C10 1/2-Ton Camper Specials?

[Donbarnes]

Was there such a thing as a 1/2 ton Camper Special, I think of them as a 3/4 ton thing? I have a '72 C10, bought new in California, that had three fuel tanks and the switching valve beside the seat. I can read part of the build sheet and it was ordered with heavy duty rear springs, but appears to have come originally with small mirrors, and I don't know what else to look for on them.. We pulled the saddle tanks off and left them behind when we moved it from AR to NC, but my son says one of the tanks had a sticker on it that said 1975. It has also had dual batteries in it at some point, but that appeared to be somebodys hack job and not original. If its just a basic 1/2 ton truck that somebody modified for camping, the tank setup was professionally done at some point in its life. There are no special badges or decals on it..

[kwmech]

I do not know of any 1/2 ton camper special trucks. Saddle tanks at that time were aftermarket or dealer installed. They would be installed for anybody that wanted them. Dual battery........same thing. As far as the 1975 thing, maybe that's when they were installed in the '72.

[TwoFiftyShifter]

I was under the impression that camper units were only installed in 3/4 and 1 tons.

[68350]

For one year they made a customcamper/10. I believe 1969 but maybe 1970. Just cant remember right now

[factorystock]

There was a 1/2 ton Custom Camper, with special emblems on front fenders, but it was short lived, '67-'70. These trucks were not recommended for heavy campers, just lightweight 8' campers or shells. What you have is a 1/2 ton that hauled a camper at some point in time with period add on's typically found on 3/4 tons. The camper craze in the mid 60's to mid 70's really got out of hand, there was too much weight put on most 8' bed pickups ( not only 1/2 tons but some 3/4 tons as well ). The solution was to offer the 1 ton pickup with a 8' bed in '73.

[Donbarnes]

Thanks, at least the stainless locking covers for the saddle tanks don't look too bad in the sides of the bed...

[bluek5]

I found one in a wrecking yard. I got the emblems, just because I had not seen them before.

[garyd1961]

I'm pretty sure the guy right up the road from me has one but he removed all the emblems. He's the youth pastor at my church and I will ask him about it when I see him.

[special-K]

Yeah, that is a hard to find emblem. In 66-68 they used the same emblem as 3/4t.

[jerry moss]

many years back we had two customers at the shop that had custom camper 10's. i believe they were both 69 or 70s. have not seen either of them for a long time but i thought they were strange even back then.

[Steeveedee]

Originally Posted by factorystock

There was a 1/2 ton Custom Camper, with special emblems on front fenders, but it was short lived, '67-'70. These trucks were not recommended for heavy campers, just lightweight 8' campers or shells. What you have is a 1/2 ton that hauled a camper at some point in time with period add on's typically found on 3/4 tons. The camper craze in the mid 60's to mid 70's really got out of hand, there was too much weight put on most 8' bed pickups ( not only 1/2 tons but some 3/4 tons as well ). The solution was to offer the 1 ton pickup with a 8' bed in '73.

I beg to differ. I have a 1970 3/4T Longhorn CST Camper Special that can carry that camper shell you see in my avatar, and tow a 20 foot camping trailer (one of the old steel ones, not the new aluminum ones), as well. It doesn't take a 1T truck to do that.

[bhahn70]

I own one.

[bhahn70]

Forgot it's a 69

[special-K]

Originally Posted by Steeveedee

I beg to differ. I have a 1970 3/4T Longhorn CST Camper Special that can carry that camper shell you see in my avatar, and tow a 20 foot camping trailer (one of the old steel ones, not the new aluminum ones), as well. It doesn't take a 1T truck to do that.

I think he meant in general people were putting too much camper on too little truck. By this time period some humongus campers were being produced. '73 was the first dual wheel pickup and that is (I think) what he meant by 1t. We all know GM already produced a 1t pickup and always had since they made pickups at all. Just no dual wheel ones (except way earlier in years). A C/20 Longhorn is basically a 1t pickup with 3/4t badges. Little to no difference at all, same frame and likely an HO72 rear, leaf springs, etc

[Coley]

What I would like to know is what constitutes a 'camper special'?
What springs are in it? whats its GVW? (the maximum for that time was 5400 lbs I think...unless it was a 4wd then it bumped to 5600lbs-....so the camper would have been fairly limited in size.
Special tires?...overload springs?
It had to more than a nameplate....so any more info on the (spid) equipment on these trucks?

