This Tiny Diesel-Powered Motorhome Is Shorter Than A Ford Ranger And Is As Roomy As A Van

An increasing number of motorhome buyers are saying no to gargantuan motor coaches and instead want something that’s easier to drive, park, store, and maintain. Americans are becoming spoiled for choice for compact motorhomes, and I found a neat little option that you cannot normally buy in America. At only 16 feet long, this 1992 Toyota TownAce European is more than a foot shorter than a new Ranger, yet thanks to its fiberglass body, it has close to the same space to spread out as a regular van. A diesel engine and four-wheel drive are only cherries on top.

American RVers are discovering that there are several benefits to buying a smaller motorhome. The smallest rigs on the market can fit into standard parking spaces and are even shorter than half-ton pickup trucks. These motorhomes drive like cars and are lightweight enough that you don’t need to know how to drive a big bus just to handle them. Of course, since there’s less camper to worry about, maintenance is easier and storage should be cheaper, too.

Unfortunately, many of America’s smallest motorhomes are still quite expensive, or are more affordable, but don’t use the best build materials. One alternative is this Japanese Domestic Market 1992 Toyota TownAce European. Sure, it’s an oddball that was never sold in America, but it’s tiny, roomy, and perhaps most importantly, it also appears to be built pretty well.

A’m Craft

Quite a few of these motorhomes have made it over to America, and yet none of the listings for them have explained just where they came from. The European is a motorhome of A’m Craft of Toyokawa City, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Yes, this is one of those funky companies with punctuation in its name!

Through some digging, I found A’m Craft’s Japanese website, and it explains the company’s origins. A’m Craft says it was founded in 1987, and in that year, its engineers designed an original fiberglass shell to mount onto the back of a Toyota TownAce. This shell contained a fiberglass interior, a canvas pop-top, and a European-inspired design. This coach was launched as the “European” that year.

A’m Craft claims that the European was special because, at the time, making a camper with a molded fiberglass inner shell was still novel in Japan. The company continues with its mission statement:

The everyday options that campervans offer stimulate our imaginations, even when we’re not in them. Just having a campervan there inspires a sense of adventure and anticipation, as if we’ve got a ticket to access a natural landscape we’ve never seen before. Since its founding 20 years ago, Amcraft has wanted to deliver this “everyday life with campervans.” Amcraft believes in providing a place that everyone, from small children to elderly people, can enjoy. From bustling cities during the day, to deserted forests with clear air, to the great outdoors where you can see the distant light of the stars, we want you to be able to stay comfortably anywhere in Japan. So that you won’t miss the sunlight by day or the twinkling of the stars at night.

At Amcraft, we imagine campervan owners driving freely through the natural beauty of Japan and the world. Warm family moments that extend from the inside of the vehicle to the outside. Each of these imaginative wishes is carefully poured into every aspect of the vehicle’s design and construction. The resulting Amcraft campervans are equipped with features such as FRP, which allows the body to be beautifully and flexibly transformed, a pop-up roof that allows for more use of the body, and a sink that can be used outside the vehicle. These features are a means of realizing the feelings that we have had in our minds so many times over the past 20 years. And before we knew it, Amcraft has been praised by many people for its “originality.”

Amcraft has always wanted to paint a new color in your everyday life with camper vans. Why not join hands with us and enjoy the journey of everyday life?

In December 2013, White House Co., Ltd. purchased A’m Craft’s camper van assets and rolled them into its own company. A’m Craft’s warranties were canceled in the merger, but White House said that it would continue to build and service A’m Craft campers. The A’m Craft website went dark in 2016.

That brings us to the cutie for sale today.

Like The Doctor’s TARDIS

The seller of this TownAce European says it comes in at around 16 feet long. This camper is super short. That’s smaller than a mid-size pickup truck! Yet, you can’t even tell because it looks bigger than it actually is.

The magic of the European is in its molded fiberglass body, which sticks out wider than the van itself. The motorhome comes in at about 6.2 feet wide, or about six inches narrower than a van like the Ram ProMaster. Despite the compact dimensions, it has roughly the interior volume of a cargo van. At 7.8 feet tall, it will even fit into some taller garages!

The fiberglass appears to be in good shape, and the gelcoat still has glimmer. A tour of the exterior reveals a city water connection and a 100-volt shore power connection. We’ll get to that part in a moment.

The interior has the standard Japanese camper van layout, where all of the business happens in the rear. Despite the motorhome’s tiny size, the interior manages to have a single basin sink, a single burner stove, a wet bath, and a water heater. Additional comforts include an air-conditioner and a stereo. A diesel heater provides warmth in the cold.

Something a little weird here is that the tub for the shower is directly in front of the kitchen sink, so I hope you enjoy showering with friends. The most likely plywood hatch for the tub even has a water stain, so I wonder just how practical this setup even is.

Moving on, forward of the combo kitchen and bathroom is a bench and a dinette. These turn into one big bed for four people to sleep in, if you’re all really close to each other. The pop-top is not really a sleeping area, but a trick to allow for 7 feet of headroom.

Under the cute body sits a Toyota 2C 2.0-liter inline four diesel. This is a naturally aspirated mill, and it’s good for 74 HP and 98 lb-ft of torque. That’s fed to all four wheels through a five-speed manual transmission and a two-speed transfer case. The camper also has a set of Aisin locking hubs.

Pump The Brakes

On one hand, the platform should be plenty capable to get you pretty far off-pavement. On the other hand, getting to where you can leave pavement might take a while, as this motorhome has a cruising speed of about 65 mph. It will also lose speed when climbing long hills. At the very least, this should be a pretty reliable platform. The seller claims the motorhome has 34,902 miles.

If the morsels of power haven’t scared you off yet, you also need to consider this motorhome’s electrical system. This camper came from the part of Japan that runs on 100 volt, 50 Hertz power. American systems use 120 volts and 60 hertz. Sadly, correcting this issue is not as easy as it would be with a camper with a European electrical system. The best way to fix this would be to convert the electrical system to U.S. standards. Alternatively, you could run your own inverter and feed electricity from that.

Thankfully, so many of these have been imported into America that there are online groups to help you figure out what to do. Still, this does mean that if you want to use that air-conditioner safely, you will have to do some work.

Could Be Worth It

If you got through all of that and still want this camper, the other good news is that it’s not offensively expensive. I found it on Facebook by what appeared to be a private seller, but the photos link back to a dealership. That dealership is Capital JDM in Temple Hills, Maryland, and the motorhome is going for $22,500.

This dealership has three of these motorhomes in its inventory. For $18,500, you could get a 1991 version of the same motorhome with the same drivetrain, but no shower or stove. For $16,500, the dealership also has a 1993 TownAce Euro that has a 1.8-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine with 95 HP and 112 lb-ft of torque on tap, plus a five-speed manual and 4×4. Finally, I found a 1998 diesel TownAce European for sale by a private party in Port Angeles, Washington, for $19,000. So, you have a few choices! Normally, I would say that it would probably be cheaper to import your own, but given the tariff situation, I’m not even sure anymore.

To be clear, this motorhome comes with a lot of baggage, and I do not mean just its slow speed and its electrical system. Finding parts will be hard, and don’t be surprised if your local RV repair shop won’t want to touch it. Of course, some folks don’t like the idea of driving on the right side, either.

But if you can put up with all of that, you can get a super small, unique motorhome for a fraction of the price of buying new. These fiberglass bodies should have plenty of years left in them, and while weak, the engines will probably run for a very long time. Besides, how could you say no to a cute face like this?