Camper Built Inside a Car, 1952

[VJG1977]

Camper Built Inside a Car, 1952



and an older one

 

[highdesertranger]

on the second unit I like the slide out kitchen, no stealth there. is that guy cooking wearing a bow tie? highdesertranger

 

[USExplorer]

Car camping was quite the fad back in those times. A little different from today, though; car campers normally travelled in a convoy, with separate vehicles for food, supplies, and auto parts.

 

[Matlock]

In the 30's Tin Can Camping was catching on.

 

[poncho62]

That 1st pic was likely a Nash.....they had a fulling reclining seat that made into a bed. 

Fathers did not approve of their daughters dating boys who drove Nash's

 

[Almost There]

That 1st pic was likely a Nash.....they had a fulling reclining seat that made into a bed. 



Fathers did not approve of their daughters dating boys who drove Nash's

Ahha, that explains my existence....

I'd heard that there was a Nash that Dad owned but no one bothered to tell me all the finer details....

 

[eDJ_]

I remember the first time I walked around one of those early 50's  Nash  Super Ambassador 4 door,  I was amazed at how large of a car that it was. 

I'd say it was at least as large as my first Ford Econoline Van. (not as high inside)    I've heard that a lot of WW2 soldiers purchased them and traveled around the country looking for good jobs often living in them
as they traveled.  But it was just what was needed back then as Vans are now.

 

[Txjaybird]

Somewhere here I have a book written by a guy in FL back in the '80s or early '90s...if I remember correctly it's called the "Overland Safaris",  it's about keeping old cars and rigging them for live in/escape vehicles. He really liked Ramblers/Nashes...also shows how to fix rusted out floor pans with fiberglass.  Now I gotta go look for it...it's one of those things that always moves with me...I think it has about 2,000 miles on it.

My Grandparents bought a new 1955 4 door Buick Special.  It seemed huge with a trunk you could probably put a trunk in.     Mama would often put 2 or 3 of us girls in it for a trip up to Ada OK,  of course we were just kids but the seats were big enough for 2 kids to sleep in the back and 1 in the front seat while Mama drove.   In the late '50s it was the 3rd or 4th car in a 7 car hiway pile up and then around 1962 a drunk driver hit it head on.  My Grandmother was driving both times and received whiplash neck injuries and the car was fixed both times and you'd never know it had been hit.  They just don't  build cars like they used to.....why build a car with crumple zones instead of one built strong enough to take a hit?  This Buick stayed in the family until the mid  '70s.
 
In the early '80s I had a friend with a big 4 door Buick Electra , I think it was '70s model.   I don't know the year but I know it seemed longer than my '78 1/2 ton cargo van.  Once at a repair shop she asked if it would pull a small travel trailer, over 30 years later I still remember the guys' response " lady this thing will pull a freight train if you want it to".  That cracked me up then and still brings a smile to my face.   

   Have a good bweek end            Texas Jbird

 

[GypsyDogs]

on the second unit I like the slide out kitchen, no stealth there. is that guy cooking wearing a bow tie? highdesertranger

Bow ties are cool.

 

[steamjam1]

Camper Built Inside a Car, 1952



and an older one

I always thought that would super cool. To take a car like a late 40's Hudson Hornet 4 door and make into a low key 4x4 expedition rig.

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

 In the late '50s it was the 3rd or 4th car in a 7 car hiway pile up and then around 1962 a drunk driver hit it head on.  My Grandmother was driving both times and received whiplash neck injuries and the car was fixed both times and you'd never know it had been hit.  They just don't  build cars like they used to.....why build a car with crumple zones instead of one built strong enough to take a hit?  This Buick stayed in the family until the mid  '70s.
 
.   

   Have a good bweek end            Texas Jbird

Crumple zones are made to help absorb the energy of the impact so the human body doesn't have too. Cars can be replaced, humans not so much.  Think there's a video out there of them crashing a modern car into an old car and the new car actually fairs much better.  

Yeap, here's the video of a 59 Chevy Bel Air crashing into an 09 Chevy Malibu

 

[Patrick46]

Yeap, here's the video of a 59 Chevy Bel Air crashing into an 09 Chevy Malibu

Sacrilege!!!

You don't crash a beautiful '59 Catseye Bel Air just for the sake of argument!!!!

 

[Wanderer]

Camper Built Inside a Car, 1952



and an older one

Those cars bult back then were HUGE!!!

 

[squatting dog2]

Crumple zones are made to help absorb the energy of the impact so the human body doesn't have too. Cars can be replaced, humans not so much.  Think there's a video out there of them crashing a modern car into an old car and the new car actually fairs much better.  

Yeap, here's the video of a 59 Chevy Bel Air crashing into an 09 Chevy Malibu

Always makes me mad when I see this video. not because they smashed a rusty 59 Chevy, but because they chose that year. All car guys know that from 58 to the mid to late 60's, Chevy's had a coke bottle frame. They should have used an earlier twin straight rail framed early Chevy. I guarantee the result would have been different.

 

[SoulRaven]

Crumple zones are made to help absorb the energy of the impact so the human body doesn't have too. Cars can be replaced, humans not so much.

Yes. Rear-ended at high speeds in a 2006 Toyota Sienna, the van was totaled but we both walked away from it. Whiplash injuries, nothing bad enough to keep us in the ER.

It's sad to lose that van, but if there's going to be damage I'd prefer the brunt of the damage occur to the van itself rather than to us who were inside it.

Those old cars sure look cool, though.

 

[Wanderer]

Well, believe it or not, there's still some Nash's for sale

http://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/cto/5535617362.html

Nope, not going to buy, still prefer a van.....Plus getting parts might be easy or hard depending on what breaks.