This New Camper Looks Like It’s 70 Years Old And Probably Costs Less Than Your Truck, But There’s One Caveat

Retro things have been in vogue for quite a while now. You can buy a vintage-style motorcycle to go with your retro SUV, retro clothes, vintage-style electronics, and retro home furnishings. The recreational vehicle world hasn’t missed out, and lots of brands offer new RVs that look old. Not all of these trailers really commit to the theme, but that’s not what you can say about Sunset Park RV’s new Retro line. These trailers look old inside and out, and have some good attention to detail. They’re also shockingly affordable, coming in well below $30,000. But there’s an unfortunate twist, and it’s how they’re built.

The retro-style travel trailer is hardly anything new. Airstream has been trading on classic style since forever, and the reborn Bowlus really leans into past design. Many fiberglass camper brands like Scamp and Happier Camper embrace the past with open arms. But not all retro campers are created equal.

Some RV buyers dig the aluminum-sided travel trailers of the mid-20th century, trailers such as old Shastas and Scotsmans. Some of these trailers resembled canned ham containers, and many were painted in bright exterior colors, had warm wood colors inside, and were adorned with brightwork all over. Vintage trailers like these are a bold contrast to the monochromatic trailers of today.

Not All Vintage Is Equal

A lot of vintage trailer survivors are lucky enough to get a modern restoration. But if you’re not into getting your hands dirty, you can buy a modern trailer that looks like it came from the 1950s or 1960s. The only problem is that most of them are half-baked. For example, Gulf Stream Coach sells its Vintage Cruiser line of trailers (above), and they have the colors of old trailers, but they don’t actually look like an old trailer.

There was also the Riverside RV Retro line of travel trailers. I thought that a couple of models of these looked a bit closer to the trailers they got inspiration from, but I was never impressed with the fit and finish of the interior materials. Some Riverside Retro models had even less theming effort put into them than the aforementioned Vintage Cruisers. Here’s one of the better Riverside designs:

There have been exceptions to my observations. The short-lived modern Holiday House trailers absolutely looked like the old ones, but the best was probably the 2015 Shasta Airflytes of the 2010s. Shasta RV created limited-edition replicas of its old trailers, but with modern appliances. They nail the mission so well that, to the untrained eye, the new Shastas are the old ones!

Seriously, take a look at a modern Shasta:

I was pleasantly surprised by Sunset Park RV’s latest offerings. The independent RV manufacturer scooped up another indie company, Riverside RV, in late 2024, along with its factory and the Retro brand. Now, Sunset Park has its own Retro line, and I think it commits to the theme even better.

One Of The Independents

I last wrote about Sunset Park RV Manufacturing back in 2024 when I toured the absurdly affordable Sunray 109 Sport. Sunset Park is not one of the brands owned by Forest River, Winnebago, or Thor Industries, but is an independent that does things its own way. Here’s what I wrote in 2024:

Sunset Park RV Manufacturing was founded in 2007 by Merle Schmucker. At the time, Schmucker was just 19 years old, and he was already a successful businessman, having founded a luxury home construction company in Florida two years prior. He moved to Indiana, the home of RV manufacturing, to raise his kids and to start an RV company of his own. Like many entrepreneurs in independent RV manufacturing, Schmucker sought to provide the kind of innovation and unique designs that you don’t often see with names like Thor or Forest River.

Today, Sunset Park RV says it’s the 11th largest manufacturer of travel trailers in America, and it’s done this on the backs of a whole lineup of tiny single-axle trailers like Sunray 109 Sport. Sunset Park RV believes that single-axle trailers are great due to their reduced weight, reduced tire wear, and lower entry cost compared to multi-axle trailers. The company says its customers are a little bit of everyone, from the couple looking for a weekend getaway to off-roaders looking for somewhere remote to camp.

Sunset Park says its acquisition of Riverside RV now makes it the fourth-largest RV company in America. Something I’ve appreciated about this brand is that it pays attention to what people are saying. Sunset Park thinks that a major reason why RV sales continue to struggle is that people just can’t afford to buy new RVs anymore. So it wants to make fun RVs that won’t cost an arm and a leg.

Sunset Park has leveraged the Retro branding from the Riverside acquisition to create its own line of Retro trailers for 2026. These are both better and sort of worse than the Riverside trailers.

New Retro

The new Retro line has four models, starting with the 16′ R126 “Ruby,” and ending with the 22’6″ R196 “Betty.” I toured the 23′ R186 “Cha Cha” and the Betty. All of these trailers start off with a fairly standard build. They ride on a typical steel frame, have torsion axles, have typical wood framing, and have a typical PVC rubberized roof membrane.

This is an interesting, and perhaps unfortunate, departure from the Riverside Retro trailers, which eschewed old-school wood framing for a more durable aluminum superstructure. In a weird way, these new Retro trailers are old-school in more than just one way.

