A Most Unexpected Rig: A Volkswagen DoKa Syncro With a Palomino Camper

This quirky, almost cute-looking overlander is proof. It is perhaps the strangest combination you’re likely to meet, especially if you’re partial towards Land Rover Defenders, Rams, Fords or Unimogs. It is a vintage Volkswagen Transporter paired with a pop-up camper, a combination that, as the owner can attest, is both very solid and comfy.

This is Jeff Hogue’s creation and, as of the time of press, it no longer exists because he sold off the camper. Hogue runs his own shop, where he does all types of repairs and maintenance work, and custom campers, and he says he loves nothing more in the world than vintage VW Transporters.

His favorite by far is this one: a DoKa Syncro, a double-cab with an all-wheel-drive system that’s been through extensive repairs and restorations, and upgrades. A couple of years ago, Hogue explained in a 2019 interview with Truck Camper Magazine, he decided he would turn this cute but capable DoKa into an overlander.

Hogue is a Volkswagen mechanic, which probably explains his passion for VWs. At the time, he’d been using a VW Westfalia camper van but he wanted something a bit rougher, which he could trust to go where its predecessor did not dare to. Since he’d already done some work on the DoKa (he’d had it for 19 years, during which time it had been through three restorations and two engine-swaps), he decided to turn it into an overlander and, after some research, he came across the Palomino Bronco 600 pop-up, slide-in camper.

He opted for a pop-up camper instead of the hard-top on considerations of weight and height of the bed of the DoKa. Since this is based on a microbus, it doesn’t really scream “power,” so he needed something practical that, more importantly, wouldn’t hold it down. Even with improvements, the DoKa rig was “very lazy,” but Hogue and his wife were pleased with it.

The camper fit the DoKa “like a glove,” so all there was left for Hogue to do was modifications to ensure the rig would make it off-road. The DoKa is rear-engined, so the slide-in camper offered easy access to it when need be.

“I added a rear spacer to the coil springs, just to keep the rig level and while traveling. I also bumped up the engine boost to 18 psi for a little more grunt climbing hills and passing,” he told the magazine in the interview. “Finally, I made a custom electrical harness to charge the AGM battery in the camper. The harness provides sixty amps of charge while the engine is running.”

The little overlander was packed with the essentials for one week of living off the grid. This included gray water and fresh water tanks, spare parts and tools, refrigerator, 3000W inverter and portapotty. Three generous storage spaces were available: two on the sides of the camper, accessible by lowering the side rails on the truck, and a third under the passenger back seat.

During the time the Hogues had the rig in their possession, they put many miles on it, traveling through native Canada and the U.S. Each year, they took most of the month of August to head out to a single destination they’d chosen in advance, while weekends were dedicated to more impromptu outings.

As noted above, Hogue sold off the camper, but he still holds on to the DoKa because, he says, it’s part of the family. You can see in the video below – and trust that he’s probably considering another camper for it as we speak.

He hinted as much in the interview: “If I were wealthy instead of smart, handsome, and handy, I would have an aluminum or composite custom camper made for our truck. Now that we know just what we want, I’m not sure I’d be satisfied with an off-the-shelf camper for a not-off-the-shelf truck.”