The American RV industry is going through a bit of a recent trend where buyers are demanding smaller, more maneuverable motorhomes that can fit in parking spaces while still being big on space. The result has been surprisingly tiny motorhomes that pack a huge punch, but some are still quite expensive. Here’s another option. This imported 1997 Isuzu Elf 150 is about 17 feet long, or shorter than some half-ton pickup trucks. It fits in regular parking spaces and perhaps the coolest feature: it can sleep your whole family. But before you get excited, there’s a bit of an issue you’ll need to consider.
Picture a motorhome in your head. If you’re like countless Americans, what you picture to be a motorhome is something gargantuan like a Prevost or a Newell Coach. These lumbering giants have their place, but an increasing number of Americans are saying no to driving coach bus-style motorhomes. Instead, people want motorhomes that drive closer to a van or a pickup truck. They want a motorhome that fits in a regular parking space and could be stored at home. However, these people also want to keep the interior spacious.
The RV industry has responded with coaches like the Wingamm Oasi 540.1 and the Thor Quantum SE19. But these coaches sit in a sort of weird spot. Ones that are built to a high standard like the Wingamm cost close to $200,000, while cheaper ones like the Thor could have issues over the long term. If you go used, you have some other interest choices. Here’s a really weird one. This 1997 Isuzu Elf 150 hails from Japan, but apparently it’s ready to camp right here in America.
From Japan’s Biggest Camper Van Builder
It’s often pretty difficult to pinpoint the history of Japanese RV companies. While Japanese RV companies use English to name their vehicles– this one is the Annex TRY-X MAX E-5.3–you’ll have a hard time finding much information. You will find either one person in America selling the vehicle or archived listings in Japan, but not what the heck an “Annex” is or what “MAX E-5.3” means. But, look, I don’t like writing something unless I can tell you something informative about the vehicle.
In this case, this camper was built by the Annex Corporation in Japan. It’s a company that’s still around today and still building cute RVs based on cabover trucks. Something I love about Japanese companies is that they’re usually very happy to describe their histories in pretty good detail. Here’s what the Annex Corporation says about itself, translated roughly from Japanese:
1964: Tanaka Shuji, our founder, established Tanaka Automobile Trading Co. in Higashi-ku, Osaka (now Chuo-ku). The company
sold and repaired cars.
1967: The company moved to Tsurumi-ku, Osaka. The company began bodywork painting.
1976: The Osaka store opened near the factory. The name was changed to Auto Body Shop Tanaka.
1987: The Tokushima factory opened in Asue-gun, Tokushima Prefecture (now Yoshinogawa City). The site area was 2300 m2.
1990: Zero Product Co., Ltd. was established to manufacture and sell FRP products on a 5,000 m2 plot of land adjacent to the Tokushima factory. Tanaka Shoichi was appointed representative director.
1994: Zero Product Co., Ltd. took over the business of Auto Body Shop Tanaka, and at the same time changed its name to Annex Co., Ltd.
Pretty cool, right?
Today, Annex calls itself the largest camper van producer in Japan and its flagship model is the Liberty, a cabover commercial truck-based camper that looks a lot like what you see here today. I found a vintage advertisement for the Liberty, which shows two cowboys plus a mix of Japanese and English.
From what I can make out, in the mid-to-late 1990s, Annex advertised its campers as having a mix of American and European technologies but with Japanese design. The company says the structures of its RVs are made of aluminum and you’ll find fiberglass panels on the outside. When Annex talks about the whole American and European stuff, it’s talking about a three-way refrigerator from the Japanese division of Electrolux (Sweden) and a furnace plus hot water combo from Truma (Germany.) The brochure also mentions American parts, but doesn’t say what they are.
The brochure says that the Liberty wasn’t just a great choice for Japanese RVers, but potentially RVers in Europe, too. Of course, none of these rigs ever made it to America.
The MAX series, which this camper comes from, is the predecessor to the Liberty, which explains why they look so similar. According to the way Annex named its MAX series, the letter and number combination that came after “MAX” indicated platform and length. A MAX H-5.3 meant Toyota HiAce and 5.3 meters long, or 17.4 feet long. Annex also sold a MAX D-4.8, which meant a 4.8-meter-long Mitsubishi Delica camper.
