Pics of the first RV you can remember

[charles l]

Originally Posted by rockfordroo

Lots of us started in tents. But the post is about first RV's.

Yes I can read. I posted a sentence on my first rv 85 Sunstream and my friends 70's Winnebago. Maybe not as old as you wanted.

[n-e-d]

"My Mom told me that an old military surplus tent was the reason I never had to camp in one... She said that Dad woke up in a wet sleeping bag for the last time one rainy Saturday morning at 3 A.M. They tore everything down in the middle of the night, the tent was stuffed into the trunk of the car, and off for home they went, never to sleep in a tent again! Fortunately for us kids, that was before we were around.

Big Bob"




Whoa Before the trailer Dad had a Sears Canvas tent modeled after the tents he slept in WWII. Inedible memory of a rainy night at Crown point state park, my Mother , who had slept in the station wagon with my brother, awoke in the morning to see the tent collapsed on me and my father- both of us were still asleep

[rracer5]

Originally Posted by rracer5

The first camper mom & dad got in 1968 I believe was a 1966 Coleman tent camper (all canvass). All it had was 2 end bunks & a dinette. A small counter for the Coleman camp stove (but, all the cooking was done outside) & storage under.

In 1969, we got a 1970 Apache Ramada (the Mesa shown below had only 1 dinette & was shorter). That thing was state of the art for pop-ups. The hard top would crank up then the 2 sides would fold up to make solid side walls. The 2 end bunk sides and ends were still canvass but the top of the bunks were hard plastic. It had 2 dinettes (1 4 seater & 1 2 seater) that folded into beds. All 8 of us could sleep inside! It had a propane stove, 110v electric & a small box refrig. that I don't recall what powered it. It also had a FW tank w/sink and a hand pump faucet (I think).

I remember my dad explaining how the sides folded up as I was cranking the top up as fast as a 15 yo kid could when the crank handle came off and smacked me right up side my face nearly knocking me out. But, I recovered, put the crank back on and kept on cranking....albeit a little more carefully!

Originally Posted by MaineCampingFan

Dad bought a new Nimrod....somewhere around 1965, I think....so that would be the first one I recall. I remember it going up relatively easy, folding it away was an entirely different thing.

Hmmmm......maybe it was a Nimrod & not a Coleman. For some reason, NOW....I can recall staring at the back of that pop-up & the name Nimrod while dad & mom talked to the salesman. That kinda looks more like what I remember too.....woodgrain sides??

[NJKris]

Originally Posted by n-e-d

Borrowed Pix of a '64 Holiday Rambler, Dad picked one up second hand. As oldest I got to sleep in the overhang,my brother slept in the dinette/bed under it, Mom and Dad slept in the gaucho bed in the rear and sister in the hamock above them. Dad's big old Ford Country Squire pulled the rig back and forth from Florida twice a year to visit Grandfather.
Great memories camping Acadia and Gunstock in the fall

I think this is the only camper I've seen with skirts over the wheels! I remember taking them off my folk's old 69 Olds to clean the whitewalls.

[n-e-d]

Originally Posted by NJKris

I think this is the only camper I've seen with skirts over the wheels! I remember taking them off my folk's old 69 Olds to clean the whitewalls.

Dad had to change one of those tires off of Rt 301 in South Carolina. No spare so Mom and I got to hold the fort while he hit Sears for a spare.Dad had this gimmick tool to raise the trailer that looked like a 1/2 circle with a notch in the top to fit the axle. That was a scary tire change

[rockfordroo]

Originally Posted by n-e-d

Dad had to change one of those tires off of Rt 301 in South Carolina. No spare so Mom and I got to hold the fort while he hit Sears for a spare.Dad had this gimmick tool to raise the trailer that looked like a 1/2 circle with a notch in the top to fit the axle. That was a scary tire change

They still sell them. My Dad had one, too.



40 bucks on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Shoreline-Mar...451RZ1N51SYB9S

[BehindBars]

Originally Posted by MaineCampingFan

Dad bought a new Nimrod....somewhere around 1965, I think....so that would be the first one I recall. I remember it going up relatively easy, folding it away was an entirely different thing.

Yes! My parents also bought a Nimrod Riviera pop-up in the mid ‘60s. We camped in it as a family, and later they passed it on to me. It was nothing but a canvas tent on wheels. There was nothing inside but the 2 beds and an open floor. I remember my dad saying it was great to “get up off the ground” referring to our previous tent camping life.