I used to carry a simple 8' overhead camper on my (heavy?) 72' 1/2 ton....it was not too bad but in my opinion the truck was not meant for anything to heavy along those lines in my opinion.
The leaf spring option is the best without a doubt over the coils...but still that camper/truck combo definitely set that scale well over 5400 lbs...probably closer to 6,000.
Luckily the tires are 100% better today than they were in the era. Its not uncommon to find load class C, 15", 6ply tires all day long today, which has a lot to do with it. I think there might even be a few load class D tires in the 15" range.
Personally I'm pretty sure the tires (not the truck) were the weak link in the GVW rating settings.


All Good
Coley

[Sicklajoie]

Some Custom Camper info

[GASoline71]

Wasn't "Camper Special" originally a Ford thing?

"Custom Camper" is a GM thing, but then in the mid 70's I think even GM called rigs "Camper Specials"?

Gary

[Sicklajoie]

I'll add to what factorystock and Special-K said. In 1970 Consumer Reports did a test with campers on Chevy, Ford, Dodge, and International 3/4 ton pickups. At the time, they were all judged poor handling wise.
Check it out on this thread.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=708143

[bhahn70]

Will this help

[factorystock]

Originally Posted by Steeveedee

I have a 1970 3/4T Longhorn CST Camper Special that can carry that camper shell you see in my avatar, and tow a 20 foot camping trailer (one of the old steel ones, not the new aluminum ones), as well. It doesn't take a 1T truck to do that.

No, it doesn't take a 1 ton to tow, however the issue here is not about towing. Its about how much weight that can be safely placed in the bed of the pickup.

[factorystock]

Originally Posted by special-K

I think he meant in general people were putting too much camper on too little truck.

That is correct. And yes, even some 3/4 tons were getting overloaded with heavy campers. GM and Ford finally developed the 1 ton pickup with the standard 8' bed ( which is the length of the floor of standard size camper) in 1973. Yes, there were Longhorns and C 30 before, but they were not standard camper length. Chevy came out with the "Big Dually" 1 ton and also the single wheel C 30 pickup. Ford came out with the Super Camper Special F 350. These pickups easily handled the weight of these heavy campers when the center of gravity was well ahead of the rear axle, but when the center of gravity was near or on the rear axle, the front end got a little to light.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by special-K

I think he meant in general people were putting too much camper on too little truck. By this time period some humongus campers were being produced. '73 was the first dual wheel pickup and that is (I think) what he meant by 1t. We all know GM already produced a 1t pickup and always had since they made pickups at all. Just no dual wheel ones (except way earlier in years). A C/20 Longhorn is basically a 1t pickup with 3/4t badges. Little to no difference at all, same frame and likely an HO72 rear, leaf springs, etc

Originally Posted by factorystock

That is correct. And yes, even some 3/4 tons were getting overloaded with heavy campers. GM and Ford finally developed the 1 ton pickup with the standard 8' bed ( which is the length of the floor of standard size camper) in 1973. Yes, there were Longhorns and C 30 before, but they were not standard camper length. Chevy came out with the "Big Dually" 1 ton and also the single wheel C 30 pickup. Ford came out with the Super Camper Special F 350. These pickups easily handled the weight of these heavy campers when the center of gravity was well ahead of the rear axle, but when the center of gravity was near or on the rear axle, the front end got a little to light.

I've shared this before, but these seems like a good spot to do so again:

The GM dually pickup was developed as a "lark", or as a joke.

One of the things we do during the development process is take road trips off GM property. We go to Pikes Peak, or Death Valley, etc, to do powertrain, brake, engine cooling, or overall vehicle development.

Invariably we bring a support vehicle of some kind, like a camper/motorhome or tool truck, both so that we have a rolling break room and any necessary tools to fix a breakdown (or to try out something new).

On a whim a couple of the truck development engineers directed that a wide track dual rear axle be installed in one of the "chase" trucks, which then had a camper installed.

After driving the truck through the mountains the engineers were so impressed with the stability of the ride that they brought it to the boss's attention. He was equally impressed; the package was submitted as a proposal for a production vehicle and accepted - and the modern era GM "Dooley" pickup was born.

K

[GASoline71]

Always dig your input Keith!

Gary

[stomper]

Originally Posted by bhahn70

I own one.

Super Cool! Custom Camper K10!!!

[special-K]

So, was that first pre-production "Big Dooley" a '72?

I never realized it, but looks like it's only K/10s that can be Custom Campers. Now that I think about it, that's all I've ever seen.