I’d love to be able to tell you that I own a tuxedo, because of the number of times I need to walk into a Monaco casino or attend formal events like this year’s Autopian Aid benefit concert (which was terrible, by the way, since the only acts that showed up were a barbershop quartet, a few Gregorian-chanting monks, and Fred Durst). The truth is, the investment in buying a tux wouldn’t be worth it for the rare occasions that I require one; I probably wouldn’t even fit it after a year or too since I’m, well, let’s just say “becoming more rounded in shape,” like cars did after the 1990s. A large formal wear rental industry exists because of this.
Many people would likely agree with this logic, but for some reason these same individuals go and sink large six-figure sums of money into motorhomes and campers that will be used only a few times a season. That’s a huge chunk of cash “invested” into a product that requires immense amounts of space to store, needs expensive mechanical maintenance, and is depreciating with rock-off-of-a-cliff speed from the second you buy it. On the other hand, renting an RV can seem costly since you’re effectively paying for the maintenance and repairs of products that are often abused and not built with the most durable materials in the first place. Buyers of RVs often listen to the salesperson’s math that if they use it every other weekend it will “pay for itself,” but in reality, it ends up sitting until a FOR SALE sign appears in the windshield.
A little while back, Mercedes Streeter told you about a very groovy-looking machine from the late seventies called the Trans-Van that was supposed to solve this by being a camper that you could use as a daily transportation.
As Mercedes mentioned in her informative piece, the Trans-Van sold well enough for an RV and was hardly a market failure, but it didn’t really start a trend or even completely fulfill its mission as a dual-purpose product. Can we pick up where the Trans-Van left off and make a viable passenger van/motorhome mashup to replace your big family SUV?
Boogie Knight Of The Roadway
When gas prices skyrocketed and emission controls choked “muscle cars” to 130 horsepower weaklings, it was clear that seventies car culture was not going to be about going fast. To substitute for street performance, people turned to visual excitement — and even vehicles like vans (where the excitement happened when it wasn’t moving at all, except for maybe rocking).
You just know that a trend is big when the stodgy brands of the Big 3 were latching onto it; Ford and Dodge really embraced custom van culture with factory special editions or at the very least the building blocks and “step by step” customizing guides to start you truckin’:
Champion Home Builders was an innovative player in the RV industry during the seventies, and they were smart enough to see this massive custom van trend and try to get some of that flavor into a small motorhome. Boy, did their product deliver.
Introduced in 1977, the Trans-Van was dripping with funk-tastic details like rainbow stripes, fender flares and bubble porthole windows to be hip with the van scene, but it actually had a bigger mission in mind. Mercedes Streeter explains:
While Champion marketed the Trans-Vans as being luxury motorhomes, the marketing copy also went to great lengths to explain how the Trans-Van’s small size meant it was great as a second car for a family….This marketing strategy was great in theory. A Trans-Van had more than enough room to take your family shopping or to the football game. Yet, at the same time, all of the RV amenities made it great for people with active lifestyles. Does your kid need to use the bathroom? That’s not a big deal as boom, there’s a toilet on board. Want to have a sweet tailgating setup? A Trans-Van was perfect for that right from the jump. Want to go camping? Yep, it’s made for that! Yet, the Trans-Van was also sized just small enough to fit into common parking spaces.
Jasonites- notice the downsized B-body Pontiac Bonneville/Catalina wagon taillights:
The Trans-Van put a kitchenette and tiny closet/toilet space at the very back, flanking that odd, single central door. Considering the exterior design, you’d expect the interior to have a disco-ball love den ambiance. You don’t get it; instead, everything was covered in traditional wood fittings from your childhood house in the seventies, as seen in the photo below where it looks your mom about to yell at you for dumping Count Chocula on the shag carpet while you were watching H.R. Pufnstuf. Yeah, I’m that old.
Everything forward of this and behind the front seats ended up as totally reconfigurable space. A dining table folds up to allow for seating space, and couches along the walls take advantage of the door-free sides.
You can laugh at the appearance of this thing but honestly there’s way too much good design to ignore. For example, the seemingly silly “bubble” portholes make functional sense in that the one on the driver’s side is for the bathroom (where you want light but privacy) and the passenger’s side is by the “kitchen” sink and cabinets where you can’t have a big window anyway.
Another cool trick: on each side of the rear door were full height storage lockers for extra gear:
Also, the “groovy” graphic stripes that were viewed as kind of absurd in period seem purposeful and tasteful now compared to the busy-looking stuff they stick on motorhomes today. Here’s a good example of this Mike Tyson face tattoo-looking bullshit:
Not there isn’t a lot of room for improvement on the Trans-Van; I can see a few key functional tweaks we can make. Also, our solution doesn’t have to look like a Trans-Van, but then again, why wouldn’t it? You can dig it.
Seoul Train
In the time since the Trans-Van left the market in 1991, one big thing has changed: GM is the only manufacturer that offers a traditional-style full sized van. Also, the idea of big gas-guzzling V8 powered thing might not resonate with modern buyers. Actually, that’s fine, since there’s a new crop of cargo movers out there including a very exciting new EV entry coming soon from Kia called the PV series.
There’s a variety of different sizes and configurations, but the best news is that a what appears to be the passenger version of the PV5 has been caught testing in America recently, which makes Kia’s claim of an American launch in the next few years seem plausible.
Looking at the largest of the group- the PV7- as Autopians our thoughts are to either make it into a Nürburgring-challenging thing with giant tires or turn it into a camper (or both? how about both?). I think the latter makes the most sense; at around 17 feet in base form, it’s only about as long as a Ford Expedition.
