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Steve Harvey’s Becker JetVan

October 9, 2022 by Dustin

Filed Under: News

SD Tribune | Philip Rivers’ New Ride

February 15, 2022 by Dustin

Philip Rivers’ new ride allows him to stay home

By KEVIN ACEE • The San Diego Union-Tribune

As the 73 toll road turned into Interstate 5 and San Juan Capistrano and then San Clemente sped by unseen, Philip Rivers and Kellen Clemens watched tape of the Denver Broncos defense and then a little of the San Francisco 49ers defense.

It was the last Monday in August, the return leg of the first round trip for the Riversmobile, an SUV that has been gutted and turned into what the Chargers starting quarterback calls the “best QB room I’ve ever been in.”

The season opener against the Broncos was two weeks away, and there is only so much preseason tape can help. Even with the trip going faster than expected.

Soon Camp Pendleton was on either side of them and then Oceanside.

They clicked over to catch up on the news and were watching ESPN when the SUV slowed to take the North County exit that would deliver the Chargers’ QB1 and QB2 to the Rivers’ driveway just before 5:40 p.m.

“An hour and 18 minutes,” Rivers said later. “Which is nothing.”

Rivers and Clemens shared a laugh as they neared their destination.

“There may be some days,” Rivers said. “where we’re hoping to get in a little traffic because we have more work to do.”

This is how Rivers, a Charger since 2004, didn’t have to relocate even though his team did.

In order to remain a San Diegan, Rivers invested in just about the most L.A. vehicle ever.

Three days a week during the season he will make the commute from his San Diego home to the Chargers’ Costa Mesa facility. It’s a trek many know too well – and dread.

Rivers will do it in a different, more efficient manner.

Essentially, his mode of transportation is a mobile man cave with the seats like those in a first class airplane set side-by-side in the back facing forward, plenty of room for a 6-foot-5 quarterback to fully recline while watching film on the 40-inch television screen separating the front seat and rear cabin. There is satellite TV, WiFi and a small refrigerator Rivers would rather you call a cooler.

For upwards of $200,000 (plus a driver’s salary), anyone can make the freeway melt away.

This is the purview of CEOs and agents and directors and the kind of lawyers who charge $1,000 an hour.

As Tiffany Rivers asked her husband after he reported with glee how well his first trip had gone, “Do you feel like a king?”

The answer, a little bit, was affirmative.

But be sure, this was an investment made only after much investigation and introspection, for the right reasons.

“My two biggest things were my family time and my preparation and what I owe this football team,” Rivers said. “I was not going to sacrifice either of them in any big proportion. I can look at all the pluses and minuses and say, ‘OK. This does it.’ This allows me to get home in the 6 to 7 hour, which is when I got home the last 11 years, and it allows me to watch all or more of the film I watched before.”

Just like his new vehicle, which requires close inspection from the outside to notice any modification that makes it different from a standard SUV, this commitment involved grappling with both reality and perception for Rivers.

“I don’t want it to be, ‘He’s stuck in a car all day, maybe that’s why he struggled,’ “ he said. “Come on.”

Come on, indeed. This is being done out of necessity, because the large and young Rivers family has roots it did not want to tear. And it can afford not to.

Still, we’re talking about a man who likes frills the way he likes interceptions. Rivers lives as about as modestly as one can when his career earnings are bumping up against $200 million.

His primary mode of transportation is a 2008 Ford F250. He wears cowboy boots – real ones, plain brown, nothing made of a swamp creature or rare bird. His dress shirts are Western cut and have shiny buttons.

The Rivers family spent hours searching Orange County, touring schools and homes. They looked at eight of the latter.

“Every time we started driving back home,” Rivers said, “it was like, ‘Gosh!’ We had the feeling of ‘Ohhhh.’ … You look around (when house hunting) and you kind of get excited. You know, ‘That’s a neat neighborhood.’ Then we’d be driving home and we’d get to about Carlsbad and say, ‘Gosh! I feel like we’re going home.’ It just felt that way.”

The ties to San Diego were almost 13 years in the making. Rivers and his wife got to thinking about doctors and dentists and friends and sports teams and schools and all that would go into changing those things for eight children – the youngest of which will turn 2 in October, the oldest having just started high school.

“It was literally making me go, ‘This is crazy,’ “ Rivers said. “I know at some point, (players) have to move. I know it’s life for a lot of people. People have to move all the time.”

It’s not Rivers’ fault he has the means to make a 90-minute commute comfortable and productive. It’s actually admirable that he wanted to do so.

“We’re just so thankful for what we have,” Rivers said. “That’s why we didn’t want it to change.”

