"Charlie" the budget campervan

Mitsubishi Express L300 2.0l Petrol 5spd manual (1989 / 412,000kms when bought)
by Jimmy

My girlfriend and I decided our first major travel experience should be to cross Australia. We had already extensively toured England and Wales in numerous vehicles and were hankering for some more rugged scenery and time away from our rather cold and wet corner of the world.

We started out in Perth, Western Aus, and spent a few months working before setting ourselves up for travelling across. We decided to work to a very tight budget when it came to hunting for a vehicle so we would have plenty of spends for seeing the sights. Looking through the local free ads paper we found an old mitsubishi van that'd been laid up for over a year. It belonged to a joiner who'd bought a new van and just hadn't gotten 'round to selling this one. After pumping up a flat tyre and giving it a few runs around the block it was running sweet again. Despite having 412,000kms on the clock it didn't run hot and pulled very well. We handed over $1300AUD (about £500-£550 at the time) and got to work.

First off I fixed a leaky sump simply by tightening it, replaced a smashed headlamp unit, then sent it off for a full service. We also had a new alternater fitted which gave all the electrics a new lease of life. All this came to about $700iirc. A couple of bonuses about the van were its 3/4 length roof rack and "roo bars" (bullbars). This meant not having to worry so much about dodging the wildlife at dusk, and the roofrack came in very handy.

I bought two 8'x4' 9mm plywood boards, four 8' lengths of 2"x2" baton, a box of screws and hired a jigsaw and drill and with it all built a large raised bed in the back with a decent storage area up against the bulkhead and more storage underneath. Measured to the dimensions of a kingsize foam mattress bought for $80. We trawled Ikea for storage boxes and bedding and of course they came up trumps with exactly what we needed.

While wandering around Perth a few days before setting off on our travels we came across a guy spray painting one of the "Wicked" brand campervans in one of their wacky designs. After talking for a bit he agreed to spray our van for us! The fantastic paint job he did set us back a further $120 but increased the vans appeal ten-fold.

Accessories we packed included a Waeco 12v portable fridge (expensive but definately worth it, we got the element full of dust and kept it switched on full power 24/7 but it never failed us, and was still working just as well when we sold it with the van as when we bought it), a 2 burner stove, a 40l water carrier, a 20l jerry can, pots/pans/crockery etc, a solar shower, a surfboard and a bodyboard.

We travelled across to Sydney following the south coast, then carried on up towards Cairns. We sold our van with 444,000kms on the clock having not done a single bit of maintenance since we left Perth but for keeping the oil topped up and stripping down the rear door lock once as it was full of dust from the unsealed roads and dirt tracks we often used. The best part was we got $3800 back for it, a big profit on what we had spent setting it up.

What made you choose this one?
The price and the local availability of parts on the cheap.

Main criteria for this project?
To get us around Aus as cheaply as possible, acting as a home and a comfortable mode of transport, often venturing onto the rougher tracks to get to remote places of interest.

Modifications undertaken?
Not much really, fit out the back with a bed and storage options. Paint job probably helped with increasing the value for sale.

Modifications yet to do?
Gone, but missed.

How does it perform?
Surprisingly well for such an old high mileage motor! Cruised at 100kph very happily. Got it as fast as 135 once but it downed the fuel at that speed. Got approx 35mpg at 100kph/60mph

What would you do differently?
Perhaps find something with a bit more ground clearance and/or 4wd. A couple of times we had to turn back because we couldn't make it down a track.