Four-wheel drive Land Rover Camper for sale ...
Ken Bowker
My Land Rover Camper is for sale because we're settling down to the
quiet life ... if anyone is interested, please give Jean or myself a
call.
I've attached the details of the ad which has gone out in the
UK press for basic information.
Here's the advertisement to give you a flavour; the story
follows it ...
HEN’S TOOTH
Without doubt the best Land Rover Camper ever, featured in
December’s LRO. Immaculate removable American body with corner
jacks, custom-made for a Hi-Cap and very easily demounted.
Double bed (spring mattress), huge three-way fridge, gas hob
with extractor hood, central heating, cassette toilet, battery
and mains electrics, fly-screens on all windows and door,
wardrobe and loads of storage, table, extra double berth, sink,
on-board water tank, roof ladder. The removable Alpine RDS
stereo also fits the colour-matched 110 Turbo Diesel Hi-Cap
Pick-Up with Volvo seats, cubby box, uprated springs, tonneau
cover and towbar/electrics. £13,500. (Might sell the body
separately). 01635 278376 (Newbury).
AND HERE'S THE STORY (which is interesting for one man's view of camping
if for nothing else)...
It all started becos my wife Jean & I took up scuba diving
years ago and found that towing a conventional caravan, a relic
of our time bringing up a family, didn't easily allow us to tow
a boat as well ... so we bought a hi-top camper van based on a
front-wheel drive Talbot van, pretty luxurious, and something
which did us proud for trips around the Scandinavia, the UK and
Ireland for a few years.
The problem with a standard camper, however, is that if it goes
off the road a wheel-width into an Irish bog, or if it goes
down to the bottom of a field full of long wet grass, it needs
a winch to get out again, and I'm getting too old for that. It
also gets stuck on slip ways pulling boats out (I set fire to
the wooden slip at Bridport, Dorset, one memorable day, by
spinning the tyres).
So we started to look for a 4WD camper, and they are like Hen's
Teeth, which for my British readers was the title of the
article I did for Land Rover Owner International magazine last
November. (Unfortunately, I my PC ate the Word file, or I'd
just send you that).
There are conversions based on Land Rovers, which tend to be a
little cramped, or overheated, or both; the 'Overland'
suppliers, as we found out, offer you a roof-top tent to sleep
in, which is not too useful in Scotland in January in a
blizzard. One alternative is an unusual Land Rover, the 101,
an Army version, widely available as an ambulance, where the
front seat passengers sit on top of the engine with the windows
open to let the fumes out ... not for us.
The Carawagon was a professional conversion with a tilting
roof, but again they are rare, old and cramped.
Our other need was to cut down on costs; at the time of
looking, I ran a car, so did Jean, and the camper sat in the
garden, all three taxed and insured ... not economic and not
environmentally caring, either; what we needed was something
that Jean could use as a runaround but which could still fit in
multi-storey car parks. (101s don't do that, either).
I found the solution at a Camping show in Slough; for those of
you who don't know England, no-one actually goes camping
voluntarily in Slough, and that's a diplomatic way of
describing the town.
'It' was a demountable camper, a jack at each corner, designed
for one-tonne pickups like Mazdas and Toyotas, built in the
USA, an amazing thing which we christened the Tardis, becos it
is far bigger inside than it is outside. They didn't do a Land
Rover version, and in the UK climate, if you want 4WD and a
vehicle which will last, you buy an aluminium Land Rover rather
than a gently-rusting Toyota. A version could be built for a
Land Rover, we were told ... the distributor had already done
the measurements and we needed a Hi Capacity Pick Up (HCPU).
We did some research ... there were British manufacturers doing
similar things but not for Land Rovers; the quality of the
standard British product was as good but the goodies you got
weren't ... fly screens, heating, water, cooking hobs, toilets,
all were extra. The cost for the basic (ie empty) body was a
thousand pounds and more higher, and they all wanted an extra
thousand for the Land Rover modifications, EXCEPT the US
makers, who did it for free. Two of the UK manufacturers
hadn't quite worked out how to fit jacks (we met one of their
customers on the Isle of Mull last year, driving round with no
hope of dismounting their burden).
So we ordered an American one and bought a second-hand HCPU,
which are not easy to find in good condition. HCPUs tend to be
used by builders; the suspension and the rear get coated in
concrete and they are invariably abused. Ours was used by a
retired sheep farmer and had reputedly never been in fifth
gear; his dog had eaten the seats but apart from that it was
fine. We had it resprayed to match the US body, and the
Americans sent us a set of matching side stripes for the Land
Rover; we fitted seats from a Volvo 345, had the rear springs
uprated with heavy-duty military ones, carpeted it, fitted a
big cubby box, sound-proofed it and fitted a decent stereo.
Outside it acquired towbars back and front (useful for
manouevring boats) and some squiffy electrics so we can charge
the battery in the pick-up, during long stays on remote sites
with the body demounted.
You can live in it on the vehicle, or off the vehicle, when it
allows you the freedom to take off in the pickup and go
touring; there's no problem by way of security ... the doors
are double deadlocked and it is not an easy 'caravan' to pinch!
The luxury is outstanding; it has taken us all over the UK,
including some cold wintry stuff in North-West Scotland, in
sublime comfort; in bad conditions, such as snow, the Land
Rover just keeps going.
In summer, there's loads of room for the wine and the barbie,
and above all, you don't need a campsite, perhaps not so useful
in England, but in Scotland or Ireland a positive boon.
We are selling it now becos we've bought a house on the west
Coast of Scotland where the slipway is only a kilometre away
and we don't need it anymore ... most of its life has been
spent looking for the house.
If you're interested, what are you waiting for!!
Ken Bowker
The Cottage, Earlstone Manor Farm, Burghclere, Newbury, RG20
9NG UK
Tel 01635 278376 email bow...@dial.pipex.com
mary....@gmail.com
are there any photos ? is there an awning ?how much is it ?
thanks Mary