Screw Your Dually!

"Zachary Oberle" (zacharyoberle)
08/30/2016 at 12:55 • Filed to: Campers, RVs, Trailers, Rare, Volkswagen

In the days before rampant automotive bloat, small campers where everywhere. Domestic manufacturers of travel trailers proliferated all across the USA. Names like Airstream, Kenskill, and Spartan flourished in the great American Postwar era. Many oddities emerged from that time, but perhaps none where as strange as this nutty fifth wheel trailer meant for compact cars:

These things are incredibly rare. The owner of this one, Bob, said that only six were ever made, and I’m inclined to believe him. In fact, the VW super-nerds over at !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! thought that they had the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! left in existence. However, I found out that at least one other has survived.

Bob has been buying, fixing, and selling project cars his entire life, and even he had no idea what this camper was when he first clapped eyes on it. However, a guy like him can’t successfully flip cars for decades without developing good instincts. He bought it on a hunch and wouldn’t discover its true purpose until he came across this !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! youtube video:

According to Bob, the trailer was originally designed by Airstream. They must have (rightly) considered the concept too odd to generate enough sales volume to bother with. The design appears to have ended up at International Travel Trailer Inc, who produced only a tiny handful before giving up on the idea completely. Jayco Trailers might also have had something to do with it. Suffice to say, the origins of this camper are incredibly murky.

Bob found his example in a state of complete disrepair. The paint and interior were so far gone that hanging on to any originality was out of the question. The 70's build quality was also less than impressive, so some parts needed to be re-engineered as well.

This frame-work is all new. The hitch originally attached to a flat steel plate that, terrifyingly, was just bolted to the fiber-glass body! The bolt holes wore out in short order, making that arrangement incredibly unsafe. A beefy steel frame connecting the hitch directly to the axle is a much better solution.

The car side of the hitch arrangement was long gone by the time Bob came into the picture. He reverse-engineered a rig that was, again, far more skookum that the original setup. The heavy-duty hitch is bolted directly to the roof. This makes it a relatively permanent part of the car, but I say that’s a small price to pay to avoid cringing in terror every time you hit the brakes.

The interior of the trailer received a full re-build. It has heat, refrigeration, running water, and a functional latrine. It’s been tastefully decorated in a matching yellow 70's theme and appeared shockingly comfortable for how compact it is. It even has wood flooring! The only modern convenience it lacks is air conditioning, which is an easy add-on that Bob didn’t feel the need to invest in.

The accompanying Bug is a 1971 model. Bob had actually acquired a different Beetle to do this with, but deemed it too nice to modify in such a bizarre manner. The ‘71 was rough but solid, far more suitable for such a wacky build. I think it has taken very well to the yellow paint and creamy seat covers.

The Smoothie wheel covers reduce drag for more speed!

I asked Bob if he intended to take the missus and tour the countryside with it. He laughed and replied that he had a proper camper at home and that this was just a fun project. That fact, combined with his car-flipping credentials, means he isn’t terribly attached to this insane piece of history. So, for the right price, he’d be willing to part with it.

!!! UNKNOWN HEADER TYPE (MULTI-LINE BREAK?) !!!

DISCUSSION (18)

JohnnyWasASchoolBoy > Zachary Oberle
08/30/2016 at 13:07

I saw one of these on Vancouver Island about 20 years ago. Super rad. Also, nice use of the word “scookum”. Are you a west-coaster by chance? The word comes from Skookumchuck.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Zachary Oberle
08/30/2016 at 13:16

Kinja'd!!!

What I want to know is it any of these survived. A slide-in for a truck with an 800lb payload capacity and a 55" track? Stability, schmability.

Ike > Zachary Oberle
08/30/2016 at 13:18

I have the sudden urge to do this to my fiesta st

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > Zachary Oberle
08/30/2016 at 13:22

Saabs are the best!! Toppola! I drove a bug once, broke down in the Mexican desert and I had to fix it. So I hate them, slow, terrible driving position, death traps.... A bug with a trailer would be torture.

Kinja'd!!!

vicali > Zachary Oberle
08/30/2016 at 13:32

I bet there still a lot of cringing in terror hitting the brakes with that thing on there..

Plus should’ve used a standard.. no super love.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > Zachary Oberle
08/30/2016 at 13:37

I can’t imagine that being too great under acceleration.

sn4cktimes > Zachary Oberle
08/30/2016 at 13:50

Way back when I had a Wrangler I was considering doing some overlander setup on it for camping. That old video was the motivation for my wife and I to buy a teardrop trailer, we EASILY pull it behind her Juke, and once I’ve got my AMC Eagle wagon running better it too will pull the trailer. Thing is so light I can scoot it around by hand and we park it in the garage.

Kinja'd!!!

PotbellyJoe and 42 others > Zachary Oberle
08/30/2016 at 15:12

There’s an LTD/Fairmont/Zephyr that has a roof-mount 5th wheel in this world too, I can’t find it on the Googles, but I know it exists. Take these as substitutes.

Kinja'd!!!

Tohru > Zachary Oberle
08/30/2016 at 20:20

0-60 never, though.

S65 > Zachary Oberle
08/30/2016 at 21:07

Kinja'd!!!

Zachary Oberle > Tohru
08/30/2016 at 21:45

You’d be surprised! It cruised at 55 mph from Pueblo County to Colorado Springs, uphill the whole way. V-Max is somewhere around 75 MPH on flat ground. Not saying it’s fast, but the setup is so lightweight that it moves better than most folks give it credit for.

Zachary Oberle > JohnnyWasASchoolBoy
08/30/2016 at 23:18

Nope! I’m just way too big a fan of British Colombian miscreant and tool tear-down super-nerd AvE:

torque > Zachary Oberle
08/31/2016 at 00:18

I swear there was a post on this trailer that made it to the FP some time ago. Very cool OP that you got to see it in person? and talk to the owner

Properly executed (thinking electric brakes on the trailer at minimum) and this could be a viable idea with a modern “small” car (“” b/c at least in the US, besides the Mirage it’s hard to find a small car that is really small

Tapas > Zachary Oberle
08/31/2016 at 00:50

Well as long as you’re never going to face a hill or a steep driveway, you’ll be fine draggin something that weighs almost as much as the car.

Zachary Oberle > torque
08/31/2016 at 01:03

Yea, I found that article in the course of writing this one. I actually referenced that piece directly with the hyperlink attached to “somewhat infamous” in the third paragraph.

http://jalopnik.com/everyones-talk…

Bob claimed that the rig isn’t nearly as terrifying to drive as it appears. It accelerates and brakes just fine by his standards, but then again almost all cars from his day would have been terrible in this regard.

Tohru > Zachary Oberle
08/31/2016 at 15:45

I am mildly surprised.

knowonelse > Zachary Oberle
08/31/2016 at 15:48

I have a 64 F100 Crewcab. Yes F100. A cab was grafted in for the first buyer by Crown. Dad bought it a year later. Standard longbed frame, so 5.5 ft bed. Dad had a custom camper built. 8 ft long, went past the tailgate. Full extra cab over length. Weighed 3/4 ton dry. With cab grafted in payload dropped to 500 lbs. Wish I still had camper. Truck going great at 350k miles. Braking dicey without camper! Bought newer similar camper now restoring. Truck restoring soon due to rust. How many trucks like this ever existed, let alone are still running and stock!?

Volkswear > Zachary Oberle
01/06/2017 at 12:33

“VW Super Nerds at Volkswear” Love it.