RV Life: A New Way to Live

By Dr. David Tee

This is a guide for new RV owners and those people who want to buy an RV. It provides a wealth of RV information that should help them make up their minds about a purchase or which type of RV they should go with. Plus, it makes potential RV and new RV owners aware of what is involved with owning an RV of any Class.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dr. David Tee
• Release date: Jan 1, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224094776

Book preview

The History of RVs

The Modern Covered Wagon

Ideas have to come from somewhere. The invention of the RV or recreational vehicle is no exception to this rule. While some people may credit the Gypsies of old and their wagons as the main influential factor in creating the modern RV, the idea for the modern RV could have also come from the old west covered wagons.

These covered wagons may have been horse or cattle drawn bedrooms, but they did carry everything a person needed for cooking and other activities. The old Gypsy wagons had nice wood stoves included in their interiors but not in all cases.

They were elaborately designed giving modern RV makers ideas on how to make luxury RVs. The storage spaces for these old wagons may have been primitive but once a person gets an idea, it doesn’t take long to make improvements.

The original RVs

Whenever a new product comes out on the market, their first design never resembles their final design. The stereo is one fine example of this. This machine was large, heavy, but it was well designed and fit just about any home’s living room decor.

Compare the first stereos with the ones sold today and you won’t believe the difference. The same goes for RVs. Once you take a look at some of the old original RVs, you can’t believe that they actually made it to the 21st century.

The first ‘Class B’ type RV was built and sold in 1910. It was called the  Pierce-Arrow Touring Landau and inside was a folding back seat and a fold down sink behind the driver’s seat.

Technically, you could not classify it as an RV but it opened the flood gates. This traveling concept caught on very quickly and became very popular even though the cost of this first RV was $8,000 in 1910 dollars.

The first real RV was invented 5 years later. It was called the Roland Conklin Gas-Electric Motor Bus Company's Gypsy Van. Inside this 17-passenger vehicle were all the features you would expect to find in a modern RV.

It had a kitchenette, full shower, appliances, and bookcase inside and people would go camping in this rig for more than a week at a time. The length of this original RV was 21 feet long and was 7 1/2 feet wide.

The main floor was 6 feet 5 inches tall with another 4 feet for the second floor (which often held a garden). How they got it to move when engines were in their infancy is not known as this rig weighed 8 tons.

These two vehicles were the spark for the RV industry that has grown and changed over the next 100+ years.

The First RV club

Everyone knows about the Airstream club and their trailer gatherings held around America and Canada. They have been holding these get togethers for decades. But Airstream was not the first to invent the RV club.

After the two original RVs started to gain in popularity,. it wasn’t long before enthusiasts and owners decided to form a club. It was called the Tin Can Tourist and while it is not known exactly when it started to form, it was first recognized in 1919.

Membership in this club was open to many different people if they met the criteria for joining. These criteria included a minimum age limit, one had to be 12 or older, and of good moral character.

Another club membership rule was one was not a forced homeless person. You had to live the nomadic lifestyle by choice. These rules did not deter membership as the club grew to 17,000 members in 2 years.

This is how popular the RV life was in its early days. There camping style was a boondocking one. They did not have power cords, water hook ups or even a dumping station to use.

They made their food over small gas camping stoves and did their showers and other bathroom activities in makeshift conditions. Privacy was an issue but no one seemed to mind as they were on the cutting edge of a new trend.

The national road systems were not in place at this time. These club members did their traveling over dusty, gravel and dirt roads.

The first pop-up & tear drop trailer

Many people may think that the pop-up was a later invention. Coming after those small travel trailers major RV makers started to produce. However, that is not the case.

Tent camping is as old as the hills. Tents have been used by different people from different civilizations for millennia. The covered wagon may have been the first time someone combined a tent with a ‘vehicle’ or trailer.

In modern times it wasn’t until about the 1920s or 30s when the first pop-up appeared. Of course, those original tent trailers did not have the technology that mid 20th century and 21st century pop-ups have but they did have a canvas tent and a trailer chassis.

The owners used aluminum poles to set up their tents once they found their camping spot. Coleman was around at this time making lanterns and camp stoves so these campers had then modern equipment to enhance their recreation time.

It was also in the late 1920s and early 1930s when different magazines started publishing blueprints for smaller trailers. This meant that anyone could build their own travel trailer if they were so inclined.

These trailers were small, and did not come with a lot of features but they were the forerunners to the modern teardrop trailers that many couples prefer to use on their journeys.

The 1930s saw A Lot of Changes

Those early models were okay to get the new RV industry off to a good start. They also provided a solid foundation for upcoming RV makers who made a lot of changes to the style of the RVs as well as their contents.

One example of this was the Covered Wagon made by Arthur Sherman. His model was a trailer which was 9 feet long, 6 feet wide and had windows along the side and front for ventilation.

It was just like a modern RV with built-in furniture, cupboards and storage spaces. When he debuted this trailer at the 1930 Detroit Auto Show he was able to sell 118 units by the shows end. He did this even though he was charging $400 for each trailer.

Also in 1930 Curtiss Aerocar Land Yacht was invented. This model took advantage of the invention of the 5th wheel that was invented 80 years earlier. This was the first 5th wheel trailer and it could be attached to a car.

What this did was give the idea to different trailer makers to make longer and heavier trailers. Their looks were not that great but they were functional and practical for long holidays.

Necessity or a wife helps inspire invention. The first Airstream trailer was invented in 1029 because Wally Byam ’s wife did not like sleeping on the ground.

His first effort was to us a Model-T chassis and a tent but putting it up at the site was not quick nor easy. The design he came up with that worked for both he and his wife was an original tear drop style trailer that had metal sides and roof.

This new trailer had a sleeping space, stove, and an ice chest for food. The design became very popular and by 1931, the company Airstream was born. As demand grew so did the designs for this trailer. The original trailers were selling for $500 to $1000 depending on which model you bought.

The Coming of the War

World War 2 played havoc with just about every industry. Rationing made supplies and raw materials hard to find and this demand took its toll on the RV industry.

While RVs were still being used during the war effort, but the production of new RVs came to a standstill. At least for the general population. RVs were still being built but they were being enlisted into military service to help the war effort.

The use of these RVs were not always pretty as some were turned into morgues while others were used to house soldiers and their families. Then more models were used as mobile hospitals and to transport prisoners to their next destination.

Many of the pre-war RV makers had the opportunity to re-start their companies after the war. The company