The Untold Story Of The First RVs

The first official RV enthusiasts' group in the States was founded in 1919, Cruise America writes. Known as "Tin Can Tourists" for their tendency to weld tin cans to a car's radiator as poor man's cookstove to warm up food. History Garage notes that they were adventurers, driving on dirt roads, camping on roadsides, and generally sharing information.

However, the boom of the early teens and '20s in RV camping came to a screeching halt in 1929 when The Depression hit, Smithsonian Magazine writes, though they note that some who had become homeless ended up using smaller, inexpensive RV trailers as homes. With many struggling to get by, and formerly wealthy travelers now depleted of disposable income, the industry lagged. It began rebounding in the early '30s as more affordable models came on the market, like the Covered Wagon Company's "Covered Wagon" trailer offered for sale beginning in 1931 (via Tin Can Tourists), and the first Airstream trailers, also in 1931 (via their site).

Then, during World War II, much of the RV manufacturing was converted for wartime use to build things like mobile hospitals, and Covered Wagon Company was no exception. Rather than making RVs, they began making cargo truck bodies for the federal government. At the end of the war, the company failed to convert back to RV-making and collapsed, fading into historical obscurity.

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