GatorTailgating.com will be doing a series of weekly articles on Tailgating vehicle creations from fans across the country who have taken their pre-game festivities to the next level. We hope this inspires some of you Gator fans to build your own Tailgating Creations.

It's hard to believe a group with such a great tailgating setup as the PantherFanz group of Charlotte, NC could come from such humble beginnings. When you see the 1979 full-size International School bus and the way it's been fabricated specifically to fit their tailgating needs, you would think this group had been tailgating for decades.

That is just not the case though. In 1996, when the Panthers opened their first season as an NFL franchise, most of the group was tailgating throughout the parking lot surrounding then-named Ericsson Stadium with coolers of beer and camping supplies. A few had been tailgating before, but none had experience that would even dream up what would be happening about 10 years later. Since that day, not only has the PantherFanz group came together to tailgate, but they have become the scene of the best tailgate party for Panther's games hands down.

It all started when James, one of the leaders of the group, noticed that as the tailgating group got larger and larger, the prep time to get ready for gamedays got longer and longer. His thought was to have a tailgating vehicle that would hold all of the gear and cut down on the time it was taking to load and unload for each gameday.

Now comes the hard part though. It's easy to get a bunch of guys on board with a party bus....errrr....tailgating vehicle. It's not so easy to get the spouses on the same boat though. In 2003, as a few couples were sitting around drinking and talking about the next tailgate party, the conversation inevitably led to the idea of a bus. After serving a few more drinks, the wives started thinking this was just a "drinking dream" that would never come true and amazingly started going along with the conversation. Not so much as a mere 7 days later, the '79 yellow school bus had their name on the title.

They started by completely gutting the interior and cutting off an 8' section of the roof to make an open deck for more tailgating room. They did this and more without so much as a design or plan of action in place. They just had a general idea and went to work on creating their dream.

By the time they were done, they had the outside completed with the deck they wanted lined with team colored benches, a 17'x15' electric awning, an eye-catching paint job, and team graphics so no one can question their allegiance. The inside is even more amazing with it's high-tech complexity. It boasts it's own air conditioning unit, a Direct TV reciever, XM/Sirius satellite radio, and surround sound as well.

Today, the group has their own tailgating lot in the shadows of the Panthers' home stadium. They have hosted tailgate parties for Cholula Hot Sauce, Monster Energy, Red Bull, and Carolina Blonde. They even were the site of Bobby Flay's BBQ televsion show for one episode as well. That's a long way to come from tailgating with a cooler of beer and camping gear.

For more info on the group, visit www.PantherFanz.net and enjoy the picture gallery below.

Rusty Thompson is a contributor and one of the founders of GatorTailgating.com.

Special thanks goes to www.PantherFanz.net for allowing us to do a story on them and www.TailgateLot.com for some of the research and photos.