Whereas larger, more complex truck campers provide amenities and large living spaces, Four Wheel Campers embrace the ability to literally go camping in comfort anywhere your truck can go safely and with relative ease.
These three simple, yet complex goals, provide a very small niche in the camper marketplace unlike other brands of truck campers. Decorative design elements are kept to an absolute minimum to reduce weight and increase durability.
Aluminum framing and skin keeps the camper light and durable. Understated cabinetry, made of mahogany plywood, provides lightweight simplicity and a greater feeling of spaciousness in a very compact living space. The camper must observe three basic principles: light weight, durability, simplicity. The Four Wheel Camper is a lot more developed and refined than it was back in 1972, but the basic concept hasn’t changed at all. The future brings more improvement, much of it suggested by owners who use the product on a regular basis, and many who camp away from the mainstream in harsh and punishing conditions. New materials are constantly researched and studied to lighten, strengthen, and improve performance. The Four Wheel Camper is truly a work in progress. Lessons learned from world travelers, and especially Baja California experience taught us where the frame needed improvement. All of the remaining particle board was designed out, the electrical system was completely redesigned, and components ranging from foam to fabrics to plumbing fittings were improved. Staying true to the basic concept, system by system the camper improved. In 2001, Tom and Celeste Hanagan became the new owners, and the Four Wheel Campers started evolving into a more modern and comfortable product. The basic design stayed the same, production increased, and more and more campers became aware of Four Wheel Campers. Production bumped along, and then Ben Burnett bought the company in 1996. A couple of years later, the company moved to Woodland, California, and has been there since. A major change in ownership occurred, and Jack Billings eventually became the owner of Four Wheel Campers in 1987. The Seventies and into the Eighties were a heyday for Four Wheel Campers and the RV industry. Transition to trucks came soon enough, but the company continued to build for Blazers, Broncos, and Scouts for quite some time. The first Four Wheel Camper was built upon an International Scout, not a typical pick up truck, and it was a hard sided camper, not a pop-up camper. It sure beat hunting in the Rockies with a Volkswagen bus, and it opened the path for a great deal more flexibility where an adventurous kind of person could expand his or her horizons to. Truck campers had been around for many years, even going back to the early years of trucks in the 1920s, but Dave Rowe came up with an idea for a super light weight pop up camper.