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A FORMER engineer turned a military truck into a tiny home – to become a desert dweller.
American Nicholas Bauer created the so-called “Franken-truck” so he could travel and live outside of the “crazy” housing market.
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The ex-automotive engineer and self-described “full-time desert dweller” began constructing his truck-turned-tiny home in 2016.
Sharing footage of the project, dubbed the Dragon Wagon, Nicholas confessed: “Being a millennial in 2016, house prices were crazy back then.
“I didn’t want to buy a house and have a bunch of money tied into something – so I decided a cheap camper I could buy on Craigslist would be the best option.”
But Nicholas, who goes by username @startupslick online, didn’t stop at purchasing the 1987 Fleetwood Prowler motorhome.
Instead, he acquired parts of a five ton M932A2 – a heavy hauler tractor that formed the base of the vehicle.
He then based the vehicle’s cab on an all-terrain military vehicle known as a “Dragon Wagon” by US Marines – purchasing the modified MK48 LVS from a seller online.
In a YouTube video, Nicholas reveals: “All in all, I paid about 11,000 for the truck.
“I wanted to build a house – a vehicle on wheels so I could go anywhere, anytime.”
And Nicholas, who says he lives off-grid, adds: “I quit my job and that would be the start of the Dragon Wagon journey, which is about seven years in the making.”
More recently, he claimed his unconventional home had cost him approximately 14,000 dollars.
In a recent Instagram post, he wrote: “When you spent ten years saving half your income, became debt-free, built an off-grid house truck, and now raise chickens.”
He topped off the post with a caption reading: “I was crazy enough to do it.”
But despite viewers begging Nicholas to reveal the interior of his intrepid tiny home, he has not yet shown it on camera.
One commented: “Really nice work, looking forward to a full tour of this.”
While another wrote: “Come on man, you can’t share something this cool and not do an interior tour.”
