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.
I recently became the proud owner of a 72 Serro Scotty Hi-Lander and was thrilled to find the NSSO website and Facebook page which are loaded with great rebuild and restore info…BUT…it’s founder Nancy Kroes runs her organization in a bit of a arbitrary dictatorship…she recently removed me from the group after I politely questioned why one of my posts showing a really cute aqua and white VW camper modification was removed without explanation when I just saw the exact same post from another member!! Yesterday I received an email from Ms Kroes stating my “membership has revoked due to my disrespect towards her”… She is a bit arbitrary and capricious in her authoritarian role …and so I will seek other Serro Scotty Enthusiasts to share my joy and delight of these adorable unique vintage canned ham trailers!!
I recently became the proud owner of a 72 Serro Scotty Hi-Lander and was thrilled to find the NSSO website and Facebook page which are loaded with great rebuild and restore info…BUT…it’s founder Nancy Kroes runs her organization in a bit of a arbitrary dictatorship…she recently removed me from the group after I questioned why one of my posts showing a really cute aqua and white VW camper modification was removed without explanation when I just saw the exact same post from another member!! Yesterday I received an email from Ms Kroes stating my “membership has revoked due to my disrespect towards her”… She is a bit arbitrary and capricious in her authoritarian role …and so I will seek other Serro Scotty Enthusiasts to share my joy and delight of these adorable unique vintage canned ham trailers!!
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.
ms kroes has the best site for serro scottys tt as a new member ,My Personal Opinion
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
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
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