History of Motorhomes & RVs

How long have motorhomes been around?  I guess that depends on whether you're talking about home made rigs or factory built jobs.  People started making modifications to cars and trucks, creating "housecars" almost as soon as motor vehicles were introduced.  Supposedly the first motorized factory RV was Pierce-Arrow’s Touring Landau, which debuted at Madison Square Garden in 1910.  The Landau had a back seat that folded into a bed, a chamber pot toilet and a sink that folded down from the back of the seat of the chauffeur, who was connected to his passengers via telephone.  The Motorhome Hall of Fame Museum includes a 1915 Model T Ford with a 1916 "Telescope Apartment" and Mae West's 1931 motorhome, so custom made variations have been around a long time.  Ray Frank is credited as being the father of the class A and with coining the term "motorhome", and built his first motorhome in 1953.  His company, Winnebago, began their famous production motorhome line in 1966. They did so well that for many years "Winnebago" was (and often still is) synonymous with "motorhome".   If you search the Internet you'll find all kinds of home-made motorhomes, some that look like Lil Abner's shack mounted on a flatbed truck, some made from old school buses, some luxury Class As built on Greyound and Prevost bus chassis, and even some made from double decker London transit buses.  The variations are endless.  One I saw, that I guess could be called a Class B motorhome, was made from a Volkswagen van and used the body of a Volkswagen "bug" as an extended top.   Kind of clever, but very strange looking.  I assume the extra set of headlights on the bug were not for highway use.  Similarly, there is a "Super C", built on a heavy duty truck chassis that uses an entire VW bus as a "bubble top".

For a look at some really creative "motorhomes" see Old and Unusual Motorhomes.  (Sorry, this link seems to have been disabled but I'm leaving it here in case they fix it.)

Here are some more odd RV photos Malia Smiles Unique and Strange RVs. (Sorry, this link also seems to have been disabled but I'm leaving it here in case they fix it.)

And here are seven more Strange RVs for your amusement.  (Sorry, this link also seems to have been disabled but I'm leaving it here in case they fix it.)

Wow!  I'm batting 1000 on lost pages!  Too bad they're gone.  There were some really neat and unusual motorhomes on those sites.  

Check out these unique motorhomes, from Caddys to VWs. (This one still worked when I checked it 12/07/2020).


How about this Castle Truck?

I guess YOU are the motor for these "motor" homes: Bicycle Motorhomes. I sure wouldn't want to pedal one of those up any hills! If you look closely at the pictures you'll even see a shopping cart tent trailer!

Here are some more unusual RVS.   There is no limit to the imaginative creations people come up with.

And the list goes on with these weird campers.  The first one in the list is the previously mentioned Super C with the VW bus as a bubble top.  And be sure to scroll down far enough to see the Wothahellizat.

Think slide-outs are a modern invention? The 1915 Model T with Telescope Apartment mentioned above had multiple slide-out compartments, including the main telescoping section.

The interior treatments can be just as unusual and innovative as the shells.   I saw photos of one double-decker London Transit bus that had been converted into a motorhome.  The owner had appointed the interior in the style of an 1800's private rail car, giving it a very unique kind of elegance and luxury.  I've seen Class B van conversions outfitted with acres of crushed velvet, yielding the appearance of a brothel on wheels.   Fisherman decorate their rigs with fishing memorabilia.   Hunters usually don't have room for large trophies, but like to turn their rigs into mobile hunting cabins, with lots of plaid upholstery and fur rugs.  Surfers remove cabinets and furniture to make room for their surf boards.

Over the years there have been many experimental motorhomes.  One I recall seeing had an innovative, clam-shell design built on  a Toyota  hatchback.  The top was split down the middle and hinged on each side just above the wheel wells.  When opened, there were twin beds on each side and when closed up the whole thing wasn't much bigger than a station wagon.  This one never made it into production.  I think buyers were more interested in bigger, self-contained units.  I've even seen some custom rigs built on a motorcycle and even on a bicycle!  The running gear for the motorized version was based on a tricycle style motorcycle and the body was reminiscent of meter-maid scooters.   Looked like the bed was a folding cot arrangement that would accommodate a full-size adult and it had lots of little cabinets and cubby holes for organizing gear.  I didn't get a chance to explore kitchen or sanitation facilities but I expect there wasn't much -- perhaps something along the lines of a teardrop trailer, if that.   However, some motorcycle-based units appear to be fully functional units resembling a Class C rig.  There have been variations of attachments for station wagons and SUVs that often include a "penthouse" bedroom on the roof.  Though not in any sense a motorhome, but a rather innovative vehicle for car camping, was the "sleeper seats" in AMC sedans (Hudsons and Nashes) in the late 1950s.  The front backrests folded down until they were level with the back and front seats, creating a wall-to-wall bed inside the car.  Toss a camp stove and an ice chest in the trunk and you could go -- and stay -- just about anywhere. They were surprisingly comfortable.  My family had one when my brother and I were teenagers and together with our Mom and Dad we spent several nights sleeping in the Hudson during a visit to Yellowstone Park.  The only discomfort I remember were the mosquitos.   We left the windows open a couple of inches for fresh air and the mosquitos were ferocious.   Inside the car they sounded like B-52's buzzing overhead!  We decided if we did that again we'd figure out a way to rig screens over the openings.  The very first "motorhome" I ever saw belonged to my Scoutmaster when I was a kid.   He had removed the bed from a pickup truck and mounted an old Shasta trailer on the back of the truck.  That must have been in the mid 1950s. My first factory built motorhome was a 1969 Ford Class B van conversion.  After I bought it I learned it had been custom built for an engineer who lived in it while working in the middle East.   The only modification to the original Ford "Supervan" body besides interior appointments was the addition of a pop-top so it had stand up head room in camp -- and a place for two extra beds (cots).  Its "furnace" was a tiny 4000 BTU propane heater, which I learned one winter in Chicago, didn't work when it was 20 below zero because the propane was too cold to vaporize.

