so you canget used to your van.
If you don't like that, you can actually havehands free delivery anywhere in the United
States of your RV.
We bought our coachman biar from Sunshine StateRV 2 years ago.
And over the past 2 years, we've seen how theytreat customers when it comes to warranty side.
Their service team is great.
(21:11):
Whether you bought it from them or not, everyperson that comes in there gets the same
service and care when it comes to warrantyrepairs.
The same service, attention, and care and theirteam does a great job getting you back on the
road safely.
So if you guys are in the market for a B or Bplus van, consider Sunshine State RV.
We've got a link in the description that youguys can We are back here.
(21:38):
The the party continues with these guys.
Here's a comment from Nick over at SunshineState RV.
He says you can sum up every business based ontheir reviews.
And then he also goes on to say Hank is awarranty's worst nightmare.
He's got a story about me breaking my fridge.
What does he say?
I put a bunch of food in there.
No, it's not the food.
(21:59):
It's that I like to drive fast, and I kindacaught some air a couple times.
Oh, no.
Kind of a yeah.
So, anyway
I'm only recommending the VRI system.
That's best.
That's not gonna stop me.
I go I go real fast.
My help.
Yeah.
Alright.
So we're back we're back here.
We're back here.
We've got we've got a lot of folks, herejoining us behind you here.
(22:23):
What kind of what kind of things would you guyswanna get into?
What's what are you, you know, what what whatare the things you're doing over there?
Do you have new vans?
Do you you know, are you giving folks lessons?
What's going on there?
Yeah.
No.
So biggest thing here, obviously in Mother up,we're doing tours of the factory tomorrow.
Okay.
And so we have, Hank, we've done a video ofthe, you know, our our Cassy prep building, our
(22:48):
assembly building.
Yep.
We added another building.
That's actually larger than both.
And for the first time that we are ever open tothe public.
We're doing it tomorrow for these people.
Oh, cool.
And, so they'll be able to see some really coolstuff.
This is where we're gonna start putting airride on at the factory.
A lot of custom suspension stuff we're we'relooking into.
(23:09):
We're gonna start adding.
This is this allows us to really dive into thechassis where our chassis prep building was
kind of, hindered by the fact that our dip inwood shop was right next door.
So they had to share
it.
So now we have more wine spot space to reallywork on bands.
And we're really excited about that.
And Carl, you know, Carl might have the firstvideo ever tomorrow.
(23:32):
I will have Yeah.
So I Hank I went ahead and and bought the theVBR ride system.
I bought it here.
It had it installed.
It's phenomenal.
It's it's a dramatic change from I bounce inthe back, and I can't hear you too.
My wife in the back saying, talking to me from.
It's it's it's a It's more than a a magnitudeStrange.
And and it makes it so much smoother.
(23:53):
And I actually tried going on the route 17 andand exit.
Yeah.
Sure.
And I went a little fast, and I was like, I'mnot swaying at all.
So that that air ride system is amazing.
The biggest notice to a driver is gonna behandling
for sure.
It
because those airbags are always, you know, aacting to the road conditions as so much so
much of the new cars do already.
(24:14):
I know you're a big Audi guy.
Hank, you know, so air air rides familiar withyou When you get a turn or anything in this air
ride, it's going to start adjusting itself.
So big time for on ramps, on the highway,you're gonna notice
Oh, helps you lean in a little bit, I guess,to, set of turns and stuff like that.
Different gate.
Okay.
Cool.
Now don't, here's here's the thing.
(24:34):
Make sure you break Carl's camera.
Don't let him don't let him get the first videoup, and now I'm just kidding.
You you have to race them up here, Hank.
Come on, buddy.
Either way.
I'll never make it in time.
I'll never make it in Yeah.
But, no, it's good to hear.
And I guess now I've got a reason to come upthere and do another factory tour with you for
folks who are interested sit in that, we dohave a factory tour video up there.
(24:56):
So that's good to hear that you guys are addingand improving, on what you do.
You guys do some amazing things there.
I was just impressed by what you do with theseats.
You know, all the the the detail stuff that itgoes in, to to to what you're building,
including even lightning, making sure the vans,you know, you've got weight limits and stuff
like that that you have to meet.
(25:17):
So getting luxury in there, but keeping it,under a certain weight, that's not really easy
to do.
No, it's not.
It's, it's stepping up, but, you know, ourengineering team, they've phenomenal, you know,
not just cosmetics, you know, cosmeticstypically that interferes with engineering,
but, we definitely do everything by the bookwhen it comes to that part of it.
(25:40):
And they're clean lines.
At this luxury piece.
And when I was looking at vans, most vans, youlook at the driver's side, you got plastic plug
sticking out the side.
The area code just all buttoned up.
You can open up the door and you see rightthere, but if you're driving on the road, you
don't look like a man.
You look
like a Yeah.
You look like a limousine.
I think you're right.
You look like a limousine.
Yeah.
That's the difference.
Go to an RV show and you go in and out of everyclass b in that RV show, I mean, that's what
(26:03):
happened with me.
I didn't know about American coach.
Right?
Went into I think it was the Tampa show.
I was like, Oh my god.
Yeah.
Oh my god.
And I
was coming from that other class B that Imentioned before, and I was like, I this is it.
You know?
To be honest with you, you're, you're, you're a
stranger who's a tour of the factory is one ofthe things that
convinced us that this is what we wanna Yeah.
(26:26):
Okay.
Very, very cool.
So so you guys, there's too much there'sthere's too much love going on here.
I'm gonna throw I'm gonna throw a wrench intothe them here since we're talking about the
interior.
I've seen all these guys.
They're into class b, so they they know whatI'm gonna say here.
It's true.
There's a big movement out there for peoplelooking for not wood in a van.
Right?
I think it's cool.
(26:46):
You guys don't have propane.
That's something that people are looking for.
No propane.
But you but peep folks are looking for no woodin a van.
What do you think and what do the owners outthere think about that trend towards no wood?
Hank, would you buy a boat without wood inside?
I don't know.
You're asking a wrong guy.
You're asking a wrong guy.
(27:07):
I've asked, you know, I've asked you to putslate in there, carbon fiber.
You know that.
You know, that's
that's not luxury.
It's too dusty.
Yeah.
You know what I mean?
You go to luxury home.
Do you do you see all aluminum?
Yeah.
I mean, like, we know that's where people cheapout.
You know, when you start seeing exposed decksand all those sort of things, and it, you know,
(27:27):
an apartment building, you're like, well, noworries.
I did that because they're trying weren'ttrying to be high end.
Okay.
You
know, it might be aesthetically pleasing, butit's definitely not luxury.
Okay.
So you don't think that's a permanent trend forfolks looking for that.
Right?
No, because just like the modern house era.
You know what I mean?
We're all gonna go back to eventually to have,you know, tuscan homes.
We're all gonna hardcore luxury always returns.
(27:50):
You know, I, like, your wife's not looking fora, 10 can for a first.
You know, she's looking for the nicest Guccileather that you possibly find.
Mhmm.
You know, I mean, that's just not luxury.
And that's okay.
I think that's a good point.
That's a good point.
Okay.
You know, if you want to be an, an off roader,I think that's awesome.
I love that stuff, you know.
(28:11):
But it's just not what we do as a company.
Know, we'll definitely help you on the exteriorstandpoint, but when you step into a Midwest,
it's going to feel something high end.
It's gonna be luxury.
Well, the the the stitching on the seats, Iwouldn't want to give that up, Ed.
When your friends come in, they it's a classic.
It looks classy.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You
know, the appointment of wood, I I I Wow.
I don't think that's true.
Man, I think in this particular mock brand, orthis segment of the market.
(28:36):
I wouldn't go for something like that.
I looked at everyone up for 2 years.
