25th August  2003 (Dordrecht, Holland)

On August 25th 2003, I was invited over to Holland by Harry Kroonen and Tim Hodgetts to test drive the Carver and have a tour of their manufacturing facilities.  By the time I left I could not help but feel that the Carver was the most fun you could have on the roads and I was surprised at just how compact the facility is.

Upon arriving at the plant I first of all savored a much needed coffee and then Harry took me around the plant in the order that the Carver was made.  The Carver is made in two main areas, the first a welding shop and then second an assembly area where the Carvers are fully assembled in a rotating jig. At the time I visited Carver they have 15 employees with 8 of those who work on production.

Photo 1: The Welding Shop. The welding shop is a large area with large bay doors at the front with racks of body parts on the back wall.  The Carver is made up from a collection of 1 mm steel panels, all of which are laid out along racks.

Photo 2: The Welding Shop. Although empty at the time of my visit the shell of the Carver is built and welded together inside a large frame.  When completed it then gets sent to an external company to be painted.  The Carver comes in a choice of 13 basic colours though Harry says that essentially buyers can have any colour they like. In case you are wondering the chap in the photo is Harry.

Photo 3: The Assembly Shop.  Once the main frame has been painted it is then sent to the Assembly shop and attached to a rotating rig which allows the body to be freely spun around so that it can be worked on from all angles.  Various components of the Carver can then be attached to the body.

Photo 4: The Assembly Shop.  A Carver in production.

Photo 5: The 600 cc engines are purchased as a unit and then on site attached customised and attached to the Carvers unique DVC system. All machines are provided with the same specification engine.

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The Carver / Vandenbrink plant.