Sean C. Morgan
For a growing number of folks, car shows are a thing of the past.
The future is in old camp trailers instead, doing some relaxed vacationing at some scenic location with a bunch of fellow aficionados.
That’s how some 63 members of the Rollin’ Oldies Vintage Trailers group spent last weekend at River Bend Campground east of Sweet Home. The rally draws visitors from Washington, Oregon and California. Campground, participating in events, visiting with each other and swapping stories, tips and tricks and parts.
Saturday, the group held an open house and a tow vehicle and bicycle display, with a 1950s and ‘60s theme, followed by a sock hop.
The silent auction included items donated by members and by Les Schwab, Safeway, Sweet Home RV, the Sweet Home Chamber of Commerce and Foster Lake Mall.
The Travel Channel’s “Flippin’ RVs” filmed Flyte Camp Vintage Trailer Restorations of Bend during the rally.
The Rollin’ Oldies Vintage Trailer group is a loosely organized group of vintage trailer enthusiasts from throughout the Northwest. The group hosts vintage trailer rallies for members, who are owners of retro trailers, teardrops, and motor homes.
According to the group’s website, http://www.rovt.org, vintage trailers are considered to be those built before 1980, or those built later with the same design as the original / vintage trailers. Homebuilt teardrops are also welcome in the group.
The group holds an event a month in either Oregon or Idaho from March to October, with a kick-off for 2016 planned for January in Lincoln City.
It’s the sixth time ROVT has held a rally at River Bend, said Jerry Kwiatkowski of Dallas, the group’s president. Last year’s event was held on Jamboree weekend.
“We basically take over. If we can, we buy the whole campground.”
The group has already mostly sold out for next year, when the event moves to June, he said, adding that he expects all the sites for 2016 to be gone by the end of next month.
ROVT holds the annual rally at River Bend because “the park is just beautiful,” Kwiatkowski said. “It’s convenient.”
Relatively close to Interstate 5, it’s easy for members to get there, he said, and “it’s hard to find places to camp anymore.”
Linn County does a great job working with his group, he said. “They basically bend over backward for us.
Kwiatkowski and his wife Linda started the group back in 2006, he said. They took the name in 2007.
“It’s kind of like classic cars,” Kwiatkowski said. “We were into classic cars so many years and just burned out.”
“A lot of these trailers are restored by the owners and very creative, very creative,” he said. The growing hobby is where classic cars were years ago. Many older trailers become donors for other trailers in restoration projects.
With the vintage trailers, “you don’t just sit behind your car waiting for a plaque or trophy.”
The Kwiatkowskis own a 1955 Chevrolet Nomad they purchased in 1965, and they began getting interested in trailers.
They thought maybe there were others who shared their interest and started their group. Today, their group has more than 8,700 members on Facebook.
Woody and Ava Widness of Jefferson didn’t own a vintage trailer at the time, but they joined the Kwiatkowskis immediately in forming the group. They were talking about it over dinner, and they bought in right away.
Since then, the Widnesses have had their 1947 Westwood filmed by “Extreme RVs,” After many hours of filming, it appeared for about 5 minutes, Ada said, but it’s seen briefly in every episode now.
After joining the Kwiatkwoskis in starting the Rollin’ Oldies group, the Widnesses got a 1968 Aristocrat, although their first trailer ever was a 1971 Prowler they purchased with Woody’s mother. They used to use it about one week per year, while she used it more frequently.
“We were sitting around one night, and Jerry said, ‘This is what I want to do,’” Ada said. “We went out, and we found one.”
Into vintage cars at the time, they still own a 1955 wagon that matches their Westwood trailer and a 1972 Chevy pickup.
“We were kind of tired of vintage cars,” she said. They would spend 5 or 6 hours sitting behind their cars thinking about the housework or yardwork that needs to be done. With the trailer rallies, they’re out and camping, relaxing.
Flyte Camp restored the Westwood they use today. They started looking for one after seeing one at a rally.
“I walked into that trailer and just fell in love with that,” Ada said. The trailer came to them through a series of purchases among vintage trailer enthusiasts and their connection to the vintage group.
“It was in pretty bad shape,” Ada said, but they bought, and Flyte Camp went to work on it.
Much of the trailer is original or came from other vintage Westwood trailers. Their goal was to keep it 1947.
Diana and Terry Lindsley of Sweet Home camped out at the River Bend rally in their 1966 Saber 22 Silver Streak, pulled by a Ford truck Terry rebuilt completely, Diana said.
They’re another couple who have moved from car shows to vintage trailers. He showed a 1963 C10 one year at the Sweet Ride car show.
“I enjoy car shows for a couple of hours, then I want to go home,” Terry said. He used and built teardrops as a hobby.
When they moved to Sweet Home in 2007, they came in pulling a teardrop behind a 1933 Ford Vicky. He started building campers in 2002 when he constructed a teardrop on an Oak Harbor 4×8 frame.
The Silver Streak “was another project,” Terry said. “I bought it from a friend over in Redmond. He’s into vintage trailers himself.”
Working on it with the skin still on it was tough, he said. “When you’re pulling the flooring without pulling the skin, it’s a bear and a half.”
The car shows are time-consuming, Terry said. They’re hot, and owners face a lot of disrespect. It used to be people would come look at the cars, but as the years went by, they started dragging their fingers across the $10,000 paint jobs.
He got tired of babysitting his cars, he said, and he wanted to build something for him to enjoy. That includes his Ford towing rig and the trailer.
Today, they use their Silver Streak six to eight times a year.
Elsewhere at the rally, Allen and Pat Burton of Springfield pulled a teardrop trailer behind a new Volkswagen Beetle. Their three children all live in Sweet Home.
“I rolled down the windows of the Beetle and said, I can’t go any wider than that,” Burton said.
He decided to build the trailer after he and his wife spent time tent camping after spending years using bus campers. She missed using a trailer and asked him to to do something about it.
He built the tiny camper on a ladder frame. It’s just big enough for a bed. In the back, a door lifts up to reveal a kitchen ready to go. The spare tire swings out to function as a table, something he had seen on TV.
It includes parts from Volkswagens, and it is about 40 percent recycled, Allen said. The body is a steel frame with hand-cut aluminum. The interior used six sheets of paneling. Ada is perhaps most proud of the curtains he made for the camper.
He spent about a year and a half building it, taking it out for the first time in 2003.
“On the way home, my wife leaned over and asked me, ‘Can we go again next month?’” he said. That’s when he knew he had done a good job building it.
The couple has attended the rally every year.
“It’s fun, and there’s vintage trailers,” Allen said.