I wouldn't.
Okay.
Alright.
Cool.
So here's some questions from Lola.
Juan, I'll go to this first.
Lola says, what AC are they using now, in themotor homes, and what other new upgrades have
you guys made.
Yeah.
Sure.
So, you know, we've talked about the new 1080Freedom system from Dragonfly.
(28:57):
Using the new game changer batteries.
I know you did a video on it.
Very good one.
We have changed our AC system now.
So we are going back to 110.
But we're going to a very highly efficient 110.
It's from Gree.
Gree is the largest AC manufacturer in theworld.
But this is their first, introduction into theRV role.
(29:20):
So, we actually have 124 around the corner overthere, and I'm sure Nick get quite a few here
soon too, so you can do some videos with him.
But, I encourage you to test out that new ACbecause it is impressive.
Instead of the typical 20 degrees coming out,you know, you you have your air going in.
It typically comes out 20 degrees with tip playc.
This one's actually We're seeing 25 degrees,and it's doing at a very efficient rate.
(29:47):
Also, We're doing it has oscillating fans onit, so it will, shoot air in different
directions for off the van.
Something that no other AC manufacturer does atthe moment.
So this is a pretty cool new AC that we're veryexcited about.
Yeah.
I I did get a chance to see that AC.
I think it's yeah.
(30:07):
I think it's awesome.
The way, like, when it starts up, it the, youknow, the it opens up.
The vents open.
When it shuts down to close.
They can yeah.
It's it's really cool.
I'm looking forward to to seeing that.
So that's actually getting out there, right,and, in in what you guys are rolling out of the
factory?
Okay.
Alright.
So every unit moving to Midwest factory rightnow has a gray see.
(30:29):
Okay.
Cool.
Shout out to Hank radio 2.0 who's in the chat,friend of mine.
If you have some questions, let us know hamradio and also for everyone who's watching,
joining us out there, hit the thumbs ups.
Let me get another question in here from Lola.
She says, is American Coach in MidwestAutomotive the same.
She wants to know this.
And when will Ford Transit American Coach beavailable?
(30:52):
So I guess Lola's some questions fromsomewhere.
So Yeah.
No.
No.
No.
These are these are good questions.
So Midwest Automotive Designs builds theAmerican Coach Patriot.
Okay.
It is the exactly the same company.
The owners group here is the Midwest AutomotiveDesigns owners group.
When you call in for your patriot, you'recalling in to Midwest Automotive Designs.
(31:16):
The team is Midwest On Design's teams.
So we're using the American Coach brand becausewe are underneath, the rev, a conglomerate, you
know, a publicly traded company thatmanufactures numerous things with fire trucks,
ambulances, And American Coach is one of theirhigher end brands and we build a really high
end product.
So, that's why we're using their brand.
(31:36):
I'm like Chevrolet in, GMC.
Okay.
So, I'm gonna get back.
I'm gonna come back to that thing a little bitmore here when we talk, when we get a talk
about the future.
So I know you've got Barbara there.
She's a tough customer.
I wanna know from her what things she wouldlike to see upcoming in her I know she's very
happy with her band, but since I've got herhere, I want her to hit you with what she wants
(32:01):
to see.
Go go for it.
It's it's for me to say that Hank I sent out.
Actually, I gave to Jackie a big pile ofquestionnaires.
Mhmm.
And on the questionnaires, We wanna know 3things.
What is the, what is your favorite thing aboutour vans?
What is your least favorite thing.
And what would you like to add?
And I tell you right now, I want to put barberson the front of the list.
(32:24):
Okay?
But, she can explain it, in words what she'slooking for.
Three things again.
Well, I already told you what I love about it.
I would like to see some, one conveniencething, which is kind of a mechanical thing,
for, winterizing and emptying the fresh watertank.
Oh, good idea.
I would like to see a valve an actual valverather than a plug that I have to be a plumber
(32:49):
to put back in when I finish.
Mhmm.
What I do right now is I use my outdoor showerto drain that tank.
And I'm never quite sure if I've got everythingout.
We have the 170 standard, which is a twenty twofoot.
And, of course, each of them have that littledrop down, computer desks behind the driver's
seat.
I personally would rather have like a 9 or 10inch floor to ceiling cabinet in there where I
(33:15):
could use for storage because I'm missing anextra cabinet.
I never used that for a computer.
I use it for drop dropping stuff on it, likewhen you come in your house and you drop your
mail on the countertop.
Right.
But I'd like to
see Yeah.
I'd like to see, I'd actually like to see acabinet there, and I can't figure out I'm not a
(33:35):
mechanical person or woodworker, so I can'tfigure out how to build 1 and put it in there.
I know I've seen them in other vans, but you'reyou're brand new van.
I've I've seen it done a lot.
But, that would be some helpful storage.
And one more thing, I do like the idea ofopening up that whole area over the sofa in the
back, although I would prefer to get into itfrom the inside than the outside.
(33:59):
I'm a short person.
And I don't have a ladder.
So, I would like to be able to put things upthere and get to it.
I could put so food on the side.
I'd never have to go to Walmart.
Never.
Okay.
Alright.
Awesome.
I knew Barbara was gonna have some good ones.
No.
Barbara Barbara's critical, but she's also oneof our favorites.
She really is.
(34:20):
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's what I like about her.
So what are the some of the other things?
I know Carl's there.
I see Jack he's still there.
What are some of the other things that peopleare looking for?
And we did cover some of this in the video thatwe did at the last owners because you guys do
pay attention to what people want, and you haveadded things, in the new vans that are coming
out now.
(34:40):
Yeah.
So our first rally, Really, kind of a testingroute if you will.
Right?
You
know, we we sent service.
You know, I
went down for a little bit.
I brought my wife with me.
Just to check it out, see what's going asbeautiful place.
What was the name of the car?
Oh, run the beach.
Blue something.
Blue water We wanna keep
great, great campground.
Recommend it if you, let's go through there.
(35:03):
West of Galveston, beautiful place.
We, I took all of the suggestions.
I put it together in a PDF, for the littlePowerPoint, took all the pictures I could of
everybody, what they were doing, and I sent itto our, kind of, our development team and a lot
of the things to actually got put in for
24 hours.
Calera.
I can't that's a that we did we saw that.
(35:24):
We saw that.
Yeah.
I
love that stainless steel.
Yeah.
Yep.
Downstate.
I really love it.
Yeah.
I was very, very impressed by what I saw youguys at.
I mean, even the, there's kind of like thosethings that go on the vents the on the roof
that changed direction to to close off the
fence.
The cyclones.
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
(35:44):
And then what what they basically do is thatthey remove smell.
Okay?
So, you know, we use black tanks.
We use gray tanks.
I I tell you right now, cassettes are smellierbecause we use to use those as well.
But still has to go somewhere.
The emissions, the gas is, it's methane gas.
So this basically just, goes with the directionof the wind.
(36:05):
Instead of it just smugering around thecampsite.
And, that was something that a lot of theseowners put on their vans to help mail, and now
it's a standard feature.
Yeah.
That's very cool.
I've got a question here from, Rory Glasgow.
He says I would love to see a rare bath floorplan.
I'm I'll I'll vote for that too.
(36:26):
With twin beds up front, maybe something likethe ultimate toys, ultimate RV, but with the
eco Freedom package.
What do you think about that?
So, I'm I'm sure Roy knows and a few otherpeople.
We build the ultimate toys.
Okay.
Midwest auto designs, builds all the ultimatetoys vehicles.
You can now order a Freedom with the UltimateToys Ultimate RV.
(36:48):
Okay?
So it is something that we offer.
We definitely have a working blueprints of apassage and a patriots with a rear restroom.
Okay?
Mhmm.
