Car manufacturers concept vehicles often provide a window into the future – although the future, when it arrives, is usually toned down a little to cope with reality.

Many concepts, however, don’t make it into production – sometimes for good reasons. Here’s one such idea from Japanese giants Toyota:

Based on the MkII Toyota Corona chassis and drivetrain, this unmistakeably 1970s design uses a combination of fold-out rear panels and tent-style canvas roof to provide an expandable rear living area which folds down to estate-car proportions for travel.

The Modern Mechanix blog has a scan of the original magazine article here and Stepho’s Toyota site has more of these groovy pictures here.

(All pictures used are copyright of Stepho’s Toyota Site).