VanIsle_Greg
I think I need a bigger truck!
Hope it goes over well with the VC crowd.
EarthRoamer XV-JP "Northwest Edition"
- Thread starter WhereTheHellIsJames?
- Start date
mhiscox
Expedition Leader
Don't you just hate it when somebody tells you they're going to do something and then they don't? It's like you can't count on anyone these days.
Next week. Really. For schnitzel my pretzel.
mhiscox
Expedition Leader
A Report on My Work with Red Cannon Expedition
As promised, multiple times, an update on the project . . .
On May 20 of last year, Bill Swails, my friend and the founder of EarthRoamer, sent me an e-mail introducing me to Dion Kranz, “a very knowledgeable, skilled and a hard worker (who) I think would have a good shot at making a business out of a Jeep-based camper.” Bill went on to suggest that perhaps Dion and I could team up in some way that would prove advantageous.
Having been a small business owner myself and wanting to help, I let Dion take my XV-JP to Iowa to rebuild to his design, and I gave him money to buy parts he wanted to install. The agreement I had with him was as a customer receiving work for hire, and I was led to believe that he had investors who were going to cover the labor, development, overhead and other costs.
Unfortunately, my project with Dion and his company has gone very poorly. There is no longer any way to put a good spin on events, so I might as well just lay out the status of things as straightforwardly as possible.
This is what my “XV-JP Northwest Edition” expedition camper looked like when turned over to Dion last June:
On Saturday, a bit more than eight months later, the photographer I hired to go to Red Cannon found this.
To say I am despondent about this situation is a considerable understatement. The condition of the truck is considerably worse than when Upscale Automotive removed the interior seven years ago. All of the plumbing, electrical, pneumatic, and space heating components are gone. There is no lifting roof system or tent. There is no interior and the cabin is primered on the outside and raw fiberglass on the inside. And I've now learned that most of the money given to Dion for equipment and materials went to cover other costs.
Equally disturbing is that the mold set I reported on above was never made, a particular problem since I provided the loan to pay for the mold making, and the molds themselves were the collateral for that loan.
It turns out that Dion never attracted any investors for his company, and last month he admitted there was no money to finish the Jeep. During the project, Dion and I had worked out six different delivery dates, though as I wrote about in my previous posts, there was always some seemingly valid reason for extending the delivery date. However, as was made obvious by Saturday’s photos, none of these dates was remotely credible.
As the last possible way of getting a satisfactory result, Dion asked me in mid-February for $20,000 more so he could finish the project, but at that point, I could no longer trust that would ever be done.
That I've been played for a fool is pretty much indisputable. In my defense, though, I had a very specific contract with Red Cannon that outlined exactly what was to be done, what my money would go for, and how the Jeep would be returned. Also, I was in frequent contact with Dion by phone, and there are about forty e-mails between us in the files. I did not, however, allow for someone simply making up whatever was necessary to cover the fact that the camper I thought was pretty much finished was actually in the same condition as when it was disassembled last summer.
Dion has agreed that I can retrieve the Jeep on a date I choose between March 28 and April 3. He will secure the unpainted cabin to the Jeep and will bolt the top in place so it can safely be driven. I will, at that time, also recover the small amount of new equipment he actually bought, along with the greater quantity of salvaged components taken off of the Jeep when Dion stripped it down.
It’s not clear what I’ll do after my Jeep is recovered. I turned over a lot of money to Dion, plus my once-valuable Jeep “motorhome” is worth tens of thousands less in its current condition. With that bad experience, I’m finding it tough to think about investing even more time and money just to make it more or less like it already was. I'm worried that it constantly remind me of what's happened, and so it may be best to try to sell the Jeep and the equipment to someone who wants to reassemble it either for their personal use or for resale. With all the equipment already available, it shouldn’t be too hard to get it back into shape if someone can figure out the tent mechanism.
I’ll be getting appropriate professional advice to help me figure out what to do about this situation and we’ll see where things go from here. When there is more relevant news, I will share it.
Before closing, I want to offer my apologies to EarthRoamer, Upscale Automotive, James Lombardo, Paul Jensen and the others who, over the previous seven years, used their talents to make my XV-JP Jeep a very special vehicle. I was just trying to be helpful in letting it go to Dion’s startup company, and I’m very sorry that all your efforts were undone. I'd forgotten that, as has been frequently pointed out (Oscar Wilde, Billy Wilder, Clare Booth Luce, the 285th Ferengi Rule of Acquisition—take your pick), no good deed goes unpunished.
Thank you all for your ongoing interest.
As promised, multiple times, an update on the project . . .