This Annex TRY-X MAX E-5.3
This camper is a MAX E-5.3, which means it’s based on an Isuzu Elf and spans 5.3 meters. The one part of the name of this camper I’m unsure about is the “TRY-X” bit. From what I can tell, TRY-X was a Japanese seller of home goods, so was this camper the result of a collaboration? Sadly, I could not figure out for sure. Annex sold TRY-X-branded campers in different sizes in the 1990s.
The truck underneath is a 1997 Isuzu Elf 150, a vehicle that we know of as the Isuzu NPR or the Chevrolet W-series here in America. This Elf comes from the truck’s fifth generation, which launched in 1993. You’ve likely seen trucks like these in America doing lawn care or local deliveries. Sadly, despite some general commonality with the trucks that were sold in America, this 1997 Elf 150 has the Japan-only 3.1-liter 4JG2 four-cylinder indirect injection diesel. At its hottest, this engine makes 114 HP and it was found in SUVs like the Isuzu Bighorn. You’ll also find them in Prowell forklifts.
What you won’t often find in America is an Isuzu cabover with a camper on it, but that’s what’s offered here by the MAX E-5.3.
The seller of this motorhome, JDM Car & Motorcycle LLC of Shoreline, Washington, claims the unit is about as minty as you’d find from Japan. The dealer says the auction it bought the camper from graded it as a 4, or the second-highest grade an old vehicle can get in the Japanese auction system. Usually, vehicles graded with a 4 should be in better than regular daily driver condition. However, the Japanese auction grading system can be a little chaotic sometimes, so it always helps to inspect a vehicle before spending your cash on it.
As noted earlier, the body of this motorhome is mostly fiberglass and it measures in at just a touch over 17 feet, which makes it shorter than many trucks and vans. The Isuzu underneath is said to have a part-time 4×4 system with locking hubs and an automatic transmission.
The motorhome appears to be in great condition with no visible rust on the metal cab and clean fiberglass on the camper body. I could believe the grade 4 claim. Even the camper’s graphics are all intact, which is pretty great.
Enter through the camper’s left entry door and bask in a surprisingly roomy interior. The seller gives us more details:
AC work perfect.
Plenty of windows all with fly-screens.
Camper has double bed over cab.
Table with sitting area that converts into a bed. Plenty of high storage.
3 way fridge (DC 12v/120 AC/propane)
Center of camper has a sink and location for a propane stove to be added.
Camper has central hot air heating, propane and water heater.
Has outside awning.
Outside of camper has storage compartments, and storage for propane tank.
Ladder up to roof. Spare tire.
Internal inverter to power 110-125V electrics. External power connection that also charges camper battery and powers 12v internals via a second built in inverter.
Great fuel economy! 17- 24mpg.
Interior Specs: This RV will sleep up to -6 people, has a overhead sleeping area, and also a dinette,. which fold into another Large sleep area.
A Couple Of Big Caveats
One thing I’m not a fan of is the fact that someone deleted the camper’s wet bath, and instead decided to use the bathroom space as storage. Presumably, you can add a bathroom back in if you want to, but for now, there’s just the empty room and a cassette toilet where the shower used to be. That being said, some readers have voiced that bathrooms aren’t a huge deal for them, so maybe it’s not a big deal.
Allegedly, the RV also has a refrigerator and an inverter capable of running the voltages of appliances you find here in the United States. One important piece of information missing is whether this system is running 50Hz or 60Hz, both of which are used in Japan. The country also uses 100V for its electrical system, so the listing might be suggesting that the motorhome’s electrical system has been upgraded. Usually, you cannot just buy any Japanese RV and expect your American appliances to plug in and work just fine. So, you’ll want to inspect all of this before buying.
Something I like about the interior is that it really does appear to be in excellent condition. The cab area looks like it was barely ever sat in! But I suppose the RV wasn’t used a whole lot. The dealership claims a verified 57,250 miles, which comes out to an average of barely over 2,000 miles a year.
