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“Every month we ask the cover car owner for the concept they’d like to build, or see built”
“I’ve got an over-active thinking gland, and it’s a bit of an issue,” laughs Steve Keys. “I’ve had an idea in mind for a while now — to combine a cabover with an Airstream caravan to make the ultimate camper.
“I’d love to use a ’51 Ford F5 cabover cab, but with modern running gear underneath. To keep it legal, and get it driving as nicely as possible, I’d drop the cab onto a late-model Ford RV rolling chassis.
“I’d like to have some form of economical motor, but that’d be limited a bit by what came with the chassis. A turbo diesel V8 would be good; then again, I like the thought of a Triton V10, too … There’s no point in getting too carried away with the engine side of things; it’d just need to be nice and reliable, and have enough power to keep up with traffic.
“The camper part of it would need to look like an Airstream caravan from the same era, complete with polished aluminium body — something around 22 to 26 feet long would be ideal.
“I wouldn’t want to do a period-correct retro fit-out of the interior. Instead, the ideal scenario would be to custom build a modern interior with two slide-outs, a lounge / dining / kitchen area, bathroom facilities, and a separate bedroom.
“To ensure that it didn’t end up looking like a bus, there’d need to be a good delineation between the camper body and the cab, although making it walk-through from the cab would be important. The finishing touch would be some period lighting on the rear, and the right set of retro-styled hubcaps to disguise the modern wheels that came with the chassis.
“I can just see Sue, my wife, and I cruising around New Zealand in something like this during our twilight years.”
So can we, for that matter — it’s the perfect kind of weird, yet cool, vehicle that Steve could, and would, build. So, who else would like to see something like this come into creation?
