20 years history of Toyota camper

For almost 20 years, various manufacturers have manufactured Toyota motorhomes on several models. During its heyday, this little camper was produced in more than 60 different models and styles of campers.

Starting with a fairly small Toyota Chinook camper van and continuing to the largest of Toyota-based Winevago and Itasca models, Toyota-based motorhomes help establish many manufacturers in the RV industry.

Due to the large number of manufacturers, it is not uncommon to see similar campers or very different names. Due to the small overall size, the types of floor plans available were limited. This has led many manufacturers to create virtual replicas that differ only in some of the details fit and finish types.

It didn’t take long for manufacturers to start increasing the size of their camper van bodies. Using traditional manufacturing techniques found in the travel trailer industry, stick-and-staple construction with aluminum siding has become the norm.

In the decade of the 1980s, Toyota’s camper production peaked. Many different companies manufactured many different models. Some of the big companies involved in this business were National RV, the producer of the very popular Dolphin series. We also manufactured the Seabreeze model. At the same time, Winevago produced Brave, Warrior, and deluxe Itascus Spirit models.

Damen Corporation in Elkhart, Indiana manufactured the Escaper motorhome, and Coachman manufactured the popular Coachman and Savanna models. Leisure Odyssey was building campers in Americana, Santa Cruz, and Laguna.

The Mini-Mirage was built by the Mirage industry, but the still very popular SunRader was built by Gardener Pacific in a fiberglass body.

By the late 1980s, camper vans had grown to 22 feet in length. This caused a serious overload problem on the original halfton pickup axle. A National Security Recall has been issued by the US Government to fix this issue. Most models were given a new 1 ton axle. However, there are still some units available today with unsafe axles. Be careful if you are looking at the 1980s version of this very popular camper.

In 1989 the V6 was introduced to the market with a Toyota chassis. This increased horsepower was very popular with camper owners and continued production until 1994, when Toyota stopped supplying pickup chassis to camper manufacturers for safety reasons. Winnebago produced some of the last V6 versions in 1994.

Toyota campers were very popular during their production period and were widely distributed nationwide. Today, the largest number of units on the road appear to be concentrated on the east and west coasts, but these motorhomes will appear almost everywhere in the country.