We made brief mention of this DS Camper Conversion back in the days we were publishing the Fall 2008 edition of Citroënthusiast. We have some updated info about it.
The conversion was built by a Palisades Motors in the US using the rear of a 1970′ Toyota truck with 8′ bed in the rear. It had hooks along the sides, a chrome bumper on the back and a flat glass tempered black back window. The seats were out of a 70’s Land Cruiser. The back end was not aligned very well. It wore out a set of tires in 1500 miles! (We originally stated that the cab weighed 300 lbs and it would wear out a pair of tires in 800 miles!)
As we mentioned, the DS camper conversion originally belonged to Ken McKenzie, (a former CAC member who passed away on January 27, 2004), and then was driven by Dave Kane in Toronto.
This shot was taken at Rendezvous in the 1980s when it was held at Greenfield Massachusetts. Note the vents in the lower front bumper, indicating that the drive there and back could have possibly been an air-conditioned one.
It survived until the mid-nineties, until Dave Kane moved from his home just north of Toronto to Tottenham, Ontario. At that time he passed it on to his brother and Dave claims that it still exists and as we say; “all it needs is a clutch!”
And just for comparison to the Dave Kane’s Black DS conversion – these folks in the The Netherlands have made this beautiful pick-up out of a D Safari. Looks to be in great shape.
Yes, thought so, as I used to see it at Dave’s home almost 3 decades now, from what I had remembered , it was drive able , as it used to get shifted about from the back if the garden , this was one interesting conversion, since then, I had see some really pretty ones converted from the DS Safari.
This wasn’t my cupa