Advanced Mobility Specialty Vehicles Completes Rebuild and Upgrade of Token Creek’s Chippewa

Advanced Mobility Specialty Vehicles, a leader in the design and manufacture of television broadcast and production trailers, has announced that they have completed another full rebuild and upgrade of an SD TV production trailer to HD –  Chippewa – for Token Creek Mobile Television of Waunakee, WI.

“We have been very busy the past year supporting our clients that are dealing with the TV broadcast industry switching from SD to HD,” said Bob Bachman, president, Advanced Mobility Specialty Vehicles. “We are looking forward to growing as we begin to incorporate new vehicle technology that will accommodate UltraHD, which is expected to become more significant by 2015 according to many of the reports out there.”

“We totally gutted Chippewa to accommodate higher power requirements and energy-efficiency, and a more ergonomically friendly and spacious interior layout,” said Bachman. “We did a complete overhaul, including repainting the whole exterior of the trailer. It looked brand new when it left our manufacturing facility.”

Token Creek’s Chippewa

The rebuild began in mid-August 2012, with the goal of Chippewa being ready when the 2012–2013 basketball season, and the refurbished Chippewa made its debut on November 22 when it was deployed to Detroit to cover the 86th Annual America’s Thanksgiving Parade. This meant Advanced Mobility had about a month to get the truck to the integrator.

The overhaul included an upgraded and more energy-efficient, 208-240 VAC Three Phase 200A power generation system, and a new Northern-Air HVAC system. All new electrical wiring was installed and the flooring and walls of the main trailer rebuilt. The flooring and walls of the expando units were rebuilt with lighter, yet durable materials to ensure that they could be easily and rapidly deployed.

“This is not the first time Advanced Mobility has upgraded or refurbished one of our trucks, “ said John Salzwedel, Token Creek’s senior vice president of sales. “Once again, we put a lot of pressure on them to finish the trailer on a short deadline, and they have never disappointed us.”

“The pressure on Bob Bachman’s engineering team was even greater this time. We contracted Beck Associates of Austin, Texas, for the first time to do the integration work,” said Salzwedel. “Everyone was completely in sync and pulled-off an HD truck that we are very proud of.”

“It was a pleasure working with Beck on the overall ergonomics and integration, with the expert input and guidance from Token Creek,” added Bachman. “We knew, working together, that we could turnout a beautiful vehicle.”

Chippewa is primarily used for sports, but is also used for corporate and entertainment shows. Token Creek has three other 53-foot production trucks, including Hiawatha, Sioux, and Varsity, some of which Advanced Mobility has worked on.