A company called River City Rods created a rather extravagant camping machine for the SEMA-2017 using the chassis of an old Chevrolet C30. The 54-year-old truck ended up with slammed suspension, a modern V8 under the hood and what we assume to be plenty of thrust. It will cross the auction block at Mecum Nashville on September 25, 2026, so let’s take a closer look.
According to the builder, the original idea was to break the stereotype of campers being too slow and boring to drive. It’s a shame we don’t know how fast the thing is, exactly, but swapping in a 6.2-liter, naturally aspirated LS3 V8 had to be worth it. The mill is good for 435 PS (429 hp / 320 kW) straight from the factory, and we’d imagine the truck’s new four-speed automatic transmission to be adequate.
To improve handling, the C30 also received an all-new air suspension setup and a full set of modern Wilwood brakes. 22-inch Sportz Slice wheels occupied the arches.
For the interior, River City Rods used copious amounts of natural wood lining and tried to make the camper look lived-in. They brought lots of questionable props on board to emulate an old home on wheels, including a boat motor, a pair of well-worn skis, some ancient-looking audio speakers and a roof hammock filled with empty tin cans. To be entirely honest, we’re not sure what the artistic intent here was, but we imagine that the new owner will have no issue taking out whatever they consider junk.
Another intriguing aspect of this camper is the price. We don’t have so much as a rough estimate, but are looking forward to finding out how much people are willing to pay for it.