Live Big. Truck It! GMSV TV Commercials Behind the Scenes

Live Big. Truck It! GMSV TV Commercials Behind the Scenes

GMSV’s motto is ‘Live Big.’ It has also been our motto for a few years now, so when we were asked to become ambassadors for GMSV, it seemed a good fit for us and them. Together, Chris and I are Aussie Destinations Unknown. Over two years ago we started towing our large and heavy caravan(s) around Australia with a Chevy Silverado. The Chevy became a talking point soon after that, and not too much later people began linking ADU with the title, ‘The Face of American Trucks in Australia’. We’ve been more than happy to wear the title!

Watch GMSV TV Commercial Here!

We love to stand out, in a good way, and the Chevy Silverado HD helps us do that. Recently, as part of our role as GMSV ambassadors, we were asked to be involved in the latest GMSV TV commercials that were filmed in an incredibly beautiful part of Queensland called the Scenic Rim.

Wardrobe is decided a few weeks earlier and neutral, summery colours are the go. After our fitting the night before filming, we are ready for the big screen!  At about 4:00am we hook up our 4.5 tonne Titanium caravan behind the 2022 Chevy HD and the combination absolutely steals the show.

Filming kicks off early at Mt Barney with a drone capturing us coming up and over the hill while the sunrise and surrounding mountains create the perfect backdrop. If only it was that easy! We do the same take about ten times, with each shot requiring us to make a very tight u-turn at the base of the hill to then head back up and do it all again. Thankfully Chris is an expert at manoeuvring our monstrous set up and avoids all the trees and fences! The production company, Betty Wants In, have incredibly organised staff who are amazing to work with; everything is organised, right down to the girls who run over to wipe the dust off the truck in between shots. Bacon and egg rolls are handed out about 8:30am, and the crew of about twenty, plus us, and the GMSV team, all grab a bite to eat before setting up for the next scene.

 

Once we’ve captured all the necessary angles at Mt Barney, we move onto the next location – a national park where we have our own traffic control set up. Moogerah Peaks is a gorgeous national park where you will find ancient, volcanic peaks covered with eucalypt forest, montane heath covered rocks and even rainforest in some sheltered areas. All we need is one winding road and a place to turn around at the top and bottom. These shots are the most challenging for Chris as we must follow the camera vehicle that has a $100,000 camera hanging off the back.  Chris needs to get close without hitting it and he does it perfectly.

From there it’s lunch in Boonah and onto our final location, Wyaralong Dam, Queensland’s newest dam, having just been completed in 2011. This is where things get interesting! All the previous shots were externals of the HD and caravan, but here we take everything out of the back seat and replace it with the camera and someone to operate it. It’s time for hair and makeup for BOTH of us – Chris included. We drive up and down past the dam for about twenty minutes with the camera focused on me pointing, smiling at Chris, and just having a great old time on my road trip. We return, the camera comes out of the backseat and takes my spot in the front seat for Chris’s closeup. Then it’s back to base again for a reset before returning out past the dam to the main road and back. This time we follow very closely behind the camera car again, taking great care to avoid hitting it during the close encounters. But … here we aren’t the only stars of the show! The line up in the field is impressive; a red Trail Boss, our black HD, plus a very nice Malibu Wakesetter that’s hooked up behind the white LTZ Premium, our caravan is also there, plus a few other vehicles and lots of people.

The shots here are varied and include an hilarious scene with the HD half up on a rock, four people jumping up and down in the back, and someone waving a leafy branch around to give the illusion of the HD moving. ‘That’s a wrap’ echoes loud and clear after the sunset has been used as another incredible backdrop, this time over the dam. We all gather around for a group photo, extremely proud of what we have achieved. The final TV commercials are incredible, and we are so excited to show you. You will see us popping up all over the place, and when you do, feel free to let us know what you think.

For more info about which Silverado best suits your needs, check out https://www.gmspecialtyvehicles.com/

Watch GMSV TV Commercial Here!

Our GCI Traytec Canopy

Our GCI Traytec Canopy

WHERE IS YOUR TRUCK BUILD VIDEO??? Yes, we hear you! And we feel it’s time we give you some answers.

We had really hoped that by now we would have had a full Chev build/run-down video posted … and we know you were hoping for the same thing as we get so many requests for it every day! We thought we’d better explain exactly what’s going on and why there’s no build video to be seen.

It’s a pretty straightforward reason really – the truck isn’t actually finished yet. Covid really made this build a tricky one; parts went missing (lost at sea ), wrong parts were sent, and some parts are still on backorder with no known arrival date.

So, what we have decided to do is a complete run down on the GCI Traytec canopy as this is one of the most common questions we get asked.

Why GCI Traytec? We believe without a doubt, that they are the best in the business. The innovation, styling, design, quality and precision are just some of the qualities that set them apart and has us being pulled over in the street!

The design is 100% Australian with all the work being completed at GCI Traytec which is part of GCI group. GCI group is one of the largest sheet metal fabrication businesses in Australia. The majority of the trays and canopies are manufactured at GCI, however the zinc plating on the mounts and some plastic CNC machining is outsourced.

Design, programming, laser cutting, CNC folding, welding, machining, powder coating and assembly is all done under the one roof in South East Queensland. The aluminium grades used are 5005, 5052, 5083 and 6061. There are zero raw aluminium surfaces as everything is powder coated.
Mounts are made from mild steel to ensure strength yet allowing for flex and copping a beating off-road without cracking or failure. The mounts are also zinc plated which means they don’t rust.

