Here’s one way to fix a cold, leaky and drafty old camper: a couple of inches of foam, and some silver paint. The dog is probably enough of a heat source to keep it cozy in there.
CC Outtake: Well Insulated
– Posted on February 12, 2012
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Curbside Classics Archives
Amazing how such things are only seen in Oregon.
Not just Oregon. Used to love visiting Santa Cruz (about 70 miles down the coast from San Francisco), not least for the nutjob cars. Camper shells and complete hippie/gypsy van conversions were pretty common in the 70s. It’s been about 10 years since I’ve been there, so it’s probably a bit different. Most likely weirder.
In Klamath Falls, we get a fair amount of the folks heading to Burning Man over Labor Day. Kind of fun to see the mutants in roadable trim. The vehicles are pretty awesome, too. 🙂
Burning Man Vehicles are in a league their own when it comes to hooptieage and eccentricity. Its like the XXL class of 24 hrs of Lemons Cars with good themes with all sorts of old beater RVs and Busses.
No where else will you see an 1970s school bus with a psychedelic paint job, LED Light rope all over and a second story porch compete with stripper pole.
For all of the Towing Operators in Reno & Truckee the time around burning man is like Christmas; they show up to tow some basket case banger only to be cheerfuly paid with the owners AmEx Black Card.
One trick to getting a good paint finish is to clean the broom before dipping it into the paint
hah!
I suspect you and Obbop are somehow related.
And that is an awesome rig.
I camped in the back of my truck in October and I wished my cap was insulated like that!
Is that a DeLorean?
Looks like something out of a post apocalyptic Arctic expedition.
Sprayed on urethane foam insulation is a wonderful and inexpensive insulating solution for many situations. Back in 1978 I purchased a split level home in Ohio that had a 20′ X 40′ concrete block room added on to the rear of the mid-level. The roof of the room consisted of prestressed concrete slabs each of which was 8′ X 20′. The joints were tarred and covered with roofing paper. Inside the room was a 15′ X 24′ swimming pool. Whenever it rained there would be streams of tarry water coming down into the pool. After considering my options for a couple years, I hit on the idea of sprayed urethan foam and I had the entire structure (roof and walls) sprayed for a cost of $1500. It was then coated with white elastomeric coating and from a distance appeared to be stucco. It was a wonderful solution. We rebuilt the pool to a size of 12′ X 30′ and were able to use it year round quite comfortably. I no longer own that house but as far as I know the insulation has held up well for 25 years. The coating is the key, can’t let the sun hit the urethane or it will deteriorate. We also built an attractive wood deck on top of the flat roof covering the foam insulation on the roof.
Guessing from the grilles’ appearance I place the model year at either 1975 or 1976.
For Toyota pick-up trivia folks… at least in 1978 for sure; the SR-5 model had a snap-on grille ornament with the color red as part of the logo. The non-SR-5 version was a silvery color.
The center grille piece is missing on the unit shown, a common problem.
Of course I grabbed a SR-5 grill thingy for my non-SR-5 1978 pick-em-up.
Along with various extra parts as they became available.
Kinda’ neat having a spare 20-R engine (complete from carb to oil pan), radiator, auto tranny, (yeah, I had the rather rare auto version but it was massively over-built and reliable and allowed the trucklet to adequately tow a trailer at around 50 mph with an estimated 3-4 TONS of metal upon the trailer. The rear-end gearing and auto tranny made entering the freeway a breeze.
Wheeeeeeeeeee!!!!!
Oh, spare drive shaft and rear differential, instrument cluster and side window glass and regulators and trim pieces. I was ready for any post apocalyptic event short of a direct impact from a multi-megaton thermonuclear weapon or a kilo-ton level fission device or a direct or nearby meteorite strike of sufficient size to negatively affect me.
I wonder if the insulation shown above is, in actuality, intended to be a deterrent to terrorist attack; akin to plastic and duct tape placed upon windows and doors of shantys and hovels?
“Used to love visiting Santa Cruz”
Were you a proud supporter of the UCSC Banana Slugs?
“After five years of dealing with the two-mascot problem, an overwhelming proslug straw vote by students in 1986 persuaded the chancellor to make the lowly but beloved Banana Slug UCSC’s official mascot.”
“Were you a proud supporter of the UCSC Banana Slugs?”
Nah. I went there for the food and the views. I shot a fair amount of film in the 70s and SC was a target rich environment. I know I have at least one CC outtake (psychedelic division) in my files once I figure out the slide adapter for my scanner.
I’ve long wanted to coat an old VW Bus with that foam and paint it yellow and call it the Twinkie!
Holy Fire Hazard Batman.