2020-03-23 Bloomberg Businessweek

added a third location this year, in the Colorado Rockies,

after its Overland Expo West, to be held in Flagstaff, Ariz.,

in May, drew more than 22,000 attendees and 405 exhibi-

tors last year—a 30% increase from 2018. They expect a sim-

ilar bump in 2020.

Among those on display will be vehicles from European

expedition suppliers, including the German-made

BoXmanufaktur, which grabbed attention last year with a

six-wheeled behemoth that looks like a cross between a mov-

ing truck and an armored personnel carrier. Its vehicles can

come with a queen-size bed as well as flush-mounted LED

light strips for the kitchen, a macerator toilet, and fresh-water

storage of up to 700 liters (185 gallons).

Others, such as EarthCruiser USA, based in Bend, Ore.,

have in-house logistics support to get parts or service over-

seas. Starting at $400,000, EarthCruiser’s EXP model comes

with a Vortec 6-liter gasoline engine and is outfitted with ultra-

comfortable Scheel-Mann Vairo captain’s chairs.

Springfield, Mo.-based Global Expedition Vehicles also

operates in the spare-no-expense market with the likes of

the Pangea, which starts at $650,000. It’s lately turned its

attention to lower-priced options with an offshoot called

Adventure Trucks. These start at about $200,000 while still

offering high-tech perks such as electronically dimming sky-

lights similar to the windows on a Boeing 787.

While these kinds of turnkey options abound, the bulk

of overlanders have a DIY mentality, seeing as much adven-

ture in creating a vehicle as they do in exploring in it. Devon

Turnbull, a New York designer of bespoke sound systems for
the likes of fashion designer and artist Virgil Abloh, spent sev-
eral months in Berlin converting a 1990s-era Mercedes-Benz
G-Class Professional into a rolling home. “I’m driving this just
barely there track west through the desert for maybe 40 min-
utes,” he says of a six-week road trip through Morocco. “I keep
hitting these loose sand dunes. And I’m like, ‘I got this.’ ”
For his next project, Turnbull has become the first taker
of a new offering from Global Expedition Vehicles called DIY
Kits. They start at $13,000 for an empty cabin that’s delivered
flat-packed, like a piece of Ikea furniture—doors and windows
are optional. He’ll take that 13 ½-foot body preassembled on
a Mitsubishi Fuso chassis and build out the interior himself.
Among the amenities he’s including are a wood-burning stove
and a mind-blowing stereo system, naturally.
Finding that balance between performance and luxury is
an individual decision. Barry Andrews, a co-founder of QSC
Audio in California, has assembled a team of specialists to
build an all-terrain camper that he hopes to drive from his
home on Mexico’s Baja peninsula up to northern Alaska.
“The focus isn’t on luxury in the traditional sense,” he
says. “The luxury we are pursuing is to be able to travel down
rugged, remote, and technical trails the big rigs can’t fit on,
stay a long time, and come back out safely.” He concedes
that some of the amenities might actually qualify as luxuri-
ous. There will be an espresso machine, a barbecue grill, and
“other goodies,” he says, including a “freezer full of ice and
PHOTOGRAPHS CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: COURTESY EARTHCRUISER. COURTESY GLOBAL EXPEDITION VEHICLES ADVENTURE TRUCK. COURTESY SLR EXPEDITION VEHICLES. COURTESY BLISS MOBIL a martini shaker.” His motto? “Remote, never primitive.” 

BloombergPur

BLI

MOBIL

The Dutch company has become

a regular at U.S. overlanding

gatherings. It specializes in

smartly appointed steel-framed

cabins ranging from 8 to 23 feet

long, designed to be easily

attached to—and removed

from—multipletruckplatforms.

For try-before-you-buytypes,

this 13-foot cabinis mounted

to a Mercedes

Atego chassis,

the kind of

vehicle available

to rent through

Dutch operator

Overland Travel.F

€220,000 ($249,0

blissmobil.com

SLRV

COMMANDER

It’s not hyperbole to call the

SLRV Commander twice the

expedition vehicle of the

competition. Forget four-wheel

drive: This has eight, as well as

four locking differentials. And if

there’s not enough living room

in this nearly 40-foot-long

Australian giant, another

available option is a pop-up

second story with room to sleep

six. From A$900,000 ($597,000);

slrvexpedition.com.au

GLOBAL

EXPEDITION

VEHICLES

those who want the

lities and comfort of

expedition vehicle

i a footprint suitable for

urbanenvironments, there’s the

AdventureTruck from Global

Expedition Vehicles. Available

intwoconfigurations—one with

a bedoverthe cab, the other

witha roof rack—it’s small

enoughtobe a weekender,

butit alsohas a 100-gallon

diesel tank and can store up

to an equal amount of fresh

water to stay off-grid for long

stretches. From $198,000;

adventuretrucks.com

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