A British man spent over 1,000 hours transforming a jet engine into a camper trailer for family road trips. Take a look inside.
A British man spent over 1,000 hours transforming a jet engine into a camper trailer for family road trips. Take a look inside.
Courtesy Steve Jones
- Steve Jones, a stay-at-home dad from Lancashire, England, converted an engine from a decommissioned VC10 jet plane into a camper trailer.
- Jones estimates he spent 1,000 hours over the course of three months transforming the engine into a trailer that he, his wife, and two sons can take camping.
- Jones told Business Insider he previously worked as a technician for the Royal Air Force.
- Take a look inside the "VC10 Caravan Pod," which is 13 feet long, comes with two doors plus a skylight, and is already turning heads on the highway.
Stay-at-home dad Steve Jones transformed a hollowed-out jet engine into a camper trailer for his family in Lancashire, England.
Courtesy Steve Jones
A former technician for the Royal Air Force, Jones spent 1,000 hours between January and mid-March of this year on the build.
Courtesy Steve Jones
Jones told Business Insider he's been fixing up camper vans and camper trailers as a hobby for over a decade, but had never embarked on a project quite like this one.
Courtesy Steve Jones
In 2013, he learned through a friend that the Royal Air Force had decommissioned a VC10 jet plane, and the idea came to him to turn one of its engines into a trailer if they ever went up for sale.
Courtesy Steve Jones
This past September, an opportunity to buy one finally came about.
Courtesy Steve Jones
When Jones drove his purchase from the scrapyard to his barn, he noticed "a lot of finger pointing" from onlookers taken aback by the sight of 13-foot-long plane engine on the roads.
Courtesy Steve Jones
Steve spent a total of $5,025 (£4,000) renovating the trailer, and it was no easy feat.
Courtesy Steve Jones
Jones first had to gut all of the wires, clips, and pipe work.
Courtesy Steve Jones
Next, he flattened the bottom of the engine to fit on a chassis.
Courtesy Steve Jones
Then, he prepared the doors and windows.
Courtesy Steve Jones
Lining the interior of the engine with plywood was the most difficult part, Jones told Business Insider, due to its curved shape.
Courtesy Steve Jones
After covering the plywood with stretch carpet lining, he focused on making the trailer habitable.
Courtesy Steve Jones
He put in a mini kitchen with a sink, twin burners, and cabinets.
Courtesy Steve Jones
On the opposite wall, he put up a display shelf.
Courtesy Steve Jones
He also installed a lounge-dining area that converts into sleeping quarters.
Courtesy Steve Jones
The benches move together to form a double bed, and the seat backs flip up to become two twin beds.
Courtesy Steve Jones
Two doors plus a skylight open up to the outside.
Courtesy Steve Jones
The larger of the two doors allows for al fresco dining.
Courtesy Steve Jones
Jones and his family haven't taken the trailer out yet due to COVID-19, but he told Business Insider he looks forward to using it later this year.
Courtesy Steve Jones
Plus, Jones is still putting the finishing touches on it. He plans to paint the exterior so that it resembles the original jet: white on the top and gray on the bottom, with a blue line through the center.
Courtesy Steve Jones
Since appearing in an episode of "George Clarke's Amazing Spaces," a British home improvement TV show, Jones has received offers from interested buyers as high as $31,477 (£25,000) for his custom trailer.
Courtesy Steve Jones
Despite buyer interest, Jones told Business Insider that he doesn't plan to sell the VC10 Caravan Pod for at least a few years.
Courtesy Steve Jones
Here's a video walkthrough of the caravan pod and its features:
MMW
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