Here's a crazy idea. Get a good running late model school bus, scrap the body. Get a neat IH, or whatever truck cab you like, and put it on the bus chassis. Then mount your camper on the chassis, and being really creative, make a ramp up the back to haul your hot rod. I'm good with spending other people's money and effort...
Oh I have crafted 20 different vessels in my head. They are all free until I pull the trigger. I like the AD camper except I would have used an airstream camper to keep the round fenders theme going. My daughter says I am matchy matchy….
Maybe a school bus and just make a garage in the back. The front section would be your camper section. Oh the possibilities! Or better yet, a double decker bus. Upstairs would be the living quarters, downstairs the garage and mobile workshop. Get an old British one with a purely mechanical fuel injection diesel engine, and it will run even when the worldwide magnetic pulse knocks out all electrical bits and bobs. Okay so I'm going sort of Steampunk... it could work!
Hey, Anthony; While I'll probably never have anything as neat as those, they do spark the imagination. Geezz - thanks a *lot* ! . Just what I needed... . While I realize that most of that stuff isn't hamb-type, do you have any more pics of the interiors & how they're done now, or are being done - compared to what they were? Maybe you could get the guy to post here on his finds & doings? At least on this thread? Hopefully, it this thread won't get closed or disappeared. Or is he posting elsewhere? I'd sure follow that out of interest/curiosity. Just how much of that stuff is in decent condition(most everything like that around here is rotted beyond belief), & is that guy restoring/fixing-to-resell, or is he wealthy & keeping as a collection? Not jealous, but amazed - & *always interested* in what folks do to find the funds to do these cool things. The skills & imagination out there are, to me, almost unbelievable. At my age n bodily condition, dreaming is best - but at least fun, to keep the imagination stimulated. Favorite activity as a kid was junkyard-crawling & imagineering. . There was a Stude factory one-off van-truck-thing done in ~'55, that I saw about 10 yrs ago, couldn't quite swing it, but kicked off these kind of thoughts. My folks had a pull-behind camping trailer, that they got new after looking for a long time, due to the interior layout. Most just weren't done w/much thought. The one they got was a mid-60's 19' Trailblazer, IIRC. So I'm always interested in the interior layouts. Not having to hook up has its' appeal... . Marcus...
This guy buys and sells. He modifies some of em, enjoys then sells or trades. He has a trailer and truck set up and hunts em down. I’ll get a contact and post it when I can
The guy can be found on IG Rust Free Motors in New York. Brian Morris on FB Operates a couple pages. Hot Rod Junque and Street Legal Stock Cars.
That 60 ish Ford short bus with the blue hood does it for me. In answer to your original post why not just do a van-man. I drove from the bottom of the Great Lakes across the amber waves of grain, through the Rockies to Vancouver island after high school with a buddy. We did that trip in a 73 micro bus from a company that is not mentioned here, but the two letters are near the end of the alphabet. I wish we would have come home the American way, there is so much more to see. My other idea that I will never get around to is grafting the back of a 1940 to 48 ford sedan onto some sort of cab. Maybe someone with skills could photo shop something up for you, likely sounds better than it looks. If you build something be sure to post it.
This belongs to a friend...started out as a 1937 transit bus. Really cool inside and out. Has modern diesel drive train.
Anthony, I always wondered what " Philips Chapet" meant, on the side of your bus... you erased quite some text while shortening your bus, hahaha
A friend recently bought one of these and plans on converting it to a late model diesel truck drivetrain. I can´t remember if it was a MAN or Mercedes truck chassis and drivetrain but late model diesel and probably not on the cheap side.
An idea I've always wanted to do is buy a 50s Airstream with a bad frame, pull it off the frame, and put it on a 50s fire truck with a stretched frame, and paint the fire truck body a two tone, with colors that compliment the chrome body of the airstream. Perhaps a Detroit diesel with a 13 speed in it?
Even the buses had style in those days. And built to last. Any chance you can post interior pictures?
Mt friend Stan Ducker built this 1927 International Motorcoach almosy 20 years ago when he was a instructor at Blue Ridge Collage. HRP Fast forward the video to 8;10
Check out the Kampco online catalog for all sorts of preformed parts for corners, roof bows, and other parts that can be adapted to make a camper body. Should save you a lot of work and get your creative juices flowing.