The Ultimate $25K Manual Diesel Wagon is essentially an RV, and there’s one available for purchase.

      **Facebook Marketplace**

      The Vixen embodies all the characteristics of a classic ’80s sports car—featuring a turbo engine, a wedge-shaped design, sealed-beam headlights, a manual transmission, and an animal-inspired name. However, it also includes a kitchen, toilet, bedroom, and diner booth, as it is actually an RV. This is one of those rare vehicles that many car enthusiasts have heard about, but few have ever seen, since only around 600 units were produced. One has just appeared on Facebook Marketplace, offering us a rare chance to take a look inside and presenting someone with an intriguing project opportunity.

      Several variations of this unusual low-profile RV were created. Nevertheless, most of them, including this 1986 Vixen 21td recently found on Facebook in Texas, are powered by a 2.4-liter BMW turbodiesel engine paired with a DeLorean manual transmission. The seller is asking for $25,000, though pricing can be tricky due to their specific appeal and rarity. Personally, I wouldn't spend that much, but finding another one will definitely be a challenge. The listing mentions typical issues associated with older, quirky cars, but the body appears to be in good condition, and the engine has reportedly been recently rebuilt.

      It's always exciting to see new interior photos of one of these vehicles.

      Over the years, the Vixen has received periodic recognition on various car blogs, as it encapsulates everything that car-loving hipsters love to discuss. It's like the ultimate “diesel-manual-wagon,” which has represented the ideal vehicle for many millennial auto journalists. For the record, even while working at Jalopnik around 2015, I never fully grasped those particular fascinations, but I can appreciate the James Bond-esque charm of the Vixen from the Roger Moore era.

      For those unfamiliar with this peculiar vehicle, there are numerous contextual articles available (my favorite is Benjamin Hunting’s 2020 piece on Hagerty), but here’s a brief overview to save you a click:

      The Vixen was conceived by engineer and designer Bill Collins (unrelated to me), who also worked on the Pontiac GTO and DeLorean, among other projects. He had a remarkable career in the automotive industry and passed away last year at the age of 90. His obituary in Hemmings outlines his professional achievements and includes a quote from him regarding the Vixen project: “I view Vixen as the culmination of all my experiences from starting with a clean sheet of paper and building a car from the ground up,” he stated. “I had an understanding of how to create a complete vehicle that I would not have gained if I'd solely worked as a spark plug engineer for Chevrolet.”

      Reportedly, Collins was inspired to design a distinctive mobile dwelling after traveling in one of those stylish ’70s GMC Motorhomes, aiming for a more driver-oriented feel than the typical flimsy boxy RV. Forty years later, whether he truly achieved that is still open to interpretation. The Hemmings obituary mentions that the Vixen received The Industrial Design Society of America’s Industrial Design Excellence Award in 1986, but IDSA’s online award records date back only to 2001. I couldn’t find a contemporary Car and Driver road test online, but a recent article referred to it having “epic body lean, a frustrating zero-to-60-mph time of 21.8 seconds, and a top speed of 100 mph.” While a fuel economy of 30 mpg was claimed, the actual figure was closer to half of that, according to the EPA.

      If you are genuinely interested in purchasing one of these or want to learn about the actual ownership experience, the Vixen Owner’s Association exists and remains active today!

      Do you know of an even rarer RV that we might not be aware of? Feel free to reach out to the author at [email protected]