Vehicles (132)

Hi,

I found your blog whilst looking at images for vardos on Google where I was seeking ideas and inspiration for my project. I’m based in Wales in the UK.

I have always fancied building one and decided to do it as a retirement project. I was lucky enough to find the basic structure on eBay, it was originally constructed by a blacksmith as a travelling workshop.

It was an unfitted shell on a twin-axle trailer, I picked it up at the beginning of the month and am making progress towards fitting it out. Whilst I like the traditional look, I wanted something less fussy.

So far I have painted the interior, made and fitted a rear window; although this mounts on the hinges for the original steel shutters so these can be replaced for security if left parked up for any length of time, I am part-way through making a similar one for the door.

Traditionally the bed goes sideways across the rear, so I have followed this and constructed a simple bed which pulls out to double width or slides back to make more space; there is space for storage beneath.
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This is an incredible resource. Richard Harris, English architect, former director of the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum in West Sussex, and longtime friend, sent this link to early shepherd’s caravans. This led me to explore some of the other links at this incredible website.

[Inadequately translated from French by Google Translate. Got a better one from “Roulotte No 7” here?]

This shepherd’s cabin trailer is preserved at the National Sheepfold of Rambouillet near Paris, where it was presented to the public at an exhibition in 2010. It consists of a small house with two gutter and two gears joined boards under a gable roof, house that sits on two parallel rails extending to the front of the machine in the form of two arms between which articulates a metal wheel on an axle.

Two iron hooks attached on top of the two arms were to be used to tow the vehicle. Another fixed axle with two wheels in iron, is located under the rear part of the cabin, freeing enough room in front to accommodate an entrance closed by a door hinged on the left against the forearm. This gate is formed of contiguous vertical boards fixed on two large horizontal cross. The roof seems to be covered with waterproof canvas.

On the wall of the front sprocket is fixed a sort of open storage box on the front. one notes the presence of the nearest spar of the observer, two rings, one on the front and one on the back: without hold they used to tie the dogs.

• The shepherd’s caravan as revealed by surviving specimens
• The shepherd’s caravan as shown in old postcards and photographs

Via Facebook

Hello Evan,

The Gypsy traveler is something that has been on my mind for years. One day I just decided to build it. Everything is out off my mind in creation there are no plans. Never thought it would be finished, but its very close to being done. A gal from Connecticut has bought it and she plans to travel with a group of women to where only god knows. I am planning to build another one on a trailer. To me the build is the most fun and to watch people light up when they see it. Here are two photos to start, if you go to Mystical Views Facebook page you can see the whole build.

–John

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I met Jeremy a few months ago in Bolinas, meeting young talented builders is probably my favorite part about working with Shelter. Jeremy’s attention to detail is on par with master carpenters twice his age. Here are a few words and builds by Jeremy.

Hi Evan,

Just got your message on Instagram and thought I’d share some photos of my projects with you.

The first two are custom pickup truck campers. I drove one out to Bolinas last year.

The other is a 1961 Winnebago trailer remodel in Colorado.

My latest project is a tiny home on wheels, currently under construction in Sonoma county. The tiny home is still several months away from completion. I will send more photos of that one when it is finished. Hope to have a website up and running by then as well.

Thanks to you guys at Shelter Pub for the inspiration. Builders of the Pacific Coast is one of my favorite books.

–Jeremy

• www.tufflibuilt.com

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This looks like a charming little cabin. And it is … but it’s so much more than that. Trust me.

If you think that what you see below is just an adorable log cabin, you’d be dead wrong. Sure, it looks like a quaint cabin (in almost every way) but thanks to some sneaky architecture that’s just a disguise. Kelly Davis, the architect who created this faux-cabin at Canoe Bay Escape, is a visual trickster (and quite possibly a magician)…

• www.viralnova.com/…
• www.escapehomes.us/…

From www.livingbiginatinyhouse.com/…