Mini pick-up from Belgium - Europe

[martha24]

I’ve been reading the posts all along. The Minis are just too cute. My husband wishes they sold little vehicles like that in the US. I keep showing him all the pictures and drawings and he is enjoying it too.
Martha

[jay]

this just keeps gettin' better!

[angib]

OK, here is today's Mini pick-up design! Bart, as you thought those camper builds were a bit hard, I've tried to think of the simplest possible design, so it's got a fixed roof with the same nearly-standing headroom (67in / 170cm) as the ice cream van.



The bed is 78in (198cm) long at the height of the toes, 48in (122cm) wide and the back part is in three sections - the centre one lifts out for access and the two side sections hinge up to give access to the galley and seating underneath.

Another idea tomorrow, I think.

Andrew

[racing green]

But then I don't think it's necessary to have full standing headroom to stand up - as I've said before, all you're doing is pulling up your trousers/pants prior to stepping out! It is possible that the pick-up bed floor was cut away in the ice cream van and a new floor put in on top of the centre tunnel, but I doubt it.

I’ve allways used an iglotent for camping so being able to stand up would be luxury but not absolutely necesary. I think if I still want tot do it at the end it wouldn’t be that hard to ad some kind of small opening roof the way it Works on an Eriba Puck for instance (first line, 2nd picture) http://www.minifunclub.de/1/2/wohnwagen.htm. Don’t think there was any cutting on the floor of the icecream truck either, but I’ll investigate that as soon as I manage to see one for real.

On the icecream van the reduction in top speed would be 20-25%, assuming the gearing was perfect at the new reduced speed. Third gear would drop the speed by 30% from fourth, so I reckon the top speed would be on the rev limit in third. Ouch!

Top speed of a 1.000 / 1.100cc mini is 150 km/hour, I use to keep it at 110 to be comfortable. Don't think I would take this one over 100 km/h, as my fellow mini clubmembers don’t go over 100 with their mini-caravan combinations as well. Big trucks do 90kmh over here, I just want the to overtake me.

My husband wishes they sold little vehicles like that in the US. I keep showing him all the pictures and drawings and he is enjoying it too.

There’s some in the U.S. and you can still import them, got an American correspondent who wants to sell his private one, send me a PM if your husband is really interested.

Here’s another one being brought to the U.S. http://trucks.about.com/od/classictruck ... _truck.htm

would a teardrop trailer be much easier, more room, easier on the truck not carrying the weight instead towing it ?

Teardrop campers are very rare over here, I’ve seen a few on minimeets during the years and saw one last month being towed by a mini moke in England. However, towing a small caravan is nothing new in the mini-scène, converting a mini-pick-up to possibly the smallest mobilhome in the world, IS new. Well to be honnest I’ve sourced 2 pictures of others but they’re oldscool pictures and they don’t seem to be around anymore (will post some pics later on).

As promised, here’s a picture of the back of my actual pick-up.



Andrew I can also see on the first picture you’ve made the door allmost to the top this time, last time it was only like halfway, wanted to tell you that would be too claustrophobic for me lol.

Still not sure if I’ll manage to sleep AND cook AND store my clothes AND sit and eat in it. Maybe for the eating something on the outside should be aranged, a tent or simple shelter with one side open, fixed to the end of the camper, would do the trick.

You guys think the best option is to build the outside in wood, or look for someone who would be prepared to have a go for it in fibreglass, simply making a copy of the icecreamvan on the outside, and then starting to do the innerside construction ?

[Aussie Nomad]

If you can fit one to a Saab anything is possible.

[racing green]

Yeah was originaly available from Saab but I guess they had engineers for that, I don't :-)

http://www.saabcentral.com/features/saa ... pola_b.php

[angib]

Bart, making a pop-up roof with soft sides is not an easy job. It looks simple, but there are many details that need to be worked out and many of them conflict with each other.

So today's design is a lift-up roof version with solid sides. This is based on my entry in the current competition and consists only of two rectangular boxes, with no fancy geometry (except for a curved front to reduce wind resistance).

This is the interior view with the (pink-y) lifting top up:



And here's the outside with the roof down:



Problems? Well, the door has to go back to a fairly low height which means you cannot get out of the bunk through the door, like in an emergency - you have to lift the middle of the bunk and climb down. Also the door cannot be opened when the roof is down, which could be a real nuisance in a garage!

The upside is that the camper is fairly low when on the road (19"/48cm above the pick-up roof) but has plenty of headroom - the maximum is 81"/207cm and there is your 186cm/73" height over a length of 26"/66cm.

I think you have to build this yourself in plywood - having someone else make it in fiberglass would cost many thousand euro.

Andrew

[dwgriff1]

I once had a little Datsun pickup, 1965 or so. 1200cc and 60 to 70 hp. I picked up a "camper top" high enough I could stand up in, but then I couldn't get the guy up to 60 mph and the mileage was similarly awful.

