ford made cabover camper

[Bennetch John 123]

Hi guys. I'm in Melbourne Australia and own a 73 American road camper. Any info would be amazing.

I purchased THIS VERY awesome fiberglass camper from a guy near Orovill ca. At that time the plywood TUB that supports the camper was so rotted, I had to transport it on that rude flat bed trailer..........I'll have another story about the wheels on that trailer......

It's been at least 5 years of putzing..........but this camper is unrecognizable now.........the tub has been replaced with a molded EPOXY tub, that will slide into ANY pick-up.......and the interior was totally stripped, and while it was a shell, I cut-off the extended sleeper over the cab, and extended it 18 inches and structurally re-built that entire section.......

I had an extensive inventory of kayak western red cedar strips, from a former project with my son, so I got the crazy notion to line the entire interior with western red cedar, and saved the shower enclosure. everything else was tossed, including the goofy plastic ceiling liner........the walls & ceiling were systematically re-insulated with great stuff window & door foam, that also bonded the new cedar to the interior wood frame.... cabinet doors are a custom tambour material / design. Upsholstery will evolve soon, I am also an "upholsterer."

I will do the final paint THIS SUMMER 2015.........and also stain & varnish the interior..........I can share pic's with anyone interested in how this is evolving.

I have been scolded for "ruining" the original design, but the stubby short cab-over, simply looked stupid on a modern extended cab pick-up........I plan to find & modify / restore a 1975 extended cab ford camper special........

there truly isn't another one of this.......

Well this weekend I had a little adventure and thought id include you guys! A little background information in 1973 ford was promoting their super camper special and wanted to have a dealer option cabover camper with their name on it. Ford contracted through Starcraft to make a one peice fiberglass cabover camper and it would be branded Fords "American Road" camper.Of course this was Fords second attempt at a camper with the first being the "Gold Line". Ford contracted to make 2,000 units throught 73 and 74, however the oil embargo of '74 caused recreational vehicle sales to all but come to a grinding halt. Ford cancelled the contract and a whopping 825 units made it out of the factory. Today they are all but myth and totally forgotten..........or are they? I just happened to come accross one for sale in CA and had to make the 4 hour drive to see "and possibly buy" a real life American Road camper. When I finally pulled up to the small mountain town where the camper been living on a flatdeck trailer for years it was almost unreal, sure enough in all its glory was this massive fiberglass camper. Complete with all the factory brochures and owners manuals. This unit happened to be production number "321" made in Sept '73. Once there I quikly realized that "321" (as I started to call it) was in mayjor neglect. Sever water damage over the years and no maintenance had all but crippled this do-do bird. If somebody else had one and needed parts or could build one from two this woul be a good buy. I decided it was going to be too much of a project for this guy but was happy I made the trip to see and be inside one of these rare Ford acessories. If anyone is interested the fiberglass hull was in acually good shape with one stress crack in the right rear corner. all factory aplliances were present the fridge did work on propane only. some pictures I took......

I would love to see any photos you have of this camper. I’m restoring one and also researching deeper to historical information on these. I have found some indication that there may be far less completed than some have thought in the past. Please post any numbers you may have. Serial on outside tag. Manufacturers tag from behind the dinnette seat by right rear taillight.
You can contact me at john.bennetchATgmailDOTcom