A Camper For The CJ - Jeep Encyclopedia - Four Wheeler Network
A “Jeep Camper” decal was also on the front face of the camper, something that deteriorated quickly as evidenced by the few remaining campers. Late in the decade, Kaiser Jeep saw an opportunity to jump on that bandwagon, developing a J-3000 Gladiator Camper Truck and offering some DRW chassis’ for use in Class-C motorhome conversions. They even came up with a camper for the CJ to sell in-house, and that’s the topic of this month’s Jeep Encyclopedia. In 1969 Jeep started a big “Jeep Great Escape” ad campaign, highlighting the recreational use of Jeep products. One of those highlights was the Jeep Camper, something which had been developed a year or so before by Chuck Prater from Kentucky, who then sold the exclusive rights to produce it to Jeep. Jeep farmed out the actual production to Ward manufacturing, which was already well known for building the El Dorado line of campers. The camper attached to the Jeep drawbar and rear crossmember with a large pin into a bracket accessed through a door in the floor of the camper. At first, Jeep required that the camper option was an extra for a new Jeep you purchased at the same time, but later it was offered a la carte for CJ-5 Jeeps from 1955 onward. Source: www.fourwheeler.com
