Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
1% Occupying Streets With Luxury Conversion Vans
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Nov 21, 2011
Modified Nov 21, 2011
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Mercedes
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Nov 21, 2011
Modified Nov 21, 2011
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Since its invention, the conversion van has been a vehicle of the 99%, helping the middle class conceive to the sounds of Whitesnake, providing shelter to smoke that Thanksgiving joint with uncle Lonny, and getting the kids to Water Country USA right when the gates open. Not content to let us have the one vehicle that maintains our dignity, Mercedes-Benz has been marketing their 9-foot tall, 22-foot long Sprinter conversion/cargo van to New York's upper crust. If you think their Chevy Astro-aerodynamics are ugly, it's because you're too poor to understand.
"I have two big-screen televisions; I have a couch in the back that goes into a bed,” one investment banker who owns a souped-up Sprinter tells the Times. “I have four chairs that go back and massage you. It has a desk, a table and an intercom so you can have meetings in there if you want to.” And if there's one thing that seals any business deal, it's working from the back of a van in standstill Manhattan traffic.
Another Sprinter enthusiast refused to be named, but his chauffeur opened the door to the $425K van and allowed a mortal's orbs to peek: "the seats were upholstered with heavily scented leather and a stocked bar had individual lighting for each wine glass and Champagne flute." Only the heaviest scents will do, because when you're dead inside, you need to be cloaked in something that was once alive.
Need some time alone, away from those who will be bitterly fighting over your estate in 40 years? The Sprinter is perfect for kids, as one Upper East Side mom beams that they can "just bop into a souped-up bulletproof living room on wheels." The tinted windows are perfect for keeping little Maximillion's skin properly pallid. Plus they don't have to breathe "common air," and they're perfect for play dates with hemophiliacs.
"Using your vehicle as a luxury lounge is just usurping public space for your own private use," Transportation Alternatives spokesman Michael Murphy says. While that may be true, Murphy has probably never enjoyed a privately commissioned snuff film and an 18-year-old scotch whilst barreling down the West Side Highway.
Tagged
1%
99%
blue-bloods
luxury vans
mercedes
rich people
romanov family
tinted windows
tsar nicholas
upper east side
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Deer are all over New Jersey roads looking for sex, state officials warn
Mid-October through mid-December is deer mating season, which can be a danger to drivers as the sex-seeking creatures cross roadways throughout the Garden State.
By
Rosemary Misdary
Published Oct 16, 2026 at 4:22 p.m. ET
Man messaged 'I got straight poison' before giving NYC college students fentanyl, feds say
A transcript from an April court hearing sheds new light on what transpired at Fashion Institute of Technology.
By
Samantha Max
News
Man messaged 'I got straight poison' before giving NYC college students fentanyl, feds say
A transcript from an April court hearing sheds new light on what transpired at Fashion Institute of Technology.
By
Samantha Max
Inside the plan to fix the nearly collapsed Pfizer Building, 1/64th of an inch at a time
By
David Brand
School bus carrying autistic students got lost in Brooklyn for 4 hours last year
By
Jessica Gould
NYC’s bridges can last 'forever,' if we take care of them
By
Clayton Guse
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .