Garbage truck RV conversion

[Reddog]

I had heard of this, but never seen an example. Pretty nice!
http://www.itsjustabitoffun.com:80/date/2007/8/20/
Doug Engel, Gunnison, CO (warmed up to -22 so far)

[HB of CJ]

Great post.   I love the pictures.  Thank you.  Got drunk once (only?) and had a dream where I converted an old surplus P4 type airport crash truck into an expedition motorcoach.  Bet the formentioned trash truck can go...just about anywhere...and when he finally gets stuck...he just hops on his cool dirt bike and continues on...to where he wants to go.  Hugh? 

[tekebird]

thats not really a garbage truck.  there are several manufacturers of these things in Europe, Tatra, KAMAZ and a few others

not sure what their normal usage is outside of running around out in the wilds of the third world...but they are raced in their own class while acting as Support Vehicles in The paris Dakar ralley as well as a few other races around the globe.

I have also seen a few in Southern CA that were brought over for exended vacationing in the SW and Mexico by Euro Types

[buddydawg]

It has a nice tall ceiling that allows for the loft.  That would free up a ton of space.

[Dallas]

That looks like an Australian conversion done some years ago.

I think it started out as an ex-military and went from there.

I use to have a link to the fellows website that actually did the work, but over the years I've lost it, along with other important stuff. Like my lighter, my teeth, my mind....

If I remember correctly, (Don't take this as gospel), the whole thing expands out to make about a 20X28 footprint which would make for a nice off road conversion.

Dallas

[Lee Bradley]

thats not really a garbage truck.  there are several manufacturers of these things in Europe, Tatra, KAMAZ and a few others

not sure what their normal usage is outside of running around out in the wilds of the third world...but they are raced in their own class while acting as Support Vehicles in The paris Dakar ralley as well as a few other races around the globe.

I have also seen a few in Southern CA that were brought over for exended vacationing in the SW and Mexico by Euro Types

Did you see that this year's Dakar was cancelled; terrorist concerns.

[Kristinsgrandpa]

The first time that was on here it was pointed out, through a link to the mfgr., that it wasn't a garbage truck, it just had brush guards on and above the cab.

The second time it was on here someone  brought  to our attention the neat drawer latches to keep the drawers closed.

Great boondocker (if it had a genset)

I believe it is Australia, these photos look like the last set.

Ed

[FloridaCliff]

Wasn't this thing in its first life a rescue vehicle at an airport?

That stands out for some reason....

Cliff

[kyle4501]

From what I remember of the website, these are custom built to order on a new chassis & are usually used for remote areas (in the USA, think mineral exploration & scouting movie locations)

The top raises when parked to give more room inside. It is lowered to protect the windows while traveling in the brush.

[kyle4501]

See:

http://www.unicatamericas.com/index.html

for the real story.

[tekebird]

http://www.tatra.cz/en/spodek_en.asp
http://www.renault.lt/skuba/nauji/kerax/

Tatra, LIAZ, Kamaz, Hino, MAN, DAF, Mercedes-Benz Unimog, Renault Kerax, SCANIA, IVECO, and GINAF. In the 1980s, a strong rivalry between DAF and Mercedes-Benz led to vehicles which had twin engines and more than 1000 hp (750 kW). Later Tatra, and Kamaz took the race up. After 2000, renewed competition started in the truck class between DAF, Tatra, Mercedes-Benz and Kamaz.

here is a video of a kamaz Race Truck

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUj6VQTVndU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgZq3u3Q_7M

this is a good one     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gUMFN8JPpU&feature=related
at the end ther eis video of one jumping some 4 foot or so off the ground

I recall watching coverage of the Dakar back in the late 80's and I think it was a Tatra that was hauling Tacos od the windward side of a huge ( couple undered foot tall) sand dune, only to crest and have the lee side fall away, truck endoed two times if I recall and drove away

[Sean]

A similar vehicle goes on the block at Barrett-Jackson this Saturday, I'm told between 2 and 3 pm MST:

http://www.steelwheels4x4.com/

I've seen this one in person -- it is impressive.  I think Ross' health has deteriorated to the point where they are not getting the enjoyment out of it.  Perhaps some day they will build themselves another one.

This one, by the way, is the one that was an airport crash tender, Cliff.

-Sean
http://ourodyssey.blogspot.com

[gumpy]

That looks like an Australian conversion done some years ago.

I think it started out as an ex-military and went from there.

I use to have a link to the fellows website that actually did the work, but over the years I've lost it, along with other important stuff. Like my lighter, my teeth, my mind....

If I remember correctly, (Don't take this as gospel), the whole thing expands out to make about a 20X28 footprint which would make for a nice off road conversion.

Dallas

I think you are thinking of Wothahellizat... http://www.robgray.com/index_files/index_wot.php

I've talked to Rob Gray via email. Nice guy. I'd like to take trip down under to meet him and see his truck sometime. Too bad I can't drive the bus down there

[Jeremy]

http://www.tatra.cz/en/spodek_en.asp
http://www.renault.lt/skuba/nauji/kerax/

Tatra, LIAZ, Kamaz, Hino, MAN, DAF, Mercedes-Benz Unimog, Renault Kerax, SCANIA, IVECO, and GINAF. In the 1980s, a strong rivalry between DAF and Mercedes-Benz led to vehicles which had twin engines and more than 1000 hp (750 kW). Later Tatra, and Kamaz took the race up. After 2000, renewed competition started in the truck class between DAF, Tatra, Mercedes-Benz and Kamaz.

here is a video of a kamaz Race Truck

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUj6VQTVndU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgZq3u3Q_7M

this is a good one     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gUMFN8JPpU&feature=related
at the end ther eis video of one jumping some 4 foot or so off the ground

I recall watching coverage of the Dakar back in the late 80's and I think it was a Tatra that was hauling Tacos od the windward side of a huge ( couple undered foot tall) sand dune, only to crest and have the lee side fall away, truck endoed two times if I recall and drove away

I remember reading a magazine article a few years ago about the history of the race trucks in the Paris-Dakar; originally they were purely support trucks for the cars and bikes (carrying lots of spares, including several complete engines etc), but with the necessity of getting to each service area ASAP the teams began to tune and modify the trucks to go faster and faster - which evolved into the various teams unofficially racing their trucks against each other on each of the rally stages. Because there were no rules restricting what could be done to them, the trucks eventually got so powerful that they regularly got through the stages faster than the racing cars and bikes - at that point the organisers realised things were getting dangerous and added an official 'truck' class to the event so they could control them.

In Iceland incidentally they have tourist buses for use on snow plains etc that are effectively a short coach body mounted on the same kind of off-road 4x4 or 6x6 truck chassis. One of those would make a cool bus conversion, if you could afford the diesel to run it.

Jeremy

[Dallas]

That looks like an Australian conversion done some years ago.

I think it started out as an ex-military and went from there.

I use to have a link to the fellows website that actually did the work, but over the years I've lost it, along with other important stuff. Like my lighter, my teeth, my mind....

If I remember correctly, (Don't take this as gospel), the whole thing expands out to make about a 20X28 footprint which would make for a nice off road conversion.

Dallas

I think you are thinking of Wothahellizat... http://www.robgray.com/index_files/index_wot.php

I've talked to Rob Gray via email. Nice guy. I'd like to take trip down under to meet him and see his truck sometime. Too bad I can't drive the bus down there

Thanks Craig, I think that's it!