My wife, two kids, and I camped in it a number of times until I eventually bought a class C. I then sold the pop up, almost 30 years old, for about 2/3 of what my dad had paid for it. I think it was around $600 new.

Here is a photo of the owners manual, which I still have in my file cabinet!

[Cowracer]

The first rv I recall was a 70's Mini Winnebago similar to this



I don't have a clue what the story was on it, but it was driven to a wooded area behind the place we lived, fully intact. It was clearly abandoned there, doors unlocked. It didn't take very long for us neighborhood kids to claim it as our 'clubhouse'. I guess we were semi-respectful brats as we didn't trash it. Memory says it was in decent shape. It was our base for exploration, and for capture the flag and some of us even spent a night in it when we all lied to our parents about who's house we were sleeping over at.

It was a fantastic summer of fun in it, till some older kids figured out it was a good place to smoke pot in and ran us out of it. Of course, they utterly destroyed it. About 10 years ago, I found myself back in the old neighborhood, and I think I saw the remains of the frame of that old winnie still sitting there. I'd love to know the whole story, but I imagine it was insurance fraud or something unsavory.

Anyway, you guys have awesome pics/stories of camping as kids. I don't. Dad was about as 'outdoorsy' as a crushed velvet sofa. It wasn't till I had kids that we tent camped a few times when we would go rock-crawling in our off-road rigs. I very quickly realized that sleeping on the ground and waking up to everything soaking wet from the dew sucked greatly. That's when I bought my first RV. It was a Winnebago, and I still wonder how my inner-child influenced that choice. (Pic of actual unit below)

Tim

[httntheroad]

Relatives 1972 bluebird all original except ac and fridge.always stored inside since brand new.

[NoviBill]

One of my jobs was to pump up the water tank. On our Banner the water tank had a schrader valve (tire valve) that you pumped up with a bicycle pump. Th pressurized tank would work for a few gallons or until it got really cold, then I would have to go pump it up again. Does anyone else remember this?
(no battery, now water pump - propane lantern and 110v bulbs)

[Iggy]

1968 Yellowstone trailer. 18ft pulled by a F-150 and trailer had no brakes.


https://youtu.be/cHNaQNNpG0Y

[NJKris]

Anyway, you guys have awesome pics/stories of camping as kids. I don't. Dad was about as 'outdoorsy' as a crushed velvet sofa.

That made me laugh this morning Tim! If it weren't for scouting, I think I would have been in same boat. I sent the old Winnie pic of that 70's model to my buddy where I'd seen it in his driveway when we were kids. He told me his dad bought it, parked it in the driveway, and never took it anywhere.

[cc102bob]

Originally Posted by NoviBill

One of my jobs was to pump up the water tank. On our Banner the water tank had a schrader valve (tire valve) that you pumped up with a bicycle pump. Th pressurized tank would work for a few gallons or until it got really cold, then I would have to go pump it up again. Does anyone else remember this?
(no battery, now water pump - propane lantern and 110v bulbs)

Oh yeah! The trailer our family had when I was younger also had the air pressurized tank system. My dad bought a nice foot powered air pump to make that job a bit easier. Whoever happened to be around when the tank needed more air was assigned pump duty. I don't remember if that trailer had a 12V system for lights and such. I'm thinking it did, but we must not have used it much. I remember doing some boondock camping in that one, but don't ever remember having to deal with the battery being drained.

Here's that Driftwood trailer with my Dad back in 1972:

[Oaklevel]

Our first was a 1973 Terry ....................... this oldie was in use a couple of years ago in Myrtle Beach a 1956 Spartan.

[mikenkyle05]

My dad built our first trailer in 1966. We traveled all over with it. Up through Canada and all the Great lakes including Niagara Falls a couple times. Went to Colorado and Pikes peak in 1976. We were good a changing tires. People who complain about tires now don't realize how good they have it.

[Honest Abe]

If you would like to walk down memory lane, here's a So Cal RV campsite that rents vintage trailers. Check out this link.
https://desertsandsrvpark.net/

[seldent]

Early sixties Apache Chief.

[DaveandChris]

this is what I remember camping in 47 years ago. It's a 1646 Kit manufacturing teardrop. I restored it for my daughter a few years ago. Now she is camping in it all the time.

[Flybob]

Spent all summer in the mountains in this ( all 5 of us)

[DaveandChris]

1969 vw camper pulling 1946 teardrop.