Review: Historic Camping & Teardrop Trailers DVD

Mark Janke of Overland Trailer recently sent me a DVD he created on teardrop trailers and their role in the history of camping. The 46-minute DVD, Historic Camping & Teardrop Trailers covers everything from the history of camping, small campers, Mark's own build, manufacturers and restorers all with a little American history thrown in. The soundtrack is a nice highlight and the Glacier National Park footage was incredible.

This DVD might be one of the most comprehensive videos on teardrop trailers and their history. I really enjoyed watching it and looking at some trailers I'd never seen before. In the video, Mark crosses the country in his own trailer doing interviews with historians and teardrop owners, park rangers, teardrop restorers and adults who grew up camping in the tiny trailers. I was most impressed with the historic footage and photos that Mark was able to dig up from the U.S. Library of Congress and Ford Motor Company.

One of the DVD highlights was a great interview with Debra Kellerman and her restored teardrop trailers. Debra began to restore trailers after a long emotional career working with people and wanted something totally different. Her initial experience with standard RVs was not positive, but her love of all things vintage brought her to teardrop trailers and her current Benroy, Kampster and Kit.

"For me it's a passage in my life, it was permitting me to work with my hands and do something completely different," Debra says in the DVD. "Now I can actually go camping in comfort, but keep the creatures of comfort to a minimum."

Mark also visits the Camp-Inn factory in Wisconsin where the owners show the various configurations of the Camp-Inn as well as the manufacturing area.

"What I'm really proud of is when our customers come to pick up their trailers, and the look on their face of admiration and enthusiasm makes it all worth it," Craig Edevold, co-founder of Camp-Inn, said.

The DVD ends with a visit to the RV and Motorhome Hall of Fame in Elkhart, Indiana where Mark checks out the world's oldest RV towed with a Model T, various vintage trailers and pre-WWII homebuilt trailers. Mark finishes up the DVD with some great footage from Larry Shank and his family's homebuilt teardrop trailer, built after WWII.

As a teacher, Mark created the DVD to be used for educational purposes. When you purchase the DVD, funds are provided to send copies to high school educators. Over 170 schools around the world have copies of the DVD.

The outtakes are funny too.

DVD stills courtesy of Mark Janke and Overland Trailer

Introducing the Sunflower and a Little Teardrop History

I own a 5x8 foot bright yellow Pleasant Valley Spirit teardrop trailer named the Sunflower. It attracts so much attention that I thought I would finally put up a blog about my trailer as well as additional information on teardrops. Teardrop trailers are small (under 10 feet long) camping trailers and usually only contain a bed in the main compartment and a kitchen, or galley, in the back hatch. The main characteristic of a teardrop trailer is that you can't stand up in them. Teardrop owners refer to a taller trailer as a "standy".

Most teardrop trailers that you might see are built by hand by various builders. Some are owner built, while some are custom built for a specific customer. Many teardrops on the road today are manufactured by the Little Guy company, who also uses Pleasant Valley's building skills.

Teardrop trailers first became in the U.S. in the 1930s when magazines such as Mechanics Illustrated published plans. The first teardrops were designed around the idea of using standard 4 by 8-foot sheets of plywood with hardwood spars. Teardrop trailers remained popular until the mid 1960s, after which they disappeared from mainstream camping. However, in the late 1990s, plans became available on the internet and in recent years teardrop trailers have made a resurgence and are again growing in popularity. [From Wikipedia]

The Sunflower (most teardrops have a name) was manufactured by the Pleasant Valley Teardrops company in Sugarcreek, Ohio. It is Amish built and super tough for such a small trailer. Normally, a brand new teardrop trailer from Pleasant Valley can cost around $8,000 to $10,000. However, I was able to find my brand new trailer from a private dealer in Florida for $4,000. I paid a shipper from UShip (the Shipping Wars company) to tow it to my home in Nevada for $1,000. So for half the price, I was able to have my yellow beauty delivered right to my door. The Sunflower is towed by a 2008 Kia Sportage.

 

 

Photos by Christina Nellemann