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Post by camperfan74 on Jan 12, 2023 16:42:33 GMT -8
I'm new here, and I would like to hear some opinions. Speaking of vintage slide in truck bed camper restoration and value, is there a market for them? Is restoring vintage truck campers worthwhile, and can they hold much value if they are vintage? What would their value be in comparison to vintage travel trailers? Thanks!
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Post by vikx on Jan 12, 2023 21:53:12 GMT -8
Most truck campers are not particularly popular and tend to have very severe rot. The aluminum campers are sometimes sought after (Avion is one brand)
One problem with truck campers is that modern trucks are not built to accommodate the older campers. Today's trucks with the short 6' bed will not fit at all.
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nccamper
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Post by nccamper on Jan 13, 2023 3:25:29 GMT -8
Welcome!
I’ll add that I’ve never seen a truck camper at a vintage rally. Either vintage truck campers are hard to find or people aren’t really interested in them.
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Post by Teachndad on Jan 13, 2023 5:02:11 GMT -8
Welcome! I’ll add that I’ve never seen a truck camper at a vintage rally. Either vintage truck campers are hard to find or people aren’t really interested in them. I have seen them at rallies, but they are extremely rare. They are always on a vintage pick up truck, though. That solves the problem that Vix mentioned. So, if a person want's to go for the whole vintage look and include the pickup truck, they could. I don't know if the trucks that carried the truck campers were resto-modded or not. We have had one maybe two folks post about them here on the forum, but a quick search just now, couldn't find the thread(s). I can't figure out how to search for them, maybe someone else can. Since the truck campers are built similarly, rot is to be expected and as any member here who has taken on a trailer restoration knows, it's a time consuming process. If you average out your dollar cost to restore to time, it's pennies on the dollar. If it's love of a good project and self accomplishment, then that doesn't matter. What made you consider this type of project?
Cheers, Rod |
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Post by camperfan74 on Jan 13, 2023 9:14:25 GMT -8
I considered restoring a truck camper because I enjoy boondocking, but I also have a trailer. It is a 1966 Volunteer, by Norris. My vintage truck camper is a 1970 Coachmen, and I might have to get rid of one of them. How well can someone boondock in a 16 ft trailer?
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Post by vikx on Jan 13, 2023 11:44:51 GMT -8
A 66 trailer should do very well off grid. Most were made with boondocking in mind. You can add a 12 volt system if there isn't one and even solar. Do some research on solar and modern batteries.
Unless you are doing the truck camper for yourself, I would pass. Resale value is very low because of the truck fit.
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ruderunner
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Post by ruderunner on Jan 14, 2023 13:35:08 GMT -8
Yall are aware that they do still make longbed trucks right?
No reason a new longbed can't haul a vintage slide in.
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nccamper
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Post by nccamper on Jan 14, 2023 17:23:44 GMT -8
The catch...how many people buy a long-bed truck and give up the extended cab? But the point is a good one, if you own a long-bed or are willing to buy one it may work. With that said, you could also buy a vintage pick up truck.
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Post by camperfan74 on Jan 14, 2023 18:59:42 GMT -8
These are very good points about the truck. How much difference in value would there be between a vintage trailer and a vintage slide in, if they are both restored?
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nccamper
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Post by nccamper on Jan 14, 2023 23:35:06 GMT -8
There is such a small market for truck campers, it’s hard to guess on their value…or how long it would take to sell. As a rule, restoring a vintage camper is something done for love not profit. You’ll never get rich doing it.
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Post by vikx on Jan 15, 2023 14:17:42 GMT -8
Many modern long bed trucks won't accept old campers, it has to do with the cab height and wheel wells. We used two 3/4 inch plywood sheets to raise our old camper high enough. 2001 Chevy Z71, 76 camper.
Value of a regular truck camper in good condition is around 2500, if you can get it. If it's an older aluminum bodied Avion, price goes up.