We haven't got the best feedback from some ofour dealers, and that's one of the reasons why
we have done it yet because it is quite theundertaking to make because if we did the
(37:11):
passage and picture, if we're a bit restaurant,we're we're going to do a real overhaul, not
not what you just see with the ultimate toysRV, you know, where we basically just moved our
mid bathroom and just moved to the end.
We She's watching us.
We're gonna do something actually special andsomething different.
(37:32):
So Okay.
We're just kinda waiting see how the if themarket starts getting a little bit better out
there.
You know, because we are in a recession rightnow.
Not saying we're not growing, but, we'regrowing, you know, the the good stuff right
now.
I don't know if throwing in a niche product inthere for us is something that, would be
beneficial
plus if it's a complete overhaul, you'reprobably with the engine.
(37:53):
Right?
Because you have water balance.
You got a lot going on that
there's a lot.
I mean, that's not something you just whip
No.
No.
You you're gonna have to change some of it fromgravity fed, you know, lines to more a pump
that lines.
And what happens?
A lot of fiberglass work, which is always apain in the butt to deal with.
And don't ever lose the macerator.
I will not have a gravity No.
(38:14):
You know, my wife has also talked about therear bathroom, but yeah.
I'm 6 4.
Yes.
The reason I got the extended because thatthat's a king-size bed plus.
I can lay completely out with my hands above myhead.
It's Yes.
I would hate to lose that length if you're
a taller person.
Well, Carl, it sprays So, like, the ultimatetoys RV, that is not something I can feel very
(38:35):
comfortable on with that.
Because they're trying to do a lot with thespace.
Okay.
So they want the 2 captains chairs still.
They want the 2 sofas.
It's too much going on to make it a wheel RV.
Yeah.
Okay.
It's a good multi per peep person vehicle.
Okay.
It's a it can multi use for numerous things.
It's a good Swiss army knife.
(38:55):
But if you really are being at the page orpassage Yeah.
And, it costs as much
as possible.
And would Hank would it have a, like, my has areal refrigerator and a real freezer.
I can really make guys.
I can take ice cream.
I can get steak to harvest those.
But that I haven't seen that unit, but I wouldhate to lose the dirt.
There's a lot of the amenities that you'regonna lose to sacrifice the ability to have
(39:16):
more of a people holler and that at
the same time.
So Yeah.
That's the that's the big thing.
That's the big thing I think about, the rarebath.
Right?
Once you put in that rare bath, in whateverfloor floor plan, you're gonna put it in yeah,
you've gotta try to make some compromises.
And a lot of, different floor plans I see fromdifferent people, you do have smaller fridge,
(39:37):
all those kinds of things.
I think the points that Carl brings up as wellcomes into play.
You really need to ask yourself, what do youeveryone's different in what they're using a
van for.
Right?
Some people have to have that bigger fridge.
Some people don't care.
Some people have to use the bathroom.
Some people don't care so much about thebathroom.
Right?
The bathroom might wind up being storage a lotor, you know, so there's it just really depends
(39:59):
on how you're gonna live with it and what yourlifestyle is, I think, around that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Nail on the head there.
Hank, that's the most important thing.
When people private message me on our Facebookpages or directly, I always tell people it's
it's about your use case.
Right?
I wanted lithium because I plan to boondock alot.
Yeah.
(40:19):
I want the long bedding because I'm tall.
I want the extra space because I'm tall.
Uh-huh.
I'm in that a 149 year, so I'm not a weekender.
I'm out there for a month or 2 at a time.
I wanna have that that ability to reallycomfortable.
So I do wanna roll for you so I can get a bunchof meat, you know, that way.
So it is about use case.
I think you're writing for a weekender, maybe,but I would I would hit you up the big bed Yes.
(40:42):
For I mean, you're in a shower 10 minutes.
Your bed for 8 hours.
Like, like At a venue night, you can't be inthe shower in a van for 10 minutes.
Now you you unless you have unlimited supply ofwater.
Yeah.
You
know, like, like, Jackie going to Alaska, thoselittle trips.
Mhmm.
I don't see, like, the ultimate RV or thoseitems being that type of van.
(41:05):
That that's just not what that's.
So many times, I'm just, you know, a placeovernight.
I mean, it's very seldom that was they whenwe're moochdocking, maybe, and Yeah.
With with family, we make several days to aweek.
But most of the time, we're 1 night.
You're moving Yep.
Yeah.
Always doing so.
Alright.
So, listen, we're coming up on another breakhere.
I've got some comments.
(41:25):
I've got some questions.
I want guys to enjoy this break, and we'regonna come back and get to all of that very
shortly.
Lola and I are now official brand ambassadorsfor Coachmen class be.
So I wanted to take a moment to tell you guyswhy we, as Vanosaurus, like it says on our t
shirt, are very excited about our partnershipwith Coachmen class b.
(41:48):
First off, Coachmen RVs has been a leader tothe great outdoors since 1964.
So next is the fact that coachman really caresabout you as an owner, whether you bought new
or used, after you buy your van, they reallytake care of you.
With Coachmen Klosbee, you have all theoptions.
Coachmen bills on all three van platforms.
(42:10):
On the Mercedes Sprinter, it's a coachmanGalleria.
The Ford Transit is a coachman Beyond, and RamPro Master is a coachman Nova.
Lastly, best value for money.
We've had our van for 2 years and coachmanbills to the highest standards of quality and
craftsmanship.
You can't go wrong with a coachman class b.
So if you're interested, check out the link inour description and find the coachman van
(42:34):
that's best for you.
I gotta tell you.
It's so fun.
I don't think you can hear.
We're telling stories.
No.
People can't hear, but it's, but there's somealso stuff going on here.
Let me get to this.
This is gonna be our
Come back to the channel here.
(00:02):
This is the Vanasore podcast.
That's right.
We are going live every Thursday 2 pm Eastern.
Vanasaur podcast is all about exploring classB, RVs Overlanding, and van life culture.
Boom.
There we go.
We we're joined live today.
From Elkhart, we have Ron Preston Okay.
(00:25):
Of Midwest Midwest Automotive Design SlashAmerican Coach.
What's going on, Ron?
What's going on, Hank?
We're, sitting here with my good friends,Barbara Carl.
We got Jackie over here too and Mark.
Yeah.
I know.
I see.
Kart in Arizona, and we are doing themothership tour.
(00:48):
So, everyone here is here for a wrap.
We're having tours of all our suppliers here inElkhart.
We have all our suppliers here doing technicalStrange, and the biggest thing is we're here to
see the factory.
That's what all these people right here aregonna do.
And, we Hank a great time too.
We had dinner tonight.
We got food coming Saturday.
We have a lot of events going on.
(01:09):
Absolutely.
This is gonna be a fun episode 9, all aboutAmerican Coach slash Midwest Automotive Design
We've got some owners, Lola, and I see Lola inthe chat.
There's she says, there's miss Barbara.
Hello.
Jackie is there.
Hi.
I see a whole bunch of folks, Lola says hi toto Ron as well.
If you guys have questions about MidwestAutomotive Design's American Coach.
(01:31):
They make, to me, awesome, luxurious class bvans, and we're gonna talk all about that.
We'll get some we'll some questions andcomments and stuff like that from the lovely
owners behind you that are joining us, but,let's, Real the real people Absolutely.
The good folks out there.
Ron and I have been friends for a while.
(01:52):
I've been doing this for, I think, over 2years.
And so Ron's you know, you guys have been verygenerous to the channel for the folks who are
joining us, and they don't know about you andwhat you do at Midwest Automotive Design fill
us in, man.
Yeah.
So I'm the sales manager at a Midwest Tom ofDesigns, specializing in the American Coach
Patriot.
And we'll talk more about that, but that'ssomething are changing there as well.
(02:15):
Mhmm.
