If you follow the SEMA show every year, you might recognize this 1983 Chevy camper known as “Brown Sugar.” It was at the 2019 show and was said to be one of the most photographed vehicles in attendance. Built by River City Rods in Davenport, Iowa, it is now for sale. Imagine, you can own an actual SEMA vehicle that is an instant attention-getter. It can be found here on eBay with a current bid of almost $100,000 and you can also find it advertized for sale here on GRClassics.com with an asking price of $179,990. This camper was a top 40 Battle Of The Builders contender at SEMA, Street Trucks Top 10 pick, and it also won the Peoples Choice award at the QCCA Expo Center Rod & Custom Show.
This amazing build started as a 1983 Chevrolet C-class motorhome. The original camper was removed and the pickup bed was extended. It was then topped with a new camper and built with extremely high standards. The interior is mostly handcrafted including the whiskey barrels which hold sub-woofers. The sink was created from a vintage Coca-Cola cooler and the camper is fully functional with a black tank, water pump, and freshwater hookup. The front sleeping area features a television and is powered by a standard 30 amp RV connector.
The retro look is carried to the driver’s compartment with a great plaid print on the seats trimmed with a matching brown color.
As you would expect from a SEMA build, the engine compartment is highly stylized and looks like a work of art. The engine is a 5.3-liter GM LS iron-block V8 backed by a 4L80E automatic transmission.
As you can see from the stance, this truck rides on a complete air ride suspension system and can lay the front cross-member on the ground when it is aired out. The rear suspension is kept in place by a Watts Link setup and the front suspension and steering are provided by GSI. Overall, this is an awesome truck and will hopefully find a new home. What do you think? Would you spend six-figures on a setup like this?
Wow that’s a lot of time, effort, and money to spend to end up with something so unsightly and probably equally as useless.
Lord people with more time and money make the oddest contraptions.
You looking at 5 minutes of visual entertainment right there, with no desire to drive it.
Like scooting through a home movie to figure out if you want to watch it, then deciding not to.
Okay, you want a clown truck like this, that’s one thing, but the camper, if you can call it that, is clash of 2 worlds. Never ceases to amaze me in this day and age, someone has $180 grand to spend on this abomination?
All the money and engineering in the world won’t make this atrocious top heavy rig handle any better…
Horrid. Just horrid. When will the oversized wheel/tire shoved up into the fender go away? Please. Stop with this…
Every night I get down on my knees and pray for that day to come.
Since I own a proper motor home, I look at this and wonder: What could possibly be the benefit of owning such a rig?
As an exercise in building something which will showcase your skills, and attract a lot of attention, it succeeds.
But why would someone buy it?
This is truly the epitome of the junk these so called “designers” are putting out today. Most of their s**t wants to literally make me puke.
Btw here’s a great reason to avoid buying on eBay. That $100k bid has shill written all over it.
Agree w all. Not enuf alcohol in the world to get my $$$.
I think it looks great. I would love to own it but not sure what I would do with it.
I could outfit a new Ram Promaster 2500 cargo van into a fully functional (and low key) camper for roughly a third of what this uglymobile costs.
Hideous.
This would make the perfect show-piece for a camper dealership, heck you could even turn this into an office, right on the showroom floor. As a regular camper or a pickup truck it’s pretty useless.
yuck
You don’t build something like this to use. It’s car show material built for fun. I think it’s well done, different, and obviously purpose built. It’s called creativity folks.
That’s true, I don’t think anyone will question that it’s well done. Judging by what comes out of SEMA these days, this is what some people want today. I guess most of us here, probably won’t see $180 grand in the rest of our lives, so the fact someone would spend that on this, is the perplexing part.
Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. It’s designed to be different and to stand out (I’m 6’1″, 310lb, with red hair and green eyes, so I can relate), which it surely does. But, once you get past the novelty, it’s just ill-proportioned and ugly. I respect the dedication and skill it takes to do something like this, but I don’t believe the final result was worth the effort.
The answer to a question nobody asked.
To each his own. The wheels look absolutely correct on this build. The camper, a bit out of balance. 🙄
As a veteran of 27 SEMA Shows (my feet still hurt from 2007…) I can attest that this piece is the pinnacle of good taste and decorum un comparison to 75% of the other ‘feature builds’ for the show. There are 100s of obsolete show cars moldering behind shops all over the world. It’s the way it’s done, kids.
