About
We built the Von Tiki because we thought it'd be fun to have our own bar on wheels. Turns out, we were right: it IS fun.The Von Tiki started life as a daydream while we were on vacation in Thailand, waiting for our Thai rental car company to find us and our broken down Thai rental car. Since we didn't speak any Thai, that took a while, and we started imagining our dream car, since our rental Suzuki certainly wasn't it. We had loved the beach bars and mountain huts in Thailand, and the Von Tiki idea was born.
1987 Toyota Van
The Von Tiki used to be a 1987 Toyota Van, used by the Andyland children's band to haul gear around. (Andyland) We got it from them for $500 after the trial, and went to work. Today the Von Tiki features:
Dual walk-up bars: one mahogany, one teak
Walnut floor
Thatched roof
Real bamboo exterior
Tequila shots from the windshield wipers
Custom sea-shell and sand spinners
Flower-lined ceiling
Astroturf in the cab
Hand-carved tiki mask taillights
The Von Tiki is available for parties and rentals. It's also the leading bar of the Art Car movement. For more on Art cars, see here: Art Car Fest, or About Art Cars
Jake Goldstein and John Merlie
The Von Tiki built Jake Goldstein and John Merlie out of real human parts. Jake and John have been friends since high school in St. Louis, MO. They both live in the San Francisco Bay Area now. Jake also plays in the band Imaginary Girlfriend .
Construction Details for Nerds:
- Frame was reinforced with a horizontal X-frame, tied to a vertical roll bar, both made out of 3x1 channel steel.
- Roof frame is made up of 1" water pipe, welded at the threads, with supporting gussets. Roof panels are supported by rafters and a ridgepole, tied together using hurricane clips. Thatch is glued onto the roof using construction adhesive, and then fiberglass was poured over the top.
- Thanks to the fiberglass and the hurricane clips, the roof can handle highway speeds.
- The external bamboo came from sliced up bamboo window shades. The bamboo is glued onto the van using Marine Goop, our artcar adhesive of choice, since it has good contact adhesion, is waterproof, and UV resistant.
- Outdoor spar urethane protects the bar surfaces, the bamboo, and the floors.
- The spinners use spray on adhesive and then were dipped in actual sand, since the spray-on paint doesn't work too well. Thanks to Mr Hubcap in San Jose for helping us find just the right spinners.