When it comes to venturing out onto the open road, the different levels of comfort possible is as rich and as varied as America herself. You can certainly pack passengers into a wagon, or an SUV; but a few hours in either of those and you’ll soon realize the limitations of such a vehicle. Of course, the opposite extreme is a massive RV, which really isn’t practical for much of the motoring population. This classic 1977 Dodge B300 Coachman Camper really is the sweet spot, a space currently occupied by the popular Sprinter conversion vans. But have you seen the price tag on those? No thanks. Check out this classy camper instead here on eBay with bidding at $8,300 and the reserve unmet.
The interior is straight out of the late 1970s, and in the best way possible. The vintage TV, microwave, curtains – kudos to whomever has kept in this sort of condition, as it’s pristine and period-correct. The seller notes the previous owners spent a fair amount of time and cash to bring this Coachman back up to snuff, but other features like the exterior paint and orange decal strip, are original to the truck. And it deserves it, too, as the Dodge has a wonderful history consisting of being a two family-owed truck living in Iowa since new, and carefully stored when not in use. Mileage is just a tick under 84,000, and the it is equipped with everything you could want for a few weeks on the road: Coleman air conditioning, mini fridge, microwave, shower, and more.
The truck is technically a factory Coachmen Model Tee Travel van, and quite rare to find today, according to the seller. Coachman was one of the largest producers of such recreational vehicles, and is still active today. The first family owners used the van up until 2016, when it was sold at their estate sale with just over 80,000 miles. The second Iowa family snatched it up, and then made the requisite $3,000 in mechanical improvements. This initial stage of work included new wheels and tires, all new belts, new Kohler air element, new front and rear heavy duty shocks, new brake calipers and master cylinder, and a generator service. Other subsequent work included new fuel pump, idler pulley, freon and A/C service.
Under the hood is a 360 CID V-8 engine paired to a three-speed Torqueflite automatic transmission. The Dodge is also equipped with power steering and power front disc brakes. With the extent of maintenance work completed and the high state of preservation on display, it’s hard to ignore the call of the open road with a rig like this. While there are numerous choices in this space of vintage R/V conversions, the bottom line is this: find the one you can justify living in the soonest, rather than trying to recreate what’s on display here. I’ve bought any number of trashed cars for the purpose of rebuilding them, but finding a conversion van from the 1970s in this sort of condition is a far better starting point than one that’s been trashed inside and has otherwise been used as a cheap mobile home.
Here’s a headache for ya’. One look under the hood at the wiring, should send anyone screaming into the night. Incredibly tough to work on, and I just got done with a ’77 something. These days, it’s just enough to keep one aspect of this unit going, the RV part, then you’ve got the Dodge van part. It was doable before things got so expensive, but unless these are gotten cheap, I’d pass.
Looks like there’s some addon wires. Grew up with a 78 B200 and the wiring looked exactly the same. Never had any problems out of the wiring under the hood nor was it scary to change out a ballast resistor or a ICM.
And there’s something about the gar-rar-rar-rar-rar-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-vroom sound of the Mopar gear reduction starter that will give anyone the willies.
This should be gutted and fitted out with a new interior. Who wants someone’s old butternut yellow toilet?
Especially if the toilet was originally white.
We have a winner!!!!!!
Ewww, always a concern with a used RV,,
One can always give the toilet a good hose down while enjoying a shower,
Just watch out for any
back-splatter !
Somebody did…..sold for $22,000……duuuuh
Nice looking van but there are way to many wires spliced into other wires under the hood. The firestick antenna was the wrong choice for the CB. The onan generator looks to be on its last legs needs to be replaced with a new honda inverter.
I currently have a 1981 Dodge Ram 3500 Royal Frontier Class B with 74,000 original miles on it. I only use it in the summer.
The only problem I had was the alternator belt would break unless I tightened it at least once a day. I replaced the single bolt sliding alternator bracket with a bracket that attaches in two places. No more problems.
It gets 22 mpg at 70 mph. Under the old road rules of 55 mph, it got 14 mpg. Boy that sure saved the world from all the fuel use.
I really love the first photograph in this listing. Everything else cooled my ardor. Someone handier than me could realize this van’s potential, but they’ll probably discover they should have paid less than the reserve.
Beautiful camper van! But yeah, that wiring’s gotta go.
We had a 76 Tradesman 300 but with the 318. Very under powered and got 11mpg uphill or down. We did have a flexible link issue once but no other wiring but wouldn’t
start towards the 100k mark. Our issue was a ton of rust from PA winters and at 100k, Carb issues…. It would barely run when I traded it in…70’s junk with foam used for sound deadening and sealing that held water. Rust holes in 3-4 years…
this wrks 4 me as well as this wk’s Toy RV, small is better 4 me AND the glass exterior is superior to alu). I don’t mind a toilet in my shower LOL, etc. I’d go for the ‘Yota tho as I hate the motor accessibility in the 2nd+ gen of vans.