How much? $3,000, and the seller is willing to negotiate? From this one photo, that sure seems like a steal. This Class-C, 1978 Toyota Sunrader Camper needs interior work, but for 30 $100 bills, it sure seems like a good deal so far. The seller has it posted here on craigslist southeast of Portland, Oregon, and yes, they’re asking $3,000 or offer. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Barney for the tip!
*Chickens not included. No, I’m not sure if they are or not, but it’s a great photo. Who knew the entire rear wall, including the rear door, opened up on a Sunrader camper? It looks a little loosey-goosey as far as being solid up there, and it would not work in the upper Midwest or any other mosquito-heavy areas in the least. But it sure is a cool feature. They reportedly came in both 18 and 21-foot lengths and with three door locations: center rear as shown here (even though it’s in the air now), and also right front and right rear doors.
What isn’t a cool feature is the rotted bottoms of the cabinets inside, and the other work that’s needed in there. That being said, I have a friend who is redoing a Sprinter chassis with a cube box on the back into a motorhome. That’s something I could have done my my yout’, but probably not today when I can barely make it upstairs to put a Pop-Tart in the toaster oven, let alone reconstruct a cube van into a nice living space, including a bathroom and shower. Stewart Gardner patented this fiberglass camper in 1974, and the company went out of business in 1992.
I’m not sure if this rig has a bathroom and/or shower, as the seller doesn’t show photos of the compartments in the back, but I’m guessing not. One of you has owned a Sunrader, so you’ll know by looking at this one whether it does or not. The back looks rougher’n a cob, as they say, but anything is fixable, and that asking price is sure cheap, if the truck portion and chassis are solid and functional. Sunrader apparently offered four different floor plans, and this is a rear door model, maybe not the best configuration if you’ll be hauling your Rokon on the rear bumper as I would be doing. The Toyota cab looks good, and air-conditioning would sure drain the power while going uphill, but the five-speed manual transmission makes it somewhat fun to drive and somewhat fuel efficient.
The engine compartment shows more surface rust than I would have guessed for an Oregon rig, and it’s a Toyota 20R, a 2.2-liter SOHC inline-four with 95 horsepower and 122 lb-ft of torque when new. That’s hardly any power at all for the truck without the camper, so maybe something could be done to gain a bit more power. This one starts and runs great, and the seller says the camper shell is solid but is missing the vent cover, and it needs to be gutted and redone before you can stay back there. Also, there is no title, ouch. How would you redo this Sunrader?
I had a brief notion to buy something like this, and chuck the whole magila, as in unplug from the world, and it could be done( location top secret, the author knows where). So I casually began looking in this price range, one was worse than the last. They all needed something, usually major to that got it off the road. They don’t do well outside for decades, critters and weather, especially in Oregon, where the sun refuse to shine,, do an incredibly expensive amount of damage. Considering the appearance, I hope it doesn’t have a toilet, possibly once in the mirrored closet, I can only imagine what is festering in there. It does have dual rear wheels, about its only plus. I’d probably remove the camper and burn it. Fire consumes all.
Chain the camper to a tree and drive away and you have a nice little 1 ton dually flatbed truck.
I own one of these but a one owner. Here is a BIG word of caution. Google these and you will see one major issue. Count the real lug nuts, if it if just five, fun away. These were death traps when built on the standard truck without the HD axle. You want the full floating axle. Not a semi floating axle with adapters that allow it to have 6 lug wheels fitted to it. The full floating axle has this raised center and 6 lugs. The five lug axles exploded driving down the road. There was a massive recall and put all of these small vendors out of business.
Jerry, hopefully you clicked on the craigslist link to see the photos and read the description? It says “true one ton running gear”, and they have a close-up of one of the rear tires.
Sorry! Missed that but it a huge positive selling point for you! Good luck.
Awesome looking RV. I’ve never seen a Sunrader before. I’ve seen pics of them. Buy never up close and in person. I hope whoever buys this is able to enjoy it and upgrade it.
Well I see two options both involve tearing off existing camper one is convert it into a flat bed seal up the cab or you go find a nice slide in camper and modify the frame to hold it you would still have to seal up the cab or find one the same year and swap them
Could be a fun project. You’d have to gut the interior (Habitat for Humanity stores have all the cabinets in the world for cheap – built a whole kitchen with island for $300) and I would seriously consider an engine/transmission swap. Not sure what might fit (Jeep Cherokee straight 6, GM V6) and auto trans.
I had a 1981 Sunraider in the early 2000’s. 17 feet long, it fit into a regular parking space. Had a right side door. Very spacious, it had a full size bed over the cab, a dining table that converted to a bed, sink, 3 burner stove with oven, propane wall heater, 3 way refrigerator, and a toilet/shower combo. Drove from MA to AZ and back with a friend, did 5500 miles with no issues….. except it was a diesel. 50 miles per hour top speed.But 30 mpg! Going east, heading into the Eisenhower tunnel in CO, my top speed was 14 mph. Passed by a bicyclist on a adjacent bike path! Had a tailwind in IL, did 70 mph for 13 hours. Had to take advantage of that! Sold it several years later, but still on the road. New owner nicknamed it the “Turtle”!
No title, no deal! Would need to be purchased by a local who could straighten out the paperwork. Too many variations from state to state.
That 20R is not nearly enough power for that rig. The wind would dictate your speed and fuel mileage.
That 5-speed might sound good, but you would probably never be able to use 5th gear. You would be in 3rd a lot of the time.
Ha like the old dodge pickups slant with smog controls 6 cyl 5-speed and never get a chance to use 5th gear