Luxury on four wheels
Wood panel walls, dimmable lights, hanging pot plants and a kitchen – on wheels. A Christchurch van rental company is breaking new ground with its stylish vehicles.
‘‘We wanted the perfect collaboration of form and function,’’ says Dan Baxter, one half of Matt and Dan’s Campervans.
Baxter and business partner Matt Andrews launched the luxury van company after road tripping around New Zealand in a van they fitted out themselves.
Despite never having done it before, Baxter used his joinery and design experience to create a van that rivals most. Andrews brought the business and marketing nous.
‘‘We decided to go off on a wee trip around New Zealand in the 2016-2017 summer and bought a van with the intention of fitting it out just horribly,’’ Baxter said.
‘‘But as we built it we were like, ‘oh we could put some wood here, what about wooden panels on the roof’, and ended up doing quite a nice job.’’
Other van travellers could not stop complimenting the pair’s van, so when they got home they listed it on peer-to-peer campervan rental sites SHAREaCAMPER and Mighway.
‘‘We started doing that and made a bit of money, which was pretty rad,’’ Andrews said.
‘‘So we managed to get a few people on board and got some investment to do a couple more. We just finished our first season and it went really well, we had they booked out pretty much the whole summer.’’
Working after hours and in weekends at a family-owned joinery workshop, Baxter said each van was unique but all were equipped with solar panels, bluetooth stereos, cookers and a fridge. Andrews said they fitted each van with ‘‘the comfiest mattress we could find’’.
‘‘In each one the table collapses down to give you and whoever you’re with plenty of space to lie down and do whatever it is you want to do lying down in a van,’’ Andrews said.
Both Baxter and Andrews work full-time jobs alongside the van business. Baxter is a graphic designer and Andrews works as a marketing manager and part-time musician.
‘‘This year we are expanding further and getting another three vans and selling our first one, because it just doesn’t look that good to us anymore. We’ve improved our process and style a lot since then,’’ Baxter said.
‘‘It’s still not set in stone how long it takes to fit one out, but by the start of this next season the idea is that I will have three new ones made,’’ Baxter said. He planned to work on all three at the same time.
Andrews said they were both ‘‘really chill’’ about how the business developed, but were enjoying the journey so far.
‘‘Basically, we just like building vans, so if it got to the point where we could do it as a job, that would be cool.’’
"We wanted the perfect collaboration of form and function."
Dan Baxter, van builder