The ToyARTa Hilux has a new home and I couldn't be happier.
Our old crew car has been given a new home and a new purpose and I'm chuffed for it.
XCAR crew cars, as I've mentioned before, are driven long distances, parked in odd places and are used as mobile trashcans. They lead a hard life, but ferry the (almost permanently knackered) crew to, from, and around locations. We love them for what they do.
The ToyARTa was a special crew car. It's one of the things I'm most proud of having a hand in creating. It's not an epic sweeping video with a silly supercar. No, it's a Toyota Hilux with a custom wrap on it. And it was awesome.
Toyota kindly agreed to loan us a Hilux to use as our next long termer, and I happened to know that automotive artist Ian Cook (the paint spattered mind behind Pop Bang Colour) was in the business of creating custom art for car wraps. A plan formed and we were a go.
The car arrived in September 2012 and was due to leave us in December of the same year. All we had to do was get it wrapped. Ian was busy creating images for the wrap, the wrapping company was ready to start, and we were excited. Until the wrapping company went bust, unleashing a slew of 'what can go wrong, will go wrong'.
The project was delayed, but the Hilux itself was performing wonderfully. Its big load bay meant Nick had somewhere safe to sit while he was shooting cars on the move and we had a big, comfy wagon to take us from point A to point B. It was awesome. Well, aside from the fuel economy -- we were lucky to get more than 23 mpg out of it.
A few emergency phone calls were made and we had a new wrapping firm ready to go -- our Hilux was due to be given a whole new look.
I spent three days in Kent watching it get put together; watching months of work, coordination and fiddling come together. It was wonderful to see it all working out.