Remember the dark days of the Arab Oil Embargo of the early 1970′s. Here at Carlisle Johnny.com we do. Big ole American cars would suffer a blow that they would never recover from.During that time sales of large RV’s and motorhomes also suffered to the point of extinction. By the mid 1970′s one of Japan’s biggest vehicle makers had the bright idea of merging the mechanics of a small pickup with a barge like camper back. The result was this pictured wonder of engineering. With all the comforts of home or a very small closet these “Mini-Homes” sold in droves during the gas starved “disco ball era”  They would give the wonders of RVing to a whole new market place and provide it with slug like performance and buckboard handling. The idea was very VW Westfalia like. The top used a pop-up type roof with canvas sides.With the roof fully extended a six foot person could stand up or ahhh slouch.This love shack on wheels had all the comforts of home(if your name is Jed Clampett)  You could get sleeping for up to 4 people,a full kitchen and a bathroom.For an additional cost you could get a full sewer system and forced hot air propane heating system. All these Ritz Carlton comforts added over 700 lbs of bulk and mass to an already snail like vehicle. If driven correctly you could squeeze 20mpg from your home away from home. The “rice burner” mechanics proved to reliable and easy to fix. Sadly most of these wallowing tubs would suffer from floor and cab rust due to poor rust proofing. Your Bro Carlisle Johnny owned one of these slop wagons. Its was robust and trusty but due to its large roof would wallow like the Queen Mary and catch wind like the Hindenburg. My 1978 example was sold to some beer drinking college kids who promptly turned it into a 3800 lb beer keg. Click  What Auto is This   To see the answer.