Our first camper  was a 1974 Venture pop-up. I believe the model was a Chateau. We bought it in 2007 or thereabouts for $500!  Most of its life it was garage kept so it was in great condition.  The vinyl pop-up cover you see in the photo was the original factory one.  Everything inside was original when we got it.  We had to replace the dry rotted curtains and tires.  We also replaced all of the outside plastic connections, clearance and brake light fixtures.

This camper boasted approximately 100 square feet of luxury and slept 6.  Well, not sure about all the luxury but 2 people with luggage could be comfortable.  Four or more, well…you could imagine the chaos.  Amenities included a 4 person dinette, stainless sink with running water, 2 burner stove, an ice-box refrigerator and a single overhead light.  No shower, toilet,  heat or air conditioning came with this pop-up.

Yes, I did say ice-box refrigerator.  All you had to do was put a small bag of ice in the bin up top and everything in the fridge stayed nice and cool.  Nothing frozen could be placed inside of course.  As the ice melted the water went out a drain at the bottom.  It worked so well that we never installed an electric fridge.

The best part about this unit other than entry level price tag was how easy it was to tow.  At 2,090 GVWR and a 8ft x 7ft x ~5ft box when lowered I couldn’t tell it was behind my 4.8 liter Chevy pick-up when towing. The second best part, I did not have to winterize this unit.  The water tank had never been used. The sink feed was self draining and directly hooked up to the outside water connection.