This blog's been neglected long enough. Time for another project. This one's a truck camper. I'm actually not sure whether to call it restoration, rennovation, rehabilitation, or remodel. Probably all those, I suppose.
My new project is a 1999 SportCam slide-in. They're rare. Not many made. Not much info. This Truck Camper Magazine article covers their main claim to fame: self-(un/)loading design; plus another fun fact, or two.
It's worth stepping back to appreciate a bigger idea trying to play out back in the 1990's. Some original paperwork survived in my case. Including a brochure from Mobility Inc of Tampa FL.
Brainstorming how else to market their patented loading system, they developed a number of ideas. Instead of a furnished camper, imagine a shell model that could be customized for different applications.
Now imagine chopping off the whole roof, cabover and upper sides, leaving just the bottom walls to bed height with a tailgate. Think bed liner that's rigid and unloadable.
Or imagine something in between: keep the lower sides to cab height. Kinda like a dump bed. Kinda...
Instead of an wide/open bed, imagine storage boxes in the sides. Like those ubiquitous Reading and Knapheide service bodies. But easy unload instead of permanently mounted.
All made of fiberglass instead of metal or plastic. Okay. Maybe those weren't superior ideas. Maybe that's why they never flew. So says marketplace hindsight anyway. Whereas Sport-Cam Industries of Schofield WI sold some SportCam truck campers from 1992 to 2000. So my '99 find represents the tail end of their run.
Now a word about kismet. Bear with me on this tangent. Back in 2015, while volunteering in MS, I found a big/old/rough Airstream in Hartselle AL. It was already gutted, plus minor body damage and major floor rot from leaks. It rever got restored on my watch. But it's axles were used to build a car hauler that doubled as an under frame to transport the shell.
During my 6 year tenure the Airstream was moved first to AR, then CO, and FL eventually. While its running gear toured the US, the shell itself sat usefully as storage. Until it was sold in Feb 2021. The car hauler I kept. It patiently waited for it's next chapter. Hold that thought.
In Jan 2020 I finally met some long-time pen pals in LA. That was my first glimpse of his '99 SportCam. Marty inherited it from a cousin who passed some years before. He wanted the truck it came on. Not the camper which'd already suffered badly from neglect.
He advertised the camper but didn't get any takers. He told me his best lead was a guy from MD who requested interior pix before chancing a trip. Marty sent pix and never heard from him again! LOL
In Sep 2020 while moving the Airstream from CO to FL we stopped in LA for another visit. I braved a peek inside the SportCam. Too nasty. As time passed, however, a seed of sympathy germinated in my soul.
In Feb 2022 while returning from TX to FL we stopped in LA for another visit. This time I held my nose and took a closer look at the sorry old camper. The more I looked, the more potential I saw. I test cleaned one of the ugliest areas on the roof. Encouraged, I decided. The SportCam needed saving. It needed me.
A couple weeks later we returned for it. As great a truck as my Tundra has been for my purposes, it's not enough to carry the SportCam. The bed isn't long enough. The suspension isn't heavy enough. So I brought the car hauler. After a week of cleaning, and two landfill loads from gutting its interior, the SportCam was secured on the car hauler and moved to FL.
Going through surviving paperwork in the camper (that didn't get chewed by mice) I discovered that Marty's cousin lived in Hartselle AL. This SportCam came from the same place I got that Airstream; whose axles are now hauling the SportCam. Isn't it funny how things sometimes come around full circle.
I plan to document the project here. This marks the first installment. The back story. Future posts can delve into the nitty gritty.
