Completely Refurbishing a Snowie Tow-Behind

After

LATELY, WE’VE MADE it a habit to say no to certain large-scale projects that would rob us of our focus and commitment to our Top 20 clients. A seemingly counterintuitive approach (turning away work), but it has proven to be a splendid concept these past 24 months. Our largest clients are rapidly growing, and by concentrating all our efforts on them, we have strengthened relationships and made cleaner, easier and much more money for our efforts.

But sometimes we should apply that mindset to smaller projects as well. Media 1 builds stadium signs; we don’t sell banners, for example. However, Wrap This, our vehicle division, will do stripes on the hood of a Mustang. And since our sign and our vehicle divisions exist in the same market (and facility), the accepted-projects-line tends to blur occasionally… usually to the chagrin of my partner, Rick.

Why are we printing a dozen yard signs? Why are we painting a motorcycle? Why are we building a food cart? Because sometimes it’s just too damn much fun! Yes, more often than not, Fun trumps Practicality. We can’t always be serious businessmen, right? That’s why we turned a Beechcraft fuselage into a pizza oven last year (see ST, August 2024, page 41). Did we make money? Nope. Not even close — actually, what’s the opposite of “made?” But damn! It sure was fun and a project none of us will ever forget.

Last month, one of those deals came calling.

Before

Snowie is a shaved ice company that sells snow cone machines and flavors, all the way up to vans, kiosks and carts. Several years back we renovated a tow-behind cart and apparently video footage on the interwebby shows how we transformed it. Which was subsequently discovered by a new client who had just purchased a used one.

“Used one” is the understatement of the year. It was the equivalent of a crack house on wheels. One-and-a-half wheels to be more accurate. This thing came hobbling in on crutches, like it was Rick Ream after dropping a Harley on his ankle…

Rusty and covered in mold, destroyed, cracking wrap, and windows you could not see through. (At least we thought they were windows.)

And I told this guy we could make that thing brand new! Everyone else was like: What?! “Come on, y’all. This is gonna be fun!” I said.

As the client and I walked the cart, more and more tasks were added, and our creative juices began to flow. To assure there would be no tetanus shots distributed, we pressure-washed the full exterior to see what we were working with. After a new wrap design was approved, we went to work.

The roof with AC unit and lighting was completely removed from the cart by forklift. The painters treated the trailer tongue and fenders to a fresh new color while Fabricator Extraordinaire, Steve Pass, ripped out all the weathered Lexan windows and replaced them with new, gray-tinted polycarbonate cut on our 7 x 13-ft. MultiCam router table. This included a 35-ft.-long strip running the full top, wrapped in translucent 3M vinyl, backlit with all-new Hanley white LED modules from Principal Sloan. The old bottom wrap was stripped and all dents repaired before the new 3 x 25-ft. wrap was installed. We hoisted the roof back on and replaced nine LED puck lights in the ceiling, ’cause you can’t make a good snow cone in the dark. Steve then installed exposed RGBW exterior ribbon lighting to entice snow cone-eaters from far away, then finished by repairing the axles and giving Rick his crutches back.

We even rebuilt the round roof sign complete with a water mister to cool eager guests awaiting their icy treats. One fun project and one very happy client!