I STUMBLED ACROSS a beautiful photo of an old Model T Ford camper from Ballina Campervan & Motorhome Centre in New Zealand the other day and shared it on our Practical Motorhome Facebook page. Lots of other people admired it, too, so I went off to find out a little more about it. I really wanted to look inside…

 

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1926 camper based on Model T Ford

 

I soon discovered that those early campers were astonishing. In some ways, they were more advanced than the motorhomes of today!

 

ENGINE RAN ON SEVERAL FUEL MIXTURES

The Model T Ford was launched in 1908 and had a 20 horse-power engine that ran on almost any fuel. You could put in mixtures of alcohol, gasoline (petrol), kerosene and coal oil. That was more than 100 years ago!

 

THE CAMPER HAD SLIDE-OUTS

I found a fantastic video, History on Wheels by rvnn.tv, in which a lovely old American guy shows us round a 1916 camper, built on the 1915 Model T Ford base vehicle. 

 

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Here’s the kitchen! Clip from the History on Wheels video

 

This gorgeous old camper had a slide-out for its double bed, a slide-out for the kitchen, a zinc-lined coolbox and a gravity-fed shower. It looked very comfortable for the time.

 

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1916 camper, built on the 1915 Model T Ford base vehicle

 

Admittedly if you half closed your eyes you could imagine a bunch of them forming a wagon circle at night, Wild West style…

 

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Slide-out double bed

 

Hope you enjoy the video on YouTube – click here to watch History on Wheels, by rvnn.tv.

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There was even a coolbox in the 1916 camper

 

 

Kate Taylor

Practical Motorhome

14 November 2013

 

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