By Garland Pollard
When one thinks of vintage travel trailers, Airstream always comes to mind. That company has mined its history so much that a new version of a classic Airstream camper has been designed by Design Within Reach.
But in recent years, as Airstream has become hip again, hipsters have sought the NEXT thing. For some, they found Serro Scotty, a cute travel trailer brand with a Scotty logo. The brand lived from 1947 to 1997, when the factory apparently burned. The company that made the original trailers is now Mobile Concepts by Scotty. The company is known for custom-made mobile fire and police department base camps that are used for disasters, community policing and other emergencies.
But recently, Serro Scotty came back; a website photo is above. It exploits a weakness in the RV industry. Today, except for the Casita, Egg Camper, Scamp, iCamp, T@B and Airstream and a few others, most mainstream RV’s look like really bad tract houses. But it wasn’t always that way. Through the years there have been dozens of innovative RV brand names, and many fun design concepts like Serro Scotty. Many are gone; some designs and brands could be easily revived as the industry has low barriers to entry.
As with any product brand has been kept alive, it was volunteers who restored many of the old campers and created enthusiasm about the brand, all connected by the National Serro Scotty Organization.
The Gaucho 13′, seen above, comes with a great aquamarine color; its list price starts at a snappy $12,500. Buy one.
5 responses so far ↓
1 Anne Degre // Jun 24, 2009 at 9:06 am
My grandfather, John Serro’s true passion in life was building his SCOTTY trailers. Grandpap loved seeing families camp in his trailers. He would be so proud to see that his dream lives on.
Thank you.
Ann Degre
Granddaughter
2 David // Mar 18, 2010 at 10:49 am
in your article beaming serro scotty trailers, your statement of the national serro scotty organization is miss guided,
the orginal group serro scotty camper enthusiasts, is the orginal group that started back in 1997 by allen colwell, the nsso group you wrote about is a break off from that group the ssce group started by allen is a much larger group,
its website is serroscottycamperenthusiasts.com david t
3 Marti // Feb 23, 2011 at 7:28 am
David, the reference to the National Serro Scotty Organization is not at all misguided. Colwell’s group was started first but it is much smaller and has a totally different focus than the larger and more respected NSSO.
Frankly, the SSCE site you referenced is in no way comparable to the NSSO site.
Marti – proud to do business with the NSSO
4 edward knapp // Mar 29, 2012 at 1:36 pm
ms kroes has the best site for serro scottys tt as a new member ,My Personal Opinion
5 Scotty Owner // Feb 19, 2013 at 2:24 pm
Thanks for the mention of our beloved campers. Let’s not start a group versus group war here people. We can enjoy both websites and groups.
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