Featured: 10 Photos Of The World’s Most Beautiful Camping Trailer

10 Photos Of The World’s Most Beautiful Camping Trailer

By Michael Banovsky
September 23, 2015

Photos Courtesy of Bowlus Road Chief

I could talk about the way the Bowlus Road Chief is made to last 50 years and is screwed, bolted, and riveted together without adhesives, or how it has a heated floor and is so light it can be towed by a Saab 9-3 Convertible.

Many of you are aware that Airstream’s founder, Wally Byam, worked for a time and then owned luxury travel trailer company Bowlus, borrowing much of the look and a few of the details found in the 1935 Bowlus for the first Airstream, called “Clipper”.

After a very long time, Bowlus was recently reborn and reimagined, staying faithful to the original design but updating as much as possible (including its overall size) to take advantage of modern materials and build techniques. In person, it’s made in a notably different way from many of the other trailers, relying on a true monocoque shell for strength and light weight—the Road Chief is a svelte 2,300 lbs. dry.

All of this is important, of course, but it’s also all moot once you see an expertly-shot photo of the polished aluminum trailer in an idyllic setting: the “wanderlust” is strong with this one. 

 

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Aaron Sacks
Aaron Sacks
9 years ago

And one can be yours for the value price of a mere $110,000 USD.

Bowlus Road Chief
Bowlus Road Chief
9 years ago

Hi Michael, thank you for the article. One misconception that frequently appears, is that Wally Byam (Airstream) bought assets or the Bowlus Road Chief company. In fact, he did neither. In 1935, Wally Byam worked as a salesperson for Hawley Bowlus selling Bowlus Road Chief trailers. Since Hawley did not patent his trailer designs when Byam asked him if he could copy them Hawley Bowlus is said to reply (according to his wife Ruth), “there is nothing I can do about it”. In 1936, Wally launched the Airstream Clipper which had many design elements similar to the Road Chief, i.e. the shape, dimensions, construction methods, etc. Both were competitors in 1936 with both advertising in the LA Times. In November of 1936, Bowlus stopped building trailers and did not transfer any assets to Wally. In 1937, Byam (Airstream) had a bankruptcy sale. It is estimated that Bowlus built 5 to 10 times the numbers of aluminum riveted trailers than Airstream did during this period.

Guitar Slinger
Guitar Slinger
9 years ago

I’m not sure I’d go so far as to say this IS the worlds most beautiful trailer …. but it sure as heck is one of them ! And it has to be said Bowlus sure takes some mighty fine photos to promote their loverly wares as well .

PS; Love the Tivoli in the ‘ living room ‘ . Good choice for some on the road listening though I’d of added the 2nd speaker and the CD module myself ….

” What a long strange trip its been ” .. and it’d get even better in a Bowlus

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