This one may suffer the same fate.
Hopefully the elements and workmanship displayed garnered the builder some attention.
#2 brown is the perfect color for this “camper.”
What is it with all the negative comments about this vehicle? There appears to be a virus infecting all these readers with negative feelings. For goodness sake get the antidote quickly.
Whereas this may not be the proper venue for advertising this vehicle, it certainly is unusual and worth informing us about. We read ‘Barnfinds’ for the unusual and this certainly qualifies.
These readers would also probably go gaga with yet another 68/69 camaro RS/SS/CS/BS find/build.
You can spend $180k on an off-road camper van I still get it lost in the parking lot while you watch it devalue by 30% overnight.
Appreciate it for what it is because we all know that most of us do not have $180k to spend on toys.
If we did, it would be on 4 or 5 cars and the garage to work on them.
It is certainly an experience to read all the comments about this truck. What frientens me is ,I am totally out of sync with 99 per cent of the comments. I love It ,I think it is way cool and I would love to have it my car collection ! Oh Yeah ! I forgot I don’t have a car collection, unless two cars ,older than 65 and are driven everyday ,are consldered a collection, maybe just considered “Collectable”, maybe? Back to the Camper Truck, impracticle, a butt load of money ,a pain in the butt to drive and maintain , mostly impractical and off the charts creative and different. What’s not to like? I want it
Joe you’ve done an injustice to everyone that loves this abomination (somebody changed the definition of creativity when I wasn’t looking). We have a new invention. It’s called Spell Check!
In Joe’s defence you spelling police need to get lost. While I’m here I might as well comment on the truck. Fantastic craftsmanship, very crappy planing and design. This thing looks like a clown truck. If I had to drive this I’d need a bag over my head so my friends wouldn’t recognize me. BG in AK that is why there is so much negativity, its unsightly and useless not to mention way over priced. You know people will by a cube too I guess there is no accounting for taste.
PS did I mention I can’t stand the spelling police. Get a grip we’re not all scholars on this sight, I think too that people that live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. You never when auto correct might bite you in the a$$ too Dougie.
There is something brown this reminds me of and its not sugar
From looking at the pictures, I do not believe you could drive it into a camping area because it is sitting on the ground and would get hung on an uneven road.I was not impressed at all by it,
I had all sorts of snarky, obscene, snotty, ad nauseum comments to make, but everyone else beat me to it.
This is a great use for a C10 with a camper topper. Let’s be honest, both were kind of crappy anyway so at least there’s something visually interesting here. I love it!
With that budget, it would be cool to see an Airstream RV with a proper suspension and engine upgrade. Or an antique skoolie bus with modern everything under the skin
A friend of mine said I should sell my 1969 Camaro Z/28 and my C-7 Corvette and buy this camper truck etc… that he saw on barn finds /// I’m thinking NO /// LOL
Has anyone else noticed that the majority of the SEMA builds go out of relevancy extremely quickly and are literally worth pennies on the dollar?
Small wonder there, Walt.
Amazing wood work.
Much better when seen in person.
But what is it good for?
To quote from the song “War” by the group War…”what is it good for?……absolutely nothin”
I have been a true rv er for 25 years
I have been a car guy for all my life
Could combine the 2 with this setup
Go to a car show and camp at the same time
But the price is too high and it is not really a camper
Nice attention getter and really a good deal at 35 k
Christmas Vacation line says it best “Talk about pissing your money away Clark! “
Canadiamarkshe, Thanks for defending my spelling problems, I am not fond of the Spelling Police either. In my defense ,my problem isn’t so much spelling but my computer skills really ,SUCK. It is my opinion this forum is to express various points view, not spelling skills, but I do wish I had a better understanding of spell check.
You do not need it. Just proceed as you were…
I live in a country with 11 official languages – if you send spellcheck into our conversation, it will uncheck itself…
Lets see……I love p/u trucks……I love campers…….I built trucks/vans for SEMA in the 80s……but this is hideous! And I know hideous, I built custom vans in the 80S!!!
Now that is funny! Thanks AZVanMan.
Well that got us all talking
Why take the pictures in half light ??
I think the money would be better spent on ….art …property….stock….. nonim only joking.
In these very dark days if this was to give you pleasure go for it but it’s just not my pleasure
First big pothole and vacation over! Just don’t get it, and don’t ever care to!