My first homemade motorhome c.1974

[John Linck]

In 1974 at age 23 and after graduation from Illinois my bride Jill and I decided a multi-month camping trip would be fun. Jill graduated a semester after me so I had time to accumulate some cash from my liquor store manager job. So we paid $250 at city auction for a pickup truck, rebuilt the engine, scrapped the bed, and built a wooden camper atop. Then it was off to the Smokies, Texas, Mexico, Guatemala, Colorado, etc. The camper entry was thru a door from the truck cab. We had a gas range with oven, gravity furnace, porta-potty in a wall papered bathroom, skylight for light and roof access. A "donated" empty beer keg served for our pressurized water supply. However, I made a couple of design errors. One in that I used heavy ½ plywood for the wall surfaces with 1 inch of foam between. It was snug and warm if a bit heavy. The finished weight was just over 6000 pounds on the ½ ton truck. We cracked 3 rear rims in Mexico, but friendly Mexican welding shops just welded them back together. Thankfully I had bought 8 ply truck tires with tubes. Months later upon returning home to Illinois we bought 3 piece truck split rims and had no more trouble over 3 more years and many more miles. We sold our lovely camper in 1977 for $250.00 to a fellow who knocked on the door. Never heard what happened after that. We had some fun times back then in the pre-kid days. Clearly we were pretty lucky too. Now in our post-kid days we chose a Scamp 13 and I satisfy my tinkering compulsion with dozens of mods. Jill just shakes her head, but still enthusiastically helps plan our adventures.

Pictures are
1. Camping on the Rio Grande at Big Bend National Park 1974
2. Harrowing downgrade in Guatemala where the brakes over-heated 3 times. You can see the one lane road ahead in the lower right hand corner near the mirror.
3. We did carry extra wheels and we needed them. That's my red haired bride.
4. That's me on top repairing the skylight opening mechanism at Padre Island National Seashore in Texas.
5. A somewhat tired Mexican campground, though we mostly boondocked.
6. A village square at Todos Santos, Guatemala.
7. Some colorful roadside fellow.

[Timber Wolf]

Wow, just wow. I am humbled before your awesomeness.

[kirkman]

Very,very Cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TomK]

John, that's about the neatest thing I've read on here in a long time. What an adventure! Thanks for sharing that!

Tom

[charlsara]

Thanks John for sharing. That was great!


Sent from my iPad using Fiberglass RV

[68dave]

I see its a c10 but is it a 62 or 63? Cool rig!

[John Linck]

Originally Posted by 68dave

I see its a c10 but is it a 62 or 63? Cool rig!

Sorry, I can't remember. It belonged to the Champaign Park District and had about 80,000 miles. We put on about 30,000 more and it gave us no trouble. (Not counting the cracked wheels, those were all my fault.) I do remember it had some kinda straight 6 under the hood when I put in new rings, bearings and had the valves ground. At the risk of sounding like an old fart, I love the days when you could open a hood and see and easily recognize the 6 or 7 major parts under there--radiator, engine, battery, carb, distributor, air cleaner, master cylinder, spark plugs, etc. Oh wait, that's more than 7. Looking under my Subaru hood there seem a lot more parts I don't recognize and I can't see any spark plugs at all. Good thing they last 100,000 miles; must be tricky to change.

Cheers all, john

[68dave]

Originally Posted by John Linck

Sorry, I can't remember. It belonged to the Champaign Park District and had about 80,000 miles. We put on about 30,000 more and it gave us no trouble. I do remember it had some kinda straight 6 under the hood when I put in new bearings and had the valves ground. At the risk of sounding like an old fart, I love the days when you could open a hood and see and easily recognize the 6 or 7 major parts under there--radiator, engine, battery, carb, distributor, air cleaner, master cylinder, spark plugs, etc. Oh wait, that's more than 7. Looking under my Subaru hood there seem a lot more parts I don't recognize and I can't see any spark plugs at all. Good thing they last 100,000 miles; must be tricky to change.

Cheers all, john

That was the good ole' days! I was born in 74 but i've always had a vehicle from the 60's. It's actually relaxing to work on them compared to these new 4 wheeled computers, lol. Thanks for sharing the pics.

[Chillywilly]

Being from the same era, all I can say is, Far Out man! Love the story. That ride down that mountain must have been a rush!

[deryk]

"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to." – Bilbo Baggins

Sounds like an Awesome Adventure!

[Borrego Dave]

Good story John

[Raz]

Great adventure. 'Bout the same time, 'bout the same age, I too had an adventure. It's a good thing I did it when I did. I know better now.

As far as the Subaru is concerned, plugs are easy. Four hundred dollars at the dealer. Unless of course you are looking for another adventure. Thanks for sharing, Raz

[Paul O.]

Great pictures (in all their 100 kilopixel glory) and what a story! You made some wonderful memories, I am sure you will get an attaboy from Donna.
My pic's from that era are B&W. Thanks for sharing.

[brian m.]

Great story! Thanks for sharing. It was a 1963 truck by the way.

[Al and Cindy K]

I've got you by a couple of years but also finished college in 74 (had a two year all expenses paid trip courtesy of Uncle Sam in 69-70) and we hit the Smokies, Padre and Big Bend on our newly married ramblings as well. Our vehicle of choice was an early sixties VW Westphalia; I'd sure love to have her back now.

We're also still together - thanks for the pictures and the memories.

[Jim Bennett]

Great story, John. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[stevebaz]

That must have been such an adventure. I wish I would have had the intestinal fortitude to do far reaching adventures that I only dreamed of. Nothing ventured nothing gained except regrets.

[John Linck]

Originally Posted by stevebaz

That must have been such an adventure. I wish I would have had the intestinal fortitude to do far reaching adventures that I only dreamed of. Nothing ventured nothing gained except regrets.

Thanks all for your kind comments.

Steve, Our trip certainly was an adventure. But, I don't think I have the fortitude/foolhardiness to undertake such a journey today. Back then, like so many "kids" I thought I was invincible. Over the decades life has convinced me otherwise. Newly married Jill thought I was pretty smart for a few years and joined more than one of my crazy ideas. Ask her about our year earlier 6 week Winter tenting honeymoon thru Western national parks when bears kept tripping over our tent's guy ropes. We both loved that, but she is wiser now and likes a furnace for Winter excursions? From now on we will confine out travels to 49 states and a few Canadian provinces and perhaps even a trip to Europe if I win the lottery. On the other hand, since I don't buy tickets and consider lotteries a tax on folks bad at math, Europe may be out of reach.

Or - Has anyone out there modded their Scamp with floats? Hawaii and Europe would be fun to see via Scamp. Oh wait, I am not 23 anymore and for sure Jill would stay home making sure the life insurance was paid up. ;-)

Happy camping to all, john

PS. The attached picture shows how we rough it these days at Jumbo Rocks campground in Joshua Tree National Park.