WTB: Garageable converted van with poptop

[9pb9]

My next garageable camper: http://www.habitents.com/

[shenrie]

import in a hiace or one of the other many japanese campervans. they are cheap in japan, but getting it here will be some money. will likely still come in well under what youd pay for any westy or smb. plus there small turbo diesels available.

we can legally import any vehicle older than 25 years old. and as long as it isnt a skyline, you could likely get in something newer too. just gotta be creative with titling...easy here in idaho (well used to be, havent messed with any jdm vehicles for 10+ years), not so easy elsewhere around the nation.

mazda, toyota, isuzu, mitsubishi, and im sure others all offer some kind of campervan. why we never got them on our shores is beyond me. if there would have been as many campervan choices for us here, i doubt the westys would command near the price they do now.

this is one i saw here a few weeks ago. its a toyota hiace. this particular one probably isnt garageable, but theres a LOT of different versions out there.

[carringb]

I had a Hi-Ace for a while! Ridiculously underpowered, and under hard braking it felt like it was about to to a stoppie! Never needed anything other than oil changes though.

[PeteM]

Mercedes new Metris mid-size commercial van appears to be the only candidate for a garageable poptop with enough load capacity to support a full camper conversion. Both GTRV (Mike Reed) and Reimo Americas have announced poptop conversion units over on the Metris forums.

GM no longer offers their 1500 series van and the 2500 series is too tall for a standard 7ft US garage door opening. The low roof Transit at 83.5 inches might squeeze under an 84 inch (7ft) garage but with no room to spare for the camper top.

Minivans like the Chrysler Town & Country or Toyota Sienna just don't have the payload capacity to support a camper conversion, people, and gear without technically exceeding their GVW load limit.

So unless VW decides to bring back the T6 Campervan or Ford imports the Tourneo Custom from Europe it looks like Metris is the only mid-sized option for the foreseeable future.

[86Scotty]

Recon would fit your needs too.

http://reconcampers.com/

[witoke]

Recon looks good. I had not heard of them. Another possibility is this company in the UK:

http://www.poptoproofs.co.uk/index.php

I count 29 vehicles we don't have in the USA that they make pop-tops for and a handful for vans we do have. I can't imagine shipping is all that much by sea if you use a freight consolidator and it would certainly expand the range of possibilities open to you. As in there are far more regular freight/passenger vans than there are campers available across all brands and they are usually very much cheaper. This assuming you can do that kind of conversion yourself but since you are seriously considering a Vanagon I assume a certain base level of mechanical experience....

[johnolden]

Have a friend that recently sold a Pleasure-Way Traverse w/ a pop top. It was kept in a garage with a standard door. Was on an e-150 chassis with a layout similar to a RB50.

[Poptopper]

Another option is to install a roll-up garage door like you see at automotive shops. The usual garage door with tracks steals at least a foot of cieling space.

A used Ford E series GTRV or SMB might fit that way. If you could find a 2006 or older E150...those ride lower than the 250 and 350. The 2007 and newer 150s used the 250 chassis and ride height.

[witoke]

A couple of people have mentioned buying a van from Japan. It's worth remembering that the Japanese drive on the other side of the road. Their cars are right hand drive. Not insurmountable but hardly ideal.

[Kingskid]

Sportsmobile North installed a standard height pop up on my 2005 Chevy Express 1500 AWD and it is 7'2" - 7'4" high using 10 ply tires.