The Tin Can Tourists is proud to welcome another campground to our Vintage Friendly Campground Program. This program is for campgrounds to express their support of vintage trailers and motor coaches by joining TCT Club and listing their campground as a “Tin Can Tourists’ Friendly” facility. We encourage all Tin Can Tourists members to support these campgrounds when they make their camping plans for the season. Check in and let the owners know we appreciate them! You can find the directory of the campgrounds here: https://tincantourists.com/vintage-friendly-campgrounds/ and there is a ..read more

Dal Smilie represented the Tin Can Tourists and inducted Johnny Agnew into the TCT HOF while both were present at the 2024 Modernism Week Vintage Trailer Show. Johnny Agnew – Funky Junk Farms Johnny Agnew – Is hereby inducted into the Tin Can Tourists Hall of Fame – for being a pioneer in the Vintage Trailer Hobby. From hosting the very first west coast rally, to living in a vintage trailer museum full of interesting and rare survivors, and pushing for the addition of a trailer park to a historical register. He celebrates life so enthusiastically that all must join in the celebration. Johnny i ..read more

by Dal Smilie Last summer I drove to the RV Hall of Fame (HOF) Museum in Elkhart, IN to co-host a vintage trailer rally. The rally was part of a celebration honoring Forrest and Jeri Bone who were inducted into the HOF for giving new life to the Tin Can Tourists (TCT) club and essentially, kickstarting the vintage trailer movement in the US. Notably, the Bones were the first from the consumer side of the RV industry, as well as the first from the vintage trailer community to be so honored. The rally site is over 1600 miles from my home in Helena, MT. Considering I was towing with a 1948 Studeb ..read more

The Tin Can Tourists is proud to welcome another campground to our Vintage Friendly Campground Program. This program is for campgrounds to express their support of vintage trailers and motor coaches by joining TCT Club and listing their campground as a “Tin Can Tourists’ Friendly” facility. We encourage all Tin Can Tourists members to support these campgrounds when they make their camping plans for the season. Check in and let the owners know we appreciate them! You can find the directory of the campgrounds here: https://tincantourists.com/vintage-friendly-campgrounds/ and there is ..read more

by Dal Smilie With the 100th anniversary of the Tin Can Tourists (TCT) and the induction of (re)founders Forrest and Jeri Bone into the Recreational Vehicle/Manufactured Housing Hall of Fame, I thought I had a pretty good understanding of the origin of the vintage trailer movement.  But I wanted to understand more about its roots in the West.  So, I set out to learn what I could and put this article together that includes information about early vintage trailer clubs and events across the country.   First, it is important to note the evolution from “old trailer” ownership to ..read more

Did you know the TCT has a Hall of Fame? About one to two people are inducted every year for their contributions to the Vintage Trailer Hobby and/or the club. We wanted to capture information about who is in the TCT HOF. Here was the very first inductees – Bud & Bettye Cooper How were they involved in the Vintage Travel Trailer Hobby? They founded the Vintage Airstream Club (VAC) in 1993 by jumping through all the necessary approval hoops with the WBCCI (Wally Byam Caravan Club Intl) who was the governing body. After forming the Vintage Airstream Club, Bud became a founding member of the ..read more

Click here to play Mobile America Video In this nostalgic one-hour documentary, popular PBS host Huell Howser goes in search of the history of the RV in America. We start our adventure with David Woodworth, who is the preeminent collector of pre Second World War travel trailers, tent trailers, motor campers and just about anything having to do with early American camping. Next it’s off to a vintage trailer rally, where fifty trailers dating from 1935 to 1960 have assembled to spend a weekend showing off their pride and joys. The video is full of wonderful archival material from the era. Newsre ..read more

A Pretty Good Lyft Last week in Baltimore, Uber charged me $85 for a trip that usually costs $20. I looked into the way their “surge pricing” model actually works, and didn’t like what I learned. So today, after checking out of my hotel in Oklahoma, I called Lyft instead, and was picked up by a guy named Mike. He was driving a red F-150. It was clearly a work truck, full of tools and lumber. I sat up front. “How far to the airport,” I asked. “Fifteen minutes,” he said. “You in a hurry?” “Not really,” I said. “Are you?” “Never.” As we merged onto the highway and settled into the slow lane, I as ..read more

Great Advice from 1924… I recently added this circa 1920s Gettysburg postcard to my collection: “The only way to seethe country is bymotor, as mother and Iare appreciating. Better join the T.C.T.and try it.    Regards,                     Clyde”  Mailed October 30, 1924 Daniel Hershberger – Roadside Historian and TCT Hall of Fame Member ..read more

Can you tell us about how you got into the vintage trailer hobby?  My parents had trailers while I was growing up and the last one they had was an Airstream. We remodeled the inside of that one and I fell in love with them! My dad and I also owned/rehabbed several older cars (a 1951 DeSoto, a 1960 Nash Metropolitan and a 1970 Triumph) so the vintage itch was rampant! My husband and I found a 1980 International shortly after we were married and completely overhauled it (as it was quite neglected!). What type of trailers have you owned and what do you have now? What is your dream vintage t ..read more