But, yeah, so I just evolved in sales or dealernetworks, customer relations, product
development, and a little bit of everything.
Know, we started as a very small company.
When I first started in 2015, doing roughlyaround two hundred vans a year, mostly limo,
factory direct.
And now last year, we did a little over 1500and all of them through a a dealer network.
(02:37):
So
Okay.
A lot
of transitions, a lot of growth, company isjust got larger and larger every year.
Okay.
Awesome.
And let me just say all those owners out there,they better go get their phones and their
different devices out, put them on mute, andthen go to YouTube.
Get the algorithm up?
Yes.
Get the algorithm up.
(02:58):
Smash the thumbs ups.
They could throw their own questions in there.
We'll give them shout outs, all those kinds ofthings.
Like I said, Barbara's behind you.
She's awesome.
And then I see Carl.
I'm gonna go back to I can see Carl trying tosneak it.
There he goes.
There's Carl.
Yeah.
Don't know, Carl, please.
There's Jackie right there.
Carl's got lucky to pay
as the guest does.
(03:20):
Yeah.
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
Product placement already happening in in theshow.
There you go.
So Lola says who are the suppliers that are outthere?
So let's get that as the first question.
Blue the suppliers you guys have at the eventand and explain, like, how the event works, you
know, what you guys do, but how many days, allthat kind
of stuff?
Yeah.
(03:40):
I'm gonna let Carl talk a little bit aboutthat.
Carl.
Okay.
Carl and Jackie are really the mastermindsbehind me.
This.
Obviously, I help with the relations between usand the factory, but Carl and Jackie are the
masterminds behind this, and Barbara keeps himstraight.
Yeah.
Right.
Hey, Carl.
Oh, hey.
We started.
What's up, man?
Hi, sir.
(04:01):
We started this about a year ago.
It was actually a just a one group Meaning, wecalled Ron and said, hey.
Would you be willing to help us?
And he jumped right in, which I was stunned.
He said, yes.
So our first rally was back last October had a50 van showed up in the in Florida.
We had 75 really big.
Yeah.
We got about 55 here.
Now we started a whole YouTube channel, Hank.
We've got 325 subscribers, 25,000 views, 7different Facebook channels.
(04:26):
It's it's really grown quickly.
Yeah.
But it's all because frankly, Midwest hasreally stepped up.
And because I Hank this awesome partner namedJackie who is the mastermind, the MadHatter, of
Midwest.
So it's called the Matt about you tour, MidwestAutomotive Designs, and the channel is the love
learning channel.
We've just had a lot of fun, and we do thisfour or five times a year.
Yeah.
(04:46):
Absolutely.
No.
It's Mhmm.
It's been amazing working with Carl and Jackie.
Man, they have brilliant ideas they, will takethe extra mile for everybody.
I mean, everyone here's giving them gifts.
Everyone here just absolutely loves these 2.
And, Carl here, you know, he's starting his ownYouTube channel, doing videos, doing all these
(05:06):
things to help out his fellow owners.
Mhmm.
Just it's so wonderful and really makes youfeel good, having owners such as them.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
I think that, you know, when getting into vansor anything else, to be honest, but we're here
to talk about vans.
The a big part of the experience is the owner'sgroups.
(05:26):
Right?
All the folks out there who can help you outwith questions tell you about things you you
didn't even think that you would need to dealwith.
I think it's really, really important, and it'sgreat to see that you guys have such a great
community going there.
When was it that I joined you guys in Ocala?
How how long ago was that?
There's a video that's up for whoever wants tosee it.
That that was early March.
We did at the week after the Ocala RV show.
(05:49):
Alright.
Okay.
So here's a here's a question for me.
And like I said, everyone out there Since we'vegot all these owners, how many owners are at
the how many people do you have out there atthis at this rally?
Yeah.
So we have 55 vans, a 110 owners.
Okay.
What's really cool about this compared to Ocalashow now co Kao show is larger, but only 10
(06:13):
returning, owners from the Kao show.
So these are all new owners.
Wow.
You know, we're we're in a differentdestination.
We're in the Midwest versus Florida.
And so 45 new vans, 90 new people from now,don't get me wrong.
I I'm sure everybody Ocala loved it.
This is it's amazing.
Ocala was fantastic.
It was it was awesome.
(06:34):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, Carl,
how many people will be having O'Caller?
Remind me a little bit.
O'Caller was unbelievable because we hadplanned for 50, 50 book, and we had 6 or 7
more.
Mhmm.
But then what happened was local dealers weresaying there was a rally, so people were
showing up going, okay, we had more food andand we had this, as you know, paint.
We had sunshine.
I said RV there are phenomenal.
Help us food, text.
(06:56):
Oh, this, the t shirts.
Yeah.
I better get one of these I better get one ofthese t shirts in the jacket.
Hold on.
Absolutely.
There's actually a pretty cool story about thist Sure.
So Jackie's daughter designed us.
Oh, cool.
Let's get it up closer.
Looks like it's, sci fi theme.
Yep.
Yep.
So this is the mother ship.
(07:17):
Obviously, we're coming back to the Madfactory.
Right there.
So there it is a Midwest van getting beamed up.
Very cool.
And Alright.
The government tells us that UFO is a real now.
So this is a real situation happening.
Yes.
And we have a comment from Sunshine State RV.
That looks like a great crowd.
(07:40):
That's the, comment over there from from, thefolks at
San Antonio.
Right now, these are just a few of the cool.
Everybody around us is going around Hank out.
We trying to keep the mini away.
It's possible, but You just look around to seeeverybody's not having a good time.
Yeah.
Well, spread the word.
I need to get since there's a 110 folks outthere, I need at least 220 thumbs ups.
(08:03):
I want people to go sign on twice and thumbs uptwice.
Let's get started with this It's
probably the helmet beforehand.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
It's all good, though.
I as folks are coming in and they do that, Iappreciate it.
So I think you guys, I think America coach ofMidwest Automotive Design, that that's where
the mad comes from, Midwest Automotive Design.
(08:25):
It's a lot.
It's a lot to say.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
So I'm gonna I'm gonna go between those.
The one I'm the most familiar with is AmericanCoach.
You guys kind of, like, define luxury in thespace.
Can you tell me how you guys look at that andhow you think it's changing from you and even
the folks around there, you know, is that thethe number one thing that everyone's going for.
(08:48):
And what how do you think that's changing astime goes on?
So, we are in an interesting time right nowbecause the prices on everything are climbing.
Mercedes Benz price has dropped nearly 15% onchassis alone.
In the last 2 years, which means it's pushingit towards a luxury segment.
So if you if you notice, you know, there's beenmore players now on the luxury side.
(09:13):
You got Gretch, air stream, us.
We're all growing in the middle of a recession.
Which is, hard to come by.
And, so I would say the luxury side is growing,and I think it's probably price price driven,
because of anybody who's looking for a cheapMercedes doesn't exist.
(09:33):
That's hurting.
I think a lot of the people who are trying tobe the true, if you will, scenario type van
lifers with the Mercedes chassis.
I think they're going to dodge.
I think they're going to forwards.
Even though they're both significantly moremoney than they to be.
It's becoming a luxury game.
The whole man life is right now because ofdisinflation of the cost.
(09:54):
And, as for us, we're embracing it.
You know, we've always it seems like everymonth, there's at least one of us in, our
product development room talking about a, let'slet's do an off order.
Let's do something like that, and we realizeit's already flooding.
You know, we we know what we do best.
We do luxury best.
(10:15):
And no one else has our seat shop, no one elsehas our wood shop.
So why change or deviate from that?
We said, we'd love to add more exterioroptions, but I think I've told you many times.
I always think of it as kind of like a a, aMercedes G wagon.
AMG.