Aside from the missing bathroom and the big question mark about the electrical system, I do spot everything else you’ll need, including a cooker, refrigerator, and a sink, which is good. Of course, with so few ponies on tap, don’t expect to thunder through the Rockies at 80 mph.
I’m feeling pretty conflicted over the price. The dealership wants $37,950 for the motorhome. On one hand, the dealer is asking top dollar for a Japanese motorhome that’s missing a big feature. On the other hand, the motorhome is in pretty darn great condition. If it turns out that someone went ahead and converted this thing to run on the U.S. electrical grid, that’s also an incredibly huge plus. But, oof, $37,950 also buys a good used American camper. Last year, a somewhat similar Elf-based camper sold on Bring-a-Trailer for $24,500, though it doesn’t seem to be in quite the same condition.
At the very least, this rig is something different. It costs a fraction of a Wingamm, has a build quality that’s likely quite high, and the odds are you won’t likely find another at a campsite. I feel like the best kind of buyer for this 1997 Annex TRY-X MAX E-5.3 is someone who will tinker with their camper, anyway, and wants a neat base. And this little guy is very neat.
All this copy about an “annoying problem” – and there’s zero mention of the fact that this no longer is a tilt cab, relegating all engine/ underhood servicing to be done through a small doghouse opening in the cab’s floor or from underneath the truck?
That Japanese Isuzu Elf cab is smaller than the NPR version that we got in the U.S., mainly it’s not nearly as wide so recalibrate your size expectation of the whole rig. It’s sort of like the difference between a fullsize pickup and a midsize pickup or a Fullsize van and a minivan, i.e. perfectly usable and drivable but not as spacious, which of course helps when it’s time to park it. They use the smaller cab for everything over there including little fire trucks and small cement mixers that can go down the smallest alleys etc…And of course for delivery trucks just like the NPRs are used over here. When you see one in person the first time you’re kind of thinking hey something seems off here and eventually you realize it’s sort of a mini-me of what you’re used to. Elf is the perfect name for it.
Glad someone else said it. Both N and F-Series Isuzu trucks are sold in multiple cab widths around the globe. It might *look* like the W-Series/ Forwards/ Tiltmasters sold here but in reality the amount of shared components between this and our USDM counterparts is…pretty marginal.
Since Annex is based in the Kansai area, I’m guessing the camper uses 60 Hz. 50 Hz is used in Eastern Japan.
Is the electrical actually a problem? I never had any trouble with my US electronics in Japan and the one Japanese thing I brought back with me has worked fine too. Plus, RV stuff tends to tolerate a wider range of voltages and such because campground electrical systems tend to be pretty flaky. It wouldn’t shock* me if the electrical just works on this.
*Edit: Pun totally unintended.
Vintage? *laughs in Portuguese*
The amount of those that you see being worked and worked hard for deliveries in Portugal is still significant
So the big thing for sensitive electronics is the hertz. In Japan they have both 50 and 60 htz. So for someone that wants to use this for traveling with medical devices always use a transformer just in case.
But in the US you’d be getting 60 Hz. The problem would be if the Japanese electronics onboard couldn’t deal with that.
No, most of the time the Japanese electronics have a flexibility but medical devices and such would need exact frequencies as they use it for metering and timing of medicine or pumping. You can thank the British and American occupation of Japan as they rebuilt they created this challenge.
“$37,950 also buys a good used American camper”.
Do these even exist? That’s about what I paid for mine, and I can tell you that it’s barely glued together.
I bought a very nice 23′ Airstream for around that price. It was about 15 years old at the time. I’ve done some upgrades that I wanted and regular maintenance, but it’s been pretty flawless. The nice things about a 15 year old Airstream are that it it hard to distinguish from a new one, they are put together very well, and they are at the point on the depreciation curve that they aren’t going to decrease much in value. You do have to have a truck to pull it with though, so that ends up costing some extra money.
This is purely speculative but I’m guessing the X-Try branding is about making the most out of the limited space of a smallish RV by utilizing that wonderfully clever Japanese space efficiency you hear about all the time. Then again this is only a guess based on zero information and I could just be wrong.