You very first TC...

My first truck camper was a ~1989 Jayco 9.5’ camper that I hauled on a 1984 F250 with a 6.9L Diesel.

These are scans of old photographs.





PS- I forgot to mention that I bought this camper new at an RV show in Tulsa, and due to the failure of the adhesives Jayco used on the siding, the camper didn’t even last 4 years. I literally couldn’t get it off the truck for the last year I owned it. Fortunately, the dealer and Jayco took care of me, and I got a replacement TC. I had to drive up to the Jayco factory to pick up the new one, and give them what was left of the old camper. I remember that on the drive up there, every time I stopped there was another piece missing. I had to tie it down to the truck with ratchet straps thrown over the top.

:):)

Here is mine. 1968 Royal Coachman by Teardrop
Bought it in 1976 from my dad. It bit the dust in the 80's when an Oregon storm (80mph)
blew it over. Interior was very nice.
Photo is in Ca. redwoods
Truck is 77 F250 Supercab with 460 automatic.

1

Mine was a 1985 Palomino popup with small fridge without freezer compartment, furnace, and hand pump water tank, no grey water tank, no water heater, no toilet or shower, an east-west regular size bed, and three manual jacks. It did have one 12v overhead lite. It was on a 1985 Chevy 1500 with a 350 engine.

LeRoy

whoops double post

8.5 ft Tejas. Made in Beaumont TX I think. Bought 3rd hand from a co-worker. Aluminum sides and roof, wood frame I assume. Roof A/C, no hot water heater, no shower. Hand pump operated recirculating toilet of some sort. Electric pump on the sink. Louvered windows. I had it on a light duty 1982 F250, 300 cu in six cylinder, 4 speed granny gear manual, regular cab. 7.50 x 16 bias ply. Had to add overload springs.
It worked great for hunting trips. Yes, 2 hunters in the cab and one in the camper sleeping going down the road. Long haul from Houston to Colorado. Also did several Arkansas trips and lots of weekends to the hunting lease. Yellowstone and the Dakotas.
Didnt have any issues with it.

You guys had really nice first campers!
Mine was a 1969 Security 8’. No hot water, no heat, ice box, no bathroom.
I carried it on a 1959 Chevy 3/4 ton stepside. The next one was a 1967 Security 10’ on a 1967 Chevy.
It had a heater, and a toilet that was pretty much a metal can with a seat.
Both of those campers had jacks that were as manual as it gets, on the ‘67 you set a portable bottle jack on the one you were lifting, jacked it up a few inches, pinned the jack leg in place, then reset the bottle jack higher on the leg and did it again, on each jack, until it was up or down.
On the ‘69, it was the freestanding tripods you stood up beside the camper. You just set the angle iron against the sides - it didn’t attach and the camper barely hung on to the edge of each one - and cranked a winch and cable thing. It was up to you to balance it right.

Both had manual-pump cold-only sinks, with tiny fresh tanks, and drains that went straight overboard through the wall and onto the ground.
That’s how pretty much all camper sink drains were.

They had gas lamps on the wall, plumbed to the propane tank. Those actually worked great and gave a really nice warm glow. They were quite bright if turned up.

The windows were those crank-open louver slat type that didn’t seal very well at all when closed offered almost no resistance to cold. But... they worked great in summer, the whole thing opened and you could leave ‘em open in the rain if it wasn’t too severe.

First TC was an 8ft Sturdi-Built sitting on top of a 1957 GMC stepside...Good TC but extremely heavy..No pictures,I wish I did though.

I have owned many truck campers with alot of names that are not around anymore..I don't even remember the names of a couple..

This one is a picture of only the inside of an old 10 ft Security (I think)..I took my son around to lawn mowing jobs and I reloaded ammo waiting while he was doing his work...It cost $600..



A beefed up 3/4 ton and the old style 10ft camper went hand and hand in the day..

Here is the one that started it for me. My Dad bought it so we could both use it. It was amazing in so many ways but the biggest thing was how heavy it was!! That truck was like a tank - double steel fuel tanks, steel rims and everything solidly built. Add the camper and I am sure that we were triple the load rating of the truck. The camper was NEVER taken of the truck, no jacks to do it so was not even thought of. It was secured in the truck with bed mounts. My Dad sold it so he could go with a VW Vanagon as the gas mileage with the truck and camper was slightly above 0 mpg :B



My first truck camper was slightly lighter as I learned a lesson. 1992 Northern Lite and a 2002 GMC 2500HD.

First TC in 2010. A 2005 Palomino maverick.