The Subaru Loyale Camper
Written by N. Stokely
One day as I was pulling weeds in a friend’s yard, I happened to notice a seemingly abandoned station wagon sitting on his property. Closer inspection revealed it to be a 1992 Subaru Loyale 4WD. At the time, I was in between cars (mostly on a bicycle) and very short on cash, however, I inquired about that lonely old subie. My friend said it had sat there for about 3 years and he didn’t know if it cranked, but I was welcome to it for $1. Well, I popped the hood, dropped in a new battery, and turned the key. It cranked and cranked and wouldn’t start. One new fuel pump later, I had myself a car. As I inspected the car, I found that rats had taken up residence in the interior, and had created quite a mess. So I removed everything behind the driver and passenger’s seats. I mean everything. Right down to the metal. I was then faced with the problem of what to do with this gutted wagon when it donned on me. I needed a camper with 4WD for skiing, and this little wagon was just long enough to lie down. Some plywood, carpet, and sweat later, the Subaru Loyale Camper was born. Since then, I have added many luxuries. First, I installed a 4-outlet power strip and inverter to provide AC power. I also added a deep cycle battery, battery charger, 2.5-gallon water tank, propane heater, storage box and straps, LED lights, solar shower, and more. Nearly everything on this car has been modified or made from scratch for this project. It works beautifully. Camping is a breeze and the car goes everywhere. I quickly got bored with the stock exhaust and thus proceeded to hack off the muffled and add straight pipes. Now that little wagon turns heads everywhere it goes. It really is a very simple project, and a fantastic camping car since you can drive everywhere and it gets great fuel mileage. Since I offroad this at least once a week and literally beat the you know what out of it getting high centered and creeping through mud, it certainly is a real outdoors machine. If anybody else decides to do this with their Loyales I’d love to hear about it, feel free to email me at nstokely.conejosfilms@gmail.com
Interior: The back seats were removed and a sheet of plywood was cut to form
a new floor. A 2×4 was cut up to make little vertical supports under the floor.
The carpet is stapled to the plywood. There is a comfy blue foam pad to sleep on,
heavy duty plastic box for storage, alarm clock, and shortwave radio. I also have
the curtains installed in this picture.
2.5 Gallon water tank and underfloor storage
Skiing humour on the plate frame
Battery charger under driver’s seat
Accessory control box (light switch fell out offroading)
110V AC power strip and propane tanks (that’s right, I’m in
the United States, 110V)
The back of the car, open, in my drive. Equipped with the optional welcome mat.
The curtains are out for repair since a lovely young lady I was giving a ride to
decided to grab them as a handle and destroyed them.
I bought my first Subaru back in 2005, it was a 89 Brumby, flair red. I lifted it, fitted Kumho 27″ MT’s. After a while I swapped the dual carb EA81 it had with an EJ22 bolted on a custom gearbox which used EJ D/R casing, EA82 5sp low range and an RX centre locking diff. Once I sold the Brumby I got a 83 Leone. Converted it to 4WD, put the Kumho’s on it, added a 5sp and drove it like I stole it. I then upgraded to a 99 Outback. It was hail damaged so I repaired it myself. I fitted it out with some storage and a mattress. I now have a 87 Brumby that I’ve resprayed with two pack urethane in Waratah Red. I am planning to fit an EJ with PT gearbox and a little bit of lift. It’s another project in progress.
Phizinza – who has written 50 posts on Offroading Subarus.