1962 Chevrolet C-20 Cree Chassis-Mount Camper
Camping has come a long way since the golden era of the 1960s and 70s pickup campers. Most seem to be either trailers or Sprinter-type camping vans today, nothing like this 1962 Chevrolet C-20 with chassis-mount Cree camper. The seller has it listed here on eBay in Patchogue, New York. The current reserve-not-met price is $5,300 and there is an $18,000 buy-it-now price listed.
I drive almost 50,000 miles a year and rarely see a pickup camper on the roads anywhere in the U.S. anymore. I can’t remember the last time I saw a chassis-mount model like this cool Chevy Cree chassis combo camper. You may see a few “Lance” pickup campers as they’re the biggest-selling brand right now but I grew up in the 1960s and 70s when, as with the snowmobile industry, there were dozens if not hundreds of companies offering campers in this growing industry.
Howard Cree owned and operated a campground that offered rental cabins and spots for travel trailers in the 1940s – Cree’s Log Cabins and Trailer Court – and he also had a trailer dealership near Detroit. He sold out near the end of WWII and bought a Ford dealership, and not long after the war, he realized the huge market for recreational travel.
His first model, the Cree Pickup Truck Coach, was shown in 1945 at Navy Pier in Chicago and orders poured in. His new company offered slide-in pickup campers in eight-foot and 10-foot lengths and they also made chassis-mount models, similar in idea to this big Cree shown here. The chassis models could even be mounted on a trailer and pulled with a car. While slide-in campers can theoretically be removed at campgrounds, owners rarely do that. A chassis-mount model is more permanently mounted to the truck chassis, as the name suggests.
The seller says this camper combo is “all original” and it does look nice overall. You can see some rust behind the front wheels and they mention that the cab also needs rust work on the floors. Finding patch panels for a ’62 C-20 couldn’t be any easier or cheaper, at about $40 for each side for a bottom-of-fender and bottom-of-door panel – although floors are much more expensive. In any case, by next summer you’ll be ready to go.
The interior looks period-correct other than the flooring and maybe the curtains. There may be other updates but it’s hard to tell. This one sleeps at least four people, two in the rear dinette that converts to a bed, and a couple more over the cab, which is where I’d be. In fact, as kids, my brother and I used to ride up there and look out the front window of our 1969 Winnebago truck camper at 70-75 mph as we zipped across the west. Yeah, that’s probably not recommended today…
It was easy to go between the cab and camper in our Ford F-250 and camper with a custom-made “boot”, but I’m not sure what’s going on here. This looks like a bit of a chainsaw operation. The rest of the camper looks pretty good but it’s well-dated for anyone expecting even remotely comfortable living accomodations. Sometimes, that’s half the fun.
The engine is Chevrolet’s 327-cu.in. OHV V8, according to the seller, which I believe wouldn’t have been available until 1965 but one of you will know for sure. I believe the only V8 available in these trucks in 1962 would have been a 283. It looks like the driver will be wrestling with the steering wheel and this one has a three-speed manual and column shifter as well. They don’t say how it runs, which is unusual, but they mention that it has 7,430 miles. I’m betting it’s gone around at least once but we don’t know. Would any of you travel in a 61-year-old chassis-mount camper like this ’62 Chevy-Cree?
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Comments
I don’t have any experience with campers like this, nor do I have any particular comments about them. But I can state that the family picture you provided is spectacular. Good write-up.
Perhaps I’m partially responsible for this post. I mentioned to Scotty to be on the lookout for a small camper/motorhome and one must be careful what you say to this guy. He’d have me in one tomorrow. I can maybe fill in why he doesn’t see many of these in his travels. He mainly stays on interstates, and vehicles like these are lollygagging on back 2 lanes. They don’t do well at speed or in windy areas, so people drive these very slowly. Sign me up, as that’s what I want to do, I think, certainly not this 700 miles a day crap in a crummy rental car,, maybe a HUNDRED miles, and see the sights. Older motorhomes like these present several challenges, you may or may not want. Poor gas mileage, rowing away with the column shift, a handful in any driving situation with no P/S or brakes and without some backup wheels, you have to take the unit everywhere. With the cheapest motorhome hovering around $80- $100grand, this could be a viable alternative, if you can live without all the useless gee-gaws that new ones have, that is. I could and if it was an automatic, I’d love to have it.
