h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hearse.

As used by many surfers, there's plenty of room in the back for more than 1 person, with ample storage space. Sometimes they even come fitted with curtains and interior lights in the rear. If not, they are easy to fit. Used hearses have often been well looked after by their owners and have had little or no abuse from their passengers.

I'd recommend a mark 3 Ford Cortina estate as well. The front seats are reasonably comfy, and the rear area folds completely flat.

Hootoo hearses; i like it!

zdt

My best night's sleep was in the back of a Mark 4 Cortina. Loads of room!

My first car was an Austin Cambridge estate ... but mine was a K reg and mint green.

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spent many a night in Hayling Island camping! Great! And water was really important as it over heated regularly. There was even a starter handle ... you try telling that the kids of today!

Nissan Quest. It makes an excellent camper, sleeping two average-sized humans comfortably. Mine is out-fitted with a foam mattress, sheets, quilts and pillows.

In the sixties myself and 3 friends tried to sleep in a Hillman Minx. It was totally impossible to get a proper sleep. One of us actually tried to sleep on the roof of the car. It was washing in the toilets in the centre of Dublin. One morning the police arrived and got us all out and searched the car. We endured this for a few days. Even had one wash at the beach. We travelled a few hundred miles with a huge bulge in one of the back tyres with no trouble at all. No MOT then.
We called this and all that went with it a holiday!! Needless to say we never went there again.(Sleeping in a car)
This is a true to detail story.

Myself & 4 fiends toured round Malawi (Africa) in a Toyota Land cruiser; that got very snug at night. During the day it was of course full of red sand & scary wildlife.

Another memorable car experience was doing naughties in a Riley 1.5 on top of Helvellyn mountain on Christmas day.

Driving around France in a Toyota Starlet with no windscreen & a ferret was quite good fun too. Les flics stopped us eventually & said "this is very not good", but we said "we are English, we can cope with the cold" & he just sighed & let us go.

zdt

You mention putting the front seats back, but what about the back seat?

If you're sleeping with other people it might not be too bad (shared body warmth) but if you're on your own it's liable to be freezing cold, as I found when I had to do it once.

Just remember ... no baked beans over a camp fire the night before!!

I spent the night in a Hillman Hunter once - with 3 tall blokes! We'd broken down on the A127 in the days before mobile phones were everywhere. To this day I don't think my mum believes we really broke down because one of the blokes was my boyfriend! Still, one of the others was my brother, so shows she doesn't think he'd look after me!

Allegedly, most of Europe's retired hearses are exported to Finland, where they're the students' vehicle of choice, since hearses pay no tax...