Rare DIY Toyota Hiace Camper Van Shows Impressive Packaging, All-Wheel-Drive Capabilities

Nat from Element Van Life is a veteran when it comes to making custom camper vans, with his first project dating back to 2016. It was a Honda Element Camper, so the name of his YouTube channel is pretty much self-explanatory. Since then, Nate has made a lot of progress and gained a lot of skills by completing two other camper projects, a Mercedes Sprinter and a Nissan NV200.

His last DIY project is a custom camper van based on a small Toyota Hiace van, a car that is a rare sight in the U.S. Being so small it put Nate’s honed skills to the test, but in the end, the outcome is nothing short of a miracle, as this tour video aptly shows.

Nate and his partner Shannon imported the 1995 Toyota Hiace from Japan. It already came with impressive features, like all-wheel drive and a turbodiesel engine, so the car was pretty much suitable for off-grid adventures. Also, the car was already fitted as a camper van, but the couple decided it is not up to their tastes. So, they customized it themselves as their fourth project, and that kept them busy for the best part of last year.

Nevertheless, Nate is proud of his last project, and, as you can see in the video below, he has all the reasons to be so. He and his partner had done a great job furnishing the small van interior to the brim, using all the space available for storage and anything they could think of. The Hiace being such a small van compared to other RV material on the U.S. soil, a lot of ingenuity went into this project.

The camper sports a three-burner stove with an oven, no different from the ones in a normal kitchen. It also has a refrigerator and a sink, which can double as a shower when needed. The king-sized bed is made of two custom-made mattresses, allowing for flexibility in arranging the interior. But what made this custom camper unique is how Nate and Shannon can arrange the interior for three different office space configurations.

The saddest part is that despite being such a clever and well-thought-out camper, Nate will have to sell it sooner or later, as he needs a little more space inside his tiny home. Plus he needs to have the next DIY project ready for a future video.