Vanspeed is your one-stop shop for Mercedes Sprinter Van manufacturing

the beach. the desert. Mountains. Southern California offers some of the most diverse and exciting natural playgrounds, if one is willing to put up with some serious traffic to get there of course. Residents are bound to see some of the cool toy haulers, travel trailers, and adventure vehicles heading to and from these majestic havens, havens where city dwellers get a dose of refreshing fresh air and often sweat and burn a few calories under a canopy of healing natural sunshine before Retreat to home-away-from-home base camps for the night. Not that they’re associated with SoCal in any way, but if locals have paid any attention, they’ve likely crossed paths with a decorated adventure truck made by Vanspeed, or at least seen a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter truck carrying some truck accessories from Van Mart.

Yes, the custom off-grid and off-road adventure truck scene has arrived in SoCal and the entire nation. difficult. very Difficult. #Vanlife is trending, driven by the pandemic, the rise in popularity of road trips, and the general benefits of van travel (versatility, protection, ease of storage, ease of parking, etc.). Doran Morley and his team at Vanspeed are among the lucky enthusiast truck builders who have ridden the glorious wave of truck popularity, thriving in the contentment of doing what they love for people who love the same thing. Speaking of the beach, it’s the subway ride of a lifetime.

We recently visited the Vanspeed Shop facility during business hours, where we got a first-hand glimpse into the inner workings of a large truck conversion company. Sprinter trucks in various stages of construction occupied the well-established assembly line located in the 30,000 square foot warehouse located in the heart of an industrial park in Orange County, California. There was also room for short-term daily projects, which customers could visit for extras. One design that particularly caught our attention belongs to a high-ranking man in the world of action sports. We can’t talk about that yet, but we’re pretty optimistic that Ken Block has gotten his hands on the Fanspeed Whip.

Vanspeed is somewhat unique in that it manufactures all of its truck accessories in-house, allowing complete control over the engineering and manufacturing of the parts, products and accessories that make up Vanspeed conversions – which also occurs entirely in-house. This means the warehouse is full of wood, metal, and all kinds of materials needed for custom cabinetry, metal fabrication, and furnishings. Vanspeed does not install other companies’ products. It builds and installs its own products (and customers can purchase these products, too). If a customer breaks a drawer, for example, Vanspeed can cut a replacement drawer without any fuss. Vanspeed prides itself on being a one-stop truck shop where like-minded truck enthusiasts become friends.

During the visit, we hopped aboard one of Vanspeed’s converted Sprinter vans, which is easily visible from the busy highway bumping into the well-marked building. Vanspeed offers four layouts for the Mercedes Sprinter (144-inch wheelbase) and two for the longer 170-inch wheelbase. The example shown here is the Loft, based on a silver/grey 4×4 Sprinter 2500 (144-inch wheelbase, high roof) powered by a 3.0-liter turbodiesel V6, recently replaced by a 2.0-liter 4-cylinder diesel. It holds 40 gallons of fresh water and holds 6 gallons of gray water (under the sink). It has a MaxxAir roof ventilator, 2000 watt inverter, shore power, two 215 amp AGM batteries, 170 watts of solar, an outdoor shower, and tons more to make it competitive in the Class B camper van category.

The loft layout has an en-suite shower, a queen-sized bed in the back with plenty of storage underneath (the huge rear window pods allow more space for the king bed), and a separate kitchen (which means the sink is on one side and the sink is on one side). There is a two-burner induction stove, microwave and Isotherm Drawer 85 refrigerator/freezer on the other side). The interior is well-lit and bright thanks to LED ceiling spotlights, a ceiling cabinet LED strip, and more LED spotlights under those cabinets. Vanspeed says it’s an ideal off-grid option for surf, snow and desert trips. However, if you have more than two passengers, you’ll need to ditch the shower and choose a different design.

The Vanpeed Loft’s exterior looks the part thanks to a host of Vanspeed interior accessories: Dakar roof rack, side window pods, Baja front bumper, side steps, rear step, side ladder, rear tire ladder assembly, tailgate box, flip-under workbench and racks Surfing. Exterior lighting is handled by six 6-inch KC SlimLites on the roof rack and two amber Baja Designs LP9 lights in the front bumper. It’s definitely not an ordinary vanilla Sprinter van.

A Vanspeed Loft of this caliber costs $200,000, on par with other Sprinter vans of a similar nature. If you’re interested in skill and efficiency, it’s worth looking into how Vanspeed runs its business. Greetings to an adventurous and unforgettable year 2023.