I traded it back to the maker for a topper that was about 6 or 8" above the cab and it made a lot of difference, but it was still a tiny underpowered rig.

My all time favoite rig, package wise, was the late 60's VW bus. The engine was a disaster and I never could get more than 15,000 to 20,000 miles out of a $600 rebuild, but the package was quite comfortable.

I drive a full size pickup now, and get better mileage than I did from my Datsun or my VW.

dave

[racing green]

I know just putting a "rooftrunk" (don't know the name) on top of the roof of a 63bhp mini, brings down the top speed from 160 to 120 km/h.

Although I really fancy the fibreglass constructions, I don't have thousands to spend so I'll skip that for now. Also skip the pop-up roof, no need to get it too complicated if there's other ways to do the job. Not being able to open it in the garage isn't that much of a problem, if it's going to stand where I'm planning to, there's plenty of room to open it.

The emergency issue makes me think. Off course, I don't want to be found burned to death in my bed. Damn !! (makes me think of an episode of Top Gear, where they "accidentaly" set a caravan on fire).

Why is it that with every design you come up with, I think yeah, this is it ?
I wonder how many more designs you've got up your sleeve, Andrew. They're all nice and better then the odd shaped constructions I had drawn on paper so far (some of them being more wide then the mini, to make it less claustrophobic).

[jay]

you could always style in a "pop out" similar to the BIG campers. at this scale, even an awning style window will draw your eye outwards. 2" - 3" or is that 6cm - 10cm, will make a difference [in the perception of indoor space] i'll wager.

[racing green]

I'm sorry, what does "awning" mean ?

I've mentioned before I had never seen any mini wildgoose for sale, now I have. It's a few months too late but still: http://tinyurl.com/gmvzn

[jay]

an awning window hinges on top and the bottom swings out.

a hopper window hinges at the bottom and swings in.

a slider is divided in 2 (or more) and opens either left to right or vise versa.

a jalousie window is made up of pieces which open outward at the same time.

i cannot think of any more styles which would apply, but someone else surely can- and will!

[angib]

By George, (s)he's got it. By George, (s)he's got it.*

I think this latest version is really going to cover all of Bart's wishes and be fairly simple to build. It is a medium-height with a fixed roof - there is just sitting headroom inside when sitting on the side boxes.

The back opens up with a big hatch covering the top half - this hinges up to form a 42"/107cm extension to the camper and a custom-made fabric 'tent' is clipped right over the hatch and the camper body. This gives 75"/190cm headroom under the hatch when standing on the ground. There is also a low door in the middle to make climbing in easy, rather like the back of those lovely Citroen H vans - please note this link is for Bart only and is not suitable for Americans to see as it may cause them significant automotive shock and would just be another excuse to take the piss out of the French....



To convert the camper to sleeping layout, the (purple) galley box is moved to the middle and dropped into the gap between the side boxes to form a flat platform (I'm rather proud of this flash of inspiration). An extension platform is clipped onto the back of the camper and held up by ropes to the roof - this gives a bed that's 75"x48"/190x122cm and still with space to (just) get out of the 'tent' with the bed in use.

Andrew

* Of course, the lines are from 'The Rain in Spain' from the 'My Fair Lady' musical, circa 1960. Here are the full lyrics and you can listen to an extract here!

[racing green]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: this is the one ! just the rear hatch that tilts, that can't be too difficult to construct. and then the way the bed finds its place..genius ! Above the roof there's even place for storage now. What's a galley box ?

Now for the seating abilities, there's no way 2 people can be seated in the back (certainly not in a comfortable way), let alone doing something like cooking or having dinner. I should try that once the back of the pick-up is empty again (it's used as a storage for now). Maybe room for one sitting while cooking. Why don't I just drive a Dodge Ram instead..

Love those citroën H vans and oldscool vw split-windscreen busses !
http://www.ritzsite.demon.nl/Citroen68/Pics/h_back.jpg

How exactly do you see the back door, the same as on the citroën ? Can I keep the tailgate then, or should I have it replaced by a construction similar then this tailgate custom-split into two ?
http://members.lycos.nl/minispecial4/DSC05597.JPG

You were talking 'bout plywood before, is that the type of wood used to home-build campers, and what thickness ? So no MDF ? Does it need to be double with isolation in between or would 1 layer do just fine ? How to make it waterproof ? I will probably learn about those issues elsewhere on the forum but it would be convenient knowing that kind of information allready.

I'm not into musicals but some things just need music to explain your feelings, don't they Andrew.

[jay]

MDF will soak up water like a sponge!!! no masonite either - you'll be depending on the paint (or other finish) to keep out any moisture.


follow Mike's advice and use the best materials you can afford. these things we build are subjected to laws of physics which have not even been discovered yet!

marine plywood, glue, & screws