Camper of the Week

1978 Van Mate, $3,250

Camper of the Week

This week’s Camper Of The Week is a “Van Mate” trailer. I would say it definitely qualifies as Camper Eye Candy as well, which is mostly why I picked it! It is all fiberglass which means it’s really light and easy to tow (fiberglass campers such as Casita, Boler, Scamp, etc. are all great choices if you have a small car that can’t tow much weight). I think it looks like the back of truck was cut off and made into a camper! I really like the pop-up top. No pictures of the interior, but the description says it has a full bathroom and everything all in that tiny little trailer. The Van Mate is located in California and the seller is asking $3250 for it. It says that it is a very rare trailer, and I’ve never seen anything like it so I would say that’s probably true! This particular trailer has a good story too: apparently it was once owned by the guy who did the voice for Yogi Bear, among other classic cartoons! Little piece-a-history.

You can see more pictures, a description, and find out how to purchase the trailer here:

http://www.tincantourists.com/classified/showproduct.php?product=5095&cat=3&page=7

 

I found this little camper on Tin Can Tourists, a great resource for vintage campers in all sorts of conditions ranging from projects for $500 to gorgeous fully restored silver palaces for $50,000. I get lost on that site for hours.

Enjoy!

 

 

Camper of the Week

I’m going to start doing this little feature called Camper Of The Week, and here’s the first one! I spend countless hours looking at potential green-overhaul campers for sale on Tin Can Tourists, Craigslist, Ebay, and other vintage camper enthusiasts sites (more resources of that nature to come!). Each week I’m going to share my favorite find that is 1. a reasonable (maybe even cheap!) price, 2. a fixer-upper but not totally disgusting, and 3. looks like a cool camper to live in (and has a bathroom!).

1963 Avion, $1900

This week I found our Camper of the Week on Tin Can Tourists, my favorite vintage camper website (tincantourists.com –  they have a great classifieds section). This camper trailer is a 1963 Avion. Looks like an Airstream, right? Well this little trailer is great because it has the same classic silver-bullet look as the Airstream, but you won’t pay the premium price for the brand name. (Try finding an Airtream for less that $5K. I have a friend that spent a week digging an old Airstream literally out of the ground and still paid over $1000. Anyway, I digress!) I picked this camper because I think it’s a great size for fulltiming. The description says that it’s in “FAIR” condition, but by the looks of the pictures it seems totally usable and fixable. It also has a full bathroom! Essential.

The camper is in Michigan and the seller is asking $1900 for it. To see more pictures and the full listing (more description, how to contact the seller) go here: http://www.tincantourists.com/classified/showproduct.php?product=4976&sort=2&cat=3&page=3

**The way I see it, when you’re looking for a camper to convert into an off-grid green machine (solar panels, rainwater collection, composting toilet, etc), you want to find something that is in good enough condition, but not so good that you feel bad about tearing out the walls to get to the wiring and everything else. You probably don’t want something in vintage mint condition that you’re going to drill holes into for mounting solar panels…it’s best to save your money and get something that needs work anyway, if you’re going to be doing a conversion.**