Here’s what we have:

THE TRAY:

Specs: 2000mmx2000mm tray, 900mm high, with a 200mm thick headboard.

HEADBOARD:

The headboard is designed in this way to match the C-pillar, allowing the tray to flow with the design on the car. In the headboard there is a 60L 316 grade (food grade) stainless steel water tank that gravity feeds into an under tray 100L stainless tank that is made from the same 316 stainless steel. It’s then pumped using a 9.5L/m 65PSI pump to the twin outlets on the rear of the tray. One outlet is for the hot water system/shower, the other is for the kitchen. Every component of the water system from filler to outlet is food grade.
The headboard also houses options for dual water and fuel fillers. The fuel fillers work with truck pump high flow diesel with zero splash back.

TOOLBOXES:

We have opted for toolboxes all round – these are actually drawers.
Front boxes are 51L and rear boxes are 32L. All boxes are on 16” (406mm) HD slides and are rated to 40kg per box.
They are all “box in a box” construction meaning there is an inner drawer and an outer box which gives the toolboxes their water and dustproofing. All side boxes have internal lighting.
The rear tunnel drawer is 1200mm long, 625mm wide and 150mm deep with stainless flip lid that doubles as a table. The rear tunnel drawer is also box in a box, meaning the stainless lid doesn’t add or subtract to the water/dust proofing.

MODS:

• Extra wide mudguards for our 37”x 13.5” wide tyres. This is not a standard feature, but this stretched standard design is to ensure truck is legal.
• Winch infill plate (winch to go in at a later date)
• Window protector. You can’t see this, but there’s one on there!
• Central locking on entire canopy– wired into OEM remote.

CANOPY

Size: 2000mmx1750mm

EXTERIOR

• Spare wheel holders to suit our 37” tyres
• Double folding rear ladder. Very similar to standard ladder, but it has had a redesign to allow for the 37s.
• Ladder uprights are 10mm thick, 5083 marine grade aluminium.
• Powder coat. This is a scratch resistant powder which is very hard wearing and super easy to clean with dust not sticking like it would to traditional 2-pac paints.

interior

• COLOUR

The internal colour is mercury silver. We chose this light grey colour as it is light enough to give an open feeling to the canopy but won’t be blinding in bright sunlight and doesn’t show every bit of dirt.

• LIGHTING

Both main doors have three colour strip lighting: white, warm white and amber.

BATTERY SYSTEM (CLICK ITEM to purchase)

Enerdrive and GCI Traytec’s design teams have worked together to create a fully integrated lithium battery power system. This entire system is housed on the driver’s side front wall. Our system consists of the following:
BTEC 300AH Generation 2 Lithium Battery (located under false floor)
ePower DC2DC Charger capable of producing in excess of 40 amp per hour while traveling and supporting up to 800watts of solar.
ePower Battery Charger that charges at a rate of 60 amps per hour via mains power or generator.
ePower Inverter – suitable for running 240V household appliances rated to up to 2000W, complete with remote switch & RCD.
Simarine Battery Monitoring System.
• External GPO in between spare wheels
• 6 x double GPOs
• 6 x double USB sockets
• 1 x standard 12v socket
• 2 x Anderson plug sockets

You can view similar power systems to ours here – https://www.caravanrvcamping.com.au/power-systems

Current Exclusive Offers with Caravan RV Camping:

  • Use code ADUCREW40 in the shopping cart to get $40 off any product over $1,000

  • Use code ADUCREW50 in the shopping cart to get $50 off any product over $1,700

  • Use code ADUCREW75 in the shopping cart to get $75 off any product over $5,000

 

Don’t forget you can get a discount on Everdrive products (and anything else you’re after!) by heading to this page: http://www.aussiedestinationsunknown.com.au/caravan-rv-camping/ Discount codes can be used on any product on the caravan rv camping website

 

Also, on the driver’s side of the canopy we have two large drawers and the Companion hot water system. This is mounted on a slide/pivot bracket which also has a storage area for our gas line, hose and shower head. The rest of the area has been left open for storage purposes (ie. Camp chairs, table, folding solar panel etc).

Moving onto the passenger side of the canopy you will find ‘Le Chev’ aka Chris’s kitchen.

Starting from the left we have 110L Dometic upright fridge (click to purchase) which sits snugly next to our slide out pantry. In this pantry we have heaps of space for our food, condiments, coffee machine, soda stream and other bits and pieces.

The kitchen is next level and has to be seen to be believed.  It slides out, and then drops, folds and slides again before sliding, folding out and sliding out yet again. It gives us so much storage and bench space while allowing us room for our flush mount, stainless housed double induction cook top and yes, we even have a sink!
Above our transformer-like kitchen we have a large open top pull out drawer with front access and above that we have a microwave that also slides out and gives us more storage behind.

Upstairs we have the Alucab Gen 3 Rooftop Tent and 270 Shadow Awning. The Shower Cube will be installed as soon as it arrives, and we will run through the Alucab gear in more depth in a separate post. 
This is a dream build for us, and it’s now our way of life! It’s our home away from home (the caravan being our home!). By not compromising on quality, we have given ourselves the peace of mind to know that we can get on with our adventuring without worrying that something might go wrong.

If you want to see this ‘in the flesh’ we will be at most of the major national 4×4 shows and some caravan shows this year (covid pending).

If you are interested in a top-quality tray or canopy, contact the legends at GCI Traytec. They are one heck of a team!