My Fantastic Pandamobil!

Aloha, my name is Sarit and I’m an Italian artist(and crafter) living on the Big Island of Hawaii.

I want to share with you the story of “The Fantastic Pandamobil”…

Last year I was planning to travel with Omji, my then 9-year old son, from Hawaii to Italy(where I was born and raised) for three months during the summer to visit friends and family after exactly 4 years.

All my family leaves in Puglia, which is, if you have in mind Italy boot-like shape, the heel of the boot.

First stop would be on the hills of Parma(2 hours south of Milan) where I still own a rural stone house, an old barn that I patiently transformed into a house, previously when I used to live in Italy(sometimes seems like my past life 🙂

There I also store a cute little Fiat Panda that used to belong to my mother…

My question was: “how am I going to deal with accommodation for me and my child when we’re on the go?”

I wished I had kept my dear Westfalia van, with pop up camper, but, that one was long time gone…

A bright idea flashed in my mind: “what if I build a shell on top of my Panda that opens up into a tent and closes down when traveling?”

I was very tempted to challenge my self in building one but, at the same time, I was afraid the Italian Police wouldn’t like it that much!

Italian road regulations are much tighter than in US regarding customized vehicles of any sort…

So, the goal would be of building a shell that, when closed, it wouldn’t be big and very noticeable…mhhh, the challenge was on!

Following there are pics of the entire process, before during and after…
It was an amazing experience that both me and Omji have loved and still cherish the memories of it.

A strong fulfilling energy develops when you have an idea and you make it happen …and it works just as you thought it would!

Thank you for reading and hope to inspire some of you to dream and realizing your dreams too.

Aloha,
Sarit