My name is Tony Young, and my wife, Christy, and I live in Cabot, Arkansas. I am a Realtor, and Christy is an insurance agent. In our free time, we restore older campers and put them back on the road.
Within our first two years in the hobby, we restored more than 25 campers. Typically, we have one or two projects underway at any given time, working on them during evenings and weekends whenever our schedules allow.
We are not a restoration business—just hardcore hobbyists who enjoy saving old campers. We also have three grown children and a small farm with horses, goats, ducks, chickens, peacocks and one very large pig, so there is rarely a dull moment around our place!
Before discovering vintage trailers, we restored older motorcycles. We brought 15 to 20 old bikes back to life, although I eventually realized that I wasn’t quite as good with engines as I wished I were.
Restoring campers gave Christy and me an opportunity to combine our different skills. Christy started by making seat cushions and gradually moved on to completing entire interiors, including upholstery, window treatments and pillows. I handle the floors, walls and exterior painting.
Our goal is not to create flawless $15,000 showpieces that only a few people can afford. We want to build attractive, usable vintage campers that more families can enjoy. About 90 percent of the campers we completed sold for less than $3,500.
For us, the reward is taking an older camper that might otherwise be forgotten and giving it another chance to travel, camp and make memories.
Originally published in 2015 in the VCT magazine.
