1960 Montgomery Ward Tent Camper

[flat_twin]

This is a recently restored Montgomery Ward Hawthorne Traveler folding tent camper. I bought it last June. Though it needed work, it was complete in every way right down to the tent poles, ropes and stakes. It was purchased from an estate sale garage where it had been stored for over 30 years.

The canvas was in fantastic condition for 55 years old except for a couple of mouse chews and a couple tears where it snagged on the supporting bows and hardware. A local Amish canvas shop repaired the canvas and replaced the door and window screens. The screens were so brittle they were cracked in several places. the door was especially bad. The brass zippers were all excellent and work perfectly.

New tires and wheels were ordered, wheel bearings were serviced. The wiring harness was updated. The body was sanded and painted as was the under carriage.
The original hub caps were quite rusty and dented. I beat out the dents and removed the rust with steel wool and white vinegar. A little Mother's polish and they look good from a few feet away.

Damaged canvas


Old yellow over the original silver


In the end I went with a desert sand color. Something that would look OK with any tow vehicle.


Getting closer


Road test! It pulls nicely, no sway or excessive bouncing.


First set up since canvas repair and repaint.

The kitchen fly doubles as the top cover while in transit.




Inside


New screens!


Amazing what you can find online. Original literature...

[flat_twin]

gheicher, That's a great photo, thanks for posting it! We always tent camped when we were growing up (mid 1960's and up). Our neighbors had a tent camper something like yours with two beds . I thought it was the coolest thing for camping. It looked great behind their gigantic Buick station wagon.


Reminds me of this collection of vintage camping photos. Many photos here.
Enjoy!

LINKY

[gheicher]

This is back in the days when a pop-up tent trailer was in reality a tent on a trailer. Back in the 1960s mine was an Allstate sold by Sears and manufactured by Nimrod. Not as fancy as yours from Wards, but we had many good time with the kids.

[sbstryker]

That looks awesome. I've seen a couple like that for sale here in the Greater Toronto Area. If I had a house and a yard/garage I could work in I'd totally buy them and fix them up.

[jmcgsd]

Beautiful! Can't wait to see your post when you make your 1st trip with it.

Enjoy!
Joe

[Alabama_Jim]

You did an excellent job. Wish I was that talented. Have fun and be safe. Thanks for sharing.

[FordDiesel250]

Very nice job. I like this old popups and campers

[Tvov]

Very cool! About 10 years ago we camped next to a family with a similar camper. The owner had gotten it from an elderly relative. As with many similar stories, his had been sitting in a garage for decades. He lucked out because his had absolutely no damage - no mice, no mold, no insects! Very outgoing owner who was happy to show it off - as posted earlier, be ready for many questions from people!

[flat_twin]

Digging up info about the camper was interesting. I found Ward's newspaper ads with this camper shown. $399 was the advertised price. At first I assumed Wards had these campers built by another company. Turns out they were made by the Ajax Mfg Co in Iowa which was wholly owned by Montgomery Ward. Ajax made fencing, farm hardware, corn cribs etc, and other steel farm based products for Wards catalogs. In 1958 with recreational camping on the rise, they began making camper bodies. Within a couple years, tent campers accounted for most of their production. In the late 60's Ward's contracted Camel to make some of their campers.

[RoyB]

Thanks for the memory lane run... Wards and Sears sold everything like that back in those days...

Sears used to sell modern modular houses back in the early 1900s

Reminded me of what Robert Ryan from Australia sends on here from time to time showing their OUTBACK camping trailers...





Roy Ken

[pasusan]

That is so cool - glad it was stored and then saved!

Very nice presentation of your project. 🙂



Note... This will probably be one of the rare times nobody will come in and say you need a bigger truck. 😉

[qtla9111]

Very well done! You're going to have or have a lot of interested campers asking you questions. Have fun with it.

[stevekk]

Really enjoyed your pictures. Thanks.
Great job you did.

[Scottiemom]

That is pretty cool.

Dale

[rickm]

My Dad worked for Wards, but I know he didn't sell that one ....that was way before he started there!

[gbopp]

That is beyond cool! :C

Thanks for sharing.