When choosing a vehicle, think of a vehicle that fits in and doesn't look out of place in a typical city street or suburban shopping mall. Try to get a generic looking vehicle that a lot of people have. When you pull in to a parking lot and there are three other similar vehicles, that is a good thing.
Don't go for the obvious RV, camping van, or even a conversion van. Go for the soccer mom mall cruiser, the kind of vehicle that only straight, conservative people with kids and a respectable job drive. You can paint the inside whatever color you want, but the outside needs to be colored in "suburban camouflage".
Why the need for stealth? Because you want to be able to park the thing in an average city neighborhood overnight and not have anyone think twice about it being there. Whether you park next to a strip mall, a hospital, a church, a grocery store or on a residential street, the make and model of the car should tell people: "there's nothing to see here, move along".
Currently minivans and SUV's are good choices for stealth van camping mode in the USA. There are many minivans available used at low cost. When they start getting old, no self respecting soccer mom is going to drive it anymore, so it becomes a low cost vehicle due to social unacceptability. This is good, because it may be mechanically excellent. It is worth being an automotive social pariah in order to get a low cost, reliable vehicle, especially one that you can live in.
skylark
admin at cruisenews.net