About: I have too many projects going on to know where all the little cuts and scratches on my hands come from. Follow me here to catch up on my latest builds.

I've wanted to make a car into a camper for several years and eventually I found the perfect vehicle for it, the humble Ford Festiva. Why choose such a small car? I believe that limitations breed creativity and I wanted high MPGs. This is not meant to be a step by step instructable but more of a guide on how to convert a beater car into a camper. This project was inspired in part by Modeo's "Roof Top Car Camper", I recommend you check it out here https://www.instructables.com/id/Roof-top-car-campe...

Total I have about a grand invested into this project including the car. Being a college kid I had to get creative to make this fit into my budget. Since a lot of parts are made from recycled materials I found throughout the build.

Materials:

1. Coroplast: I bought 10 sheets for 110 dollars from a big box store. It only took about 5.5 sheets that were leftover from another project. Some of the coroplast is recycled from old promotional signs.

2. Super Glue: Bought 3 - 10 packs from a local hardware store for about 4 bucks a piece.

3. Grommets: I purchased 1000 3/8 grommets on the internet for 17.99. The punch kit was 7.49 from a big box store but you could most likely find one cheaper.

4. Velcro: 10 yards of velcro online cost around 12 bucks.

5. 1 full sheet of 1/2 plywood. I had various pieces in my barn so this was free, otherwise they cost around 20-40 bucks

6. 3 - 1''x4''x8' boards, approximately 4 bucks a piece. Always check to make sure your lumber is straight when purchasing, I like to line it up with the edges of the tiles in the floor.

7. A pair of continuous piano hinges, I salvaged mine from old storage unit.

8. A couple yards of bug mesh. I had one leftover from my boy scout cot but you can buy it by the yard at any fabric store for a few bucks.

9. Angle Iron, tubing, and pipe. I just found all my from random scrap metal. One trick is to pick over the pile if you drop something off at the scrap yard, throw anything good in your car and you can pay very little for nice stock.

10. Some wood screws that will get the job done, I had 1.75 inch screws laying around.

11. Metal wire hangars for window supports.

12. Some thin shrink wrap.

13. A few square inches of fabric scraps.14. UV Protective clear coat to prevent the coroplast from yellowing in the sunlight.

15. Cardboard and marker for modeling

16. Closed cell foam.

17. A lot of materials I may have missed, this is a very big build and requires a lot of resourcefulness to adapt to any vehicle. This is only one of the many ways to skin a cat.

Tools

1. Wooden spoon for creasing coroplast. I tried various screen rollers but this seemed to work the best.

2. Optional heat gun to ease in creasing of coroplast.

3. Corocutter or scissors and knife.

4. Drill with various bits.

5. Angle grinder.

6. Mig Welder, Stick/Arc will work but it much harder on the thin gauge metal. I had to do some with a stick welder and it was miserable.

7. Hammer for the grommets.

8. Jig saw.

9. Staple gun.

10. Paintbrush.