People also used to fancy themselves as much more handy than now, and were willing to take on any project, no matter how complex and how poorly their workmanship. Thus, the idea of getting a $50 beetle, and some bits of wood from Home Depot to build the RV in the garage.

Obviously by the mid-80s, there were ten times more of these things languishing half built in garages than completed. The build quality on these varied hugely- some were built with a level of craftsmanship that would put Airsteram to shame, others were built as well as the DIY rumpus room in the 1960s house I grew up in- cheap paneling, no insulation, and dodgy electrics.

The scary thing is that not only in Popular Mechanics do advertisers sell kits for camper conversions, but you can still buy DIY aircraft kits and plans. Having your beetle conversion fall apart around you on the highway is bad enough, but at least it isn’t 8000 feet in the air.

Looks like this fellow went through the standard spiral of ever increasing IH addiction. With his Scout II and it’s parts truck, a 69-70 1100 2wd with the optional chrome grille that looks like “the one that’s too nice not to save”, that looks like it may be wearing the bumper from the white 71 1110 4×4.

For me it was the Cabtop in my avatar that my brother managed to split it’s 3sp in half. That led to my Traveltop advertised as a parts truck which was the one that was too nice to part out. Eventually I found another true parts truck to convert the Cabtop to V8 4wd. Then it was on to full size….