As a kid in the eighties, if you asked me what a van would be like in 2025, the Kia PV series is certainly it; even the geometric wheels look surprisingly similar to a 1982 vision of what the “future” to be. It’ll be perfect for our needs, especially since Kia is supposedly offering a cab-chassis model as well.
The range isn’t reported to be spectacular, but then it’s likely not going to be worse than EV van competitors, and hopefully quick charging will take not much longer than filling the ocean-sized tanks needed to feed a typical motorhome’s low-teens-at-best thirst.
Time to get to work.
More Than Meets The Eye
For the modern Trans-Van, I’ll need to add an expanded width body in back that also raises the roof height in a manner similar to the original Champion product; the stripes and porthole window were supposed to be a throwback look but I’ll be damned if this thing doesn’t look unironically great.
We might have lower roof heights available too for those that want something easier to fit in their garage.
In back, there’s still the controversial central door and possibly the gear storage areas from the original, with the tall taillights from the PV7:
For the inside layout, I’m going to start with the floor plan of an original Trans-Van (sorry for the terrible resolution but you can see what’s going on)
Next, we’ll tweak it with a few tricks used on modern campers (and even the 1980s Winnebago LeSharo motorhome seen below that also purported to be an everyday vehicle substitute but was way too much of a camper and way WAY too slow for that).
The LeSharo front seat layout for four forward-facing passengers is nice, since I don’t think anyone enjoys sitting sideways as you did in the OG Trans-Van (and many motorhomes), especially one that’s designed to force you to do that for ten hours while you head for the Black Hills and hope Mt. Rushmore isn’t fogged in AGAIN.
Besides, I promise those “herculon” fabric covered foam blobs will be extremely uncomfortable before you even leave your neighborhood. In the new Kia-based Trans-Van, we’ll have four wide captain’s chairs facing forwards for the best view. As an option, you could get a door on the side to address the complaint that some owners had about the original Trans-Van’s single rear door. Here’s a 20 foot layout (but a 17 foot would also be available). Yes, this time around the Trans-Van will have groovy seat fabrics.
Once at your destination, you can swivel the chairs to create a “conversation area” (even if you need to tilt up the steering column):
By sliding the front seats on the floor tracks and then folding them you can create one large bed or two singles (you might want to put a roll-up foam pad on first). Behind the captain’s chairs there is a dinette with sliding/foldaway tabletop that also turns into a sleeper. At the back of the van we’ll still have the kitchenette and closet/toilet space as on the original Trans-Van (though the toilet area could expand to allow you to more easily take a shower).
So far, so good, but there’s another level we can take this new Trans-Van concept to as requested by Mercedes Streeter herself on Slack:
It would be cool if the camping parts of it folded away! Part of what sucks about existing campers as daily drivers concepts is that you still have to carry around a sink, counters, and such. It would be cool if the camping stuff somehow folded into the wall or floor (like Chrysler Stow N Go, maybe?) so that the van part is uninterrupted.
Folding is a cool idea, but there are issues with that. There’s only so much you can fold up a kitchen sink, a cooktop and toilet; even if you did you’d still have the weight of it to lug about on the way to Trader Joe’s and school pickups.
Here’s what might be the answer. Let’s look at the kitchen module on the one side at the rear of the Trans-Van and the toilet/closet module on the other. As I mentioned earlier, the new Trans-Van has tracks in the floor. When you’re done with camping for a while (like winter months), you open up the entire back of the Trans-Van (the hinges from the original Kia PV7 wide doors are still there). Then, grab two dolly bases and link them to the back of the van (they line up with the tracks).
Pull some releases, disconnect the electrical and water connectors and the two modules roll out onto the dollies and out of the van; from there you can roll the dollies into your garage, a self-storage place, or if you drain all the water out of them (so they don’t freeze) just slip on the fitted canvas covers and leave them in the back yard. Looks a bit like you’re rolling out a box with a body in it (and who’s to say you aren’t?).
Now, you rearrange and slide the seating from the dinette to make a spacious eight seat van, or even add more seats if you’d like.
You’ll now have plenty of room in back for your day-to-day massive Costco paper towel and toilet paper cargo. The whole conversion process could theoretically be done in less than half an hour (by one person even), and it’s like you never had a camper in the first place.
Sure, it’s not minuscule but surprisingly in the longest 20 foot format it’s only a foot or so more than an Expedition MAX and inches beyond the length of the Schitt’s Creek Lincoln Town car (and a 17 foot model new Trans-Van would be shorter than the Ford Panther bodies I inexplicably drove a sum total of 200,000 miles without incident). This whole dual-purpose thing might actually work.
That Trans-Van Is One Bad Mother (Shut Your Mouth)
None of this would likely be as easy to do as I’m making it sound, but at the same time it wouldn’t be impossible. Also, it’s unlikely to be cheap but what would a well-equipped Suburban and a compact luxury motorhome cost to put in your driveway? Actually, that’s a trick question because they likely wouldn’t be able to fit in your driveway together anyway. If one vehicle can replace a quarter-million-dollars-plus fleet it’s got to be worth a considering.
Fifty years ago, people your parent’s age used their pride-and-joy custom vans for everyday transportation as well as, you know, extracurricular activities. I’m sure they’d encourage you to relive those time today, especially now that weed is legal.
Winnebago Once Sold A Sleek 22 MPG Camper With A Tiny Engine – The Autopian
This Forgotten RV Tried To Be The Ultimate Camper And A Daily Driver At The Same Time – The Autopian
The Ultimate Slide Out Camper Has Room- And Rooms- For Everyone – The Autopian
Finally, The Galileo Shuttlecraft Amphibious Camper You’ve Waited Years For – The Autopian
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