You know, if it makes serious standpoints, arug gets beat up, you know, but when she go
(10:36):
inside, it's an s class Mercedes.
And, I,
I think
that's the motion behind us, you know, andagain, we're our background, our heart is
limos, personal use limos, so nothing likecrazy, you know, like a party bus.
But, it's always been high end executive,personal use vehicles.
So it I I don't think that's changing for us atmy enemies.
(10:58):
Yeah.
You guys definitely have an eye on D as well, Ithink.
Right?
So you could just throw a bunch of, you know,you could throw everything in the kitchen sink
at something, but that doesn't really, youknow, blend that feel that someone would spec
to go over from their luxury sedan, you know,into a van.
I think you guys have a really good eye ondetail.
Do you wanna just just give us some secrets onwhat, you know, your philosophy and what you
(11:21):
think is different that makes American Coachstand out.
Sure.
Again, it's coming from that personal executiveuse side of things.
Mhmm.
All of our seating is done in house.
There is no other class being manufactured.
Out there that does their seating in house hastheir own upholstery department.
Mhmm.
The fabric lining everywhere.
The hardwood, our, you know, our dip shop, Ourfront cabin is the only one that's re
(11:46):
upholstered even in the luxury side.
So when you step in and sit in the driver'sseat, someone who's used to driving an s class
Mercedes day in and day out, they're gonna feelmore a home in our vehicle.
It doesn't feel like a logistics fan up front,even though what it is, you know, before we get
done with it.
It feels like a nice luxurious fan, and it willalways feel that way.
(12:08):
I that's just what Midwest does.
Okay.
Very cool.
Can we get from some of the owners that arethere with you?
What's the elements that made them buy, forexample?
I see my friend, Barbara there.
What are the things that make those firstfiles?
Yeah.
Excuse me.
There we go.
There we go.
There we go.
Here's my budget.
I like Yeah.
It's the
(12:28):
reason I chose is because, I do not likepropane.
I the all electric.
I love to be able to go off the grid and havemy solar and have my batteries charged all the
time and never have to look to find propane torun a generator.
I don't need a generator.
And, I mean, the 4 day trip here, we were 3nights, boondocking, harvest host, cracker
(12:52):
Barrel is always great too.
It is.
It is.
Yeah.
And it's just,
and
it's so I just love the freedom of it.
We've had bigger ones before, and I am the,driver.
My everyday driver is A Jeep Grand Cherokee,and this drives just like that.
I mean, it's not any harder to drive than myJeep.
(13:13):
Okay.
I love it.
Awesome.
Awesome.
Anyone else can hear
you.
Mhmm.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No.
Just talk a little bit about what Barbara said,you know.
Okay.
Saying that we come from a luxury mindset, wewere the 1st class B manufacturer to do a
lithium system without any propane use.
You know, it's well, it's kinda Now, all ofthem are pretty much heading that way.
(13:35):
Mhmm.
But we are ahead of the game 5 years.
That was 2017 when we launched our firstFreedom system that had no propane on board.
Mhmm.
You know,
and we started out of the gate 600.
You know, we didn't start out at 300 like someof these other ones did.
And, again, playing in that luxury field, we'reable to, you know, push the envelope because
price isn't as much of an issue.
It's always fun to basically have a budgetthat's a little bit bigger than your
(13:58):
competition.
You know?
And, yeah, yeah, stuff like that matters.
Jackie here, Jackie travels around with herkids everywhere, does all these cool trips.
I just got back I live in South Florida, and Ijust got back from Alaska and Canada.
Oh, wow.
35100 Imperial Trail.
Yeah.
I'm ending here at the rally before we headback to go to school, which starts early in
(14:22):
Florida.
Okay.
Also, your kids your kids are on the road withyou.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
They're here at the rally with us.
Everyone knows them now.
That king bed in the back?
We fit very nicely, like a puzzle.
You make it work, and, actually, we all sleepvery well.
A lot of spooning doing a lot of spooning
and a dog.
Right.
So
(14:42):
I'm coming from, I'm coming another class bthat I won't mention, the name, that I own for
6 years, and I'm a single mom.
So I am the I'm the only adult, and I don'thave anybody to bounce any worries and issues
off of and, you know, nobody else drives, butbut me.
(15:02):
And, you know, coming from an AGM batterysystem and and a generator to the lithium and
the the freedom package, it is it is suchluxury.
I can't even besides you know, the leather allaround me.
And I came from, like, a tin box, which was notcheap No.
(15:24):
To this beautiful.
I mean, I am I cannot be happier.
With my Mad Van.
You know?
Oh, awesome.
If I ever get another van, it will be a a newerMad Van.
I'll just I'll just Hey.
We got all the yes.
That's I'm Jackie.
Hi.
Oh, boy.
We we're, yeah, checking in now.
Yeah.
We Hank checking at 1 o'clock.
Oh, okay.
(15:44):
We're just
about an hour
I'm guessing today.
I'm guessing I'm guessing today is the 1st day.
By the way, such Sunshine State RV.
That is Nick over there.
Nick is saying hi to all of you guys.
So
Hi, Nick.
Oh, boy.
Here you do that again.
Now we're full there you go.
He'll love it.
(16:07):
Wait.
Wait.
Wow.
It just tastes better.
I don't know why.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Shout out to Nick.
You know, a lot of owners here, bought fromNick, a Sunshine Strange, and, we're just
talking about just before this podcast, talkingabout the, initial owner's experience when it
(16:27):
comes to being a walk through the van, what doyou expect for a PDI prop assess, and, they
just could not speak highly enough about Nickand his team down at Sunshine State.
Yeah.
It's actually one of the reasons why we haveasked them to come because it Yeah.
If you'll call her out, we had a whole courseon good PDIs or deliveries.
And Nick had five or six people in.
(16:48):
They're all singing his praises and that wasn'thappening with other dealers.
No.
It At all.
I'm gonna I'm gonna be honest if if I invitedsome dealer to a rally full of owners.
They wanna be have a good reception.
Mhmm.
You know?
Right.
And, Nick shows up.
Everything's great.
So I
(17:08):
just, I just told you.
Yeah.
Nick loves to take care of people.
He loves a he loves a party.
He loves to take care of people.
Yeah.
Hey, Hank.
I wanna throw one more thing and I agree witheverything they said, but I have a different
view, and I don't think I've ever told youthis.
That's fine.
But when
I was during COVID, we been about 2 years.
So we looked in every single brand.
Oh, yeah.
Well, an elementary school friend of mine sellsRB warranties.
(17:31):
Sure.
So I called her and said, hey.
Here are the different ones.
American Coach has won a couple others.
I said, tell me about the warranty work.
And she came back.
She said, the lowest warranty rate of everymodel.
Is American Coach by far.
And she said it's not even close.
So I said, she goes, they must make a reallygood van because the warranty claims are so
low.
And that, I would say that that's probably thethe last thing to push from the top corner.
(17:52):
I don't wanna deal with this on the road a lot.
Mhmm.
I don't wanna deal with these issues, and Ihave had issues.
So that's the real reason why I choose a goodhappy coach.
Yeah.
No.
And then if you go to our Google reviews rightnow, I've been pushing a little bit on service
team to just go out there and, you know, asksomebody for review.
And if you read all of the experiences, if youdo have an issue, it is a moving house on
(18:14):
wheels.
Okay?
It does have many parts.
We're gonna take care of you.
Okay?
We're not gonna leave you behind.
We're we're gonna take care of you.
You know, we we have seven people in ourservice department with a phone.
Okay?
Okay.
And
that that's not all the other people workingservice that, work out back.
I mean, parts, working on coaches and stuff,but there's seven people that you can get to on
(18:36):
a phone in our service department.
And from what I seen at other manufacturers.