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chriss
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Post by chriss on Jan 22, 2023 7:13:16 GMT -8
I like truck campers as much as trailers, but I feel they aren't worthwhile unless you're putting them on a similar vintage truck.
My favorite is the Alaskan and one that was made for 60s Chevy and GMC trucks that had a roof that extended out from the back. The oddest one is the Jeep CJ camper from the late 60s that had to use it's own separate axle because it was back heavy.
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Post by bigbill on Jan 27, 2023 10:55:23 GMT -8
The biggest problem that I can see with restoring a vintage truck and slide in camper is the cost to operate it. My last slide in had a 12' roof line and was just short of 8' wide. We loved it, it was comfortable and it allowed us to tow our boat. The only problem I see is it got 3 1/2 to 5 miles per gallon. Back then fuel was $.50 or less a gallon so one hundred gallon of gas was $50.00 but at todays priceses your talking $350.00 TO $500 depending where you live. Back then our boat held 140 gallon of fuel, if we took a senic river cruise on the Ohio river we could burn that in a day. Usually went two days, so if we figured 100 gas in truck and 260 in the boat we were buying 360 gallon of fuel for about $100.00 to $150.00 a weekend. I was making around 50k so not to bad, but a todays prices it would costaround $1400.00 just for fuel. This is just a thought to keep in mind. I love restored vehicles, boats, and campers but some can get very expensive to operate today compared to 50/60 years ago. HAVE FUN IN ALL YOUR ADVENTURES,
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segbeason
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Post by segbeason on Feb 10, 2023 8:35:54 GMT -8
This truck/camper combo was for sale a few years ago: bringatrailer.com/listing/1979-chevrolet-c20-camper-special-2/ It's a 1978 truck camper from Corder Mfg in Concordia MO, which produced trailers and truck campers in the 60s and 70s. I have the 1971 19' trailer version of this. This is the *only* other camper I've found on the internet from the same manufacturer, though, and I thought it looked really cool the vintage camper and truck combo. As far as value, well, this seems far more expensive a way to go, but if you were looking to fix up and sell, you might be able to get a good return on your investment... once you found the right buyer. It's a little difficult but definitely possible to get a long bed regular cab modern truck, but I would really want to measure how the wheel wells compare to the old trucks before purchasing an old slide-in. |
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ruderunner
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Post by ruderunner on Feb 19, 2023 4:33:49 GMT -8
The biggest problem that I can see with restoring a vintage truck and slide in camper is the cost to operate it. My last slide in had a 12' roof line and was just short of 8' wide. We loved it, it was comfortable and it allowed us to tow our boat. The only problem I see is it got 3 1/2 to 5 miles per gallon. Back then fuel was $.50 or less a gallon so one hundred gallon of gas was $50.00 but at todays priceses your talking $350.00 TO $500 depending where you live. Back then our boat held 140 gallon of fuel, if we took a senic river cruise on the Ohio river we could burn that in a day. Usually went two days, so if we figured 100 gas in truck and 260 in the boat we were buying 360 gallon of fuel for about $100.00 to $150.00 a weekend. I was making around 50k so not to bad, but a todays prices it would costaround $1400.00 just for fuel. This is just a thought to keep in mind. I love restored vehicles, boats, and campers but some can get very expensive to operate today compared to 50/60 years ago. HAVE FUN IN ALL YOUR ADVENTURES, Sorry, I'm not buying your economy numbers. If you really were only getting 5 mpg there was something wrong. Worst I've ever gotten was on my old Dodge 1 tons. 7mpg loaded or not. They both weighed over 7k empty, 360, 4wd and snow plows. Without overdrive you were burning fuel just to spin the engine 3500 rpm at 65 mph. 456 gears do that. Sad fact, when towing, even new gas trucks suffer, our 11 Dodge would dip into the high single digits towing a camper even with better aerodynamics, fuel injection and overdrive. It takes power to move a load and you make power by burning fuel. My diesel truck does much better. Average 18 in mixed driving unloaded, got as low as 14 pulling a heavy trailer through the Appalachian area. |
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