There was actually a time when carmakers thought that the market for turning their passenger vehicles into makeshift RVs was a viable thing. It basically started in 1936 when George W. Mason, Nash Motors’ president, was traveling in his Nash. As he traversed the highways he eventually wanted to bed down for the night but was faced with the incredible price of $2 for a motel room. 

Mason went back to the designers and got them to integrate an optional folding seat where you could sleep in the car with your feet essentially occupying the trunk. Later the feature was improved such that the Nash models so equipped could actually fold down the seats and and thus the bed-in-a-car feature became associated with Nash. 

Nash marketed these cars to hunters, fishermen and outdoorsmen of the day (before we included women in the advertising of this outdoor recreation) and even offered things like accessory mattresses and window screens. 

In those days salesmen would traverse the country and this sleeping arrangement allowed them to sleep in their cars. In addition to this market, Nash also showed advertisements with parents sleeping with their children in the cars showing that their cars could become early RVs, of sorts. 

Eventually Nash went away but the idea wasn’t lost on vehicle manufacturers. Last week’s article focused on the options Chevrolet dealers could install in the Corvair vans at the time but that idea was first seen in the US at Volkswagen dealers who offered their vans with an optional camper kit installed by a vendor. 

Of course today the term “overlanding” is what is applied to those who use their vehicles as RVs. 

Surprisingly after the Corvair vans were just relics in used car lots, a few auto makers still sort of pitched the idea of sleeping in your car to their customers starting with the kind folks at American Motors who offered the Hornet Hutch, an accessory on the Hornet hatchback. 

Essentially you would lift the large hatchback on the Hornet, fold down the back seats and then install the optional tent accessory and have a place for camping. This was actually a pretty slick device. 

I don’t know who had the idea first, but General Motors offered a very similar arrangement for their Nova hatchback called the Hutch. Like AMC’s offering, this was effectively a tent that hung on the open hatchback of the Nova. You’ve got to remember that, in the 1970s, hatchbacks were a pretty new idea for Americans. Since they had already done it on the Nova it wasn’t a surprise when the Hatch Hutch was also offered with the Vega. 

But another offering from American Motors was their Penthouse Sleeper, which was available for the Hornet and the Gremlin. The Penthouse sleeper fitted into the drip rails of the car and created a sleeping tent arrangement above the roof of the car allowing you to sleep up there. This is not an uncommon thing for overlanders today, and a number of manufacturers offer these in the aftermarket for things like Toyota Tacomas and Jeeps. 

By the time the 1980s were going in full swing Americans flocked to Chrylser-Plymouth dealers for the first time in a very long time, so that company took advantage of the Plymouth Voyager’s popularity by offering the “Magic Camper Package” for the Plymouth Voyager minivan. 

Essentially this was a tent that had an opening for the sliding side door of the Voyager minivan so it effectively made that a two-bedroom RV, which is pretty cool. You could transport your brood to the campsite and then use that same minivan as the place to go for snoring and ghost stories. 

A few years further down the road Pontiac’s designers had a really great idea for a super flexible very usable machine which they dubbed the Aztek. This was an early crossover vehicle with some very innovative ideas including a radio that could be taken out and used on the tailgate, and a tailgate that folded down for, well, tailgating. 

I used to write a syndicated automotive column when the Aztek came out and I asked a GM lead at the time about the car, because it seemed that they had really missed their mark in a lot of ways. Not according to them as that individual told me that Aztek was a complete success because it literally hit all the points on their punch list. 

Well, at least Walter White got to drive one. 

But relevant to this piece GM looked into their past and offered something similar to the Nova Hutch for the Aztek. As an option you could get a tent that fit over the back of the Aztek and turned that vehicle into a makeshift RV. 

At the time I drove an Aztek and it was flat horrible. Despite all the cool features and accessories the Aztek was a miserable vehicle to drive, in my opinion. However, finding one with the tent would kind of be cool because they’re old enough now to be just weird enough to be cool. I guess this is not unlike my beloved Corvair Corvan Camper. Or an AMC Pacer. Or, heck a Gremlin with a Penthouse Sleeper. 

Lastly, I can’t ignore the GMC Motorhome. General Motors was the only major manufacturer to offer a proper motorhome built right at their factory and they really did a good job with these. Using the Universal Power Pack driveline which was also used in the Oldsmobile Toronado, GM’s motorhome featured front wheel drive which meant that there was no driveling components under most of the floor of the GMC Motorhome. 

Since the floor didn’t have to clear major driveline components the motorhome could be lower in height with a lower center of gravity improving handling. Two different lengths and a variety of appearance and floorpan options were available in these vehicles, which were built from 1973-78. 

These were absolutely class-leading vehicles and there is still a significant collector market for them to this day. Parts and interest in these machines continues to be available and they’re not inexpensive but the advance design and manufacturing of them means that examples today can be reliable and interesting travel companions. Even now they still look modern compared to many coaches and they also drive well. A number of upgrades to the driveline are available also making them reliable, solid performers. 

Oh, a number of automakers also offered branded campers for their pickups with Ford being the most recent to do so. But the list of branded campers includes almost every manufacturer of pickups. 

In addition to pickups, Jeep also offered what amounts to a drop-in camper for their CJ-5 Jeep. Since this was such a short vehicle the camper they offered also included a tag axle turning a CJ-5 into a six-wheeled vehicle with a camper on the back. 

I’ve seen a few examples of these on the Internet and, supposedly, they’re relatively easy to disconnect meaning you can venture off into four-wheelin’ country and leave the camper behind. They also reportedly sleep three and even have a stove and dining table. 

Sleeping in cars today is nothing new and those Tesla owners who feel so innovative by turning their cars into campers need only look at the history books to see that the idea isn’t a new one. Though I wonder if dads prohibit their daughters from going on dates with Tesla owners for the same reason that many dads did in the days when the Nash bed-in-a-car models were available? But that’s not exactly StressLess Camping, is it?