Richard & Roxana answered our interview questions with the story below. I hope they have pictures of the trailers described in the story. If they send those, I’ll update the post…
In the late 1940’s my father discovered a small wooden trailer in the feed mill once owned by my maternal grandfather and then being operated by my uncle. Further snooping in the mill and in my uncle and aunt’s home uncovered a 3 burner Kampcook gasoline stove with a collapsable stand., 4 folding chairs, wooden table, tent. tent pegs, divider curtain, mattresses, pillows, and other accessories. My father had a Terraplane front axle with balloon tires fitted to the trailer and my parents, my twin sister and I traveled to various Pennsylvania state parks and other sites
Some of the following details may be inaccurate, but:
Apparently in the late 1920’s, my uncle, my mother and their parents had travelled to California via the Lincoln Highway, towing the Auto Kamp trailer behind their Buick touring car, to visit my grandfather’s brother Abe Musick and his wife Lucy, who had moved to the Los Angeles area some time previously. (They had no children and never returned to Pennsylvania.)
After my sister and I left home to attend college, the trailer fell into disuse once again, although I kept most of the items.
A couple decades passed after I graduated from college – law school, service with the Army in Viet Nam, marriage, birth of two sons – and then:
We purchased an Airstream trailer and pulled it behind our 1956 Chevy 3/4 ton flatbed converted to a four passenger truck with a homemade “sleeper cab’; and drove from Pennsylvania to Alaska and back on a six-week “vacation.”
The Airstream was sold long ago, but I still have the Auto Kamp and have decided to attempt to restore it. Searching the Internet for ‘Auto Kamp” I found some wonderful information on your website, which I hope to be able to use. Now entering my ninth decade of life I will probably not be able to engage in much touring or camping, but I know I will appreciate information I can gather on the Auto Kamp trailer.
This is Richard, I use my wife’s email address for personal correspondence. I’m the one who had the experiences with the Auto-Kamp and hoping to do the work on it in the somewhat distant future.
Wow – I hope you will be able to take it to a TCT rally nearby – doesn’t have to be finished. Great way to get feedback on the restoration.