This company put a 1983 Ford F-250 on top of its aluminum camper shell to see if it would break. Here’s what happened.
GoFastCamper (GFC) grabbed our attention with a truck topper that it says is the “strongest ever made.” How strong is it? So strong, GCF said, that it had to reinforce the bed rails of a Toyota Tacoma with 500 pounds of steel to break-test it.
In other words, the factory rails would have crumpled before the camper did. (Watch the team load a 1983 Ford F-250 onto the retrofitted rig in the video below.)
It was a charming and impressive stunt, but clearly, you’d be going nowhere with an F-250 atop your camper shell.
Strongest Truck Topper Ever: Design & Features
Let’s get down to business: as the company claims, the GFC Platform Topper can support up to 800 pounds of “dynamic load” on its roof, even over challenging off-road terrain.
To do this, GFC used an aluminum chassis and billet aluminum components to help spread weight evenly across the rails of any truck it’s installed on. Thanks to aluminum construction, the camper itself weighs a manageable 135 pounds.
GFC founder and CEO Wiley Davis seems confident in the result.
“The Platform Topper enables truck owners to carry anything, securely, and access it easily,” Davis said in a press release. “Our obsessive attention to detail, billet parts, and space frame chassis deliver a level of strength and longevity never before seen in this space. Every other truck topper is now obsolete.”
GFC bolts the tubular aluminum frame together, rather than welding it. That reduces the potential for stress fractures, which gives it an advantage over some other aluminum and steel campers.
On top, a pressure-formed aluminum “load halo” surrounds a one-inch-thick honeycomb, thermoplastic roof panel. The design choice does a few things. The “halo” acts as both a frame and an attachment point for roof racks, which you can set up along either the short or the long axis. The rails let you mount tools, toys, lights, or awnings.
Cooler still, the rack has a T-shaped track on the top and bottom. That means you can cinch whatever you want down to the top — kayak, bikes, trail tools, etc. — and still have room for solar panels underneath.
The “halo” also protects the plastic roof panel, which allows some heat transfer to help keep whatever’s in the bed cool.
Locking panels on all three sides hinge out, enabling what GFC calls “cabana mode.” You get it: set up a cooler inside, pull up some bar stools, and you’ve got it made in the shade. Note that the billet aluminum angle supports in the openings are there to stay: they’re part of the rig’s signature strength formula.
Platform Topper Compatibility & MSRP
Right now, GFC will size each Platform Topper ordered according to the make and model of the customer’s truck. The launch supports three trucks: the current generation Toyota Tacoma, Ford Ranger, and Jeep Gladiator. Shortly, GFC will onboard the Ford F-150 (including the Lightning). Compatibility with “most other popular trucks” will follow, GFC said, as customer demand dictates.
Prices start at $3,995 MSRP at GoFastCamper’s website.
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