Awesome vintage VW camper! - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum

Frank Lee · 11-28-2009, 12:52 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56XL0TysIn0

Christ · 11-28-2009, 01:17 AM

Creepy... but cool.

Great find, Frank! I wonder how legal it would be?

EDIT: Probably better as a 5th wheel with a kingpin... then I don't think anyone could say anything about it?

Frank Lee · 11-28-2009, 01:24 AM

I was looking for something else completely..... you know how it goes.

Now I'm thinking hmmmm... Tempo has lots of spare torque and could pull something like that.... hmmmm...

Did you notice the aero? Some boattailing on the trailer; it could be better yet but not too shabby for the '70s!

mcrews · 11-28-2009, 01:26 AM

Frank Lee,
Your startin to scare me........not because you find this stuff......that's cool.

no, because I have a personal experience to follow your posts!!!!!

my buddie in Texas had this on his ranch.....i could not resist parking the Beast in front of it!!!!!

Christ · 11-28-2009, 01:26 AM

First thing I noticed was that the trailer was essentially an extension of the bug's rear profile with a "hat" section.

I bet that could be made completely aero, especially applied to trucks which might have a "quick" fifth wheel hitch... trailer doubles as a bed cover and boat tail in that case, and unhitching the trailer leaves you with an empty, uncovered bed for work days, satisfying the "I have to put stuff in my truck" argument.

Christ · 11-28-2009, 01:29 AM

mcrews -

Tell your buddy to attach an electric motor to the axle and a small generator to the trailer with a capacitor bank, and use it for cruising on the highway. The genset will most likely provide better mileage running at peak output than his truck's engine does running at cruise.

mcrews · 11-28-2009, 01:42 AM

seriously....
You mean 'power' the trailer axle??

Christ · 11-28-2009, 01:44 AM

Yup. Could also use it for regen, I suppose... Why not? It's a truck axle under that truck bed/camper, I have to assume... there's a good bit of wasted energy tuning those gears pulling it down the road, and it could be used positively. Wasted potential.

mcrews · 11-28-2009, 02:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Christ

Creepy... but cool.

Great find, Frank! I wonder how legal it would be?

EDIT: Probably better as a 5th wheel with a kingpin... then I don't think anyone could say anything about it?

on a serious note (did I really type that

)

One of the problems is some cars (mine) really can't tow ANYthing because of how it is put together sub frames etc. I wanted to tow a very small trailer to texas and discovered that the wear and tear on the fsubrame bushings would be more expensive than just shipping the stuff. the issue being the pulling and jerking. but with the hitch up high??????

Christ · 11-28-2009, 02:10 AM

The rear of your car should be equipped with stiffeners that are integrated with the chassis... usually, the bumper rails are also located here. Hitches get hooked to those, not the subframe. A hitch should never be placed anywhere that will fatigue like that, it's purely unsafe.

For towing >500 lbs, you could actually drill your bumper rail and install a pintle lock-type hitch. I've done more with less...