This VW Beetle Diesel Pickup Truck Towing A Tiny Camper Is A Shockingly Cheap Way To Camp

If you’re looking for a unique way to go camping, a weird towable camper is a good start, but is only half of the equation. Ideally, you would match your trailer with an equally strange tow vehicle. I just found what could be the cutest camping rig of the year. Someone turned a Volkswagen New Beetle TDI into a pickup truck. Then, he built it an entirely custom camper just to be towed by the little ute. This glorious one-off can be yours, too!

I’ve often said that the custom camper is the ultimate form of RV. If you are creative and skilled enough, you can build an RV that is nothing like any rig built by any factory producer. A custom RV can have any feature and be built for any purpose. I love the creativity at work in a custom build. You can also rest assured that you will be the only one at the campground with a camper like yours.

This rig was built by Paul McCormick, and he built it in part just because he could. But it also could not have happened without Smyth Performance, the company that is America’s first name in ute conversion kits. There are lots of folks out there who turn old cars into utes, but how many of them are also towing micro-sized fifth wheel campers with them?

The Car

This car and camper went viral back in early 2022 when McCormick explained the whole build to Motor1. I will start with the car. McCormick started with a 2006 Volkswagen New Beetle TDI, a car that was massively important for both Volkswagen and car culture as a whole. Here’s what Jason Torchinsky said about the New Beetle:

Living in Los Angeles at the time, I remember seeing pre-production New Beetles being tested on Wilshire Blvd, surrounded by a coterie of black Jettas and with their badges missing or taped over– like anyone would think they were, say, a new Chevy or whatever. VW didn’t bother to really camouflage these, because what would be the point? Beetles just look like Beetles. All of this was in the everyone-has-a-camera-on-them-always era, so I regretfully never managed to get any pictures of those test Beetles. But I wish I did.

I can’t overstate the impact the New Beetle had on overall design at the time; it came onto the scene just as industrial design was starting to feel a bit more free, more open to having fun, and the New Beetle was like a massive, obvious banner reading YES LET’S DO IT to every company out there, no matter what they made. The bright colors, the pure and friendly curves, the exuberance and unashamed glee, these were all things inherent in the New Beetle and ready to pop all over industrial design. And that’s nor even mentioning the effect the New Beetle had on retro-inspired automotive design, which paved the way for the new Mini, new Fiat 500, the Mustang re-design, the Ford Thunderbird, and more. One of the best examples of this is perhaps the most famous: the iMac. Look how this Newsweek article about Steve Jobs and the introduction of the iMac starts:

“Look at That!” says Steve Jobs he pulls his Mercedes into a parking space. He’s pointing at a new Volkswagen Beetle, and as soon as he parks, he dashes over, circling the shiny black Bug, taking the measure of a well-publicized update of once great product design. “They got it right,” he concludes.

The New Beetle and its slimmer replacement are long gone now. However, the New Beetle still enjoys a devoted fanbase, and many especially love the turbodiesel model. These cars were sold with one of Volkswagen’s most durable engines of all time, and you were able to get them with a five-speed manual transmission, too! An old Beetle is pretty much the most unique mass-produced diesel car in America.

Anyway, in 2006, these cars shipped from the factory with Volkswagen’s legendary 1.9-liter BRM TDI four-cylinder, which was good for 100 HP and 177 lb-ft of torque. These engines are known for serious longevity, easy tuning, and fantastic fuel economy. Volkswagen rated these at 34 mpg combined, but Beetle owners who can keep their foot from burying the go pedal can get 40 mpg, sometimes better.

For some, the ultimate Volkswagen Beetle is a diesel pickup truck, and Smyth Performance offers just that. I’ve written about Smyth several times in the past, and the short version of the story is that Mark Smith, one of the masterminds of Factory Five Racing in 1993, started Smyth Performance in 2012 as his next kit car venture. Smith’s focus with Smyth is to create ute kits that pretty much anyone with some mechanical skills can put together.

