Buy This 1996 Toyota Camper With Retro Racing Livery and Rule the Infield
Love to camp at the race track? This thing will look the part.
If there's one thing the pandemic has taught us is that there's a beautiful world around us that's begging to be explored. This means ungluing our faces from our TVs, computers, and video games and get out to the Great Outdoors. What better way to traverse the countryside than with this 1996 Toyota Dyna Camper currently for sale on Japanese Classics? It's charming, practical, and it's even got a diesel.
Based on the commercial-duty, right-hand-drive Dyna truck—most of which were used as box-truck or flat-bed applications in Asia—this cute camping van offers the essentials to hit the road and explore what this great country has to offer. According to the listing, its current configuration has the ability to sleep four passengers, three of which can ride in the cab while the Camper is moving. It also has a pretty sweet awning that lets you take the party outside, because that's the whole point of camping anyway.
As far as accommodations go, there's a kitchenette that features a two-burner gas stove that doubles as a cutting board, a sink, and a small fridge to keep provisions cold during your travels. A small fold-down table can be propped up to enjoy your meals, though it looks like it can only seat two people in traditional fashion, with another bench to the side possibly accommodating one or two more folks.
The listing mentions that there's a gasoline generator already installed, though it's been untested. If it works, this could run the living quarters when the truck's diesel engine is shut off. Judging from the photos shown, however, there's a solar panel charging system to run electrical devices and a propane heating system that's most likely to heat up water for the sink and shower.
Propelling all of this exploring goodness is a 3.0-liter, four-cylinder diesel engine mated to a "smooth-shifting" automatic transmission—most likely a four-speed unit. There are a few inconsistencies with the listing, however, as it first refers to the engine as a 3.0-liter and then as a 2.8-liter inline-four. Further research shows that the Dyna was offered with a 3.0-liter diesel from very early on, though there's no mention of a 2.8-diesel engine, only a 2.7-liter gasoline mill. Regardless, total power output likely hovered around the 90-hp mark when new.
That leads us to one of the highlights of this Dyna Camper: its mileage. Per the ad, this Toyota has only seen 93,000 "verified and documented miles" in its lifetime—whatever that means. If true, this little explorer has many many more miles under its belt, meaning lots of National Parks for you to see.
Listed at $29,995, this Toyota isn't exactly cheap and it ain't exactly new either. What it does have going on, though, is a lot of charm, a badass set of graphics, and pretty low miles for a 25-year-old vehicle. You make the call.
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