While I love the idea of this, especially tooling along at a relaxed pace, there are a few things that make it a no-go for me.
1. No cab a/c. When you are in the slow lane with the window down, the passing traffic is incessant. Getting blasted by noise and fumes every couple of minutes is really tiring.
2. No a/c in the camper. These tin boxes really swelter in the heat and sleeping with bugs isn’t fun for me anymore.
3. No shower. I should probably have this listed as #1 as my evening warn shower is a highlight of my day.
With the rust and age of this truck,I don’t think it will hit its buy it now, but it will be interesting to see what the market thinks.
Maybe you should give Scotty some parameters for the camper. You are right about enjoying the 2 lane roads. There are many well maintained byways in this country that offer scenery at a relaxed pace.
I’m running a 21ft 2002 Chevy Express 1 Ton by R-vision called a B-Plus. Sometimes it is too small and sometimes it is too big so it may be just right.
I have a small fifth wheel camper and travel all over the country mostly on state roads and see LOTs of chassis mount camper (c class they are called) but new ones most have van cabs or freightliner cabs for the big ones not many of this vintage still roaming in fact a good many rv “resorts” will not let you in with anything over 10 years old I stay out of those and pretty much stay in state or national parks one reason I stayed under 30 foot is a lot of state parks have 30 foot max
I see this being bought and restored for shows Or (god forbid) turned into an Airbnb in someone’s vintage resort ( yuck)
Cool old truck long ago in the mid 80’s I had 64 three quarter ton long bed slab side 4 speed 283 geared so low it maxed out at 60 and the engine was screaming then but a friend had bought in Seattle and driven (slowly) across country to NJ in it. It was rusty had rotten wood bed and smoked like hell but I loved it and it always started
In it’s day this was probably very serviceable vehicle, but it’s a money put now. There is rust all through the cab and pretty sure the camper has more than a little rotted wood hiding. There is only one picture where you can get a glimpse of the interior ceiling and it doesn’t look good. Howard is correct in this was built in an era before interstate travel and the truck would do just fine. Haven’t even mentioned the condition of the mechaicals which could be another nightmare. Hey it’s great to reminisce of what was but this old camper has seen the back highways and is pretty well used up by time and the environment. Sorry folks just being realistic. Cost and energy to restore this old girl is beyond the scope of most. It’s a cool but if RV history though.
Need to put on my glasses and make sure spell check isn’t taken the liberty of changing my words. Geez
Don’t know about this one, but a LOT of motorhomes have very low mileage because they get driven once a year on a road trip and stored the rest. They suffer more from lack of mileage than a lot of miles
Fred, your comment is dead on. My nephew’s father in law bought a 3 year old motor home, probably $400K new, from a guy in Houston about 20 years ago. The story I got was the owner used it twice a year to go to the NASCAR race in Dallas. He drove it there, stayed a few days, went home and stored it. The generator had a lot more hours on it than the Cummins diesel motor had.
The best part of the story is the motor home was sitting in a 75 x 75 foot square building when Chuck got there to look at it. There was nothing else in the building. Chuck asked what the building was meant for. The owner said, “storing the motor home, nothing else.”
Chuck had to ask why a 15 x 60 foot building wouldn’t have worked. The guy who owned it said the owner of the building behind it wouldn’t give him permission to use his driveway, and he didn’t want to have to back it out. So he built a building big enough to make a U-turn in and drive out another door in the far end.
The rest of the story is the owner of the property behind the building had been using part of the motor home owner’s property for a driveway that he needed. The larger building closed off that illegal driveway and caused the other guy a lot of problems, so there’s some Karma there.
The reason the guy had for selling the motor home was. . . . . . he didn’t want to own a used one.
If it had PS/PB and A/C, it would be
a great vehicle for Door Dash LMAO!