The Rhode Island-based company’s portfolio is huge, and it offers kits for Volkswagen Beetles, Golfs, and Jettas, Dodge Chargers, Subaru Imprezas, Audi A4s, and even Jeep Grand Cherokees. Generally, A Smyth kit works by grafting an aluminum bed structure into the existing vehicle unibody. These beds also come with aluminum bracing and reinforcement to keep the vehicle’s unibody straight despite no longer having a rear roof. What’s amazing is that Smyth’s kits do get used for real truck stuff, including farming and very light towing.

The Camper

According to McCormick, it was building his Beetle with a Smyth kit that inspired him to go further. In 2021, he built a camper to go with it. From Motor1 back in 2022:

“I got the Beetle kit a couple of years ago, and while I was building that, a friend gave me a gooseneck hitch. I thought I may as well put it in the back of the Ute, and last December I decided to go on a road trip and remembered the hitch. So I thought I’d make a pop-up fifth wheel camper. It’s a camper built around a queen-sized bed.”

“I knew I wanted 1,500 pounds maximum for the trailer, but I had no idea what the tongue weight should be,” he said. “I theorized that 200 pounds would be enough to transfer weight to all four wheels of the Beetle and still have it tow correctly. I didn’t want the trailer roofline to be higher than the Beetle, and the width is exactly the same as well. And it tows amazingly well – not a hint of swaying or whipping, and we’ve been in places with 70 mph wind gusts.”

It’s not specifically said what the camper, which is called the PopTart, is made out of, but McCormick said that getting the roof and wall joints watertight was a challenge. The exterior panels appear to be built out of aluminum skin joined by L-channel and fasteners. Those fasteners were then sealed. It also appears that aluminum framing was used to keep weight down.

In terms of features, the camper has a 110-volt inverter, an air-conditioner, a diesel heater, a house battery, a queen bed platform, and a refrigerator. An electric winch is used to open and close the pop-up roof. McCormick notes that there isn’t a water system of any kind onboard, as carrying water would make the trailer weigh too much. That’s a pretty good warning that you can’t carry much of any cargo in this thing. At the very least, the camper does have electric brakes and a backup camera.

The most amazing part, at least to me, anyway, is that this isn’t even the first Volkswagen Beetle fifth wheel camping rig. Back in 2020, Jason wrote about how the old air-cooled Beetle could tow the International Travel Trailer El Chico, a 1970s gooseneck trailer that hooked onto the roof of an unsuspecting Bug.

So, this new trailer is really just a fresh take on an old idea. Check this video out:

Affordable Fun

The combination is for sale today for $22,500 out of Chesnee, South Carolina. McCormick says that the car has had a lot of work done to it in addition to the ute conversion:

Every possible replacement part was installed on engine and transmission when conversion was done, including clutch, flywheel, turbo, engine mounts, struts, wheel bearings, new tires, battery etc. Air assisted rear suspension, adjustable from cabin. Vehicle is in exceptionally good running condition. Current mileage 171,700.

The car was reported to have 165,000 miles in April 2022 when it first went viral, so it hasn’t driven very far since then. McCormick says that if you buy this thing, not only will you have an awesome, unique camper, but you’ll enjoy 30 mpg as your Beetle tows it at 70 mph to 75 mph down the highway.

Of course, this whole thing is a custom build with a few years and thousands of miles under its wheels, so I would recommend at least inspecting it to make sure everything looks good. This is advice I’d give to every camper purchase, really. But assuming it all looks kosher and most importantly, safe, I could imagine this setup being perfect for camping at a state park or similar. This is the perfect kind of minimalist camper for someone who likes having a step up from a pure tent, but not needing to sleep in a hotel room on wheels.

I love almost everything about this, from the frugal and cute Beetle to the fact that the camper still has basic niceties like heat and air-conditioning. Getting 30 mpg is phenomenal, too. This whole camper and car rig is proof that camping doesn’t have to cost you a fortune or be boring!

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Top graphic image: Paul McCormick