 The Experiment
Sold in
1988 for $25,000
A hand-built custom Callen camper with a portable kitchen, teak interior, boat rack, motorcycle rack and numerous additions took us down the road of some great adventures, but it never had the comfort we were looking for. The Four Wheel Pop-Up Camper seemed to be the perfect solution. Modified to our special needs, we now had a full-stand-up camper with stove, water, sink, refrigerator and a comfortable bed, yet the low profile and light weight retained the mobility we knew we needed to reach the remote backcountry.
Base
Vehicle - GMC 3/4 ton pick-up
The Turtle II came on the heals of the carefully designed Land Rover. It was a time of experimenting and learning. Its original Callen Camper was designed to correct the shortcomings of the Land Rover, but it was not completely successful. Its advantage was that it could pull a heavy trailer and carry a boat on top. It taught us lessons that we would apply to The Turtles III, IV & V
The engine
in The Turtle II was originally a 350 V8.
Everything you could do to an engine to give it more torque, more power,
better economy, and the ability to run on poor fuel was done. In the
end, if everything had worked like the manufactures said, we would have
had a rocket that never needed to be refueled. In fact, after experimenting
with headers, cams, manifolds, ignition, carburetors, fuel pressure
regulators, air filters, exhaust systems and even water injection systems,
it never ran better than the factory stock engine. Our biggest frustration
was that competing manufactures couldn’t agree on what worked together.
FUEL: With the final low-compression 460 cu. in. engine in place, The Turtle II would run on anything. Vapor lock was the only problem we had. Moving an electric fuel pump outside the frame rail, away from the exhaust, solved it. EXHAUST:
COOLING: The stock radiator was retained, with the addition of a flex fan and two Hayden thermo-electric fans in front. ELECTRICAL: Two GNB deep cycle Stowaways were kept charged by a 135-amp heavy-duty alternator.
Transmission problems plagued The Turtle II from the beginning. It was an automatic, and after two Art Carr gear boxes failed, we had a turbo-400 built in Chillicothe, MO. After removing all the unnecessary adapter plates and adapting an auxiliary cooler and a B&W shifter, we finally reached a state of reliability---at least as reliable as an automatic can ever be. DIFFERENTIALS: The front was equipped with a Gleason Torsen which worked like a dream. We swapped the stock rear Corporate for a Dana 60 to make the Gleason work, but it never did, so we ended up with a Detroit Locker. DRIVE LINES: Drive Line Service of Sacramento kept our Spicer u-joints and other components in top shape. BRAKES: Stock Chevy 3/4-ton with Raybestos pads in front. Massive Dana 60 brakes in the rear.
Stock WHEELS AND TIRES: After dumping the original 16.5 wheels, and breaking several Western aluminum rims, we went to Clement steel 16-inch rims and never had another problem. BFGoodrich Mud-Terrain T/As were the first and last tire we ever used. SUSPENSION: Stock springs were used with Rough Country shocks. STEERING: Stock power steering. BUMPERS: The original Holbrecht tube bumper was fitted with a custom motorcycle rack. Later, an aluminum front bumper was designed, and finally, a Rickard Compartment bumper was built. SEATS: Scheel
Mann orthopedic seats CENTER CONSOLE: A custom walnut center console was designed by Jean’s Cabinets. OVERHEAD CONSOLE: A custom walnut overhead console was designed by Jean’s Cabinets to hold a midland CB and light switches.
The original camper on The Turtle II was a custom design by Callen Campers in El Cajon, CA. It was a hard side, but not a full stand-up. A custom kitchen could be used inside, but more often it was set outside. An Easy-Load boat loaded carried a Gregor Baja Special, and a rack inside the door held our Evenrude 15-hp motor. When
we saw that the Callen Camper was not as functional as we had hoped,
we modified a Four Wheel Pop-Up Camper at the factory in Denver CO,
and used that for the remainder of The Turtle II’s life with
us. Camper Specifications: The Four Wheel Pop-Up Camper fitted to The Turtle III was built in Colorado. It was modified and repaired by the factory now in Woodland, California.
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3,500 BTU propane heater |
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