Years before the US overland market really hit its stride and exploded into what it is today, the Action Camper made some huge noise as a neatly integrated Jeep Wrangler camper designed to out-explore just about every other RV in the country. Unfortunately, while the concept proved quite popular on paper, the company struggled in getting the kit to market. But over a decade later, Action Camper's unique Jeep micro-camping products have been fully revived by Two Track Campers, a new startup backed by a well-established pop-up camper van specialist.
The year was 2012. I had been writing for New Atlas, then Gizmag, for fewer than three months. At that point in time, I had never actually heard of the concept of overlanding. I had, however, developed a recent appreciation for the scenery and serenity of primitive car camping not a full year earlier on a trip to Utah's Little Grand Canyon.
The Action Camper grabbed hold of both my eyes the second it scrolled across my laptop screen and refused to let go. What could possibly be better for finding the most gorgeous, least-visited primitive camping spots than an ultra-compact motorhome built on a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited?
It seemed the Internet at large agreed. Or at least it had its own daydreams about what could be done with an all-out off-road Wrangler micro-RV. The Action Camper article I excitedly punched out quickly became the most popular I'd contributed during my short time writing here and remained so for a long time afterward. And far beyond our tiny slice of internet, the Action Camper received loads of attention from other publications, blogs, videos, forums and other corners of the web as well. It seemed like a complete home run.
As a concept, it was a home run. As a consumer product, however ... things got complicated. Despite its massive popularity online – and perhaps because of it – Action Camper developer Thaler Design had loads of trouble making a business case. AT Overland (still Adventure Trailers at that time) was originally planning on working with the Austrian company to launch the Action Camper in the US, but ultimately found the price point too high to secure serious customer interest (over $50K, donor Wrangler not included).
Thaler eventually moved the Action Camper brand to California to help bring its vision to market. At one point, the idea even surfaced via one of the world's largest names in RVing. Erwin Hymer North America subsidiary Cliffride did some work on a pair of redesigned Action Campers it called the FE2 and FE4.
The Cliffride FE4 got so far as a splashy appearance at SEMA 2018 ... just a few months before Erwin Hymer North America went belly-up owing to some serious financial incongruities unearthed when Thor Industries acquired German parent company Erwin Hymer Group in 2019 to create the world's largest RV conglomerate.
Seven years later, Action Camper products are finally on their way to market, but they'll be a rose by another name. Camper van conversion shop Colorado Camper Van and Jeep industry veteran Luke Burgess have purchased various Action Camper designs and molds to bring the designs to life and have rebranded the product family. Though the original "Action Camper" name might release butterflies in the hairy guts of burly overland adventurers, Burgess and Colorado Camper Van decided it best to initiate a fresh start with their new Laramie, Wyoming-based spinoff, Two Track Campers.
Besides giving the product lineup a fresh identity, the Two Track name fits the Action Camper concept quite well. "Action" was a fitting enough name but rather broad, whereas "Two Track" brings to mind narrow, overgrown trails that offer enough space for only the smallest, ruggedest off-road rigs – i.e. no RVs larger than, say, a tiny pop-top light camper built on a Jeep Wrangler chassis.
Or as Two Track lays it out: "A simple unpaved road usually requiring a high-clearance vehicle and 4x4. Most Two Track roads are remote and seldom traveled."
Like the original Action Camper (X2), the fiberglass-shelled X4 (previously the Cliffride FE4) is built on the back of a four-door Jeep Wrangler Unlimited chassis. But unlike the X2, its rear doors and seats are left intact to create a tiny RV that seats and sleeps a total of four people. The interior layout relies on a passthrough to create a lower bed atop the folded rear seats. The second double bed is located in the wedge-style pop-top, and there's even a small kitchen area and two-seat dinette inside the rear hatch.
Two Track tells us it's planning on launching an X4-based Wrangler motorhome down the line, but it's focusing first on a simpler Action Camper design: a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited pop-up sleeper roof. The fiberglass pop-top swaps out for the Wrangler Unlimited's factory roof and brings with it a 3-in-thick (7.6-cm) mattress with a sleeping area of 53 x 86 in (135 x 218 cm). The fiberglass shell comes standard in white gelcoat, but buyers can also option a vehicle-matching color.
Unlike Ursa Minor's Jeep Wrangler J30 pop-top, which rises highest at the rear but also lifts at the front, the Two Track is hinged at the rear, with all the lifting happening up front. It includes nylon canvas walls, triple-layer tent windows, and interior latches designed so users can pop it up and climb up to bed without ever leaving the Wrangler.
Two Track estimates the pop-top kit adds roughly 100 lb (45 kg) of weight to the Wrangler Unlimited's total after subtracting the weight of the original roof components that are replaced in the process. The roof increases total height by 7 inches (18 cm). Both those figures are less than what you'd tack on by mounting up a typical rooftop tent, especially after factoring in the roof rack upon which to mount it. So it's right up there with the Ursa Minor J30 as about as simple and stripped-down a Wrangler camping solution as you'll find beyond an in-cab flying cot.
It is perfectly acceptable to mount a Two Track roof to a standard Wrangler – the roof conversion is available for JKU and JLU models, 2007 through present, but Two Track also offers a retro front body clip inspired by the Kaiser Gladiator/M715 pickups from the 1960s. It immediately gave us a flashback of the 2010 NuKizer 715 Easter Jeep Safari concept from the pre-modern-Gladiator days when Jeep was still just toying with the idea of a new pickup.
In this case, the kit is another part of Two Track's Action Camper purchase, and it helps the Wrangler stand out in the sea of standard-faced JKs and JLs. In the case of the Two Track pop-top camper, it adds just enough extra flair to stand out even in the already-rare category of pop-top Jeeps.
While Two Track is a new name in the industry, Colorado Camper Van has been an American pop-up roof specialist since 2009. It installs pop-up camper roofs and interior conversions on a wide variety of vans and trailers and also develops custom roofs for vehicle models ranging from classic Land Rovers to Ford Excursions. Colorado will manufacture the Jeep roofs at its Loveland, CO facility.
The Two Track pop-top is available to order now for a base price of US$10,000, which includes installation. It's currently looking to grow out a network of Jeep dealerships to expand its installation footprint. Options include the color-matching paint, MOLLE panels for storage and Yakima roof tracks. The Military Front Clip body kit starts at $7,500.
Somewhere between getting the Wrangler pop-tops rolling and introducing the X4-style micro-RV, Two Track also plans to bring a Ford Bronco pop-up sleeper roof to market, giving Ursa Minor a little competition in the Ford 4x4 camper space. It has not announced specific timelines or pricing on those follow-up products, but we'll take a closer look at each once the company is ready to show its cards.
Sources: Two Track Campers, Action Camper
