Sue, I would love to see that ford Ranchero and camper up close. The top appears to raise up for camping, and the driver's side has the looks of a slide out of some sort. I believe the Alaskan brand of popup campers were being built that far back and they had a crank up roof on them. Do believe the first modification I would make would be the addition of some air bags on the rear.
The blog itself is worth a look. He built some sort of big headlight protectors for his truck, plywood or something, it would appear. I enjoyed seeing some of the old road construction buildings in some of his photos, as I slept in several during some of my early trips to Alaska. Lots of photos, 290 of them, but well worth the time to view.