Once you have seen it, you cannot unsee it! Bubba has named her the Happy Little Camper House. Though we cannot take credit for the paint job, I guess you could say that we can take credit for not painting over it. 
Wondering if you have what it takes to partially renovate a 1969 vintage camper? Come along our journey and see the good, the bad, and the downright rotten. In all fairness, I have to say partial, because I was intentionally looking for something in a condition to be easily livable if needed, which is a tall order in the vintage market.
How does one end up with a vintage camper in the first place? My husband is still asking himself that question. We have always been tent campers, even extreme backcountry backpackers at one time, and have camped at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. We used to wonder why anyone would want to take on the cost and effort of hauling a camper along with you, but flash forward three kids later, and I have been enlightened!
It all started when we began planning what was supposed to be our epic 80 day cross country road trip for summer of 2020. My parents would be going with us, and they have a thirty-nine foot fifth wheel with four slide outs. Basically a home on wheels. Under normal circumstances, this would not have phased me, as we have gotten pretty good at tent camping road trips over the years. However, my back could not imagine tent camping on the ground for 80 nights straight. Inevitably, I would have several weak moments, and blow the budget on last minute hotels during a flash derecho.
Thus began the solo-mission to purchase a small camper. When you are transitioning away from a nylon tent on the ground, pretty much any amount of solid wall square footage sounds amazing. Using Facebook Marketplace as my main search engine, I looked at many different styles from newer travel trailers, to hybrid fold out campers, and also vintage campers.
I’ll be honest, I had a very tiny budget to spend. You see, I had still not convinced my husband that we NEEDED a camper at all, and since I had taken a temporary leave of absence from my teaching job, needs were being prioritized over wants. I did, however, have a small savings that I had set aside from selling our kids outgrown clothing at mom to mom sales. This became the spending limit, and it was a lofty task. We went to look at a few that fit the budget, but they had “squishy floors” or smelled of mold before we came within 25 feet of the door.
{Please promise me that when you are looking at campers, you will go into each viewing with an open mind. Do not get yourself set on a purchase before you view it, or you might be romanced into buying something that could turn into a nightmare or worse!} 
The day I found the ad for the “Happy Little Camper House” I literally spit out my drink at the site. But hey, the price and condition was right, so I pressed on. The interior photos were vanilla in comparison, but gave me some inspiration for making it our own.
Let’s take a moment to enjoy some of the before photos of the purchase condition of this camper. It had been renovated by a handy couple merely for flipping purposes, and I believe in my heart of hearts, it was their intent to make it as historically accurate to the 1969 era as possible. However, my gut told me that once you make the bold move to paint the exterior like they did, all bets are off on keeping any historical reference.
We made the drive about two hours from our house to check it out. The kids fell in love immediately. I took it for a spin around the country block. Now would be a good time to tell you that I have never, ever, in my life pulled a trailer. It seemed to pull alright, hubs concurred, and the rest is history. He made me drive it home, and I insisted on taking all back roads, because I was terrified. It took us over four hours to make the two hour drive, but we made it home safe.
She is a 14 foot, single axel, 1969 Volunteer Vintage Camper. Very little has been published about the Volunteer brand, but she was originally made in Tennessee. She is super simple, which I love. She has no slide outs, no bathroom, though she did come with a portable toilet, a simple sink, stove and oven, small refrigerator, and large water tank.
She has a dinette that turns into a bed that would sleep two kiddos, and a couch/bed in the rear that would snugly fit two adults. If you have been keeping track, there are five of us in the family, and that was 4 sleeping spaces. For summer number one, we are using a pool float as a sleeping pad, and summer two we will be upgrading to some sort of cot that will fold up during the day when it is not needed.
The purchase of this camper in the middle of February, 2020, came at the perfect time! Honestly, when I purchased it, I was actually wondering when I would have time to complete this renovation between the kids activities, which is why it was important that it was at least “liveable” when we purchased. Just a few short weeks later, we were part of a stay home order, and aside from having to order everything online instead of shopping local, it gave me lots of time to focus on the renovation while quarantining at home.
You can follow along with this multi part series to see how my next phase of the renovation went, spoiler, it is called Walls, Windows and Wood Rot….
