Vintage Snapshots: Cars In Parks And Camping Grounds – 1950s-1970s

Text by Patrick Bell.

Our feature today is a gallery of vehicles in camping mode.  There is a good assortment of images to view, so grab your sleeping bag and we shall begin.

Our first stop is in Nova Scotia, where a search reported this ’73 Ford Country Sedan from New York was on a camping trip in 1977.  It looked like a trim set up, with the efforts of a tent perhaps outweighed by the convenience of not having a trailer to deal with.

Junior was playing in the water at a campsite with a ’50 Plymouth De Luxe All Metal Suburban in the background.  It was equipped with a roof carrier of some sort that was being used to dry a blanket.

A heavily wooded and busy campground was where this ’56 Oldsmobile 88 4 door sedan was parked.  It was towing a small camp trailer that I am sure was no problem for the “Rocket T-350” engine.

This wonderful image is called “Camping at Tenaya Lake” in Yosemite National Park, and was taken in 1956.  They had quite an elaborate set up with a good sized tent, lots of equipment, and a close to new ’56 Pontiac 870 4 door Station Wagon.

Here we may have the dry out phase following a storm that soaked everything.  There was a line full of towels, as well as the tarps on the V8 powered ’56 Ford Country Sedan.  In front of it was a ’55 or ’56 Buick Special or Century Estate Wagon.

Now we are at what may have been a work site, possibly in the State of Idaho as Custer County, Idaho is where this ’57 Ford Fairlane 500 Town Sedan was from.  It has a heavy duty trailer hitch but I don’t see a trailer.

Ferrino is an Italian tent company (along with other outdoor equipment), and here is one at a campsite along with a ’62-’67 Volkswagen Type 2 Deluxe 23 Window Bus from California.  It appears that the back of the bus is the kitchen counter, and the young teenager was taking inventory.

The Florida Everglades was the location and the date was April 1978 per a search.  The car was a ’68 Plymouth Fury III 4 door sedan and it was likely the tow vehicle for the pop up camper in the background.  I guess everyone was still asleep.

In this image we have a rather interesting pair of vehicles to go camping in.  A ’67 Pontiac GTO Hardtop Coupe with the standard hub caps from New York, and a ’58 Cadillac Fleetwood Seventy-Five.  The Fleetwood for hauling stuff, and the GTO for fast trips to town.

We have visited this ’68 Chevrolet Bel Air wagon with a pop up tent on top somewhat recently.  We viewed it from another angle, and this side shows the apparatus better.  It does look like it would work just fine.

Per a search this shot was taken in April of 1973 on the Ontario side of Lake Superior and titled “Heading up to Lake Superior for some fishing”.  Three students at a North Carolina college decided to take a spur of the moment spring break trip to Canada in a ’58-’63 Volkswagen Type 1 with a missing front bumper.

Search results report this 1971 photo was in Salmon-Challis National Forest in Idaho.  The truck is a ’70 or ’71 Ford F-250 Ranger XLT with a cabover camper.  It looked like a beautiful summer day.

A warm summer day at a lake perhaps in British Columbia as that is where this ’76 or ’77 Dodge Tradesman van was from.  It was equipped with a raised roof and they had a pop up trailer as well.  Fun in the sun!

Thanks for joining us and to all good day!

 

More Vintage Photos Here