On May 20 of last year, Bill Swails, my friend and the founder of EarthRoamer, sent me an e-mail introducing me to Dion Kranz, “a very knowledgeable, skilled and a hard worker (who) I think would have a good shot at making a business out of a Jeep-based camper.” Bill went on to suggest that perhaps Dion and I could team up in some way that would prove advantageous.
Having been a small business owner myself and wanting to help, I let Dion take my XV-JP to Iowa to rebuild to his design, and I gave him money to buy parts he wanted to install. The agreement I had with him was as a customer receiving work for hire, and I was led to believe that he had investors who were going to cover the labor, development, overhead and other costs.
Unfortunately, my project with Dion and his company has gone very poorly. There is no longer any way to put a good spin on events, so I might as well just lay out the status of things as straightforwardly as possible.
This is what my “XV-JP Northwest Edition” expedition camper looked like when turned over to Dion last June:
On Saturday, a bit more than eight months later, the photographer I hired to go to Red Cannon found this.
To say I am despondent about this situation is a considerable understatement. The condition of the truck is considerably worse than when Upscale Automotive removed the interior seven years ago. All of the plumbing, electrical, pneumatic, and space heating components are gone. There is no lifting roof system or tent. There is no interior and the cabin is primered on the outside and raw fiberglass on the inside. And I've now learned that most of the money given to Dion for equipment and materials went to cover other costs.
Equally disturbing is that the mold set I reported on above was never made, a particular problem since I provided the loan to pay for the mold making, and the molds themselves were the collateral for that loan.
It turns out that Dion never attracted any investors for his company, and last month he admitted there was no money to finish the Jeep. During the project, Dion and I had worked out six different delivery dates, though as I wrote about in my previous posts, there was always some seemingly valid reason for extending the delivery date. However, as was made obvious by Saturday’s photos, none of these dates was remotely credible.
As the last possible way of getting a satisfactory result, Dion asked me in mid-February for $20,000 more so he could finish the project, but at that point, I could no longer trust that would ever be done.
That I've been played for a fool is pretty much indisputable. In my defense, though, I had a very specific contract with Red Cannon that outlined exactly what was to be done, what my money would go for, and how the Jeep would be returned. Also, I was in frequent contact with Dion by phone, and there are about forty e-mails between us in the files. I did not, however, allow for someone simply making up whatever was necessary to cover the fact that the camper I thought was pretty much finished was actually in the same condition as when it was disassembled last summer.
Dion has agreed that I can retrieve the Jeep on a date I choose between March 28 and April 3. He will secure the unpainted cabin to the Jeep and will bolt the top in place so it can safely be driven. I will, at that time, also recover the small amount of new equipment he actually bought, along with the greater quantity of salvaged components taken off of the Jeep when Dion stripped it down.
It’s not clear what I’ll do after my Jeep is recovered. I turned over a lot of money to Dion, plus my once-valuable Jeep “motorhome” is worth tens of thousands less in its current condition. With that bad experience, I’m finding it tough to think about investing even more time and money just to make it more or less like it already was. I'm worried that it constantly remind me of what's happened, and so it may be best to try to sell the Jeep and the equipment to someone who wants to reassemble it either for their personal use or for resale. With all the equipment already available, it shouldn’t be too hard to get it back into shape if someone can figure out the tent mechanism.
I’ll be getting appropriate professional advice to help me figure out what to do about this situation and we’ll see where things go from here. When there is more relevant news, I will share it.
Before closing, I want to offer my apologies to EarthRoamer, Upscale Automotive, James Lombardo, Paul Jensen and the others who, over the previous seven years, used their talents to make my XV-JP Jeep a very special vehicle. I was just trying to be helpful in letting it go to Dion’s startup company, and I’m very sorry that all your efforts were undone. I'd forgotten that, as has been frequently pointed out (Oscar Wilde, Billy Wilder, Clare Booth Luce, the 285th Ferengi Rule of Acquisition—take your pick), no good deed goes unpunished.
Thank you all for your ongoing interest.
Last edited:
Finatic Angler
Adventurer
I have no words......
Very unfortunate and not what I was expecting to read.
Very unfortunate and not what I was expecting to read.
I just re read this and I'm confused, forget the molds and the business start up, why the Frick can't he just put the sweat equity into putting it back together?
I'm not a violent person, but I'm pretty sure I would be going to jail if this happened to me.
Sent from my Passport
I'm not a violent person, but I'm pretty sure I would be going to jail if this happened to me.
Sent from my Passport
Oh man, I'm sorry brother. I don't even know you, but I sure feel bad for you. I think you must be a pretty stand up guy, because that was very well written and a professional response to a very difficult situation. Once the sting wears off, please post up what kind of expo vehicle you complete!
-Andy
-Andy