Mercedes-Benz D407 Living Life In A Truck House

While looking for RVs with all the comforts of home, I came across the exact opposite, and that got me thinking: do I really need to blow all my cash on an extravagant RV, or can I get my hands on one for much less?
 

Folks, the answer to the question above can only be defined by the level of comfort you’re ok with living. But if you’re searching for ideas on creating as simple a mobile lifestyle as possible, let’s look at the D407 Truck House as inspiration for a life lived simply but to the fullest.
 
Now the images in the gallery showcase the abode of an owner that shall remain anonymous. Not that he or she chose this, but because the designer of the D407 makes no mention of details regarding the project, price, or materials that went into the build. All we have is the result, and that’s more than enough for me to work with.
 
The mind, or should I say minds behind the D407? Well, it was most likely the doing of the anonymous owner, but also Jay Nelson, the other half of this story. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because we’ve featured his work before on autoevolution. You may remember projects like the Golden Gate Camper and Honda CRX Camper, the latter having received the title of “Freakshow Camper of the Year.”
 

This time around, it seems that Jay has decided to keep himself grounded, and instead of throwing a camper shell on the back of a Honda CRX – a dang abomination, I tell you – we see a large living space mounted to the chassis of a Mercedes-Benz D407 truck. Considering these buggers can even be used as dump trucks, you can bet your bottom dollar it’s a suitable vehicle for a living space.
 
Since cars aren’t really my proverbial cup of tea, I’m going to stick to the living space, and to get a feel for what Jay has achieved here, I invite you on a little trip through imagination where you pretend this is your RV. Why would we do this, even though we may never actually get to own this D407? Simply because it can be used as inspiration for creating a simple and effective RV for most seasons.
 
For example, as I was searching the internet, I found functioning and used D407s priced as low as $18,000. Sure, it’ll need some work and investing, but once you’ve cleaned, touched up on the motor, and finally set a shell similar to this one on top, reinforcements included, I feel you can be looking at something priced at around $40K or under.
 

Judging by the one and only image we have of the interior, we can see that nothing but wood was used to create the living space, and even insulation seems to be missing. Finish things up with some glass for visibility, a wooden galley block, a possible cab-over bed, two single beds at the rear used as seating for the dinette, and, tada, you have yourself an RV. Add a sheet metal roof to help rain flow away from the structure and climb aboard.
 
Fire up the old diesel engine from one of these antique trucks, and off you go, towards the nearest camping park, beachside for some surfing, or up to the mountains for some e-biking. And even though that roof doesn’t look prewired for anything, you can bring along a portable battery system and some solar panels, and that’s that.
 
At the end of the day, projects like the D407 House Truck go to show that a mobile habitat’s price and features are only defined by your living standards or ability to creatively meet those wants and needs. In short, if you simplify your living standards or expectations of what it means to live a full life, you may find that you can access that “full” experience, including the RV life.