Remove the Hatch, Add a Bedroom: The Camper That Turned a Saab Into a Motorhome

What was the Saab Toppola camper? It was a removable living module fitted into a compatible hatchback after its rear hatch was taken off. Developed in Sweden in the early 1980s, it gave a passenger car standing room and a bed without turning it permanently into a camper.

A Saab with a Toppola attached looks as though someone began loading a small caravan into the boot and decided to leave most of it outside. The car’s nose is familiar enough. Behind it, a tall white room rises above the roof, with a sleeping area extending forward over the passenger compartment.

It is an improbable shape, but a persuasive idea. Drive somewhere pleasant, stop, and the accommodation has arrived with you. When the holiday is over, remove the camper and put the hatch back.

The idea originated with Finnish-born Arvo Pullola in Sweden. Peter Malmberg bought the project in 1982 and developed it with Matts Mollestam through EMICO. Their leisure-boat background carried into the construction, which used lightweight sandwich structures rather than simply piling heavy furniture into a car. The history preserved by a Toppola owner draws on Malmberg’s account of the business. 

Versions offered a bed, storage and, depending on specification, cooking facilities and heating. The important achievement was room to stand up. Anyone who has tried changing clothes in a hatchback can appreciate the difference.

The brochure was rather confident

Surviving catalogue text promised fitting in no more than half an hour and described a car still easy to manoeuvre, reverse and park. Those were sales claims, naturally, rather than a reason to ignore what a particular vehicle and installation could safely carry. 

They do reveal what Toppola was selling: the possibility of keeping a familiar car while giving it a second job.

There was no separate caravan to reverse into a campsite. There was also no permanent commitment to driving a full-sized motorhome to the supermarket. For a Saab owner with suitable space and equipment to remove and store the module, that flexibility had obvious appeal.

The awkward questions belong in the story too. A camper still brings weight, height and fittings that need securing. On a surviving example, the condition of the shell, its mounting arrangement and the car beneath it matter more than an old brochure’s cheerful assurances. So do the applicable registration and insurance requirements.

That practical side makes the Toppola more enjoyable to examine. It was a serious attempt to find somewhere for ordinary people to sleep, cook and shelter using a car they already liked.

Modern compact campers often hide their cleverness inside a van. The Toppola left its solution plainly visible. Even parked, it looked ready to explain why the Saab’s hatch was spending the holiday at home.