Welcome to the RV Dreaming Podcast! In this episode, we dive deep into the world of vintage camper trailers with Paul, the founder of Vintage Camper Trailers Magazine. We’ll explore the charm of old trailers, the art of refurbishing them, and how they can be transformed into modern-day businesses.

About the Host:

Stuart, the host, has been a nomad since 2020, traveling in his 40-foot Super C and 24-foot Sprinter van. He is accompanied by his two cats, Camden and Izzy. You can follow his adventures on Instagram at Stuart Doing Stuff.

Main Discussion:

  • The allure of vintage trailers and their significance in the RV community.
  • The history and evolution of trailers from the past to the present.
  • Paul’s journey in establishing the Vintage Camper Trailers Magazine.
  • The significance of rallies in the vintage trailer community.
  • The value and pricing of vintage trailers in today’s market.
  • The trend of using vintage trailers for Airbnb and other unique accommodations.
  • The importance of experiencing a trailer firsthand before purchasing.

Conclusion:

Vintage camper trailers are more than just vehicles; they are a testament to history, craftsmanship, and a simpler time. Whether you’re a seasoned RV enthusiast or new to the world of trailers, there’s something magical about these classic beauties that captivate the heart. Join us in celebrating the charm and legacy of vintage camper trailers with Paul.

Connect With RVDreaming and Stuart:

Call our Hotline and Leave Us a Message: 714-623-0924

Follow Stuart on Instagram: StuartDoingStuff

Follow RVDreaming on Facebook: RVDreamingTV

Check Out Our Website: RVDreaming.tv

Affiliate Links From The Podcast:

Harvest Hosts | Boondockers Welcome | RVLife Trip Wizard

Battle Born Batteries

Want to be a guest on our program? 

Reach Out! Stuart@RVDreaming.tv

Transcript
Speaker:

Stuart Doing Stuff: We're

going back in the day.

2

:

In this episode, we're going to

talk with Paul from Vintage Camper

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:

Trailers Magazine, and we're going to

talk about old trailers, how you can

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:

refurbish them, how you can update

them with modern day amenities, and

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how you can even take these classic

trailers and start your own business.

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That's all coming up on this

episode of the RV Dreaming Podcast.

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And welcome to the RV Dreaming Podcast.

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:

In this podcast, we help you

prepare for life on the road.

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:

Whether you're in an RV, a van, or in

the back of your car, we teach you how

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:

to get on the road and how to survive

your first year as a full time nomad.

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RV dreaming, start here, go anywhere.

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My name is Stuart from Stuart

Doing Stuff on Instagram.

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:I've been a nomad since:

I split my time between my 40 foot

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Super C and my 24 foot Sprinter van.

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And I travel with my two

cats, Camden and Izzy.

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Follow me on Instagram at Stuart Doing

Stuff for more stories and videos.

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You know, we spend a lot of time

talking about these new rigs

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that are coming off the lines.

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We talk about build quality

from what's being put out by

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the manufacturers nowadays.

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And we spend a lot of time talking

about tech and new stuff that's

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happening in the RV business.

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But I want to take a step.

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Backwards today and

not just one step back.

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Let's go decades and decades back.

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Let's go back to those classic vintage

camper trailers that we all love to see.

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And we have so many questions about,

and who better to talk about that then

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vintage camper trailer, mag trailers,

magazine founder himself, Paul, welcome

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to the RV dreaming podcast, Paul.

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Vintage Camper Trailers:

Thank you so much.

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We appreciate being here.

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Stuart Doing Stuff: No problem.

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So real quick.

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Tell me about your magazine

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Vintage Camper Trailers: Well the vintage

camper trailers magazine, um came about

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when I wrote an article for another

Magazine because I thought I had vented

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and had invented a new hobby I had an old

car and I had bought an old trailer to

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take my kids camping in Mainly because

it was cheap not because I thought

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it was cool or anything And i'm still

writing that article for that magazine

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About 14 years later and somewhere in

the middle there, I decided, well, maybe

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the trailer guys need a similar type

publication that tells them when the

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rallies are, you know, kind of picture

a hot rod magazine shows pictures of

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restored trailers, that type of thing.

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So we've been doing the magazine

and print and digital now for

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well over we're in our 12th year.

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Wow.

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And so you've got the magazine and I know

you also produce a lot of rallies as well.

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We do, we do . We, we produce a lot.

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I'm gonna have to take a look at

that moving forward because we've

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got a lot on our calendar right now.

