The northern areas of Pakistan are full of scenic beauty, serenity and mystique. From dense mountain forests to lush green plateaus, from crystal clear streams and lakes to dark intimidating silent hills. Move towards the south and you meet fields of gold – wheat, cotton, sugarcane, oranges. Move further south and you’re exploring miles and miles of desert sand. Continue your journey and the caves of Baluchistan welcome you to experience the most amazing nights you could dream of. And despite the far-from-perfect road conditions, enthusiasts travel in huge numbers exploring a new dimension on each trip.
I am yet to come across a traveler complaining about the travelling experience, or the prize in the end. I have come across travelers though who were unhappy with some other issues.
The fact is that as a nation, we lack social upbringing. Being fed with the same empty promises of bare minimum from our politicians and similar disconnected sermons from the religious hubs, not much has been taught to us in terms of social civics. The result is that we can argue for hours about the ‘unquestionable favors’ a specific politician did to us by building roads with our own tax money, or about the “qabooliat” or lack thereof of our prayers depending upon how high we hold our shalwaars, but we have somehow lost the basics of civilization. We unconsciously leave a trail of orange peels and banana skins right on the road while talking to our friends about the demise of civic sense from our society. We deliver sermons to our children on social responsibility of every Pakistani while throwing the empty Marlboro packet out of our car window.
Cutting the rant short and coming back to the topic, due to the trails of garbage we leave behind as tourists, travelers have started to favor undiscovered places – places which are not common choices by local tourists, places which are not easily reachable, and places which have not yet been commercialized. Which brings us to the problem – most of those places lack basic facilities like electricity, a place to crash, somewhere to get food, or even make coffee. Yes, tents work but setting up a temporary home each time you want to stop in your journey gets hectic after a couple of times. Then there is rain and wind and weather.
And that brings us to the solution – A campervan!
For less than a price of a 10 years old Suzuki Mehran, you can grab an old Toyota Townace which along with some tasteful innovation-cum-renovation, can be turned into a cozy campervan – a hotel room on wheels, a companion on your journey to explore the wild, your ticket to sleep anywhere you want without paying a penny.
The mid 80s and early 90s Toyota Townaces and Toyota Liteaces have quite a few things going for them; simple suspension setup, very good road clearance, excellent driving position, rear wheel drive (an AWD too if you can find it) and variants of very common diesel engines.
There are multiple approaches to it, but the common one starts with planning seats facing each other with a foldable table between them creating a living room sort of ambience. These seats can be reclined into a bed at the time of need. A small shelf which can be used for a sink, a refrigerator or just as a nightstand runs on one side of the van. A slide out kitchen goes to the back. The tricky part is the choice of material to keep the rattle to minimum even on bumpy roads. Optional additions are front rotating seats, extra sleeping space on top, TV with a retractable stand mounted on the roof, charging sockets, a foldable shade on one side and bike stand at the back.
Inspirations can be taken by simply googling “Campervan Conversion” – A few photos are attached of such a project – mind you, this is one of the simplest to come by, yet extremely practical. And with the abundance of cheap but immaculate craftsmanship locally available, it is an easy to realize idea.
The outcome, however, will change the way you travel. Stay home weekends will be turned into full-fledged family excursion trips. A week off from work will mean actually being at the places you have only seen in photos. The usual boys-night-out will not be playing cards in your basement but at the bank of a mountain stream with a bonfire, good food and a guitar. You will start gathering albums and albums of timeless memories, unforgettable miles and breathtaking moments you’ll cherish forever in your life.
As they say, life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
So what are you waiting for?
That’s a genuinely nice idea. But I don’t think you’d be able to find one in less than half a million. Add the customization and drivetrain and some other expenses and we’re around a million mark already.
Well there are some 20 of them just on PW under half a million, there’s one for 260k as well.
And i somehow believe the townace and liteace owners arent the type who lurk around car websitrles, so there should be manifold more who arent on PW.
As for customizing – my guess is 150k-200k tops for something like the one in photos.
Its Pakistan..a few abundant things around here is child..sorry, cheap labour.
So you reckon half a million should do the trick?
Speaking of cheap, I meant child, gave me an idea:
buy an acemobile for whatever the price- spend some more on alternating customization- and run it for schools for the rest of the 350 days.
That’d keep it maintained and running for the rest of the year, and earn some money to finance your annual holidays 🙂
Yes, I reckon the finished product should cost a tad over half a mil. Here are the things you can live with in a campervan as opposed to a daily driven car, hence find a cheaper option.
1. It can be registered anywhere in Pakistan
2. It can a duplicate book for anyone who cares
3. It can be of shabby interior – you’ll be remaking it anyway
4. The chances are you’d want to personalize the exterior as well to taste, hence a faded off exterior would work too.
Once done, it will be a one off vehicle with no specific ‘resale’, so points mentioned above wouldn’t matter to you later – nor to the potential buyer of a campervan with limited choice; they will however be strong negotiating points when you’re buying the stock vehicle from someone.
As for the school bus, I wouldn’t trust kids with sharp pencils and compasses with my custom upholstery tbh.
I like this idea. Did you know that this Townace came with a proper 4×4 drivetrain. I have seen only a couple here in Pakistan but in Australia, where that 4×4 Townace was actually built for, it makes up for a genuinely fun vehicle.
I thin Pakistanis are also opening up to new ideas in vehicles given the imports have show. There’s definitely a high praise for such family vehicles, the station wagons for example have picked up pace in Pakistan. So there’s that.
Following patch was totally off the track. people here are to read honest opinions about auto industry, not WRITERS views about the social evils HE thinks are present in our society
“The fact is that as a nation, we lack social upbringing. Being fed with the same empty promises of bare minimum from our politicians and similar disconnected sermons from the religious hubs, not much has been taught to us in terms of social civics. The result is that we can argue for hours about the ‘unquestionable favors’ a specific politician did to us by building roads with our own tax money, or about the “qabooliat” or lack thereof of our prayers depending upon how high we hold our shalwaars, but we have somehow lost the basics of civilization. We unconsciously leave a trail of orange peels and banana skins right on the road while talking to our friends about the demise of civic sense from our society. We deliver sermons to our children on social responsibility of every Pakistani while throwing the empty Marlboro packet out of our car window.”
I come here to read about the social evils through automotive perspective. It’s a blog. Not Jang akhbaar bro.
It is a great change – this shift of buying paradigm imports have brought. We have become braver at taking risks with automotive buying.
Station wagons are a nice addition. Promising for people like me whose dream car is this –
These are running god damn expensive nowadays. Check the PW Classifieds.
To be honest though, driving a ’80s townace… the maintainance alone would be brutal.
It’s an old ride, most often driven on rugged terrain by illiterate drivers with little care for the vehicle.