The Customiser wants to exhibit the forklift at IMHX 2013 in Birmingham next year.

When it needed a forklift, vehicle customisation specialist The Customiser, took a 1980s Lansing Bagnall forklift and gave it a makeover.

Company owner Ian Laidler says The Customiser can transform "anything from a car to a coach". "We couldn't just have any old forklift [sitting] in our loading bay for customers to see, we needed a very special one.

"Just some of our whacky past projects include turning a Subaru into a skip car, a boat into a car and now we wanted to get our teeth stuck into our own forklift."

After consulting a wide variety of people, the company decided to buy an older forklift to showcase its work.

"We purchased an early Lansing Bagnall electric forklift and set about designing what we would change and customise on it," Laidler says. "We really went to town; this would be seen by our customers and we are very proud of our workshop - as [we are of] all the challenging and skilled work that goes on in there - so it had to be a cool looking but functional truck."

Work on the forklift included re-spraying it "performance blue metallic"; removing then sand blasting the roll cage and chrome powder coating it; hiding previously exposed wiring inside the roll cage; replacing some wiring; and installing a new sounder and lights, a bucket seat with lumbar support and a seat belt, and custom stainless steel wheel trims.

View photos of the customised forklift in Forkliftaction's Photo Galleries

Laidler says The Customiser is currently in talks to exhibit the forklift at IMHX 2013 in Birmingham next year. "We've had so many kind comments and remarks from dealers who have been in the industry for 30 years - all stating they have never seen anything like this ever and everyone wants photos with it."