With staying in San Diego as the end, the first option considered was carpooling with Clemens, just as they did when the Chargers were in San Diego. This would be 70 extra miles, but maybe if they traded off driving duties it wouldn’t be so bad.

“After about a day or two of seeing what that looks like it was, ‘No way,’ ” Rivers said. “No way I’d be behind the wheel for three hours a day and feel like I’m preparing. I’m wasting three hours. It’s just different. It takes a different toll on you.”

Then he considered maybe a simple conversion of the family’s Sprinter van, the one that Tiffany Rivers uses to tote around eight kids.

“She was like, ‘You’re taking our family’s car?’ ” Rivers recalled his wife saying.

What about a helicopter?

“That was about 15 minutes of me doing an Internet search and five more minutes with me wondering, ‘What in the world am I thinking about this for?’ I’ve never been in one in my life. … Plus, unless it could pick me up in my neighborhood and land on the practice field, it wasn’t going to be that much faster.”

So Rivers did another Internet search. He typed “mobile offices southern california” into Google. He found a company in Oxnard that caters to Hollywood types and CEOs.

Even then, his thought was to go used.

Convinced he needed something specific to his needs, he still leaned heavily toward basic.

“I really just need a TV screen and HDMI, the ability to plug in my computer to the screen,” he told the guy at Becker Automotive Design.

But that’s not how the high-end automobile conversion market works. It’s more of an “If you’re going to do it, do it right” kind of market. And there had to be a thought about resale.

“If this doesn’t go as smooth as I think,” Rivers said. “I need to be able to sell it.”

Someday he will need to unload the vehicle anyway.

“If this was year five for me, we’d move,” Rivers said. “We’d want to stay in the same city, but I’d have a long way to go. You don’t know. … This is the home stretch. I could have five years. I’m only signed up for three.”

So in the meantime, should it keep going like that Monday test run, Rivers has hopes of being back in San Diego in time to help pick up the kids from school on Fridays the team has a home game.

Home, even with a new home.

Filed Under: News

Government & Support Vehicles

February 15, 2022 by Dustin

Filed Under: News

Fox News | Tom Brady’s Becker ESV

February 15, 2022 by Dustin

Tom Brady is selling his giant custom Cadillac Escalade for a small fortune

By Gary Gastelu • Fox News

Tom Brady is on the market. The used car market.

(California’s Becker Automotive Design)

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ $50 million man has put his stretched Cadillac Escalade ESV up for sale.

(California’s Becker Automotive Design)

The custom SUV was built in 2018 by California’s Becker Automotive Design and features a 20-inch stretch, a rear roof raised five inches, twin reclining rear seats, private jet-style retractable burl walnut tables, a 32-inch TV and mobile WiFi.

(California’s Becker Automotive Design)

“With such limited time in my busy schedule the ESV gave me those extra minutes to study my playbook, make phone calls and be with my family. Immediately my productivity went up and my stress came down,” the six-time Super Bowl champ said in the ad.

Brady paid $350,000 for it, but has listed it with 13,000 miles for $300,000 or best offer. He hasn’t said if he bought anything to replace it with yet, but there’s an all-new Cadillac Escalade on the way later this year that’s even more luxurious and high tech than the outgoing model.

(California’s Becker Automotive Design)

If Brady’s ride isn’t enough truck for you, Becker also has a used armored model on sale for $475,000.

Filed Under: News

Congratulations to a great Becker customer, Mathew Stafford and the entire Los Angeles Rams!

February 15, 2022 by Dustin

2022 Super Bowl score: Rams beat Bengals as Matthew Stafford, MVP Cooper Kupp connect late in comeback win

The Rams battled back from a rough start to the second half to claim the franchise’s second Lombardi Trophy

By Cody Benjamin • CBS Sports

With their backs against the wall late in the fourth quarter, the Los Angeles Rams turned to the connection that spearheaded their offensive attack all year. Matthew Stafford targeted Cooper Kupp six times on the eventual game-winning drive with the duo linking up one final time for a 1-yard touchdown go cap a 15-play, 79-yard trek and take a 23-20 lead over the Cincinnati Bengals with 1:25 to play. Ultimately, that margin held as the Rams claimed victory in Super Bowl LVI and captured the second Lombardi Trophy in franchise history.

Overcoming two Stafford interceptions and a controversial Cincinnati touchdown to start the third quarter, Los Angeles became just the second team in NFL history to win a Super Bowl on their home field, SoFi Stadium. The previously unachieved feat has now been accomplished in consecutive seasons.