Especially when you’re out dashing and need to find a bathroom while doing so. And just think of the cash
you’ll save by bringing your lunch with
you and warming it up yourself. Compared to a $20 Big Mac, (Only in
California) that’s quite a bargain. But
where we may drive 50-60 miles a day, our fuel bill would eat all our profits. Not to mention the meeting with a psychiatrist arranged by my SIL
if I even thought about mashing the
BIN button! But I digress. This rig’s
got cool written all over it! Something
really different for Cars And Coffee or
the Old Town cruise on Saturday night. Great find.
This should have been on green acres show
🎶Greeeen acres is the place to be🎵🎵
Get yourself a dog named Charlie, and after some freshening up and checks for mechanical soundness, you’re good to go for a cross-country adventure!
With a DIY washing machine consisting of a plastic bucket, bongi cords, and aromatic bushes in with the soap. And several classic books under your belt.
A John Steinbeck reference. Wow! Good one.
Caught your J Steinbeck reference ! Way cool
Otter dog great reference correct year but his was a slide in the pick up bed camper not a chassis in “Travels with Charlie” my favorite author and one of my favorite books 👍
I understand a barn find car of this age lasting so long, but how does a large camper like this, survive and be in as good a condition as it is? Someone had to keep the elements off of this for a long time. That takes work, care and space! it is certainly an interesting find and the new buyer should put it in a vehicle registry for old movie usage. They would certainly get some calls.
This could be a unique resto/refurbish project for someone with the right know how. Chassis mount motorhomes were the precursor to today’s class Cs. My parents bought an old GMC of about this vintage and an eight foot slide in with overhead back in 1970. V6, 3speed and little else. We went all over Michigan from the bottom to the top of the state. Speedo, odo and fuel gauge inop. Dad would simply figure when we’d covered 100-150 miles and gas up. Great times.
Make a good bug out vehicle.
Nope its not worth the buy it now that camper is dry rotted and leaking
obviously been sitting out in the weather a long time even if the mileage is correct you will need to bring your wood craftsman skills and peel back the sheet metal to repair the leak above the drivers door sadly to this day that is a common leak point on A Class C. Personally I think it would be better served to rip the camper off then repair where the camper conversation company cut the cab then either flat bed it or source a small travel trailer and cut the tongue off and mount it up there that work would be easier than trying to salvage this poor thing.
I believe I see a separate vacuum brake booster located between the master cylinder and the hood hinge. This same arrangement was often used on larger trucks, but the booster was frame mounted, instead. The dual master cylinder for both clutch and brakes would worry me. Any leak might ultimately lead to loss of both brakes and clutch function–not a situation I’d enjoy.
The 327 came out in 1962, but wasn’t an option for the C10 until 1965.
Chevy’s 327 engine came out in 1961, so it could be original to the truck.
I can imagine rolling out of the plain states and trying to get though the Rocky Mountains in something like this would have been challenging 😥.
Oh oh, bidder alert: this auction price zoomed from $6,100 to the $18,000 buy-it-now price, so either someone just had to have it instantly, or it’s not a real bid. I tend to think the latter as I’ve experienced that firsthand on eBay auctions. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing this camper for sale again by the current seller.
I think you’re correct no way that goes for 18k in the current condition
Am I blind, or is there no shift lever?
Good eye, RH! I think the photo was taken so the shift lever was exactly centered, which had to be a one-in-a-million thing. Here’s that part enlarged and you can barely see the end of the shift lever.
What a beauty! But from a different time long ago, of $.25 gas and 45-60 max speed limits. More relaxed traveling. Today the roads have many chassis mounted truck campers, many more than slide in types, I believe is due to the combined price of a nice truck and the slide in campers are expensive, but in many ways more convenient and versatile, Earth Roamers notwithstanding. Yes Earth Roamers the state of the art in chassis mounted campers. That are priced like a 4 bd second home But capable of all day travel at 75+ mph, or over rough terrain. All while getting the same mileage or maybe better than the old Chevy above. But the majority are built on van cutout chassis, to shorten the overall length.
1962 was the first year Chevrolet offered the 327 engine. This could very well be the original drive train.