This 2020 Sprinter-based, off-road van concept from German manufacturer Hymer looks capable outside and like a stylish apartment inside. It features an indoor kitchen and fridge, a folding desk/workspace, stairs to leading to an insulated, pop-up sleeping loft, a very cool convertible bathroom/shower area, and a rear tailgate deck with a slide-out grill/outdoor kitchen. It’s amazing how far RVs have come. I could go for something like this.
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Archives for posts with tag: camper
Imagine Dr. Frankenstein pulling the sheet off his creation and, instead of recoiling in horror, people stood back and said, “Huh… He looks good.”
Well, somewhere under a full moon, in a strange lab in Germany, a dead Type 2 T3 Westy was dissected and grafted on to the back of a living, 1965 Unimog 404 (with a 6-cylinder, gas engine, and a six-speed, manual transmission). It was given twin 33-gallon fuel tanks, a 24-volt, 140-amp alternator, six Hella 4000 driving lights, olive green paint, and a full exo roll cage.
You might think cutting the face off of Volkswagen bus and grafting it onto a Unimog might lead to a horrible freak of nature, but no. This thing actually looks good.
OK–sure. You can’t look too closely. The interior looks like a velour-covered, Unabomber shack. And the roof-top tent has got some tears. But the asking price is $18,500! You can’t get a normal Westfalia Syncro for that. Or a normal Unimog, for that matter. This is both!
Other things to know: 25,000-lb. PTO winch with 300 feet of cable, on-board air compressor, 34,000 kms on the clock. Find this thing in South Chula Vista, near San Diego and the Mexican border. $18,500!
More photos and original ad text after the jump.
Thanks to Mas for Spotting this one!
Link trail: Bring a Trailer: Mega Westy > Craigslist: Custom Mercedes Unimog
EarthCruiser announced last Fall that it would begin building its self-contained, go-anywhere, ship-anywhere trucks in the U.S., and this week the first one is ready for delivery.
In case you’re not familiar with it, the EarthCruiser is a highly capable, 4×4 expedition vehicle. The idea is that you can drive it to a remote place, pop the top, and be self sufficient. It can draw water from a stream, purify it, heat it (via the Webasto diesel heater), store it, and deliver it to you via the sink or the indoor or outdoor shower. The heater will also heat the insulated interior. There’s a stove, a fridge, even a queen-size bed.
With a little help from the solar panels topping up the house batteries, you can stay in a spot for up to ten days without running the engine. On the other hand, if you need to leave in a hurry, you can lower the top from inside the cabin and be on your way in minutes.
The EarthCruiser is built on the Mitsubishi Fuso light truck chassis. Power comes from an intercooled, 4-cylinder turbodiesel. This DOHC, 16-valve powerplant will produce 295 lb.-ft. of grunt at just 1,300 rpm. A six-speed, dual-clutch, automated manual transmission handles gear selection for you. The 4×4 system consists of manually locking hubs and single-speed transfer case. There’s no center diff. While you might have wished for a two-speed transfer case, EarthCruiser assured us that first gear is pretty low and will get you through just about anything.
Additional gear such as A/C, a winch, an extra fuel tank, driving lights, and a few other things, can be fitted at your request, although it’s ready to go in standard trim at $215,000. Give them a call. They’d be happy to build you one.
For more photos from Earthcruiser, and from our recent trip to Earthcruiser’s Facility in Bend, Oregon, see the rest of the post.
After 63 years, and worldwide production of 1.5 million, Volkswagen will shutter the assembly line for the Type 2 bus. Until this month they were still being manufactured in Brazil.
From former NASA designer and Cricket trailer inventor, Garrett Finney, comes the Firefly, a new space-inspired camper. It’s still in the concept phase but Garret and his team at Taxa plan on walls made of highly insulated, inch-thick, eps-foam-cored panels fused to aluminum skins, and an overall weight of only 600 lbs.
It will be very compact. Compact enough to fit in the back of a Tacoma or on a small trailer and can be deployed on its own legs. It can even be delivered by helicopter to address emergency needs.
Read the whole story and see development photos on the design site, Core77.
There’s a fantastic looking hostel in Bonn, Germany, called BaseCamp, that’s made up of camping trailers parked in a giant warehouse close to the city center. Lodging is not limited to campers. They also offer a railway sleeper car, VW camper buses, even a former East German Trabant with a tent on top.
The hostel has a 120 bed capacity and rates range from $32 to about $100 per night.
More photos below.
Here’s another off-road legend from Bring a Trailer. In civilian guise the 6×6 Volvo C304 and its cousin, the 4×4 Volvo C303, are formidable off-roaders, with high-ground-clearance portal axles, vacuum-locking differentials, and a 28″ fording depth. When they were commissioned by the Swedish military, they were known as the Volvo Tgb. In this case, the Tgb 1314 was the ambulance model.
If you’re looking for a go-anywhere truck to turn into an expedition vehicle or camper, this would make a great choice.
While this truck hasn’t been restored, its only covered just over 12,500 miles in its life and has been treated to a bare-metal respray. The vinyl checkerboard decals on the sides are said to be easily removable.
This Tgb 1314 is available in Logan, Utah, for only $22,000, which sounds like a great deal for a capable truck with interior room to spare.
In case you’d like to do more research here’s are links to the C303/C304 Wikipedia page and the C303/C304 owners manual.
Link trail: Bring a Trailer
Here’s an unusual find from the forums on Expedition Portal. This 4×4 camper started life in 1977 as one of five custom-designed maintenance trucks commissioned for the Netherlands Railway Authority. In 1995 the rear utility cab was retired in favor of a camping unit outfitted to house up to four people. Very handy, since the DoKa cab seats up to four as well.
From what I can glean from the posts, truck has covered about 75,000 miles. It has 8 forward gears, 4 reverse, and high-speed axles. It carries about 100 gallons of water and about 140 gallons of fuel, giving a range of 1400 miles, give or take. The owner is asking $24,000, however, there is a catch.
The original, normally-aspirated OM352 engine is shot. The current owner has sourced a new turbocharged motor which is included in the sale and needs to be installed. In an additional wrinkle, the turbocharger is said to make the motor 4″ taller, thus precluding it from fitting into the old engine compartment. Some have suggested a cab lift. Others have suggested relocating the turbo.
Are you interested in taking on this near-one-of-a-kind expedition vehicle? Here’s a link to the forum post. The truck is located in Portland.
More photos after the jump.
Link trail: Original Expo thread > An old ad on Classic Unimogs (many photos) > Picasa Page (many photos) > Current Expo thread