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But we do, essentially for us, a rally

is, I always say it's like a classic

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car show, but you get to sleep at it.

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So you've gotta be nice to people

and, and, 'cause you're gonna be

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waking up with 'em for a few days.

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So we do several days, typically

Thursday through Sunday, we have,

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uh, live bands, we have activities.

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Our events are typically heavily themed.

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So it might be a Western theme

or we've got a British invasion

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theme or a Renaissance fair

theme among others coming up.

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But, uh, yeah, they're, they're a blast,

you know, over the years it's just become

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a lot of good friends getting together.

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Several times a year to camp.

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Stuart Doing Stuff: Yeah, I worked in a

radio station back when I was younger.

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It was, uh, oldies, fifties,

sixties, uh, era kind of station.

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And I remember doing classic car

shows where traditionally restored

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or older fifties, sixties, even some

forties, you know, cars, and it was

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just a lot of fun to, to kind of see

these classics and, and restored.

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And you guys, that's kind

of what these rallies are.

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Vintage Camper Trailers: They are.

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And a lot of our guys actually

tow with the vintage cars.

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So, um, it's, it turns into a, you know,

a big vintage festival and the people even

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dress up, especially if there's a theme.

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So at our, our Western rally,

we have a country band.

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People will dress up in,

in vintage country gear.

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They'll decorate their

trailers in that fashion.

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Um, next year we have a Christmas in the

trailer park, which is a decorate with

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vintage trailer, vintage Christmas stuff.

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We'll have an ugly sweater contest.

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We'll have a potluck, uh, Christmas dinner

and, and, and just a bunch of goofy fun.

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It's really, if, if you're not willing

to come and kind of be silly, it's.

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Not for you, because it's just

a goofy time of everything

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from costumes to decorations.

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Stuart Doing Stuff: So if I wanted

to come to one of these rallies, do I

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have to have a vintage trailer or can

I come in my other RVs or place for me

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to park and camp out with everybody?

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Or do I need to go find my own spot?

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Vintage Camper Trailers: Yeah,

usually, you know, our, our events

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have gotten so big that we still

try to reserve some sites for new

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trailers because we do want to.

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So as long as we've got room, we welcome

people that want to come and play.

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And, and a lot of times those people come

in, in their new white box and they end up

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falling in love with what we're doing and

ended up getting a vintage trailer too.

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But yeah, usually we've got some space.

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We do a big rally in San Dimas.

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That's 280 vintage trailers

and about 150 classic cars.

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And we probably hold back.

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10 percent or so for,

for, for new trailers.

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And, and we're pretty liberal.

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I mean, you know, we let the retros in

and the fiberglass stuff and, and, uh,

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a lot of those aren't as old as some

of them, but they kind of fit the vibe.

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Stuart Doing Stuff: You know, and that

kind of asks, brings up my next question.

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What is considered

nowadays a vintage trailer?

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Vintage Camper Trailers: Yeah.

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:So somewhere in the, in the:

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The design of trailers really

started to change and, and, and

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the design of everything, the

use of plastics in, in, in stuff.

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And, and so you went from a trailer

that was around you, what we'd call a

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canned ham shape, or before that a bread

loaf shaped trailer to square boxes.

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With, you know, white sides

and plastic interiors.

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And so depending on the event and, and,

and who you ask 72, 75, 70s, somewhere

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around there is when they really started

to change and they just didn't really

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have those warm wood interiors and the

classic pastel colors and, you know,

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the stuff that really looks vintage.

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Stuart Doing Stuff: Maybe this is a

subjective question, but to be vintage.

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You talked about restoring.

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You guys also do a lot of

restoring of classic trailers.

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Can I restore a trailer

to be considered vintage?

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Utilizing the same color schemes or

the same materials, but also add maybe

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some modern conveniences like solar

and lithium or does it need to be pure

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era style to be considered vintage

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Vintage Camper Trailers: were were really

non discriminating as far as that goes.

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Because in today's camping world

and things, you're going to need

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and want some modern conveniences.

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And so I just saw a beautiful

47 Spartan Manor this last

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weekend that was stunning to me.

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But that model didn't

even come with a bathroom.

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And they were able to incorporate

a bathroom in their brand new

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floor plan and everything.

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And so that's a real common upgrade.

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And of course, air

conditioning and things.

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But a lot of the trailers

back in the 40s and 50s, Were

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designed for people to live in.

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So 25 foot Spartan Manor, for instance,

doesn't have a bathroom because it was

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made to go into a trailer park where you

would have had a bathhouse that you could

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use and you might live there for several

months while you worked at the factory

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until you move to go work somewhere else.

