Читать книгу RVs & Campers For Dummies - Christopher Hodapp - Страница 61

Recent bursts of imagination in the RV business have brought back so much that was good in America in the middle of the last century. Canned ham trailers have made a comeback, and major manufacturers are getting into the vintage game, like Gulf Stream with the Vintage Cruiser and the Riverside Retro by Riverside RV. And the return of the teardrop trailer has opened up a great option for first-time RVers, with their lower cost and ease of towing.

Teardrop trailers were a product of the earliest years of towable campers, in the 1930s, and they have a very ’30s outline. The buzzword of the period was streamlined, with sleek, aerodynamic designs that said a new age had arrived. For the glampers we talk about in the first chapter, canned hams and teardrops are the rig of choice, with their glamorous retro appeal.

At their most basic level, a teardrop is a towable bed. You may have seen very simple ones in a camping store like Cabela’s or Gander Outdoors. The first teardrops were built around a standard piece of 4-x-8-foot plywood, with another sheet bent to create a rounded roof. Like the first Airstreams designed by Wally Byam, many were home-built, from kits or simple instructions published in magazines of the day, such as Popular Mechanics. When the ’50s arrived, bigger was better. Cars could tow more weight, highways were more dependable, and Americans wanted more space. By the early ’60s, teardrops died out.

The return of the teardrop came in the late ’90s. We saw one of the first ones in Europe, and if we hadn’t been on a busy highway in the south of France, we would’ve turned around and followed, just to get a better look. We were thrilled when we began to see them in the United States, where the designers were attempting to give the essentials of the design a bit more space and a few more amenities, such as a kitchen and a toilet or even a small wet bath (a combined shower stall and toilet). Most had a fun outdoor kitchen at the rear, with a lift of a clamshell hatch, though others had small kitchens inside, in the wide-end front. In the next decade, designs began plumping up even more, like the Tab Outback 400, part of their popular Outback line, and the Little Guy Max. Both kept the vintage charm and teardrop outline while including a much larger kitchen and a queen-size tuck-away bed, with built-in TV and stereo. These trailers offer easy towing and the freedom of easier access to the backcountry.

Whatever the size, teardrops have cute nailed down at all four corners. If you have a teardrop, people will often stop you and ask about it. One of the biggest advantages is that just about any family car or van can tow a tiny teardrop. (Always check the stats on your own vehicle to make sure.) A classic bed/teardrop can even be pulled by a motorcycle. Many teardrops actually have handles — they’re so lightweight, you can push one into your garage.