On Saturday, I made Lloyd tag along while I ran some errands. We were in north Lincoln, so I told him we were going to swing by Camping World. (I didn’t realize we had one in Lincoln until about a month ago.) They mostly sell RVs, but they have a big store, too, with lots of camping stuff to look at – even a couple of RVs inside to walk through!
Not many people were there, and there was an interesting giant teardrop-trailer-type camper in the parking lot. When we left, the owner was out by it and I hollered that it was a really interesting design.
“Want to see inside?” he asked
YES!
As he opened it, he explained a bit of its history. It’s a 1949 Wee Zim trailer – one of the last of its kind. A gentleman from Canada purchased it and completely rebuilt it, restoring its glory. The man we talked to was traveling with his wife and dog. They traveled to Canada, bought it from the restore-man for a mere $15,000 and were taking it home to California.
The design is incredible. You open the back hatch, raising the roof, and the floor drops down so you have 6’2″ of headroom. It’s all done with simple pulleys and cables, with lots of wood involved. It’s amazing to see what human brains used to do with what we had.
Here are some videos that the restore man put up documenting his process. This is the very camper I stood in!
How it opens:
The rebuilding video:
Here’s a link to his photo documentation of the process. He did so much restoring!
https://www.myvintagecampers.com/1949-wee-zim-tear-drop.html
Deborah says
That is so cool! I can’t believe it was only $15,000.