The Rams were led by an uneven but gutty effort from Stafford, who completed 26 of 40 passes for 283 yards with those two picks, and Kupp, who caught eight passes for 92 yards and two of those three scores en route to MVP honors. Stafford’s first touchdown of the game went to Odell Beckham Jr., who left the contest in the second quarter due to a non-contact knee injury and never returned.

Equally impressive was L.A.’s defense, which combined for seven sacks with stars Aaron Donald and Von Miller each knocking Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow down twice. Donald, Miller, Leonard Floyd, and A’Shawn Robinson dominated the game in the second half, repeatedly pushing their way into the Bengals backfield to bother Burrow. Donald sealed the game by powering his way through the offensive line and wrapping Burrow in his arms, forcing an errant throw that fell to the ground incomplete on fourth down.

Burrow completed 22 of 33 passes for 263 yards and a touchdown, while Cincinnati running back Joe Mixon (72 yards rushing) also tossed a touchdown pass. Both scores were hauled in by Tee Higgins, who caught four passes for 100 yards.

The game changed immediately out of halftime when, on the first play from scrimmage in the third quarter, Burrow hit Higgins deep down the sideline for a 75-yard touchdown. Higgins’ score was immediately marred in controversy, however, as replays showed he clearly grabbed a hold of cornerback Jalen Ramsey’s face mask. No penalty was called on the play.

That score gave Cincinnati its first lead at 17-13. The Bengals increased their advantage to 20-13 before the Rams closed the door with the final 10 points of the game. 

Let’s take a look at some takeaways from the Rams’ second Lombardi Trophy and the Bengals’ incredible season that concluded with a thud.

Why the Rams won

That defensive line! Donald could’ve easily garnered Super Bowl MVP consideration because, when he wasn’t sacking Burrow — he downed the Bengals QB twice and all but logged a third to seal the victory — he was helping clog the trenches on key downs. Robinson, Miller and Floyd also stayed busy up front, combining to give the Rams seven total sacks in a defensive game. On a night Ramsey wasn’t at his best covering star Cincinnati wideout Ja’Marr Chase, the L.A. line really won the day.

Kupp helped the offense do just enough, too, particularly on the Rams’ final drive when the crisp route-runner consistently beat Bengals CB Eli Apple in the red zone. While Stafford really struggled to stay in sync after a hot Beckham left the field before halftime, he opened the game efficiently and finished strong, overcoming a nonexistent ground game to keep Kupp involved and bring the Rams their first title since 1999 (Tennessee Titans, Super Bowl XXXIV).

It wasn’t an altogether pretty performance, but the Rams got gritty when they needed to. You could even say they went “all-in”.

Why the Bengals lost

The Burrow experience never really took off. While “Joe Cool” was no doubt poised for the big stage, his protection once again left him without the time and space to really show off his big-play stuff. After missing some early open shots, possibly due to nerves, Burrow fell victim to the Rams’ pass rush, especially on key downs. The Bengals, despite steady running from Mixon, a trick TD pass from the running back and a few splashy catches from Chase working on Ramsey, went just 3 of 14 on third downs. Even their biggest play, a 75-yard bomb from Burrow to Higgins, probably should’ve been called back due to a facemask-style offensive pass interference.

Defensively, Chidobe Awuzie and Jessie Bates III made heads-up plays to pick off Stafford, and the Bengals’ restocked D-line completely erased the Rams’ backfield rotation. But the secondary also struggled mightily with tackling at times and was just generally overmatched down the stretch. Four penalties, including a killer red-zone holding and a post-touchdown celebration by inactive player (!) Vernon Hargreaves III, didn’t help. It wasn’t an entirely badperformance, but it was pretty ugly, and they just weren’t opportunistic enough to make up for it.

Turning point

The Bengals faced a third-and-9 from their own 40 with just over 6 minutes to go, up 20-16. Burrow laced a short pass over the middle to slot receiver Tyler Boyd, typically a sure-handed target, but the ball went right through his mitts. Coach Zac Taylor was forced to punt, and the Rams proceeded to march 79 yards on 15 plays to milk clock and take the lead with Kupp’s go-ahead touchdown catch. Cincy still got another chance with the ball, but by that point, it had just over a minute to operate with L.A.’s D-line dialed in and the game in its hands.

Play of the game

It didn’t win the Bengals the trophy, but it sure had Cincy buzzing at the time with Mixon tossing a perfect TD pass to Higgins after getting the pitch in the red zone.

Read more at CBS Sports.

Filed Under: News

Mark Wahlberg’s Becker JetVan

September 17, 2021 by Dustin

Filed Under: News

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