[tl:gallery index=0 size=440×416]
A horizontally expanding motorhome is all well and good, but what happens when your pitch isn’t long enough to extend the sleeping quarters?
The answer, obviously, is to use a vertically expanding motorhome instead — and that’s just what three Japanese students have developed as a pet project.
Built on a Toyota ‘Toyoace’ 1.5 ton chassis, the “Camping-car” consists of a lower living area with kitchen and bathroom (complete with bathtub), and an upper ‘Japanese-style’ four-berth sleeping area accessible via an interior staircase. The upper level is raised using a generator, abut compressor and two pneumatic lifts — a process that takes two minutes to complete.
[tl:gallery index=1 size=440×260]
The ‘van has distinct DIY look about it and took two years to complete, but the builders freely admit that they knew little about carpentry or engineering — and their handiwork was still sufficient to see them on a 25,500km trip around Japan.
More details and photos at the makers’ web site.
