I built a shop in New York. Several people helped, especially Jerry Matthews. I hope he is at peace in the afterlife. He was a pretty great guy. The shop was a dream come true, but I don’t miss it. It was miserably cold for most of eight months and hot for nearly three. The tools would be very nice, and the wood a godsend, but so would 100 sf of floor space here in Central Arizona. In a patio reflection with my lovely wife Helen, I commented that a decent tarp would make a shop out of anywhere in our yard. And my shop would make a nice little shop if it had less in it. Voilà. The only thing necessary is roughly 100 hours and the removal of a few other projects.
Anybody want a 25 foot RV? It has a Ford 460 cid, C6 transmission, and would make a heck of a work flatbed, or it can be rebuilt into an RV again. All that stuff works. Or any other reason you might have for the 460, like hot-rodding, off-roading, jet-boating or drag racing.
And I will need a tarp that I may already have . . .
If it was up to me, I’d be twice as strong and four times as healthy. Helen and I would finally have an awesome camper. Want to join me in a project? It could happen. I can see it now: steel frame, vinyl, fiberglass and epdm-covered sheet and spray foam insulated to r-7 or so. I would install skylights and several side windows with insulated covers for night privacy and warmth. I would also drop the roof height and deeply round the corners to reduce drag. Theoretically, drag efficiency favors a cigar over a pack of of cigarettes. Either way, this camper would be smokin’. You could really maximize air flow on a homemade RV, right down to a retractable a/c unit. Almost wide open inside but for a toilet. I would drop the height, putting the floors below frame level, with step overs. Standing room would be limited, but available. The lowered floor also allows for some real stiffening for harsh travel. I could cut away as much as 10 square feet of frontal area and 6,000 pounds of wood, plywood, siding, carpet and Formica, and still have a great camper for up to 6 people. Powered by a Ford 460 that has already been bored and honed more than once. Can it take another and still provide 350 foot pounds across the standard driving rpm range? They say the 460 is a workhorse, powering Lincolns and F-series and Econoline trucks for a notably long time.
Man, can I see it now!
We got this RV 10 years ago, with that sort of dream. I never got around to putting the gas tank back in it. Would you like it?
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