Again, I don't know what a bad mouth, but, wedefinitely have a lot more and a lot more pride
in that.
You know, it's a luxury good.
You should be able to have good service thatcomes with that luxury service.
And I think we provide that, and I think thatsometimes, some of the bigger name brands can't
do.
(18:57):
Yeah.
I think that is an important part of it.
Could you spend all this money?
You know, it is important what happens there.
And then also, let me just say this.
If you're if you're not breaking anything,you're not driving it hard enough.
You know, you need to break break something inthere, but it is really important how, the
folks out there, who the place that you boughtit from and the company that built it.
(19:18):
What's that?
Yeah.
Thanks.
Mhmm.
I was talking about being the only adult.
I mean, you know, I have nobody to ask, like,what do I do?
This happened or whatever.
Mhmm.
These guys these mad guys are there.
I mean, I send a text, or I make a phone call,and I'm back on the road in 30 seconds.
I mean, everybody is so quick.
(19:40):
So accommodating.
That's
Even when you're in Alaska, Annacobelos.
Right.
Exactly.
Okay.
That's good to hear.
Comfortable
with this company, I feel so comfortable withthe company.
I feel so comfortable with all of our owners.
Everybody's, you know, our Our Facebook page,everybody's, like, right there to help.
I they're fun.
(20:01):
Yeah.
That's it.
You know, it it's good to sell to fun people.
This is a good time.
I know Carl's gonna get the margarita out Yeah.
Machine out here very soon.
We're we're gonna take a break here.
We're gonna we're gonna take a break.
Hold on.
We're coming right back.
You guys might have already heard Lola andmyself are brand ambassadors for Sunshine State
RV.
And as Vanasource, I wanna take this moment toencourage anyone who is in the market for a
(20:26):
class b van to start their journey with SSRV.
Sunshine State RVs specializes in selling classB vans and B plus RVs.
That is the reason why they are the number onedealer in all of the state of Florida.
Number 3 in the whole United States.
SSRV will fly you right to their location inGainesville, Florida.
They'll give you a very detailed and thoroughwalk through of your van, and they'll give you
(20:51):
a 2 night stay at a local campground so you canget used to your van.
If you don't like that, you can actually havehands free delivery anywhere in the United
States of your RV.
We bought our coachman biar from Sunshine StateRV 2 years ago.
And over the past 2 years, we've seen how theytreat customers when it comes to warranty side.
Their service team is great.
(21:11):
Whether you bought it from them or not, everyperson that comes in there gets the same
service and care when it comes to warrantyrepairs.
The same service, attention, and care and theirteam does a great job getting you back on the
road safely.
So if you guys are in the market for a B or Bplus van, consider Sunshine State RV.
We've got a link in the description that youguys can We are back here.
(21:38):
The the party continues with these guys.
Here's a comment from Nick over at SunshineState RV.
He says you can sum up every business based ontheir reviews.
And then he also goes on to say Hank is awarranty's worst nightmare.
He's got a story about me breaking my fridge.
What does he say?
I put a bunch of food in there.
No, it's not the food.
(21:59):
It's that I like to drive fast, and I kindacaught some air a couple times.
Oh, no.
Kind of a yeah.
So, anyway
I'm only recommending the VRI system.
That's best.
That's not gonna stop me.
I go I go real fast.
My help.
Yeah.
Alright.
So we're back we're back here.
We're back here.
We've got we've got a lot of folks, herejoining us behind you here.
(22:23):
What kind of what kind of things would you guyswanna get into?
What's what are you, you know, what what whatare the things you're doing over there?
Do you have new vans?
Do you you know, are you giving folks lessons?
What's going on there?
Yeah.
No.
So biggest thing here, obviously in Mother up,we're doing tours of the factory tomorrow.
Okay.
And so we have, Hank, we've done a video ofthe, you know, our our Cassy prep building, our
(22:48):
assembly building.
Yep.
We added another building.
That's actually larger than both.
And for the first time that we are ever open tothe public.
We're doing it tomorrow for these people.
Oh, cool.
And, so they'll be able to see some really coolstuff.
This is where we're gonna start putting airride on at the factory.
A lot of custom suspension stuff we're we'relooking into.
(23:09):
We're gonna start adding.
This is this allows us to really dive into thechassis where our chassis prep building was
kind of, hindered by the fact that our dip inwood shop was right next door.
So they had to share
it.
So now we have more wine spot space to reallywork on bands.
And we're really excited about that.
And Carl, you know, Carl might have the firstvideo ever tomorrow.
(23:32):
I will have Yeah.
So I Hank I went ahead and and bought the theVBR ride system.
I bought it here.
It had it installed.
It's phenomenal.
It's it's a dramatic change from I bounce inthe back, and I can't hear you too.
My wife in the back saying, talking to me from.
It's it's it's a It's more than a a magnitudeStrange.
And and it makes it so much smoother.
(23:53):
And I actually tried going on the route 17 andand exit.
Yeah.
Sure.
And I went a little fast, and I was like, I'mnot swaying at all.
So that that air ride system is amazing.
The biggest notice to a driver is gonna behandling
for sure.
It
because those airbags are always, you know, aacting to the road conditions as so much so
much of the new cars do already.
(24:14):
I know you're a big Audi guy.
Hank, you know, so air air rides familiar withyou When you get a turn or anything in this air
ride, it's going to start adjusting itself.
So big time for on ramps, on the highway,you're gonna notice
Oh, helps you lean in a little bit, I guess,to, set of turns and stuff like that.
Different gate.
Okay.
Cool.
Now don't, here's here's the thing.
(24:34):
Make sure you break Carl's camera.
Don't let him don't let him get the first videoup, and now I'm just kidding.
You you have to race them up here, Hank.
Come on, buddy.
Either way.
I'll never make it in time.
I'll never make it in Yeah.
But, no, it's good to hear.
And I guess now I've got a reason to come upthere and do another factory tour with you for
folks who are interested sit in that, we dohave a factory tour video up there.
(24:56):
So that's good to hear that you guys are addingand improving, on what you do.
You guys do some amazing things there.
I was just impressed by what you do with theseats.
You know, all the the the detail stuff that itgoes in, to to to what you're building,
including even lightning, making sure the vans,you know, you've got weight limits and stuff
like that that you have to meet.
(25:17):
So getting luxury in there, but keeping it,under a certain weight, that's not really easy
to do.
No, it's not.
It's, it's stepping up, but, you know, ourengineering team, they've phenomenal, you know,
not just cosmetics, you know, cosmeticstypically that interferes with engineering,
but, we definitely do everything by the bookwhen it comes to that part of it.
(25:40):
And they're clean lines.
At this luxury piece.
And when I was looking at vans, most vans, youlook at the driver's side, you got plastic plug
sticking out the side.
The area code just all buttoned up.
You can open up the door and you see rightthere, but if you're driving on the road, you
don't look like a man.
You look
like a Yeah.
You look like a limousine.
I think you're right.
You look like a limousine.
Yeah.
That's the difference.
Go to an RV show and you go in and out of everyclass b in that RV show, I mean, that's what
(26:03):
happened with me.
I didn't know about American coach.
Right?
Went into I think it was the Tampa show.
I was like, Oh my god.
Yeah.
Oh my god.
And I
was coming from that other class B that Imentioned before, and I was like, I this is it.
You know?
To be honest with you, you're, you're, you're a
stranger who's a tour of the factory is one ofthe things that
convinced us that this is what we wanna Yeah.
(26:26):
Okay.
Very, very cool.
So so you guys, there's too much there'sthere's too much love going on here.
I'm gonna throw I'm gonna throw a wrench intothe them here since we're talking about the
interior.
I've seen all these guys.
They're into class b, so they they know whatI'm gonna say here.
It's true.
