Open Road Camper from AMT

[Jzaaijer]

I have always been fascinated by Campers. Just the idea to have a small mobile home, and to be independend and travel where ever you want and always have a place to sleep. I have been building model kits for over 42 years, but always wondered why model car manufacturers did not make campers, caravans RV's etc. A while ago I found this awesome kit from AMT called " the open road camper". I bought it right away, but it was a stand alone kit without a car attached to it. I tried to cut up several model trucks to see if they would fit, but they were all too big. Recently I came across a bunch of photos of Campers with a regular passenger car in front of it. I even heard that Cadillac used to built them! I think I'm going to try my luck and saw a model car in half, to see if it would fit my open road camper. It's a whole new world for me, I have never really tried to cut kits in half or make serious modifications, like most of the expert builders on this forum. Wish me luck!

[farmer1]

Looks like a cool project, go for it !!

[cobraman]

Interesting.

[Tom Geiger]

The kit you have is both the Open Road camper and Racers Wedge race car carrier that were originally issued as an option on AMT Chevy pickups back in the early 1970s. So they both were made to work with that truck. The camper also had an option (which is included in the kit you have) to make it a free standing trailer. That wouldn't be that realistic since I've never seen a trailer with a loft that goes over a pickup cab on it.

The camper should work with just about any pickup kit, but you will need to lengthen the chassis as the camper is longer.

The accessories in the camper are pretty cool, but they are slightly larger than 1/25 scale. I put my ruler against them. But it is a cool camper kit.

The car based campers from the 1950s and 1960s are indeed cool and a lot of them seem to have survived. No, Cadillac never did make one. These are the work of small shops, some that became large and known. Many started with fairly new cars that got smacked in the back. Some are driveway conversions done by individuals.

Anyway you decide, the camper is a cool model!

[SoCalCarCulture]

Here's one I saw at a show this summer, to see the rest of the pics click here...

[Jzaaijer]

Tom, thank you for the detailed background information!

[Jzaaijer]

Dave, Thank you for sharing your blog photos! I love these type of conversions. They are definitely an aquired taste! They always make me smile though. I'm all exited now to start on my project.

[disabled modeler]

First off..I agree wishing the companies would offer more camper kits-travel trailers,etc....I love campers myself too. Cool project...looking forward to seeing more of yours.

[kilrathy10]

I like your idea....And the photos of actual campers are awesome....I always wondered why they didn't make more campers and trucks to pull them....The only one I saw that I had interest in was the Lindberg 1/20 scale Winnebago....Never got one....They went out of stock too quickly....Even so, it was 1/20 scale....Not sure what I was gonna display it with.....I know there's other stuff in 1/20 scale, but I don't have that much money....Anyway....Good luck on this one.....

[disabled modeler]

I like your idea....And the photos of actual campers are awesome....I always wondered why they didn't make more campers and trucks to pull them....The only one I saw that I had interest in was the Lindberg 1/20 scale Winnebago....Never got one....They went out of stock too quickly....Even so, it was 1/20 scale....Not sure what I was gonna display it with.....I know there's other stuff in 1/20 scale, but I don't have that much money....Anyway....Good luck on this one.....

I had one of those Winiebagos back when I was a kid...very cool....wish I still had one.

[Jzaaijer]

Ok, here we go! I found my donor car. I was looking for a relatively boring average car, then I would not mind cutting it in half for my project. But my hobby store had only cool cars! So if I HAD to pick a cool car, it better be a real cool one. I picked the 1957 Chevy from Revell. I also have a 1966 Mustang kit, but, seriously, I could not cut that one in half. That would be blasphemy! Here are some pictures:

[lizardlust]

• I am not 100% sure about those Cadillac campers, but I am willing to bet that they were crafted from retired "Professional Cars" (ambulances and hearses). I do know that a lot of them were converted back in the day due to their long wheelbases, heavy-duty frames, suspensions, brakes and driveline - and the fact that they could usually be bought for next to nothing at that time. If you wanted to go that route, I imagine you COULD use any of the "Ghost Busters" 1959 Cadillac Ecto 1 kits - it represents the real item's 1959 Miller-Meteor ambulance body fairly nicely and they are relatively easy to come by at this time.

[Craig Irwin]

Back in the 60's someone in Indianapolis was cutting down old Caddy ambulances and hearses to build campers like those above. Those things were built on long wheelbase commercial chassis and most were low millage and well kept. They were also cheap. So maybe the Ghostbuster kit would be a good starting point.

[Tom Geiger]

Jeroen, the '57 should work. Don't cut your chassis until you mock up the camper body to the car body. To do the mockup, just use masking tape and assemble the basics of the exterior of the camper shell. That will give you an idea of wheelbase, and how much you will need to stretch the '57 Chevy chassis to make it work.

[Jzaaijer]

Thank you Tom, Craig and Kurt for explaining about the Cadillac ambulances and hearses. It starts to make sense now why people chopped them up, and why they might have been inexpensive, yet with low mileage.

[Jzaaijer]

just use masking tape and assemble the basics of the exterior of the camper shell.

Hi Tom, well, I built the camper two years ago. So it is already finished. I've been looking for a donor car ever since. I have not figured out how to connect the two.

[Jzaaijer]

We're getting there. Need to add a few more details, but it's coming along.

[greymack]

What a wonderful idea.Great work

[lizardlust]

Looks great!!!

[dieseldawg142]

.....

Edited May 11, 2018 by dieseldawg142

[Jzaaijer]

awesome job jzaaijer! that is cool! i too wish someone would gear up & do rv's & access. i'm scratching together a truck camper right now for lack of anything out there.

Thank you Dielesdawg! I agree, RV models would help to create great dioramas. I would love to see your scratchbuild camper in progress. Please post photos, or direct me to your post if you have a thread about it already!

[Ron Hamilton]

Very Interesting!!!! I like that one!!!!

[dieseldawg142]

.......

 

Edited May 11, 2018 by dieseldawg142

[Jzaaijer]

Dieseldawg, Your camper project looks promising! Seriously, I would love to see a thread with your progress! Love your 1:1 Camper truck too! Thank you for sharing this!!