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And so Uh, some of these, uh, like I have

foot:

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more of a mobile home back in the day.

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People didn't necessarily camp in it.

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So we've added tanks and things to make

it much more campable, but from the

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exterior, it looks like a vintage trailer.

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Now there's...

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Flat screen TVs hidden in, in

closets and things, but to just walk

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:in, it looks straight outta:

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Stuart Doing Stuff: You know that,

that's kind of an interesting,

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'cause it is a subjective thing.

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It's kinda like if you're restoring

a classic car, but you wanna put

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in a, a stereo with Bluetooth

and a CD player or whatever, or,

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Vintage Camper Trailers: or

upgrade a motor, you know?

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Yeah.

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Have a motor that will

run on today's freeways.

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You know, I mean, so, Yeah,

it's, uh, there's both.

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There's certainly both.

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Stuart Doing Stuff: You know what, I

would ask, what shocks you the most

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between, like, the progression between

these trailers that you were saying

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:pre:

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I mean, we know they're getting bigger,

but what would you say as far as the

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build quality of the stuff that's

coming off the line now as opposed to

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the stuff that was produced back then?

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Vintage Camper Trailers:

Well, they are getting bigger.

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My 28 foot Spartan is considered a

big trailer in the vintage world.

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And if I'm in a truck stop with,

with a modern trailer, I'm dwarfed.

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I mean, it's, you know, it's minuscule.

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We do have little tiny, you

know, a 14, 16 foot Shasta is

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a real common trailer for us.

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And they don't have a bathroom

and they don't, most of them

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even have a refrigerator.

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They ran with blocks of ice and

things, but it, the new ones.

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You know, I mean, they are what they are.

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They're coming off a production line.

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There's certainly different

levels of quality, but man,

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these, these vintage trailers,

some of them have lasted already.

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For decades and decades.

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And they were built with real wood,

real metal, you know, their, their arch

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nemesis is water, but if they don't

get wet, they'd probably last forever.

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You know, we're still finding barn finds

sitting in, in sheds and things that

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look like they're off the showroom floor.

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We were featuring one of

the next magazine that.

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Still has the tags on the

seats, and it's a, it's a 40,

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I want to say a 49 Travelees.

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It's still got the original tags on the

seats from when it was manufactured.

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I mean the thing's just an

incredible time capsule.

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. Stuart Doing Stuff: You know, so

who are these vintage trailers for?

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It doesn't sound like a modern

day full time digital nomad would

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probably be very comfortable

in one of these smaller things.

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Are these mostly for weekenders or

retirees or just people looking to try and

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get out or who's buying these nowadays?

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Vintage Camper Trailers: You know, I, I, I

think it's, I think it's people that have

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some connection to the culture and, you

know, I, I, I describe us as old souls.

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I mean, I've always had old cars.

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I honestly, I mean, I like camping.

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All right.

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But honestly, to me, it's about the

vintage trailers and the classic cars.

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That's where my real passion lies.

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Not necessarily in the camping, although

we camp, you know, we have a cab

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over and we camp otherwise as well.

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But I think that it's, it's more of

a, more of an activity for most people

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going to the shows, going to the

events, you know, for a few hundred

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bucks, you can go for the whole weekend

and get a pancake breakfast and live

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music and see your friend it's even

though those prices have gone up,

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especially on the West coast, truthfully.

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It's a few hundred dollars

for several days of fun and

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entertainment and camping and food.

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And, um, even though we've seen

those prices rise, you know, really

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it's not, not a huge investment.

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Uh, if you can find a little trailer,

fix it up yourself and then go

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meet a whole group of people that

will welcome you in and you can go

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have fun with a few times a year.

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Stuart Doing Stuff: I'm looking

on your website right now.

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And on your website, there's a section

where there's a classifieds where people

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can buy and sell different trailers.

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And I'm looking at some of these and it,

it really is just a blast from the past.

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Vintage Camper Trailers: Yeah.

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Yeah.

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And by and large, that section of our

website is our most traveled by far.

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I mean, people looking to buy selling,

um, we just opened up the ability to

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take your trailer to auction for you

with And so the classifieds are really.

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A big part of what we do in helping

people buy and sell trailers.

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Stuart Doing Stuff: So I would

love to get your help on this.

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Okay.

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Cause I'm a total novice when it comes

to these old school trailers, other

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than I think they're really cool.

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All right.

