Regular readers will remember our series of articles on early SUV’s such as Broncos and Blazers with popup campers. We recently came across this 1978 Ford Bronco with a popup camper. There is not much information in the ad, but the Bronco appears to be in good shape.
Years ago, I heard a story about 3 Corvairs that crossed the Darrien Gap in South America. Honestly, I passed it off as gossip. The version I had heard was that the cars started in Alaska and drove the complete Pan American highway. The cars were in such good shape that they decided to cross the impassable Darien Gap…
I am really interested in this camper. All of the Bronco campers that I have seen so far have been the popup variety from Four Wheel Campers. The winch on this unit is a bit of an oddball as well. Apparently, it is a vintage Black and Decker winch and it does work! There is a controller mounted under the dash for it. The early Bronco also has a speaker control mounted under the dash for the truck radio to go to the camper. So, have you seen a Bronco camper like this or a Black & Decker winch?
Back in May, we featured an Internation Scout II that had a pop top Four Wheel Camper. We decided to go back to the original thread on Expedition Portal where we discovered this diamond in the rough. It turns out that the owner has made a lot of progress on both the camper and the Scout. I do have to say that I am damn impressed with how everything turned out! What do you think? Do you like the concept of a SUV with a pop top camper?
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Those of you that have been reading Off Road Action for a while will recall the early 1966 to 1977 Ford Bronco with Four Wheel Camper poptop camper articles that we did over the summer. We found this barn find 1966 Ford Bronco with a non pop top camper. Finding an early bronco that has uncut rear wheel wells and only 55,000 original miles is a bit of rarity, but finding one that also has a camper on the back is unheard of! We have emailed the owner asking for larger photos as well as a few camper interior shots. We are also interested in the different styling of the winch that is mounted on the front bumper. Frankly, someone needs to purchase this and restore it. We will even give the new owner a place on the website to document the restoration! Will you be the new owner?
The popularity of our Ford Bronco Camper articles here , here and here proves that people are interested in seeing camperized SUV’s. Even to this day, these articles are some of the most read posts on this website. Even the International Scout camper article and Chevrolet Blazer Chalet articles are extremely popular. So, when you combine the popularity of the camperized vehicle articles and the popularity of our Jeep CJ-5 articles, I think there will be a lot of people interested in seeing the restoration of this 1973 Jeep CJ5 with a camper that was an option in 1969. As you can see, the reader is has pretty much finished the restoration of the CJ and is starting to work on the camper. I will be doing another feature article with more history about the Jeep camper, but in the mean time, does anyone have information about them or photos?
My parents purchased a surplus GPW in 1963 for $500 and decided to take the jeep to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico in 1965. At that time the paved road stopped outside of Mazatlan so they towed the jeep there and then proceeded on. There is a large river (Ameca) just before PV that you had to cross, a bridge was not completed until 1966. The following sequence is a tribute to my parents zest for life and spirit of adventure.
Following our articles about SUV’s with Four Wheel Campers, I had a reader write me to tell me about the Chevy K5 Blazer Chalets group on Yahoo. This group of Blazer Chalet and GMC Jimmy Casa Grandes know more about these unique camperized SUV’s than I will ever hope to know! It is definatly worth checking them out!
This is a great collection of videos about the Wally Byam Caracan Club International travelling from Capetown to Cairo in 1959. Imagine a group of trucks towing Airstream trailers through the middle of Africa in 1959? 36 vehicles and over 100 people! There is a lot of really neat moments throughout the videos, such as the encounters with the Pigmy people that had never seen a balloon before. Does anyone have more information about this expedition?
In response to our recent articles about Ford Broncos with Four Wheel Camper poptop campers, an International Scout owner posted some questions on Expedition Portal about the Scout he recently purchased with a camper. Of course, it was not long before another member posted some great detail photos of his Scout Camper.