Let's Go Camping

[special-K]

Nothing like an off road ready camper (right Larry?). I got out of my beloved '71 Custom Camper rig because my kids had grown and what I really wanted was a low-pro/pop-up camper on my '72 GMC K2500. The '71 was asking for a restoration and I decided to donate it to a '72 SWB build and put my efforts into my dream. Well, my ex turned it into a nightmare . I still have the dream, but on hold I guess.

So, when I stumbled on what I am about to show you while searching camper type stuff, it hit me that maybe a picture/conversation thread on mild to wild off road camping rigs is due. Just a camper on a 4wd to the extreme. So, if you all agree, let me begin with this wildass rig! HUH? (photoshop or reality? Who cares, just look)

[DirtyLarry]

Heck ya! Nothing like a 6x6 Fleetwood Bounder! It would be the talk of the town at any KOA campground.

[walkerb]

Thats awesome! Imagine seeing that in the review mirror!

[special-K]

Us consumers sure do benefit from all that military R&D, ay?

Here is the modest off road camping rig I had when I lived in Flagstaff and Pagosa Springs many moons ago. It was taken 1981 in Page,AZ. Getting groceries for a Moab trip. truck was equipped with a Sidewinder:

[jr54international]

should start calling it a K20, GM did not interduce the K2500 until the 80s

[Bladeboy1998]

Originally Posted by jr54international

should start calling it a K20, GM did not interduce the K2500 until the 80s

I though gmc called there trucks k1500 and k2500 and chevy called them k10 and k20.

[jr54international]

My Bad

[Bladeboy1998]

Originally Posted by jr54international

My Bad

Don't feel bad I just learned that the other day too.

[special-K]

Originally Posted by jr54international

should start calling it a K20, GM did not interduce the K2500 until the 80s

I've had quite a few 67-72 Chevy K/20s since the '70s and this one GMC k2500 since '01. GM started off with K20 Chevys and K2500 GMCs. Then in '73 Chevys stayed K20 and GMC went with K25. It wasn't till the '88s that GMC went back to K2500 and for the first time Chevy went that way,too.

Anyone else have any 4wd/off road camper pics?

[special-K]

No 4wd camper pictures? Doesn't have to be extreme, but here ya go:

[MalibuSSwagon]

Saw this in Vermont back in July, had South Africa plates on it. Pretty awesome.

[Bladeboy1998]

Let's see some more 67-72 4x4 campers!!

[DirtyLarry]

I recognize that gray G-van class C motor home. That guy used to be on Expedition Portal but I haven’t seen him around in a long time. He was running a late model L29 454 in it too. Cool rig!

Here are a couple real world 4x4 camper rigs that I liked and saved the pics. Not all are GM, I’m a closet Mopar fan too. The last one is a Sterling Bullet, which was a rebadged RAM. That is cool about it is how the guy made a really rock solid pop-up camper out of a 16ft U-Haul cargo box

[Bladeboy1998]

Hey dirty larry, nice johnny cash reference under your name! Get Rhythm ��

[DirtyLarry]

A few more favs from my hard drive

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by Bladeboy1998

Hey dirty larry, nice johnny cash reference under your name! Get Rhythm ��

Yeah, and I really do live on the windy corner of a dirty street too


And of course, there is my personal favorite off-road camper rig. I almost forgot to post my own













Neat oddball pic from Death Valley

[special-K]

I knew I could lure that '78 out in this thread. I missed that your truck got a story in 4wheel & Off Road. Not surprised a bit. I always wondered what the deal was with those little Sterlings. Rarely have seen one and no one I've asked has even known what I was talking about. That first rig in post #15 has me thinking about building something like that. Never considered such a simple design. On a longbed that could be supported off the front bumper

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by special-K

I knew I could lure that '78 out in this thread. I missed that your truck got a story in 4wheel & Off Road. Not surprised a bit. I always wondered what the deal was with those little Sterlings. Rarely have seen one and no one I've asked has even known what I was talking about. That first rig in post #15 has me thinking about building something like that. Never considered such a simple design. On a longbed that could be supported off the front bumper

Yeah, the Sterling Bullet (2007-2009) was a short lived love child between two sister companies at the time. Back in 2007 Sterling was a Daimler Trucks North America company while Chrysler Corp (Dodge, Jeep, Chrysler) was a DaimlerChrysler company….both reported to the mothership Mercedes. Rebadging the RAM 4500 and 5500 chassis cabs as Sterlings gave the Sterling brand a quick entry into the class 4 and 5 medium duty market. Daimler Trucks killed off the Sterling brand in 2009 across the board, which wasn’t a bad thing. Sterling’s were all bastard trucks anyway where their offerings were based on old Ford L series tractors, rebadged Dodge Ram chassis cabs, & rebadged Mitsubishi Fuso’s. The entire Sterling concept was pretty ill conceived from the beginning. Sterling has zero control over quality and struggled to service their different vehicles because they were all different branded trucks where there were no parts commonality or anything. Sterling dealers struggled to fix a sandwich!

The Silverado with the tent topper thing is called a Flip-Pac. They are really cool! Simple and light... The problem is for the cost of a new one, a person can buy a good used pickup camper for a ton less money and it seems durability problems seem to plague these things. Still a neat concept though!

Here is along bed version. The flip over bed thing remains the same size as the shorter models


The camper shell on your old yellow truck is pretty cool too. Was that a Callen camper? Wish you still lived out this way to go play in the desert with us.

[gerfunken]

I'll throw in a couple of pictures I've got of my '72 on various hunting and camping trips.

[flashed]

Some very nice rigs in this thread ,keep them coming .

[special-K]

Originally Posted by DirtyLarry

The camper shell on your old yellow truck is pretty cool too. Was that a Callen camper? Wish you still lived out this way to go play in the desert with us.

Yes it was. It was as you see it when I bought it. I wish I had stayed out there. I probably would have migrated to Colorado since not much was happening around Flagstaff at the time. I came back when telephones were deregulated to get into that with a friend who started a business. I figured learn that and bounce back west with a skill in a stable industry (remember those?) where I still worked with my hands and could find work anywhere. That was a blunder and meanwhile I met Ms Wrong and married her (). We talked about moving west but turns out that was me more than her. She's "Daytona *****" now and I stayed right here to raise my son. Florida? Go figure. Ah, life. Ain't it grand? I'll never get the west out of my blood. I can still smell the Pondarosa needles on the ground in the hot sun. I hope to live it one day.

I know I can always come to you to stop my head spinning with truck industry flavor of the week migrations. My brother-in-law had an L-body Mercedes powered Sterling tandem dump. I forget what day it was built

[Mr. 250r]

Granted its a ford but i was looking up ford van 4wd conversions for a friend to see how much they cost which is not cheap and found this from one of their customer builds man it is sweet

[VonDog]

Elk hunt a few years ago.

[special-K]

Hey Scott, I'm liking your camping pictures. I get the feeling you guys get "out there" as much as possible. We don't have a lot of get out there places for vehicles close by, mostly park and hike in places. But, my rig these days is my '85 Jimmy. Just crawl into the back and sleep diagonal on 4 sleeping pads. I have an assortment of tents, too.

[gerfunken]

Originally Posted by VonDog

Elk hunt a few years ago.

That almost looks like Seligman, AZ mud. That stuff gets thick, and never seems to let go.