I’ve been showing you all sorts of self-propelled campers, vans and motorhomes for years now, but has JP Cavanaugh ever shown one? Is he allergic to camping, even the motorized self-contained kind? Well, I’ve finally found the rig that will get him on the road. I’m sure he and Mrs. JPC would love to tour the West in this fine Studebaker motorhome, given the many amenities it’s sure to have, even if it is a bit short on windows.
Of course, if the Studebaker is a bit too cozy, there’s this much roomier Pontiac. Its flathead straight eight is bound to appeal to JP’s love of torque, although it is a GM product. And there’s a Caddy camper too, but it has much too much patina for JP’s taste. The Studebaker’s the one for him.
Bob Ward posted these shots at the Cohort.
Shades of The Long, Long Trailer, a 1954 Lucy-and-Ricky movie well worth seeing (once).
I’ve seen the movie at least once and read the book. Many of the actors also appear with Lucy on TV.
…book? I didn’t know!
I couldn’t imagine the book. Technicolor, Desi, and Lucy made the movie. What could have been better in the book?
Hope the Caddy is on its way to looking as nice as the Poncho.
The Stude is pretty crude it looks like someone found a box from a MD truck and cut it into pieces as the raw material for this creation. They could have at least come up with something to trim the joint between the roof and sides for a little better appearance.
I was always fascinated by these old house car creations and do prefer the style of the Caddy and Poncho where the donor car is cut at the B pillar over those that are cut at the cowl.
It does have me thinking about a moderately stretched TC or last of the RWD Fleetwood limo as a basis for a modern version. Pick the stretch length to fit your needs and the hard mechanical part is done. Then you just need a sawzall, an old trailer, a couple of weekends and cases of beer. What could go wrong?
The limo would be a great base since those vehicles with the limo prep package have components designed to carry the maximum stretch and GVW recomended by the mfg whether it is 24″ stretch or a 100″ stretch.
I think JP prefers spending time at CAFE’s instead of campgrounds. He is forever talking about them… 🙂
If he goes east, he can have the best of both worlds.
http://studebakercafe.com
The Studie camper is built cleverly. Note the longitudinal corrugation and the lapping of the roof metal on end and sides, similar to the lapping of shingles. More intrinsically waterproof than commercial campers, which usually have transverse corrugations on a flat roof panel. Water gathers in the low spots and can’t escape the side brackets.
The yellow Pontiac looks to have been an ambulance or hearse. The high roof is a giveaway and it looks to be a stretched wheelbase.
Yeah that would make sense as a good base because of someone already doing the wheelbase stretch for you.
An excellent choice! The lack of windows in the camper shouldn’t be a problem because who could pull himself out of that luxurious cab?
The Pontiac looks nice and all but I will stick with the local product since someone was nice enough to have swapped a V8 into this one.
Anyhoo, I have quit my job and bought this and hit the road in the morning. Been fun, guys, but I gotta finish packing. 🙂
I have said it before but it bears repeating, I got all of the camping I ever wanted when I was in the Army. As always, YMMV.
I especially love the Cadillac. I haven’t seen a conversion like this on the road in years. I remember a ’51 Cadillac that was turned into a “wrecker” in the Napa area for years in the early 1970s. I thought that it was totally cool. I read once that big powerful old cars like Caddies and Packards were often converted to commercial vehicles. I wonder what ever happened to it.
It turns out that Ernest Holmes built the first tow car out of a three year old Cadillac in 1916. The Holmes name is famous for tow rigs.
Yeah I’ve seen that old Packards especially were popular to turn into wreckers or other truck type uses. Apparently they could be had cheap, yet had the power and chassis components that could handle the work.
I even seem to remember a Leave It To Beaver episode where Beav befriends someone from the lesser side of town who’s father had build such a vehicle for use in his auto repair or junk yard business.
Back when I was kid in the 70s, back when cables and slings still ruled, it seemed the “Holmes 440” was the wrecker of choice. I recall Holmes had models with lower “numbers”, but the “440” was the pinnacle of wreckers. Then the hydraulic units started showing up, and then the flatbeds with their “stingers” that could tow two at a time. I still occasionally see a 440 running around, but it’s invariably operated by some “Sanford and Son” scrap hauler. There was a guy a few years ago who upgraded his old, tired looking one-ton for a brand new unit; and he had his old, greasy Holmes 440 body switched over; I assume he couldn’t afford a new wrecker body, as they are quite expensive, or perhaps he loved his old school technology. It did look funny; a brand new one ton cab and chassis, with an old, well worn, obsolete wrecker body attached.
Hmmm. What could be going on with this truck?. That grille. It’s from a truck before ’54. Then why the V8 emblem on the door? No v8s in trucks ’til 1955. Is it from a ’58 Scotsman?Come to think of it, the Scotsman was too cheap a truck to have a V8. Those wheel covers– from a car — indicate 15″ wheels, which were never on the older trucks either.
Anyway, you’d definitely want the V8 with that camper. No power steering was available on any Studebaker truck, ever, so, just be careful where you take it! Wal-Mart parking lots might be best..
Yes, I figured that this was a Heinz 57 truck. That grille, that V8 emblem and those wheelcovers go together only in the garage of a diehard Stude guy.
Gotta love those campers! I’ll take the Pontiac. Actually had a 1952 Studebaker 1/2 ton with the Champion engine. I called it “the Mouse House” – had a unique dash with everything accessible from under the hood rather than from the inside. Mice loved to chew on the wiring and it seemed that whenever I opened a cab door, they would jump and scurry around. My lady friend at the time refused to ride in it! I’ve never been to the Studebaker Cafe. I know the building in Harlem though and I will visit someday. Part of Columbia University. In the 20’s, I think about half the automobiles existing in the world lived in New York City. Studebaker was built in South Bend , IN. and cars were shipped to NYC via the New York Central RR. Police cars and Taxi’s were important to Studebaker’s business then I am told, and photos from this era seem to prove this. Studebaker used to use the place to do prep-up work and as a distribution point for local dealers. There is a beautiful old “wagon wheel” logo that somehow survived that can be seen from the Hudson River and also from the Broadway IRT and Hudson Line Metro North trains. I see this every time I travel to NYC.