A while back we reviewed the Mid-States Executive flagship, a gargantuan sixty-foot motorhome and tractor built for Mid-States President William B. McDonald in 1952 – Mid-States being a major trailer and motorhome manufacturer. Evidently mobile apartments are a thing with business scions, as around twenty years later another businessman tried something very similar.
Dick Edler was a successful businessman who made his wealth as one of the founders of Atlas Van Lines and later expanding into building large warehouses. As he was nearing retirement, he had a yearn to travel – that is travel with his family which included two children and four Saint Bernards – he wanted something big. At that time there weren’t any motorhomes large enough for his needs, so he designed his own, and then used his company to market and sell his creation.
Thus was born the Camelot Cruiser. And large it was – 55 feet in total length, 12 feet high and 8 feet wide. It weighed in at over 40,000 pounds. Custom manufacturer Gerstenslager constructed the trailer.
Motive power was supplied by a Ford C750 tractor, with Ford’s husky 391 cu in gas truck V8, with an early four speed Allison auto transmission.
Look inside and it’s as if a timewarp sent you back to the Disco-era. Green shag carpet, dark wood paneling, faux-stonework, orange tile, gold seats and drapes…
Only three Camelots were built – this one came with dual matching snowmobiles which could be stored in an underfloor bay. Of the other two, one was built to hold a boat, and the other with a space in the rear for two horses.
Total cost in 1974 was $150K, which adjusted for inflation equals over $900K in today’s dollars. Still quite a bargain considering new Newell coaches go for $2.3 million.
The model in these pictures was sold last year at an auction – the owner gives a video tour below
The interior looks like Graceland on wheels.
Drove a ’67 Ford T-800 w/ 5×3 transmissions & 10 yd dump for two summers during college. You’d think a 391 would be overmatched by the kind of weights you’d pull hauling gravel. Not so. On or off road, that thing pulled like a beast. I’m not sure how the 391 differed internally from the 390 as I never worked on the 391, but the performance was nothing to sneeze about. The factory tach was color coded to show green while in the rev band of 2-4k. Keep the engine in that range and the truck was unstoppable as long as you had traction. Sure did a lot of split shifting to hold that range though. And those two 50-gal side mounted gas tanks wouldn’t even last a day if a job included any amount of highway running.
The 391 was different in that it was a HD truck version of the 390, so it had lots of HD parts. But the displacement was the same. It made it easy to distinguish between the light-duty and HD versions.
Ford also sold both 360 and 361s; same displacement.
I drove a number of FE-powered trucks; they did have a lot of grunt.
Hopefully Inspector Columbo has found the body behind the fake chimney wall.
I won’t be the one to snark about decor; today’s fashions will surely have critics in 2073.
Internet tells me these vehicles appeared in the Christmas catalog of luxury TX retailer Sakowitz, listed with super-deluxe touches at $250K in 1977.
Made in Skokie, they were naturally shown at Chicago’s “Sportsmen’s Show” and such; here’s a Tribune writeup from February 1975:
I like how their vacations involved taking a stewardess along. I wonder where she slept? Hopefully they didn’t have her bunk down in the sleeper cab!
Going with a modern truck, to haul this trailer, would have been a better marketing decision. Like the then new 1973-era Chevrolet medium trucks. Ford C700s already had such a very dated, delivery truck image in ’74. On very first glance, the exterior looks like a ‘Canada Dry’-related promotional vehicle. Or a fancy horse trailer.
Even in 1974, a white/off-white exterior, might have lent a look of more sophistication and modernity. The GMC Motorhome, got away with using candy-colours, because its design, was so advanced looking.
(1980 Chev image posted, to give an idea.)
The reason he used the COE Ford was to stay within the common 55′ overall length limit back then. That Chevy conventional would have taken it well over that.
An International Cargostar may have been a better choice. The Ford C-Series had such a dated blue-collar ‘moving van’ image.
Comparable-size 5th wheel trailers that can also haul toys and horses and whatever are very popular out here, mainly to haul ATVs and such to the area of our coastline where there are large dunes and open to off-road vehicles. Their price can go up to $100k, which of course is about one tenth of what this rig sold for in 1974 (adjusted). It just goes to show how things that were once only available to the very rich are now accessible to a large segment of the population.
A big diesel pickup is of course needed to haul it.
I wonder if the owner, his family and the dogs rode in the “trailer” portion. The COE truck would seem to only accommodate a driver and a partner. Also, seems he didn’t have an awning installed to provide shade for campground use.
Evidently his family and the dogs rode in the trailer. I read an interview with Mr. Edler about that – evidently one of the reasons he chose a tractor-trailer over a bus-based RV was that it was quieter for people to sit in the living portion while it drives down the road. I’ll take his word on that.
Sometimes Mr. Edler and his son would do the driving (he noted that driving this 55-ft. rig was “easy”) and sometimes he’d hire drivers instead.
I imagine that these super campers were built more as an advertisement and promotional vehicle for the company. Actually using one for private travel would have been daunting. Just driving the thing would have been a chore, not something that the wealthy owner would have enjoyed. Hiring a driver would also be a problem as they would have to have lodging and accommodations available during the trip. Also where would you park the thing? Even during stops enroute, parking at a Walmart lot wouldn’t be that glamorous! I suppose you could park at a privately owned campsite or rural property. If you parked at a private estate, wouldn’t it have made more sense to stay inside the building? It would have been much easier to drive your Cadillac Fleetwood to the front portico of a convenient high end hotel and walk up to the best suite in the house.
Still, an interesting time capsule.
Paul, I think that your comment should have read, “available to a large(r) segment of the population.” 100K aint chicken feed,especially for something that is just a luxury item.
You’re making a number of assumptions that contradict the evidence, which all says that Dick Edler wanted to travel in his retirement, and with certain comforts of home as well as dogs and toys. What company was it promoting? There’s no signs on it except for the Camelot. Did you read the newspaper article left in the comments? It makes it pretty clear what his intentions were.
It says that he sometimes didn’t hire a driver, and that he and his son would take turns driving it. Kind of like Elvis loved driving his bus, it’s not uncommon for some successful folks to enjoy driving a big truck or bus.
The driver was hired (apparently without problem) and undoubtedly he slept in the sleeper cab.
You park it at campgrounds, KOA, or otherwise. or you make other arrangements. It was not that out of the ordinary to have/drive a large RV back then; folks had been converting big buses for a very long time.
As to the $100k trailers, given the very low interest rate environment we just came out of, affording the payments on one of these would not have been that difficult. RV loans run 10-20 years, so under $1000/month. There really is a large segment of the population that can afford that, which explains why rv sales have been exploding these past few years.
I’m happy the article was informative, Paul—-I see the vehicle + contents (snowmobiles, etc.) brought $133K only weeks ago: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1974-gerstenlager-camelot-cruiser/
NIce house truck, a little ostentatious inside for my taste.
Well, it is old…..
Uh…ruh…hi, there. What planet is this, please? Back on my homeworld, RVs are all painted one or another variant of Sawdust Snot.
Seriously, you had me at green/green exterior with yellow stripe. And there’s green cluster-shag carpeting and tufted yellow vinyl inside, and orange bricktile counters? I think I’m in lurve.
All the comforts of home in a 1970s bordello!
Meanwhile, ready for auction: the Midnight Rider.
https://www.barrett-jackson.com/Media/Home/Reader/midnight-rider-record-holding-peterbilt-powered-limousine-ready-for-auction/
That interior suits a particular age and style….
Presumably, despite the note on the cab door, a truck license would be required to drive this?
Sure beats the “tiny house”..
Spotted it this evening, just outside of Mission BC.
…