Before the days of pickup truck dominance and Sprinter-style vans getting decked out into overlanding vehicles, the Camper Special was a familiar staple of the automotive industry. The trend started around 1945, when Cree Coaches, Inc. unveiled a truck-bed camper that lit a fire under the camping industry. Not only did it forever change what we could do with a truck, it also forced automakers in Detroit to stand up and take notice.
Thanks to the camper, outdoor enthusiasts could use the truck as a foundation for a living space instead of merely towing the traditional free-standing trailer. With less structure, no additional axles, and a footprint constricted by the dimensions of a truck bed, the camper should be cheaper to buy, easier to make than a traditional trailer, and more attainable for more adventure-seeking folk.
In the era of mid-century homes with significantly smaller footprints than modern McMansions, it was entirely possible to dock a camper by the side of your house, with nothing more than the extension of four legs lifting it off a well-manicured lawn. When the time came to enjoy the great outdoors, the truck backed underneath the lifted camper, and it was subsequently lowered into the bed.
The ability to own a camping apparatus while still living in the suburbs must have been a significant draw to Americans at the time, as the burgeoning recreational vehicle market came into its own by the mid-1960s.
Detroit automakers configured trucks specifically for this task, initially limited to spring capacities matched to the demands of a third-party camper installation. But once the market came to fruition, creating a business case for a “Camper Special” became paramount.
Ford was likely the first to see enough demand in the market, as they promoted the “Ford Truck Recreation Fleet” in their 1964 sales brochure. Dodge had a rendering of their truck with a camper that same year, and Chevy made a bigger deal about camping in literature from 1965. But Ford also made 1965 the year of the “Camper Special,” offering the enthusiast a single point of entry into the world of recreational vehicles.
It even came with a unique red emblem, one that replaced the more common “Twin I-Beam” plaque on the fender. Whether or not Ford’s Camper Specials from 1965 were truly unique is up for debate. That’s because continuous improvement was seen in yearly enhancements to the genre, as these originals cannot hold a candle to bespoke creations like the Chevrolet C30 Longhorn or the Ford Super Camper Special. The Super Camper Specials sported unique dimensions, deeper beds with a relocated spare tire, and custom bumpers that made camper installation a breeze.
Compared to their bright future in Mid-Century America, the first Camper Specials were likely more disposable than a normal truck in later decades. These are called “longboi” trucks by a newer generation of enthusiasts, as their eight-foot beds are disproportionately long, like a dachshund at a dog park. That stigma ensures they aren’t nearly as desirable to collectors as trucks with shorter wheelbases and “cooler” looking beds. If longbois weren’t scrapped after being used up back in the day, a clean example is likely to be hacked into a shorty truck by taking length out of the frame and plopping on a shorter bed for more curb appeal at car shows.
Functionality only takes you so far as a vehicle transitions from a late-model workhorse to a specialty classic, and rarity is the name of the game when it comes to camping-focused trucks from both Ford and Chevrolet. This example of the breed is from 1968 and is currently available on Hagerty Marketplace. It possesses camping DNA that lies somewhere between the original 1965 Camper Special and Ford’s Super Camper Specials of the 1970s.
By 1968, the garish emblem Ford used to highlight this specific configuration was gone. It was replaced by script lettering to the same effect, obscurely mounted behind the front axle. This particular Camper Special is the lighter-duty F-250 model, designed to carry 10.5-foot campers of the era with ease thanks to its flex-o-matic rear leaf springs.
The sales brochure for 1968 lists a secondary, remote-mounted 25-gallon fuel tank and bucket seats as options. The bench pictured here means that the second option wasn’t chosen for this Camper Special, but a closer look at the auction’s photography reveals a second gas cap mounted in the bed for that extra fuel cell. The factory AM radio is complemented by a vintage Kraco AM/FM/Cassette player, and Frigette Custom air conditioning was also installed after it rolled off the assembly line.
The number of Camper Special enhancements merited a specific chart in the 1968 sales brochure, and this particular F-250 Camper Special was ordered with the 360 cu-in FE V-8 rated at 215 horsepower. With fuel economy in mind, this was likely a smart choice relative to the thirsty 390 FE, or Ford’s trusty but undersized 300 “Big Six.” Goldilocks would be proud!
Ford’s new C6 automatic transmission was wisely chosen for easy cruising parking in small campgrounds, but this Camper Special boasts another trick up its sleeve: aftermarket exhaust headers with gorgeous individual runners, likely adding enough power over the restrictive manifolds to make towing an unaerodynamic camper feel more effortless. But the Camper Special’s days as an unrivaled recreational vehicle were numbered, thanks to the introduction of the Class “C” Motorhome.
The introduction of the Dodge B-Series van in 1971 changed the game for fans of the outdoors, as it came in a cut-away configuration by 1973. No longer was a living space aft of the B-pillar constricted by the sides of a bed, and space for the powertrain was minimized by the van configuration. Recreational vehicle companies saw the benefit immediately and shifted focus away from drop-in campers to craft RVs out of Chrysler’s campsite darling.
While Ford’s Econoline and Chevy’s G-Series van were players in this market, Chrysler’s aggressive pricing ensured the RV trade preferred it over the competition. (That changed after Chrysler’s bankruptcy, but perhaps that’s a tale for another time.) This was verified by our interview of a former employee of the El Dorado Motor Corporation, and it quickly reduced the need for a Camper Special pickup from the Detroit automakers.
That’s not to say the Camper Special didn’t survive well into the 1980s. Nor does it suggest that newer trucks are ill-equipped to carry a living space atop their broad shoulders. Ford even has a camping package for their modern trucks, but time has passed on the broader appeal of this genre of truck.
At least we still see these iconic “longbois” in dealership inventory storage lots, but it’s a little harder to spot them. Perhaps affixing an emblem like Camper Special back to their bodysides would help the longboi go farther with enthusiasts?
Never heard the term “longboi” before… we call them short box and long box around here.
The link to the Super Camper Special article is on point, to me these are the real camper specials because they have a funky wheelbase that prevents you putting a standard box on it.
My father owns two of the Ford versions, one that still has the unique box (the other has been a flat-deck welding truck for 20+ years).
I have a long horn Chev that hasn’t had it’s box since the early 80s. It’s a project that I waver on really digging into due to the condition. Maybe someday.