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So I'm looking at one here.

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:It's a very rare:

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Vintage Spartan trailer, everything

is new, clean title, pink slips, ready

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to go, designer features, and it looks

awesome, the shine on this thing is,

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is amazing, and it looks great, I

can't get the photos to load right now,

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but that just might be my internet.

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Um, the um, the thing on this

is uh, 125, 000, the asking

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price, I'm trying to find out.

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How, how are these valued booked at?

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I mean, is it, we know that

a lot, let me rephrase that.

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I think a lot of times on classic

cars, there's, there's a book,

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you know, like a blue book, just

like you have these normal cars.

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But as any, as, as anything else,

something's only worth as much as

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someone's willing to pay for it.

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So if I wanted to do this, if I

wanted to restore one of these

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trailers, what makes, yeah.

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These old ones valuable and, and

what is it that, that, what, what

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is it that holds their value?

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Vintage Camper Trailers: Well,

you hit the nail on the head.

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They're worth what you can get for them.

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And we've seen just a crazy escalation

in prices go up and everybody keeps

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pushing it and pushing it and pushing it.

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You know, it doesn't necessarily.

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just because you put a lot of money

into anything mean that you're going

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to get that money back necessarily

and so you've got to be smart

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about that doing a restoration.

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I just consulted with somebody selling

an Airstream trailer the other day

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and they literally want almost double

of what That type of trailer usually

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goes for trying to justify the money

they put into it in their time.

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And unfortunately, if nobody's

willing to pay it, it doesn't matter.

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You know, and so trailers up over the six

figure mark, you know, obviously there's

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a more limited customer base for that.

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And a lot of those end up.

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Going to the auction to the bigger

collectors and stuff that that will

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bid them up But most vintage trailers

a finished vintage trailer that you can

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camp in that's you know reasonably clean

and stuff are probably going to be more

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in the you know, six to 16, 000 range and

then you know up around the 30 40, 000

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mark you can get something pretty darn

nice and and then beyond that, you know

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You're looking at collector stuff or maybe

it's loaded with Solar and boondocking

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and, and, and other bells and whistles.

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Bathrooms make a big difference

if it's got a bathroom in it.

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It will bring markedly

more than if it does not.

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So yeah, there's some factors Spartans and

aluminum frame trailers will bring more,

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cause they're just more durable, you know,

like your airstreams and your streamlines

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and your silver streaks and, and those,

they're just a more durable going down

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the road, you know, they're not going to

wiggle apart like, like a, a wooden frame

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trailer may have more of a propensity

to, so yeah, all of those things.

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And.

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They're just worth what

people will pay for them.

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Stuart Doing Stuff: I'm looking at one

and and I see a lot that are in your

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price range So the ones i'm pulling

out are more exceptions, so don't get

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scared There are exceptions on there,

yes, there there are exceptions i'm

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looking at one that is marked as sold

it is a:

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vintage travel trailer fully restored?

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This thing's amazing It's

sold the asking price on this.

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I don't know if that's

the sole price 175 000

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Yeah, this thing looks

like a spaceship, man.

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This is really cool.

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Vintage Camper Trailers: Yes.

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And, and so that bolus

did sell in that range.

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I don't know what the final price was,

but that's a professional builder with.

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Lots of credentials and a bolus is

literally, uh, for most people in

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this hobby, that one of the Holy

Grail trailers, I mean, there's a

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handful of them, um, they're highly

sought after that one in particular.

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Um, I saw it being built

and it was literally.

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Fabricated better than brand new, but

with all original styling and really

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just a massive attention to detail.

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And, and this builder has a

reputation that they demand,

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you know, a higher price.

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And I, I do know that they wouldn't

have sold that trailer if they didn't

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get awful close to that price though.

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Stuart Doing Stuff: I mean, it's

on the, uh, vintage camper trailers

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website on the classified section.

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If you want to look at these photos

and we can probably link it into

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the show notes, but yeah, I'm just

going through these pictures, man.

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This thing is gorgeous.

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It's absolutely.

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Yes, it is.

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Vintage Camper Trailers: And it's

like, it's honestly better in person.

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I mean, it's, it's the pictures are nice.

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That was at our big rally in San Dimas

last year where they took those, but

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yeah, it's, it's a stunning trailer

and all of their trailers are, I mean,

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that's the type of quality they build.

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Stuart Doing Stuff: Yeah.

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I, I, I.