There's a big movement out there for peoplelooking for not wood in a van.
Right?
I think it's cool.
(26:46):
You guys don't have propane.
That's something that people are looking for.
No propane.
But you but peep folks are looking for no woodin a van.
What do you think and what do the owners outthere think about that trend towards no wood?
Hank, would you buy a boat without wood inside?
I don't know.
You're asking a wrong guy.
You're asking a wrong guy.
(27:07):
I've asked, you know, I've asked you to putslate in there, carbon fiber.
You know that.
You know, that's
that's not luxury.
It's too dusty.
Yeah.
You know what I mean?
You go to luxury home.
Do you do you see all aluminum?
Yeah.
I mean, like, we know that's where people cheapout.
You know, when you start seeing exposed decksand all those sort of things, and it, you know,
(27:27):
an apartment building, you're like, well, noworries.
I did that because they're trying weren'ttrying to be high end.
Okay.
You
know, it might be aesthetically pleasing, butit's definitely not luxury.
Okay.
So you don't think that's a permanent trend forfolks looking for that.
Right?
No, because just like the modern house era.
You know what I mean?
We're all gonna go back to eventually to have,you know, tuscan homes.
We're all gonna hardcore luxury always returns.
(27:50):
You know, I, like, your wife's not looking fora, 10 can for a first.
You know, she's looking for the nicest Guccileather that you possibly find.
Mhmm.
You know, I mean, that's just not luxury.
And that's okay.
I think that's a good point.
That's a good point.
Okay.
You know, if you want to be an, an off roader,I think that's awesome.
I love that stuff, you know.
(28:11):
But it's just not what we do as a company.
Know, we'll definitely help you on the exteriorstandpoint, but when you step into a Midwest,
it's going to feel something high end.
It's gonna be luxury.
Well, the the the stitching on the seats, Iwouldn't want to give that up, Ed.
When your friends come in, they it's a classic.
It looks classy.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You
know, the appointment of wood, I I I Wow.
I don't think that's true.
Man, I think in this particular mock brand, orthis segment of the market.
(28:36):
I wouldn't go for something like that.
I looked at everyone up for 2 years.
I wouldn't.
Okay.
Alright.
Cool.
So here's some questions from Lola.
Juan, I'll go to this first.
Lola says, what AC are they using now, in themotor homes, and what other new upgrades have
you guys made.
Yeah.
Sure.
So, you know, we've talked about the new 1080Freedom system from Dragonfly.
(28:57):
Using the new game changer batteries.
I know you did a video on it.
Very good one.
We have changed our AC system now.
So we are going back to 110.
But we're going to a very highly efficient 110.
It's from Gree.
Gree is the largest AC manufacturer in theworld.
But this is their first, introduction into theRV role.
(29:20):
So, we actually have 124 around the corner overthere, and I'm sure Nick get quite a few here
soon too, so you can do some videos with him.
But, I encourage you to test out that new ACbecause it is impressive.
Instead of the typical 20 degrees coming out,you know, you you have your air going in.
It typically comes out 20 degrees with tip playc.
This one's actually We're seeing 25 degrees,and it's doing at a very efficient rate.
(29:47):
Also, We're doing it has oscillating fans onit, so it will, shoot air in different
directions for off the van.
Something that no other AC manufacturer does atthe moment.
So this is a pretty cool new AC that we're veryexcited about.
Yeah.
I I did get a chance to see that AC.
I think it's yeah.
(30:07):
I think it's awesome.
The way, like, when it starts up, it the, youknow, the it opens up.
The vents open.
When it shuts down to close.
They can yeah.
It's it's really cool.
I'm looking forward to to seeing that.
So that's actually getting out there, right,and, in in what you guys are rolling out of the
factory?
Okay.
Alright.
So every unit moving to Midwest factory rightnow has a gray see.
(30:29):
Okay.
Cool.
Shout out to Hank radio 2.0 who's in the chat,friend of mine.
If you have some questions, let us know hamradio and also for everyone who's watching,
joining us out there, hit the thumbs ups.
Let me get another question in here from Lola.
She says, is American Coach in MidwestAutomotive the same.
She wants to know this.
And when will Ford Transit American Coach beavailable?
(30:52):
So I guess Lola's some questions fromsomewhere.
So Yeah.
No.
No.
No.
These are these are good questions.
So Midwest Automotive Designs builds theAmerican Coach Patriot.
Okay.
It is the exactly the same company.
The owners group here is the Midwest AutomotiveDesigns owners group.
When you call in for your patriot, you'recalling in to Midwest Automotive Designs.
(31:16):
The team is Midwest On Design's teams.
So we're using the American Coach brand becausewe are underneath, the rev, a conglomerate, you
know, a publicly traded company thatmanufactures numerous things with fire trucks,
ambulances, And American Coach is one of theirhigher end brands and we build a really high
end product.
So, that's why we're using their brand.
(31:36):
I'm like Chevrolet in, GMC.
Okay.
So, I'm gonna get back.
I'm gonna come back to that thing a little bitmore here when we talk, when we get a talk
about the future.
So I know you've got Barbara there.
She's a tough customer.
I wanna know from her what things she wouldlike to see upcoming in her I know she's very
happy with her band, but since I've got herhere, I want her to hit you with what she wants
(32:01):
to see.
Go go for it.
It's it's for me to say that Hank I sent out.
Actually, I gave to Jackie a big pile ofquestionnaires.
Mhmm.
And on the questionnaires, We wanna know 3things.
What is the, what is your favorite thing aboutour vans?
What is your least favorite thing.
And what would you like to add?
And I tell you right now, I want to put barberson the front of the list.
(32:24):
Okay?
But, she can explain it, in words what she'slooking for.
Three things again.
Well, I already told you what I love about it.
I would like to see some, one conveniencething, which is kind of a mechanical thing,
for, winterizing and emptying the fresh watertank.
Oh, good idea.
I would like to see a valve an actual valverather than a plug that I have to be a plumber
(32:49):
to put back in when I finish.
Mhmm.
What I do right now is I use my outdoor showerto drain that tank.
And I'm never quite sure if I've got everythingout.
We have the 170 standard, which is a twenty twofoot.
And, of course, each of them have that littledrop down, computer desks behind the driver's
seat.
I personally would rather have like a 9 or 10inch floor to ceiling cabinet in there where I
(33:15):
could use for storage because I'm missing anextra cabinet.
I never used that for a computer.
I use it for drop dropping stuff on it, likewhen you come in your house and you drop your
mail on the countertop.
Right.
But I'd like to
see Yeah.
I'd like to see, I'd actually like to see acabinet there, and I can't figure out I'm not a
(33:35):
mechanical person or woodworker, so I can'tfigure out how to build 1 and put it in there.
I know I've seen them in other vans, but you'reyou're brand new van.
I've I've seen it done a lot.
But, that would be some helpful storage.
And one more thing, I do like the idea ofopening up that whole area over the sofa in the
back, although I would prefer to get into itfrom the inside than the outside.
(33:59):
I'm a short person.
And I don't have a ladder.
So, I would like to be able to put things upthere and get to it.
I could put so food on the side.
I'd never have to go to Walmart.
Never.
Okay.
Alright.
Awesome.
I knew Barbara was gonna have some good ones.
No.
Barbara Barbara's critical, but she's also oneof our favorites.
She really is.
(34:20):
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's what I like about her.
So what are the some of the other things?
I know Carl's there.
I see Jack he's still there.
What are some of the other things that peopleare looking for?
And we did cover some of this in the video thatwe did at the last owners because you guys do
pay attention to what people want, and you haveadded things, in the new vans that are coming
out now.
(34:40):
Yeah.
So our first rally, Really, kind of a testingroute if you will.
Right?
You
know, we we sent service.
