p38 ute "strange rover"

[prelude]

I've been reading up on the D1 twin turbo ute conversion on here and I thought to myself: someone must have done that to a P38, right?

Well, not quite but close enough:

Strange Range Rover Pickup Truck - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYLkB3ZLdr8)
What's next? A trayback camper? [bigsmile]

-P

[donh54]

I like it!

[Keithy P38]

As crazy as it sounds, a dual cab version on a stretched chassis might even look good if it comes close to looking like this!

[p38arover]

It looks poorly proportioned.

[Disco Muppet]

Pretty sure Graeme Coopers had one with an alloy tray

[loanrangie]

Typical pommy bodge job, left the rear door handles on and didnt fill the gaps.

[Tins]

Typical pommy bodge job, left the rear door handles on and didnt fill the gaps.

Can probably open those doors and store stuff under the tray...

[prelude]

It looks like half a convertable job indeed. (yes I have found pics of those along the way as well) The reason I was looking into this is that I am beginning to realize that a P38 is small-ish on the inside for long overland travel, certainly since rooftop tent sleeping will not be possible or even desireable everywhere I go. I have been looking at those pop-top roofs for defenders, troopy's and G's but that is hard to make work I think or one of those camper conversions that are often done on traybacks (or chopped up 80's, defenders and so on).

I came across 1 single example of a bloke who had a go at it, and also wanted people to believe it's a L322 [bighmmm]

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/06/82/d4/0682d4eaac618fd968d7c913eec68cb3.jpg

Not the prettiest job but food for thought!

-P

[Tins]

I came across 1 single example of a bloke who had a go at it, and also wanted people to believe it's a L322 [bighmmm]

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/06/82/d4/0682d4eaac618fd968d7c913eec68cb3.jpg

Not the prettiest job but food for thought!

-P

What is it really? Looks like a Freelander to me.

[gusthedog]

Don't bother with a pop top roof. Get a shippshape rooftop tent or fibreglass pod type if you like comfort. Can move them to a new vehicle when you need.

The current trend of folding roof top tents are ****e if you ask me. A folded thin mattress is never going to come close to a full length jobbie.

[Tins]

Don't bother with a pop top roof. Get a shippshape rooftop tent or fibreglass pod type if you like comfort. Can move them to a new vehicle when you need.

The current trend of folding roof top tents are ****e if you ask me. A folded thin mattress is never going to come close to a full length jobbie.

Lucky we are all different. I agree about the folding tents. My car had one. Kept the roofrack. The rest went to some other poor bugger.

That Shippshape? After two or three time putting it up or down in the rain and I would be moving it to someone else's vehicle. Same for most pods.

When I do it, it's going to be a Mulgo, most likely. Open it from inside the car when it's raining. Or, I might find me an OKA. I intend to be gone for a while. I need something I can live in, not on.

[Disco Muppet]

I’d only ever get a Maggiolina, but they’re horrifically expensive

[Tins]

I’d only ever get a Maggiolina, but they’re horrifically expensive

I know the prices on their website are US, but they don't seem too bad compared to $3600 for a Shippshape. I suppose getting one here would add to it though.

[Disco Muppet]

I see them advertised here for ~$5k

[prelude]

We seem to digress, but since we are :) I have one of those standard design rooftop tents right now and I am not too sure about them indeed. (you know, chinese 13 times rebranded stuff) I like the interior space when they are opened up and I bought the large version which has a "tent" that you can zip underneath so you have a large area to stand up in, change clothes, whatever and you can zip the back open so you can reach the rear door of your vehicle. Having said that, these things are meant to go on hugely tall vehicles because I can never get it to properly tie down, it's simply too long. Also, opening these things up is easy, folding them back in is quite a hassle and I have done it in freezing rain (around 1c) and at -27c when I went up to the north cape and that is just no fun.

So, yes, I am definatly beginning to see that beeing able to do everything from the inside is a huge + Maybe not so in the summer in australia, but when you take into account that I want to travel all over the world I need something that works from the north to the south pole :)

Maggiolina I have heard of and I have seen and the vertical rising roof is imho a real bonus since you can have 360 degrees of outside views (well nearly) which makes it very good for camping in wildlife parks. You can wake up and look outside to see wildlife right under your nose whereas if you have to climb outside first they'll be long gone. The pop-tops folding to one side also have their uses since in heavy weather you can point the slanted roof into the wind.

Back to the subject; the P38 is a smallish car for living out of so going ute with a trayback for more space was idea one but then I though of just a pop-top roof, but then again that would not cut it in terms of space I think hence the idea of a camper conversion. Just not as square as in the link :)

Cheers,

-P

[stealth]

Looks as bad as all other converted utes from station wagon type bodies. Rarely does anyone get the back of the cab to look right. Yuk!