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I have a, a friend, two of 'em, as

a matter of fact, that went out and

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this might not be considered vintage

and it's definitely not a trailer, but

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there's only, I think they researched

probably only a dozen left in the world.

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They picked up these, uh, it's a rev con.

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Okay.

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And I don't know if

you're familiar with them.

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Absolutely.

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. You know, and, and I remember

we were, we were at an event and

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they, the two of them, we were

all talking and they're like, we

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should have a rev con reunion rally.

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And it's like, It's it right here.

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The only two that are, you know, that

are running in the United States are both

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:

right here, right now, you know, and,

and so it's interesting to see as we move

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maybe into the next decade as those, I

think they were built in the eighties,

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you know, tack on another decade of ages.

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Those are the ones that, that are

considered older, more vintage, still

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on the road, still up and running.

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Vintage Camper Trailers: Yeah, and and

motorhomes we have a little forgiveness

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for and I think revcons even dated back

into the 70s, but we have Um, like at our

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:

san dimas rally, we have a whole section

of the gmc rvs those big tandem axle gmcs

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um, and they're mid 70s and Yeah, they

they continue to build some pretty cool.

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:

Uh, rvs even a little later into

the 70s and 80s that still kind

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:

of have a Classic vibe to him.

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:

And the next issue of the magazine,

we have a 72 Barth, which is a

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neat brick RV that a guy redid.

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Yeah, we love, I mean, we're

Vintage Camper Trailers is the

335

:

name, but we like the RVs and

the vans and stuff just as much.

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Stuart Doing Stuff: There's a trend

growing on Airbnb for unique, uh,

337

:

kind of things, and I've heard of

people buying these vintage trailers

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:

and putting them just on their land.

339

:

Maybe they have two or three or five

or whatever acres, and they just

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put these trailers on the land and

they're renting them out overnight

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for hundreds of dollars a night.

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Are you familiar with any of those?

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Vintage Camper Trailers: Uh

have stayed in several of them.

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Um just gave away packages at our event

last weekend for uh, free two night

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stays for a couple of them procure

trailers for some of them and um, Yeah,

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it's a it's a huge deal people love it.

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I love it when we travel we try to

find one and I've stayed in them around

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the country and we've seen uh, wedding

venues With six or eight trailers out

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there that the bridal party can stay in.

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And then they have the

weddings on their grounds.

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There's campgrounds that offer multiple

vintage trailers for overnight stays.

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Yeah.

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People, you know, people like

that connection with the old

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stuff and it is great eye candy.

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I mean, I'm sure a lot of people that

subscribe to our magazine have no

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intention of owning a vintage trailer per

se, but, but, but they're fun to look at.

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Stuart Doing Stuff: You have a lot

of followers on social media, mostly

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because of the images, and it is

really just cool to scroll through

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all of these and look at Things that

I've never seen in real life, but just

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go, wow, those are, are so amazing.

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What are your social handles?

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If people wanted to go

and check those out?

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Vintage Camper Trailers: It's

all vintage camper trailers.

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So vintage camper trailers.

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com at vintage camper trailers

on Instagram and Facebook.

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And then we have groups and

things under the same name.

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So yeah, we're pretty easy to find.

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Everything's accessible

through the main website.

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Of course.

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Stuart Doing StuffS: I'm just

looking at some of these.

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What are your personal favorites?

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Vintage Camper Trailers: I,

I would have to say that, uh,

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number one, I like unique stuff.

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We've really, we just

became empty nesters.

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So, we've kind of reduced our big

collection down to something more

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manageable so we can travel more.

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Our main trailer...

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:is a:

guy, probably I would say at heart.

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And then we've got the original trailer

we ever bought, which was a:

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We bought a Shasta from the original

family that we've stayed in contact with.

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For 15 years since we bought it.

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And so some of those pieces

we'll never get rid of.

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We've got a vagabond, a 48 vagabond

that we'll never get rid of.

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And, and then I have a handful of

what I think are just neat little

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unique, really rare tent type trailers.

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So they're easy to store.

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They're small, they're good

for displays and stuff.

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And, and, and they're very unique, but

I didn't say the short answer to the

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question is I'm kind of a Spartan guy.

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I like the Spartan trailers.

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Stuart Doing Stuff: So on these rallies,

you talk about like, I love looking at

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the photos, but like you said earlier,

you got to see these things in person.

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So if I want to come to these rallies,

but I don't want to camp or I I've

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got other things, can I, do you

just, do you do day passes or is

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there a fee or how does that work?