You know, I
went down for a little bit.
I brought my wife with me.
Just to check it out, see what's going asbeautiful place.
What was the name of the car?
Oh, run the beach.
Blue something.
Blue water We wanna keep
great, great campground.
Recommend it if you, let's go through there.
(35:03):
West of Galveston, beautiful place.
We, I took all of the suggestions.
I put it together in a PDF, for the littlePowerPoint, took all the pictures I could of
everybody, what they were doing, and I sent itto our, kind of, our development team and a lot
of the things to actually got put in for
24 hours.
Calera.
I can't that's a that we did we saw that.
(35:24):
We saw that.
Yeah.
I
love that stainless steel.
Yeah.
Yep.
Downstate.
I really love it.
Yeah.
I was very, very impressed by what I saw youguys at.
I mean, even the, there's kind of like thosethings that go on the vents the on the roof
that changed direction to to close off the
fence.
The cyclones.
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
(35:44):
And then what what they basically do is thatthey remove smell.
Okay?
So, you know, we use black tanks.
We use gray tanks.
I I tell you right now, cassettes are smellierbecause we use to use those as well.
But still has to go somewhere.
The emissions, the gas is, it's methane gas.
So this basically just, goes with the directionof the wind.
(36:05):
Instead of it just smugering around thecampsite.
And, that was something that a lot of theseowners put on their vans to help mail, and now
it's a standard feature.
Yeah.
That's very cool.
I've got a question here from, Rory Glasgow.
He says I would love to see a rare bath floorplan.
I'm I'll I'll vote for that too.
(36:26):
With twin beds up front, maybe something likethe ultimate toys, ultimate RV, but with the
eco Freedom package.
What do you think about that?
So, I'm I'm sure Roy knows and a few otherpeople.
We build the ultimate toys.
Okay.
Midwest auto designs, builds all the ultimatetoys vehicles.
You can now order a Freedom with the UltimateToys Ultimate RV.
(36:48):
Okay?
So it is something that we offer.
We definitely have a working blueprints of apassage and a patriots with a rear restroom.
Okay?
Mhmm.
We haven't got the best feedback from some ofour dealers, and that's one of the reasons why
we have done it yet because it is quite theundertaking to make because if we did the
(37:11):
passage and picture, if we're a bit restaurant,we're we're going to do a real overhaul, not
not what you just see with the ultimate toysRV, you know, where we basically just moved our
mid bathroom and just moved to the end.
We She's watching us.
We're gonna do something actually special andsomething different.
(37:32):
So Okay.
We're just kinda waiting see how the if themarket starts getting a little bit better out
there.
You know, because we are in a recession rightnow.
Not saying we're not growing, but, we'regrowing, you know, the the good stuff right
now.
I don't know if throwing in a niche product inthere for us is something that, would be
beneficial
plus if it's a complete overhaul, you'reprobably with the engine.
(37:53):
Right?
Because you have water balance.
You got a lot going on that
there's a lot.
I mean, that's not something you just whip
No.
No.
You you're gonna have to change some of it fromgravity fed, you know, lines to more a pump
that lines.
And what happens?
A lot of fiberglass work, which is always apain in the butt to deal with.
And don't ever lose the macerator.
I will not have a gravity No.
(38:14):
You know, my wife has also talked about therear bathroom, but yeah.
I'm 6 4.
Yes.
The reason I got the extended because thatthat's a king-size bed plus.
I can lay completely out with my hands above myhead.
It's Yes.
I would hate to lose that length if you're
a taller person.
Well, Carl, it sprays So, like, the ultimatetoys RV, that is not something I can feel very
(38:35):
comfortable on with that.
Because they're trying to do a lot with thespace.
Okay.
So they want the 2 captains chairs still.
They want the 2 sofas.
It's too much going on to make it a wheel RV.
Yeah.
Okay.
It's a good multi per peep person vehicle.
Okay.
It's a it can multi use for numerous things.
It's a good Swiss army knife.
(38:55):
But if you really are being at the page orpassage Yeah.
And, it costs as much
as possible.
And would Hank would it have a, like, my has areal refrigerator and a real freezer.
I can really make guys.
I can take ice cream.
I can get steak to harvest those.
But that I haven't seen that unit, but I wouldhate to lose the dirt.
There's a lot of the amenities that you'regonna lose to sacrifice the ability to have
(39:16):
more of a people holler and that at
the same time.
So Yeah.
That's the that's the big thing.
That's the big thing I think about, the rarebath.
Right?
Once you put in that rare bath, in whateverfloor floor plan, you're gonna put it in yeah,
you've gotta try to make some compromises.
And a lot of, different floor plans I see fromdifferent people, you do have smaller fridge,
(39:37):
all those kinds of things.
I think the points that Carl brings up as wellcomes into play.
You really need to ask yourself, what do youeveryone's different in what they're using a
van for.
Right?
Some people have to have that bigger fridge.
Some people don't care.
Some people have to use the bathroom.
Some people don't care so much about thebathroom.
Right?
The bathroom might wind up being storage a lotor, you know, so there's it just really depends
(39:59):
on how you're gonna live with it and what yourlifestyle is, I think, around that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Nail on the head there.
Hank, that's the most important thing.
When people private message me on our Facebookpages or directly, I always tell people it's
it's about your use case.
Right?
I wanted lithium because I plan to boondock alot.
Yeah.
(40:19):
I want the long bedding because I'm tall.
I want the extra space because I'm tall.
Uh-huh.
I'm in that a 149 year, so I'm not a weekender.
I'm out there for a month or 2 at a time.
I wanna have that that ability to reallycomfortable.
So I do wanna roll for you so I can get a bunchof meat, you know, that way.
So it is about use case.
I think you're writing for a weekender, maybe,but I would I would hit you up the big bed Yes.
(40:42):
For I mean, you're in a shower 10 minutes.
Your bed for 8 hours.
Like, like At a venue night, you can't be inthe shower in a van for 10 minutes.
Now you you unless you have unlimited supply ofwater.
Yeah.
You
know, like, like, Jackie going to Alaska, thoselittle trips.
Mhmm.
I don't see, like, the ultimate RV or thoseitems being that type of van.
(41:05):
That that's just not what that's.
So many times, I'm just, you know, a placeovernight.
I mean, it's very seldom that was they whenwe're moochdocking, maybe, and Yeah.
With with family, we make several days to aweek.
But most of the time, we're 1 night.
You're moving Yep.
Yeah.
Always doing so.
Alright.
So, listen, we're coming up on another breakhere.
I've got some comments.
(41:25):
I've got some questions.
I want guys to enjoy this break, and we'regonna come back and get to all of that very
shortly.
Lola and I are now official brand ambassadorsfor Coachmen class be.
So I wanted to take a moment to tell you guyswhy we, as Vanosaurus, like it says on our t
shirt, are very excited about our partnershipwith Coachmen class b.
(41:48):
First off, Coachmen RVs has been a leader tothe great outdoors since 1964.
So next is the fact that coachman really caresabout you as an owner, whether you bought new
or used, after you buy your van, they reallytake care of you.
With Coachmen Klosbee, you have all theoptions.
Coachmen bills on all three van platforms.
(42:10):
On the Mercedes Sprinter, it's a coachmanGalleria.
The Ford Transit is a coachman Beyond, and RamPro Master is a coachman Nova.
Lastly, best value for money.
We've had our van for 2 years and coachmanbills to the highest standards of quality and
craftsmanship.
You can't go wrong with a coachman class b.
So if you're interested, check out the link inour description and find the coachman van
(42:34):
that's best for you.
I gotta tell you.
It's so fun.
I don't think you can hear.
We're telling stories.
No.
People can't hear, but it's, but there's somealso stuff going on here.
Let me get to this.
This is gonna be our
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