Buses, ambulances, horseboxes and trucks of all shapes and sizes find their way to Jim’s quirky junkyard, where they are lovingly restored and expertly transformed into luxury homes, quirky campers and more.
To be fair, that’s not quite as cool as it sounds: it was his mum’s knackered old Fiat Panda and he’d sit behind the wheel in the garage dreaming of one day taking it out on the road.
‘Living in a vehicle used to have a stigma,’ says Jim. ‘But being off grid with solar panels and rechargeable batteries suddenly seems a really attractive option now. Especially when you see what we can do. We’ve built buses bigger than a‘It’s pretty tragic that there’s no second-hand market value as some vehicles might be 20 years-old but they only have only 40,000 miles on the clock.
‘A concrete worktop can cost the best part of two-and-half grand. We made this for 75 quid. As the bus would be on the move, we reinforced it using steel scraps from our skip. We use reclaimed materials whenever we can. I never throw anything away because everything can be used.’An unroadworthy utility van has become a cosy mobile home for this east London couple…
Heather lives in Walthamstow with her partner Alana and their dog Bagel, and they regularly pack up the van to set off for adventures, sometimes for months on end.‘When you live in a small space it forces you to be aware of how much stuff we all have – and how little we actually need. We take one small bag of clothes each and buy food from farmers markets every day as we don’t have a fridge.
The back has ample storage for the batteries as well as surfboards and skis. There’s also a shower: ‘Perfect for hosing down salty wetsuits or a muddy puppy,’ laughs Heather.There’s a bathroom and two bedrooms, a cool convertible roof, glass cut-out skylights and the piece de resistance – a fully tiled Roman bath built into the decked top terrace. There’s also a pizza oven, in case Deliveroo can’t locate you off-grid.
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