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Vintage Camper Trailers: Our, our

rallies are like most, and I would

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check with every rally because

there could be variations, but

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typically our drill is on Saturday.

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From 10 a.

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m.

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until 2 p.

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m.

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You can walk in and look around like

you were at a car show and most of the

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owners will certainly engage with you and

answer questions and many, many will let

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you into their trailers to look around.

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There's always trailers

for sale to at rallies.

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And if you are looking to possibly

get into the hobby, I would strongly

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recommend that you walk into a few

trailers and get a sense of the space.

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Some have taller roofs, some have

rounded walls, some have straight walls.

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I would try to get a sense for the

space and what you really want.

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Don't just go buy something because it's

the first thing you see on Craigslist

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and, and you gotta have it because it

might not be the best trailer for you.

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If you go walk in and out of a

few and get a sense for the space.

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I think you're better off.

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So yeah, at our rallies and most

rallies, I would say there is some open

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house period where you can just come

in and look around and talk to people.

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Stuart Doing Stuff: You know,

I think that's the same advice

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that we give to people looking

to buy a new trailer nowadays.

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You have to go and see them or rent

one or, or go to one of these little

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lots where you can stay in a vintage

one overnight and make your pros and

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cons list, you know, cause no one.

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Camps and RVs the same way and so you got

to find something that meets your needs

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Vintage Camper Trailers: I would also

add just as an aside if you are gonna buy

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something free isn't necessarily here Bet,

you know spend as much as you can afford

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to spend to get something that's more

decent and campable because Sometimes free

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is free for a reason, and unless you just

get real lucky, you're better off spending

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a little more money to get something

that's usable that you can kind of finish.

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Unless you've got great skills and

you're just gonna do a real awesome

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restoration, they can be a lot of work.

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I would think that it's the same

amount of work possibly as a, uh,

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as restoring an old car, but you

don't have the motor, which is a huge

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expense in restoring classic cars.

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Yeah, and that's why I restore trailers.

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I love hot rods.

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I have some, but they cost

me a fortune because I don't

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like doing mechanical work.

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I muddle through some of it, but

most of it I have to pay for.

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:

And so I got, that's part of why I

got into doing trailers, but if you're

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at all handy and can screw and glue

stuff together, honestly, you can

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figure out how to fix the trailer.

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They're not that complicated.

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So, um, you take them apart,

you see how they're built.

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Chances are you're going to build it

better than it was ever built originally.

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Just putting it back together because

they really were thrown together quickly.

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It's amazing.

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They last as long as they did.

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Stuart Doing Stuff: And especially the

older ones, they don't have the kind of

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:

tech that the new RVs and the new trailers

have out there with the touchscreens

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and all the, and all that wiring tech.

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:

Vintage Camper Trailers: At best you

might have an extension cord that turns

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on a light and powers two plugs, you

know, I mean there is no tech For people

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again wanting to try and take a look

at your awesome photos following on

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social or subscribe to your magazine

Tell people one more time how people

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can get in touch with you Vintage

camper trailers.com or Instagram and

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Facebook at vintage camper trailers.

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Stuart Doing Stuff: Well, I'm gonna

try and make it a point to get out

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to one of your rallies sometimes good

if I'm in the area, because it just

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sounds like a whole bunch of fun.

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Real, and, and, and healthy, safe,

family friendly, fun too, you know?

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:

Yeah.

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:

Where you can kind of take a look back

and, and be a little nostalgic on stuff.

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Vintage Camper Trailers: And there's a lot

of characters there that you can talk to.

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So we have some pretty

eclectic folks in our, in our.

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:

Crowd

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Stuart Doing Stuff: that's awesome all

right paul thank you so much for joining

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:

us today on the rv dreaming podcast i'm

going to go and make sure i subscribe to

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:

your instagram i make sure everyone else

does that too all right super thank you

468

:

thanks for listening to the rv dreaming

podcast if you like what you heard and you

469

:

got something out of this episode please

take a moment and leave us a review on

470

:

apple podcast or spotify it really helps

us get more exposure and it helps you More

471

:

people just like you thrive on the road.

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:

So until next time, enjoy your

travels, make them safe, make

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them fun, and make them memorable.

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:

This is RV Dreaming.

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:

Start here.

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:

Go anywhere.

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:

We'll see you in the next episode.

478

:

Thanks for listening to

the RV Dreaming podcast.

479

:

See the action on Instagram.

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:

Steward doing stuff.

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:

Hear about it on the podcast.

482

:

Be sure to subscribe.

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:

We'll see you in the next episode.