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Teardrop Photo Page
There are many different shapes and styles of teardrop camping trailers, some are not even really a teardrop shape but the basics remain the same. A cozy compartment for sleeping and an outside kitchen, usually under a lift up hatch in the back. There were many volume manufacturers including Kit, Ken-Skill, Modernistic, Benroy, Kampmaster, Tourette, Scad-A-Bout among others. Several designs were sold as kits as well as factory assembled models. Some designs were also manufactured by more than one company. For instance the Benroy was later sold under the King Richard name and the Modernistic evolved into the Modernaire and Cub.
Along with all the factory built models, there were many, many more homemade designs or trailers built from plans available either in magazines or books or through advertising. The variety of designs and innovations that people could come up with in such a small simple format are amazing.
Below are examples of different designs. Click on the photos for larger views.
Ken-Skill
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Benroy/King Richard
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The Benroy design optimizes interior space while sacrificing some of the pure teardrop shape. It has a flatter front and roof than other tears and the hatch design allows the kitchen to be placed further back maximizing interior space. These trailers were built in Burbank, California. Later the same trailer was made by a different company and called the King Richard. They are easily spotted by their patterned aluminum sides and smaller wheels. Click here for pictures of the 1955 Benroy I had.
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Scad-A-Bout
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Scad-A-Bout teardrop trailers are very similar in profile to the Benroy/King Richard brands. Differences include smaller wheels and the rear hatch does not open all the way to the bottom on the standard models.
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Kit
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The Kit Manufacturing company started in 1945 in Long Beach, California as a manufacturer of teardrop campers that were sold in kit form or as complete units. Kit teardrops have one of the classic teardrop shapes that people quickly recognize. The Kit company expanded beyond teardrops into a wide range of trailers and has remained in business to this day and as of January 2003, the RV division was sold and renamed Extreme RVs.
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Modernistic/Modernaire/Cub
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This series of trailers has one of the most pure wing-shape profiles of all. It's obvious the design drew inspiration from the aircraft industry. Originally sold as complete trailers, they became available in kit form in the late 1940s. The advertisement said all you needed was a screwdriver and a wrench to put it together.
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Tourette
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The Tourette is a wider bodied teardrop where the wheels are enclosed in the body. This makes for a wider interior and kitchen. Also the body is made with an aluminum frame. Made by the Universal Trailer Corporation, Kansas City, MO, from mid-'40s early '50s. They weighed about 720 lbs, and came with a luggage rack, ice-box, and stove for about $750 in 1947. They were also known as "Tourers".
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Kampmaster/Campmaster/Wild Goose
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These trailers were a little different in that the hatch is much bigger and there were canvas sides that attached that allowed for stand up space in the back where the kitchen is actually inside. Kampmaster or Campmaster were factory built. In 1953, Popular Mechanics Magazine published plans to build the Wild Goose, which is basically the same design.
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Other Designs
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The basic premise of the teardrop camping trailer is a comfortable place to sleep and a convenient kitchen out back under a hatch. While not all follow the formula to a "T" or have the traditional teardrop profile, I think they still fit in. The extreme is the Trailorboat, where the roof is actually a boat that comes off.
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