Spring is almost here, at least visually, in the upper-Midwest where we’ve been hammered by recent snowstorms. I always get the travel bug at this time of year and this 1969 Travel Queen motorhome would be a fun project – the price is certainly right at $1,900. It can be found on craigslist in Manteca, California.

As someone who grew up camping, or what we called camping, which was inside of an insulated, sandwich-construction aluminum Winnebago truck camper, I have always had a soft spot for these early campers and motorhomes. A Class-C (van chassis) motorhome like this Travel Queen would have been like going to the moon compared to the four of us crammed into the back of a pickup camper, or into the front of a pickup. The Travel Queen’s v-shaped cab-over front helped it to cheat the wind and its round top helped with cross winds. If any of you have traveled in a big camper or motorhome, you know that feeling.

There are no photos of the passenger side at all which is always worrisome, but hopefully the seller would send more photos to any serious buyers. There was no need for a “CL archive” on this one as all six photos will be shown here and the entire description consists of: “Starts right up. Refurbished inside.” No really, that’s it. This is one of the most interesting shapes on a Class-C motorhome with the rounded top and extra “trunk” on the rear. You can see that this one needs work but for $1,900 this seems like a no-brainer for anyone into vintage camping. Here’s a nicer example and what this one could look like with a little elbow grease.

Speaking of vintage camping, the Ford Econoline van chassis is about as cool as it gets for me on a mini-motorhome. The interior looks great although it’s in need of a cobweb removal service… The seats appear to be original for this make and look like they’re in great condition. It doesn’t look like this example has AC, there would have been a set of vents in the center of the upper-dash. I don’t see anything really frightening on the cab portion of this Travel Queen other than some possible spiders lurking under the dash and elsewhere. There is no mention as to if everything works but apparently it starts right up and that’s a good thing. I’m mentally going through a list of things that I would do, and they include the usual: brakes, belts, hoses, fluids, shocks, tires, etc. I would also add dual-exhaust for a little extra oomph and MPG. I know, it doesn’t yield much of either of those things, maybe 2 mpg, but it wouldn’t hurt.

Travel Queen made pickup campers earlier than this Class-C, or mini-motorhome, and from what I’ve found in the unbelievably-sparse information out there on this company, they went out of business in the late-1980s. They were based in Riverside, California and had another manufacturing plant in Nappanee, Indiana, close to the mecca of the RV industry in this era – Elkhart, Indiana. There are only two photos of the camper portion of this rig, the one shown above and a little different angle shown here. It’s always a bummer to see a vehicle being used as a storage unit but it happens. This one has a kitchen next to the bathroom and shower but there are no detail photos. Here are two photos of another similar Travel Queen motorhome kitchen and bathroom area as a reference. If this motorhome were closer it would hard to not buy it. Have any of you owned a vintage Class-C motorhome? What do you think of this Travel Queen for $1,900?