Here is one for Paul, a 1998 Iveco Daily 4wd camper van. This would be one of a batch that were mostly sold to the Britz camper van rental company, however with a non-turbo 2.8L 4-cyl diesel making about 100 hp their comfortable cruising speed was only 90 km/h (55 mph), which was not surprisingly slower than many renters wanted to drive! It sounds like that was the only way to kill them though, being effectively a scaled-down medium duty truck. The new Daily 4x4s are supposed to be a lot better.
Interesting find, I can’t remember ever seeing an Iveco Daily van with such a short wheelbase, regardless RWD (standard) or AWD.
Currently the most powerful Daily has a 205 hp 3.0 liter 4-cylinder diesel engine, I’d say “adequate” for any camper van / motorhome. And indeed, they have a higher level of heavy-dutyness -and payload capacity- than the others in this van and cab-chassis segment (Ford Transit, Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, Renault Master etc.).
Here’s an Australian video of a current gen Iveco Daily 4×4 camper. Neat!
It seems only the 4wd version has this short wheelbase. An image search shows other vans, campers and also some Italian police vehicles.
Also the ad linked below said the engine was a turbo-diesel with 105 hp. Either way it is not much power, but going back a while this sort of vehicle would not be expected to do 100 km/h either. I have spent quite a few hours in trucks doing 80 km/h for example, that wouldn’t go any faster.
I havent seen this short wheelbase version either from memory, rental campers are usually larger than that but driven very slowly here, narrow twisting roads appear to be outside of most tourist’s skill set.
I saw the same SWB 4WD Daily last week in Greece (Rodos)…
Are you sure that this is a former rental camper van? It seems rather unlikely that they would rent 4×4 versions, given the much greater chance of damage from off-roading. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a 4×4 rental camper van. And yes, it is exceptionally short, which would have advantages in extreme off-roading.
Land Rover Defender “wilderness campers” are available for rent here in Scotland, but not a particularly mainstream thing, and certainly not from a bigger company like Britz.
Plenty of tourists beach ordinary campers and cars in ditches and peat bogs here anyway.
I can’t be 100% sure but it does seem most likely. When looking for info I found a reference to the Britz campers and can remember seeing them – they were a pretty unusual rig!
For years Britz rented high-roof conversions of Toyota Land Cruiser troop carriers too. I expect the insurance cost is commensurate, but also most people wouldn’t take them off formed roads & tracks, just on the rough stuff that a standard motorhome can’t tackle.
Here is another one for sale – http://www.caravancampingsales.com.au/buy/private/SSE-AD-4300154/1998-iveco-turbo-daily-40-10-4×4/
Here is one of the LC Troopie campers
My Sis and BIL have rented many Britz campers they had a Toyota Landcruiser die in Kings Canyon Britz retrieved it and supplied a replacement no problem they do get taken very far off road thats the idea no they arent cheap.
I’m sure that some people take them into silly places, tip them over etc, but the main route to Kings Canyon is not what I would call off road. Off the bitumen, well it used to be (depending on which way you go).
It’s worth pointing out, Paul, that if you look at a map of Aus, and see where Uluru (the big rock) is – smack centre – the road that goes north from there to the coast, and south to the south coast (1,700 miles) is essentially the only paved road. If a tourist wants to do anything either side of that long, long road, for vast distances east and west, there are only dirt roads. They can be as rough as hell, and are not built up, but carved into the landscape, so if it rains, you are driving in a creek. Nothing but 4WD seperate chassis toughness would survive. Plenty of roads in tropical Northern Territory or North Queensland into astoundingly beautiful places actually require 4WD. Tourism is a big industry for this country, so, not only huge mice that hop or mammals with duck bills and bears in trees, but hire-campers in 4WD – you betcha…
It was once my honour to stare up the smoke-belching rear end of an Iveco Daily Britz camper for a grinding eternity as its timid Japanese drivers set 100hp loose against 3 tons up a mountain range in QLD. The mountain won, and that bloody Itakeall Daily did not exceed perhaps 30km/h. (At the time, Aus diesel was ‘orrible stuff, and as a a result, we didn’t get many of the flash Euro-diesels then coming out, but some small importers risked it, with stinking choky results like this). I’d put good money on that thing being one of the ex-Britz campers, perhaps even the very one that tried to gas me. I wouldn’t put good money in the owners pocket to own it though.