Vaughn Dabney bought an old food delivery van for $9500 and spent $8000 in supplies to convert it into a fully custom home powered by solar.

Trained as an engineer, but with no construction experience, he educated himself on everything from plumbing to wiring to photovoltaic installation and spent the following year or so building his home inside the empty metal cab.

He installed a sink, shower, dry flush toilet, dual-zone drawer refrigerator, bike garage, and projector screen, but it's the hyper-custom stuff that sets his build apart. He created his own Murphy bed using two forty-pound gas struts that he calls the fastest wall bed transform (his clocks in at 5 seconds, at a leisurely pace).