Man Turns his Toyota Car into Micro RV for Stealthy Car Camping

tinyhousetalk ^ | May 6, 2014 | anonymous

[Brother Cracker]

Have you ever thought of converting your car into a stealthy car camper so you can easily sleep in it while traveling without being noticed?

This way you don’t have to spend so much extra money and time getting in and out of hotels while you try to get somewhere.

So I wanted to show you what I’ve been working on for the last few days. Of course it’s considerably smaller than your average tiny house so I’m not sure if you’re still with me but even if you’re not…

Isn’t it fascinating what can be done to make an economy size car a comfortable place to sleep for the night......

[Liberty Valance]

bttt

[Uncle Miltie]

I’ve never owned a vehicle I COULDN’T live in, and did.

1984 Toyota Truck with canopy (a.k.a. “topper”)

1994 Toyota Camry Wagon (a big mistake, but I could and did live in it for a week at a time)

2003 Toyota Tundra w/ canopy.

My current rig holds 500+ pounds of camping gear while I’m out for a week or two at a time.

[GBA]

Saw the world beyond my neighborhood from the big back window of a blue Barracuda like in the lower left corner.

It had a blue interior, and that lay down back seat made for a comfortable place for a little kid to kick back and ride, back in the days before Walkmans, Gameboys and mandatory seat belts.

What a great car! It's part of many good memories of a somewhat different American experience than today's.

Thanks for the flashback!

[Brother Cracker]

[LegendHasIt]

Indeed... Senior year of High School, I had a Rambler station wagon... Unfortunately it was much more often used for camping than for dates....

Probably the fact that I drove a Rambler station wagon in the days when my schoolmates drove Shelby Mustangs and Z28 Camaros had something to do with the aforementioned lack of dates.

...............................

More recently (12 years ago), I took out the passenger seat and built a bed platform in my Suzuki Samurai for sleeping on 4WD adventures.

Before

[Dr. Sivana]

If I recall, didn’t the Washington DC sniper do something like this with a Ford Crown Victoria?

[IYAS9YAS]

Reminds me of the old Volvo 240 that had the hole into the trunk through the fold down arm rest in the middle of the back seat. That way you could put your skis through the trunk back before the days of the roof rack.

If I'm the only one in my '91 CR-V, I can get 6 10' 2x4s in the car. The back seats fold flat, and then the front passenger tips back, and the angle allows me to shove the 2x4s down into the front passenger foot well, and still get the hatch closed. Heck the whole car isn't 14' long tip to tail, so I figure that's pretty darn good.

[BBB333]

I love the Honda CR-V (we are on our third), but I believe they were introduced in 1997 - perhaps you have a 2001?

The Honda Element was a perfect vehicle for car camping.

[Bob]

Aw shoot, just tip the front seats back into the recline position. They’re about as comfortable as a recliner at home in most any modern car.

The car doesn't even need to be all that modern. My 93 Mercury Tracer's front seats recline to almost horizontal. It's reasonably comfortable to nap in it for a few hours, but not so comfortable for a full night's sleep.

[EternalVigilance]

I hear ya.

[Brother Cracker]

The 1990 Chevy Caprice driven by John Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo

[Rebelbase]

[woodbutcher1963]

I think I saw you last weekend at Home Depot :)

Makes me wonder why anybody would buy a pickup truck without the split rear window. I can load 16’ long pieces of lumber into my truck and just bungee it down to the top of the tailgate. You do not even need a flag on the back because it sticks out less than 3’. Without the split window, pickups are useless. I am on my third Toyota Tacoma.

[justlurking]

Reminds me of the old Volvo 240 that had the hole into the trunk through the fold down arm rest in the middle of the back seat. That way you could put your skis through the trunk back before the days of the roof rack.

Quite a few modern cars have that. The top-of-the-line Acura RLX has one.

[baddog 219]

1976 Matador.... front seats folded down to make a full bed.. I slept better in that car than my own bed. Don't get me started on date nights...My car had a modified bench seat because it was an column automatic. I loved this car.

[PLMerite]

I swear I don’t know who they had designing AMC cars but they needed to give them better drugs. Aside from the Gremlin and the AMX/Javelin they were some really odd-looking cars.

[wjcsux]

later

[Brother Cracker]

Hornet Hatchback

Sleeping in your car isn’t anything new, but it was AMC’s predecessor, Nash, that capitalized on the practice by offering seats that folded down into a bed as early as the late 1940s. At the same time, Nash also made window screens available that would in effect turn cars into mobile tents, but the idea of offering an actual tent package seemed not to materialize until sometime after American car manufacturers began to build hatchbacks in the early 1970s, and AMC was right there with the Hornet Hutch Mini-Camper Kit. Available through the Group 15 accessory catalog, the Hornet Hutch (part number 8993019) debuted in 1973 with the Hornet Hatchback. Dealer cost was $61.15, and according to Eddie Stakes, it was available through 1980, about as long as the Hatchback body style lasted in AMC’s lineup, on both the Hornet and its replacement, the Concord (the Spirit, while considered by many a hatchback design, was formally called a Liftback).

[MCF]

Yep, that was it only black with a straight 6

[baddog 219]

I had a 1968 AMX... 1976 Matador, 1976 Ambassador, 1974 Gremlin X, and a 1977 Hornet wagon. All were great cars.
The AMX was a BEAST. Super fast and fun.