Perhaps one of the most unique motorhomes every built was Charles Kellog's "Travel Log", hewn from a single redwood log and mounted on a Nash Quad truck chassis.  Completed in 1917, Charles hollowed out the log himself using an axe.   The finished motorhome had all the basic amenities of modern units sans the bathroom and shower.   He toured the entire United States several times in his one-of-a-kind vehicle.  Click here for more information about Charles Kellogg and his unique motorhome.

 And here is a home made motorhome built as a permanent yet portable residence:   Truck Castle.  Be sure to watch the whole video to see all of its many unique features. 

One of the first patented camping trailers was a tent trailer manufactured by The Campbell Folding Trailer Company.  The patent was applied for in 1914 and granted in 1916.   The Detroit Trailer Company supposedly built the first tent trailers in 1913 as options on their auto trailers.  The first mass-produced tent trailers were introduced in 1916 by the The Shattuck Trailer Company. Another offering from the same era was the Prarrie Schooner by A.P. Warner.  Both soft top and hard top folding camping trailers made their debut in 1916.

A 1913 Earl travel trailer is purported to be the oldest non-tent trailer RV.  It was built and named for and used by a Cal State University professor as his home on field trips.   It now resides in the Motorhome Hall of Fame, displayed along with a 1913 Model T convertible.

Tin Can Tourists is an organization dedicated to promoting and preserving vintage travel trailers and motor coaches. It is open to everyone. You don't even have to own an RV to participate.

I began my own affiliation with motorized camping in a 1951 Chevy Suburban.   It began its life as school district maintenance truck.  It still had the faded utility green school district paint and if you looked closely you could make out its district vehicle number where the decals has been removed on the doors.  My boys affectionately called it "The Big Green Truck".  When I got it the whole back end was empty.  It had the original bench seat in front and the open space in back was ready for customization for camping.  About the only semi-permanent modification was the addition of curtains all around to add a bit of privacy and climate control.  Sleeping accommodations at first consisted of a couple of sleeping bags.  Then I swiped a "bunky board" out of one of the kid's bunk beds and supported it on 2x4 slats that rested on the window frames to provide a "loft" for the kids to sleep on.  The "galley" was made up of a Coleman stove, and ice chest, a 3-gallon plastic water jug and a plastic dishpan.  Even as rudimentary as it was, it sure beat wrestling with a tent in the dark or the wind and was a lot warmer and drier when the weather turned bad.  Our next vehicle was a 1969 Ford Class B van conversion.  It had a pop top complete with cots for the kids, a rear dinette that made into a reasonably comfortable bed, a stove, a 120 volt/ 12volt refrigerator, and a tiny little 4000 BTU propane furnace.   We felt we were in the lap of luxury making ice cubes while driving down the road!   It was quite adequate, even comfortable, for our little family of four.  As the family grew, so did our RV needs and we upgraded to a 19' Travette Class C motorhome.  Wow!  Now we thought we really had it made.  It was nearly self contained though it lacked a generator.  Having a real bathroom and shower with hot water when camping was an extraordinary luxury for us at the time.  The 12-volt "swamp cooler" did its best to keep us cool, but often it seemed all it really did was increase the humidity.  I have a suspicion that part of the problem was that at frist we didn't know enough to leave a couple of windows open to allow proper air flow.  Eventually we graduated to Class A motorhomes with generators, roof A/C, and other advanced luxuries.  By then we were in camper heaven!

No history of motorhomes would be complete with mentioning the Classic GMC motorhome.   Manufactured in the 1970s, the were quite ahead of their time.  They were powered by a GM Tornado V-8 engine with front wheel drive.  They had a fairly low profile and center of gravity and the design was so futuristic they are still in style.  In fact, there are many of them still on the roads and there is a pretty good demand for them, with restored or renovated models bringing prices around $50,000!  Supposedly you can find fixer-uppers for about 1/10 that price, if you have the means and incentive to restore them yourself.

Of course if you want to really explore the history of mobile living spaces, you will have to include the covered wagons that carried the American Pioneers across the prairie and the horse drawn trailers built and used by the Romani "Gypsies" as living quarters in Europe since he early 19th century.

Make your own history!