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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (May 20, 1962)
Family Weekly j May to, i96t 'rl IS S3 i Ml I ,.., 4. ; r every imaginable way. Their interiors can be fitted with a complete camping unit, starting with a vinyl floor and including kitchen counter and stove, storage walls, beds even draperies for privacy. For its Corvair Greenbriar, Chevrolet offers a choice of fittings which can be fastened quickly into place with simple wing nuts. Ford, too, has similar options. The Falcon club wagon can be modified with a Kamperkit which includes table and couch that flip down to make beds at night, an awning over the door, a stove, and even running water! Coming into its own this year is the use of a pickup truck as the nucleus of a camping outfit. The Custom Sportster by Dodge is typical. Sit is built on n Dodge chassis and cab, its direct mounting bringing V about notable stability (a great virtue at expressway speed in a IL rrnsswinrf I unH the ppntuimi' nf mwinrorwiir rptriitnitinii iw wall Five people can be slept in the Sportster even more if some happen to be children who don't mind close quarters. There's a private flush toilet and shower, hot- and cold-water tanks, gas and electric lights, a gas stove and oven, and a refrigerator. Another Dodge-related development is the Motor Home, which completely encloses the driver's cab Hpace in appearance a trailer, but one that includes its own motive power. A 26-foot version sleeps as many as eight; all the amenities of suburban living en route are provided. There are any number of companies which produce custom packages to fit into standard pickup-truck floors. Some of these are simply basic shelters for sleeping at night and carrying belongings by day. Other packages for use on pickup trucks provide a starting point for expandable, portable dwellings. They open out into canvas or more rigid shapes, the vehicle body used as a supporting wall. One virtue of newer versions is that the entire package slides neatly onto and off the body plat form and fastens quickly into place with a few bolts and pins. Consequently, it can be used when desired, then stored the rest of the time. But relatively few drivers own a pickup. For those who don't, there is something really new this year the camp pack that fits onto your sedan. The Camperette, for example, has a novel virtue. It mounts for travel over the roof and rear deck, and it has telescoping legs. If you wish, you can lower the legs to support the shelter unit, disconnect it from the car, then drive out from under it. The Camperette's size is fairly typical of its cate gory. It is made of aluminum and plywood to hold its weight under 500 pounds, including its contents. There are two beds on the sides with an aisle between. There are other units which fold flat and sit on rails atop your automobile; one of these opens out to one side like a clamshell to form a canvas-topped sleeping shelter about twice the width of your car. But you needn't go to that stage of perfection. Your car dealer also can offer you a choice of individual items or groupings, such as tents, folding chairs, table and stools, cooler and stove, tableware, air mattresses, sleeping bags, and a heater, which fit snugly into your car's trunk. You even may want to pack a portable generator powered by a gasoline engine. It will operate such conveniences as an electric refrigerator (small size, of course), radio, and tv set. Or, lacking a generator, you can still bring along a portable, battery-operated tv, radio, or record player. The trusty trailer, of course, continues popular. And there are new models and new ideas here, too, as in the cars that haul them. One bright example is the new 5-Star Camper whose sides telescope during moving from one site to the next, thus reducing wind resistance. This unit is only a few inches higher than your car during hauling. Discon nected at a camping site, its sides can be cranked up to provide more than six feet of inside clearance. It normally accommodates six sleepers but can handle eight. Truly the wheels that fit your wanderlust come in every variety except square! 3. Dodge Custom Sportster mounts directly on truck chassis. 4. International Harvester builds Seoul for rough going. family Wekly. May 20, 1M2
