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The Car Tent – A New Twist On Urban Camping

written by John Chow on June 13, 2007

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urbancamping.jpg

At first, I thought the above was a very ugly car cover. Then I noticed metal bar at the base and the fact that the woman is standing inside the “car” while zipping up the door.

It turns out the car cover is really a tent. I heard of urban camping before, but this is taking it to a whole new level. As long as there’s not parking meters near by, I would imagine it’s a pretty cheap way to camp. However, I’m not sure about sleeping on bare concrete.

I doubt the urban car tent would work in Vancouver. We have parking meters everywhere. Also, if you camp on a busy street, the noise level will keep you awake at night.

urbancamping2.jpg

Source: Autoblog

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{ 36 comments }

Peter Koning June 13, 2007 at 10:05 am

It looks too good. People would be peeking under that thing all night long. Better to get one that looks like an old clunker.

website copywriter June 13, 2007 at 10:48 am

Haha the peeking part can’t be good, I agree.

foodette June 13, 2007 at 10:14 am

That is so weird – why would anyone want to do that? The only “urban campers” that I have seen in LA are called bums. If I wanted adventure, I’d stay in a seedy hotel.

Santosh P June 13, 2007 at 10:15 am

Good way to fool people.. Stay where ever you want for free…. But that lady got guts to do that in the middle of parking lot. :twisted:

ilker -=- The Thinking Blog June 15, 2007 at 8:55 am

This is awesome! I have to try that :mrgreen:

Ankur June 13, 2007 at 10:30 am

Cool ……. why cant you just live in a hotel?

Bryan June 13, 2007 at 10:37 am

why would you want to camp in a car tent on a city street anyway? Guess you can get wi-fi atleast…

Brilliances June 13, 2007 at 9:11 pm

With property prices going through the roof, this might be the only viable alternative.. Trouble is that I can’t see this being ‘legal’ since it’s not a motor vehicle so it shouldn’t be able to ‘park’ there.


Jerry
Road to Mega Millions

website copywriter June 13, 2007 at 10:47 am

It could come in handy when you want to save your favorite parking space. :grin:

kelly June 13, 2007 at 11:46 am

That is neat!! Cheaper than a hotel!! :)

Kelly

Shawn Knight June 13, 2007 at 11:52 am

I certainly wouldn’t want to try this in Memphis… you would either get A) car/tent jacked or B) run over!

SEO Blog June 13, 2007 at 1:34 pm

Yeah, run over was what I was thinking. I mean one person trying to parallel park and you’re spent.

A Tentative Personal Finance Blog June 13, 2007 at 11:54 am

Maybe I can finally afford a trip to Vancouver. I want to see the cast from Smallville and Battlestar Galactica.

Joshua June 14, 2007 at 3:30 am

If you bring the girl in your avatar, you can stay at my place! If not, I’ll save some parking space on the street out front! :mrgreen:

Mike Zak June 13, 2007 at 12:11 pm

That thing is not for urban camping, that thing is for pirate-camping, a.k.a. when you camp in the wild, usually a ranger would wake you up in the middle of the night and will give you a fine, with this thing he’ll just thing that’s a car ;)

browie June 13, 2007 at 12:16 pm

Funny, You may not want to “park” that in a bad neighborhood. In a big city people would get pretty pissed that you’re taking up a parking spot. Funny invention though.

kenny June 13, 2007 at 12:43 pm

If theres really crappy drivers on the street, you’ll get “nudged” many times throughout the day as people try to parallel park! haha

Franck Silvestre June 13, 2007 at 12:47 pm

Yup, strange camping with gaz, polution and…

shaun June 13, 2007 at 12:50 pm

haha yeh i wouldn’t want to get hit by someone trying to parallel park or something. But thats a cheap way of living lol

Ashxx June 13, 2007 at 12:52 pm

That’s too cool. I’m going to have to get one. But like kenny said I’d be afraid of getting nudged

Casey June 13, 2007 at 1:13 pm

Haha. That is so genius.

Marc June 13, 2007 at 1:34 pm

spelling mistake says ‘concert’ when i think should be ‘concrete’?

Brilliances June 13, 2007 at 9:13 pm

Spending too much time in Taiwan does that to you I reckon.


Jerry
Road to Mega Millions

CatherineL June 13, 2007 at 2:30 pm

Cool – it really just looks like a car cover. I didn’t believe it was a tent until I saw inside.

Matt - Domain Feed June 13, 2007 at 3:30 pm

The police would probably make you move it. It looks pretty big and heavy too – like it would be hard to carry.

website copywriter June 14, 2007 at 2:44 am

Could’ve been designed that way so it would be difficult to steal. :lol:

dotnetnuke June 15, 2007 at 7:19 am

Yep :mrgreen:

Stephen Welton June 13, 2007 at 6:24 pm

I would be worried about someone running into the damn thing if I was the first car in line. Then the possibility of the car crush if I was in between two of them.

Either way it is a rather cool concept for camping though. . . .

Brilliances June 13, 2007 at 9:16 pm

It needs a water proof base.


Jerry
Road to Mega Millions

Wallace June 13, 2007 at 10:36 pm

it is cool but seems not work well when rain day.

dotnetnuke June 13, 2007 at 10:42 pm

Good idea :grin:

Joshua June 14, 2007 at 3:31 am

This would actually work in clean and progressive places like Europe.

James June 14, 2007 at 9:05 am

Perhaps it is for those people who camp outside stores for the big sale the next day?
I agree with Stephen, I’d be afraid of getting run over.

Marvin June 14, 2007 at 9:55 am

I go camping myself. Not in a parking spot like the one shown above. But in the woods. You can put a tarp on the bottom and an air mattress on top. It’d be very comfortable. Interesting idea to if you don’t have anywhere to stay.

marcel June 15, 2007 at 9:04 am

Beware of drunk drivers who can’t parallel park !

Win an Ipod Shuffle EASY June 21, 2007 at 11:16 am

This would be great to use in the wilderness. Some hikers see a car on top of a mountain from afar. LOL