Vehicle customisation specialists 'The Customiser' have taken an old Lansing Bagnall forklift truck and given it a 'Customiser Makeover'. Ian Laidler, Proprietor of The Customiser, talks to Materials Handling World Magazine about the creation:
"We specialise in transforming anything from a car to a coach, so when we needed a forklift truck, we couldn't just have any old forklift truck sat in our loading bay for customers to see, we needed a very special one."
"Just some of our whacky past projects include turning a Subaru into a Skip Car, a boat into a car and now we wanted to get our teeth stuck into our very own forklift truck."
"After speaking with a wide variety of people, we decided to buy an older truck to show what can be done to an old style truck. We purchased an early Lansing Bagnall Electric Forklift Truck and set about designing what we would change and customise on it."
"We really went to town, this would be seen by our customers and we are very proud of our workshop, as indeed all the challenging and skilled work that goes on in there, so it had to be a cool-looking but functional truck."
"Well as you can see by the photos, we really changed its image and looks but here's what we actually did." :-
Full Bare Metal Re spray into an amazing Performance Blue metallic
Removed then sand blasted the roll cage and chrome powder coated it
Hid the previously exposed wiring inside the roll cage
New Sounder, Lights and replaced some wiring
Custom Aluminium Steering wheel ( CNC cut then welded )
Custom Fork Control Levers ( Colour coded to match roll cage )
Bucket seat for comfort and lumbar support with Seat Belt
Powder Coated Battery Cover
Custom Bentley Style Arm rest and storage Unit
Cup Holders / Phone Holder
Custom Stainless steel wheel trims
Viper / Mustang style body stripes
Custom Signage and FLT Logo
"All the work we did truly makes this truck a one off and also a proud addition to our workshop, if we can do that to an 80's fork lift, just imagine what can we could do to any of your readers vehicles ? "
"All the team really enjoyed this project and we are already in talks to exhibit ours truly 'one off fork lift truck' at the IMHX 2013 show early next year. We've had so many kind comments and remarks from dealers who have been in the industry for 30 years all stating they have never seen any thing like this ever and everyone wants photos with it. Now when a delivery driver visits our loading bay they always leave with a smile on their face now after seeing this amazing truck."
"Before we started any custom work on this project, we had it completely checked out for safety by means of a Thorough Examination carried out by a LOLER qualified forklift truck examiner. This helped us to ensure we did not spend all this time and money on an unsafe truck or undertake any inappropriate modifications. After we completed the work we had the truck Thoroughly Examined and retested again by a LOLER approved examiner for a new updated LOLER certificate."
"Please remember, we are specialists in customisation and modifications, and professionally planed this project from start to finish under qualified and expert guidance, we cannot stress enough when it comes to forklift trucks, 'SAFETY IS FIRST'. As they say on TV 'don't try this at home folks' leave it to the professionals."
The Customiser can be contacted on:
Ian Laidler
www.thecustomiser.com
0151 220 7000