Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

My parents are getting old, and haven't been camping in years. They decided to sell their 5th wheel camper and pickup, as it has been sitting in storage for years. To help out I pulled the thing to a local tractor-trailer car wash to get it cleaned up. While the employees were washing it I was chatting with the owner of the truck wash. That's when I saw this.... thing.

It was a 70's era mini-cab over semi. (Picture of something very similar below). Simple cab, two axels, four tires only, no duelies. It has a truck bed on the back, and a 5th wheel. I got to chatting with the guy and he said it was a left-over relic from when he owned a mobile home court. He used it to shuttle around the mobile homes in the court. The engine blew in the early 90's, and having had sold the trailer park he had no incentive to fix it. It was now just in his way.


He basically left this conversation at, "hey, if you're interested make me an offer". Now, I have at my disposal a couple ready-to-run 350 small block chevy engines and transmissions, and I've been wanting a pickup for in-town medium duty (Plywood, furniture, yard waste). I don't think this would put too much stress on the engines, being undersized for the platform, as I'm not really pulling large trailers. It would also be goofy as all hell, which makes me giggle inside.

Stupid pipe-dream, or semi realistic?

And yes, I am kind-of wanting to live a Mad-Max fantasy in this. LOL

A tad mad Max. But good luck. You might end up having the odd headache with brakes and power systems being designed for a powerful lorry engine not a smaller domestic engine.

Certainly a fun quirky project!

Yeah, I was thinking of that too. I'm still investigating options. Getting tires for this thing is going to cost as much as buying it, so that's also a downer.

 cuda1179 wrote:
Yeah, I was thinking of that too. I'm still investigating options. Getting tires for this thing is going to cost as much as buying it, so that's also a downer.

Ouch...yeah. that and youl need to go to a lorry place to service and such it.
Looks cool, not cheap to maintain if something goes wrong.

It just depends how much money your prepared to spend out really.

Needs a Squig Launcher!

Paint the cab red, and name it Almostimus Prime

That thing would be awesome to throw on some air-ride and make it a big cruiser!

I do think throwing a 350 in it would get it down the road but you wont be winning any 0-60 contests unless its against an old guy on a bicycle.. You would certainly limit your towing capability with a small block in there but considering Chrysler used to throw 318 poly engines in their trucks in the 60s and they got down the road ok you should be fine for just cruising around. I certainly don't see any issues making dump runs or hauling furniture or whatever.

Freeways will be interesting to see if the 350 can churn out enough power to push that wall down the road at freeway speeds.

What engine is in it now? I ask because another thing to consider is how much fab is going to be needed to drop a small block Chevy in it. It may be easier to find a replacement for whats in it for less than what you would spend having the rest of it fabbed up to fit a different engine and transmission.

As of now there isn't an engine in it, or transmission. To give you a little scale on this thing, it's actually shorter (bumper to bumper) than a Chevy Silverado quad-cab. That being said, it is noticeably wider.

I'm going to look it up, but I'm willing to bet that the gross curb weight of this thing was under 7000 pounds.

On the highway this is the biggest brick ever. Luckily, I'm going to be doing 90% in-town driving, so wind resistance isn't a major concern. Likely driving it less than 1000 miles per year.

 cuda1179 wrote:
Luckily, I'm going to be doing 90% in-town driving, so wind resistance isn't a major concern. Likely driving it less than 1000 miles per year.

I know it sounds boring, but if you see a possible use for this thing in your business you have to count money. How much will it take to refurbish it for your use? Time, money, outside labor? How much will it cost to operate (fuel, insurance, maintenace)? And how much do you expect it to bring in once you have it running?

If you have too much cash anyway and just want a project, go ahead.

"Semi realistic", I see what you did there...

Make it so!


It does look like it's missing half a front end tho...

 cuda1179 wrote:
My parents are getting old, and haven't been camping in years. They decided to sell their 5th wheel camper and pickup, as it has been sitting in storage for years. To help out I pulled the thing to a local tractor-trailer car wash to get it cleaned up. While the employees were washing it I was chatting with the owner of the truck wash. That's when I saw this.... thing.

It was a 70's era mini-cab over semi. (Picture of something very similar below). Simple cab, two axels, four tires only, no duelies. It has a truck bed on the back, and a 5th wheel. I got to chatting with the guy and he said it was a left-over relic from when he owned a mobile home court. He used it to shuttle around the mobile homes in the court. The engine blew in the early 90's, and having had sold the trailer park he had no incentive to fix it. It was now just in his way.


He basically left this conversation at, "hey, if you're interested make me an offer". Now, I have at my disposal a couple ready-to-run 350 small block chevy engines and transmissions, and I've been wanting a pickup for in-town medium duty (Plywood, furniture, yard waste). I don't think this would put too much stress on the engines, being undersized for the platform, as I'm not really pulling large trailers. It would also be goofy as all hell, which makes me giggle inside.

Stupid pipe-dream, or semi realistic?

And yes, I am kind-of wanting to live a Mad-Max fantasy in this. LOL

I haven't seen one of these things in years. A nice find on your part.

I say go for it. It would make for a fun project, if nothing else.

Yeah go for it! Worst case is it sits a few years and you end up sending it to the scrap yard. Best case, you have something to keep you occupied and a cool toy to boot

I have a thought, can't you paint it up to resemble the Autobot Huffer or maybe Pipes? Or go super obscure and do one of the Argentinian repaints?

As fun as this project would have been, my wife vetoed it. She wanted something "she would feel comfortable driving if she needed to".

YES! Do it! And if you don't start a build thread on here I will hunt you down!

I bought me a Vauxhall Zafira yesterday, meaning I am once again mobile.

It needs a new stereo, as the CD player doesn’t work, and I can’t currently hook up my iPad. I also still have a set of these...



So whilst a tame job on my unskilled hands, reckon I’ll apply the decals once the new stereo is bought, installed and suitably sanctified...

But if anyone is working on a more custom project, happy to part with the decals!