The bodies of these trailers mostly nail the vintage look. They have the same weird and goofy shapes as real vintage trailers have, and there are neat touches like white wall tires, retro fenders, color-matched wheels with moon caps, and even vintage-style lights. These trailers definitely stick out in a crowd.

However, they don’t commit as hard to the bit as a Shasta reissue. You’ll still find modern windows, a modern awning, and modern storage compartment doors. These can be forgiven, I think, because of how affordable these units are, which we’ll get to in a bit.

I was also impressed with the theming inside of these trailers. Betty’s door is at the rear, and you step right into a galley kitchen and dinette. This area featured a dual-basin sink, a three-burner stove, a 17-inch oven, a microwave, a refrigerator, and a table that converts into a bed. This room did feel a little small, and I didn’t find the cushions very comfortable.

The interior also had a bit of a funny quirk, and that was that the refrigerator had to have a stopper put into its door so that swinging open the bathroom door doesn’t dent it.

The center of the trailer features a fairly standard dry bathroom, and I don’t have any real notes here. Like most typical travel trailers, the shower sits on a little platform. The walls of the shower go all the way up the wall, but the shower itself is pretty shallow. The room inside the shower is pretty good!

Something I do like about the bathroom is that, since it’s in the middle of the trailer, it effectively turns the kitchen area into a bedroom. Finally, we reach the bedroom, and, theming aside, this bedroom feels roughly similar as the typical trailer bedroom. The 60″ by 74″ bed is on the thinner side, but it will get the job done.

I adored the theming. I loved the bright colors, the metal trim on the countertops, and how the inside walls made me feel like I had stepped into an old house. Sunset Park’s designers understood the look they were going for.

Quality was about what I expected for the price. The walls are thin, and the interior feels pretty low-buck. The oven and microwave are pretty small. The baggage compartment doors use outdated plastic holds, which are known for breaking, rather than more reliable magnets. The list of additional features mirrors this. You get only 100 watts of solar, a gas-only water heater, and a marine-grade wood floor. That said, there are some nice touches in the design, like EckCo acrylic windows and a black tank flush system. Holding tanks consist of 35 gallons for fresh water, 30 gallons for gray water, and 30 gallons for waste.

Same Thing, Different Flavor

The Cha Cha is a very similar trailer; however, its six extra inches of length afford it a better floorplan.

The front door opens up to the bedroom, which has the same bed as the Betty. The dinette is also in this room, which is also the same dinette that’s in the Betty. What’s new here is a 56-inch sofa that sits across from the dinette.

The rear of the trailer is dedicated to the kitchen and the bathroom. The kitchen and bathroom specs are exactly the same in the Cha Cha as they are in the Betty. The only functional difference here is where everything is placed. The Cha Cha also has a different shape, too. Even the tank specs are largely the same, except for the gray tank, which rises to 43 gallons in the Cha Cha.

The 23-foot Cha Cha weighs 3,380 pounds empty and loads up to a total weight of 4,000 pounds. The 22’6″ Betty weighs more at 3,640 pounds empty, but has the same gross weight of 4,000 pounds. This is due to both trailers having only a single axle. The good news, at least, is that these trailers can be hauled by all sorts of modern crossovers or vintage cars.

The other good news is that, while the construction methods are thoroughly unimpressive, the quality of the work appears to be a cut above the typical wood-framed trailer. The seals look like they were applied with steady hands, and all of the parts are fitted straight and snugly. The frames also didn’t have surface rust on them, which is a thing that does happen with affordable trailers. It doesn’t seem like these were pushed out of the factory as fast as humanly possible.

The dealership representative at the 2026 Florida RV SuperShow claimed that he gets far fewer quality complaints and has to perform fewer defect repairs with these Sunset Park trailers than he does with wood-frame builds from Thor or Forest River. That’s a good sign, at least. Still, the build of these trailers is pretty bog-standard, so expect to have to pay attention to that roof and try your hardest to prevent water leaks. Also, this trailer does use lauan plywood.

Under $30,000

However, I can cut these trailers some slack because they’re quite cheap. The Sunset Park R196 “Betty” currently runs $23,000 to around $28,000, depending on the dealership. Meanwhile, the Sunset Park R186 “Cha Cha” runs in roughly the same price range. That’s not a lot of money to pay for a neat vintage theme!

I think there’s a lot to like here, so long as you temper your expectations. You’re not getting something built like a Scamp. You’re not even getting the Retro how they used to be built. Technically, if price is all you care about, a Liv plastic camper is built better for less money. But if you like this vintage look and don’t want to pay a lot for it, I can see a Sunset Park Retro being an option. The low price comes with the caveat that this trailer is built as though it came from the past, too.

All that aside, I’m still stoked to see that several companies are catering to the cheaper end of the market. Not everyone has six figures to spend on an RV, and not everyone wants to spend a ton of cash on an RV, either. Yes, these cheaper rigs come with compromises, but I think they might be worth it for a buyer who wants fun without paying a ton for it. Just make sure you keep on top of maintenance.

Top graphic image: Mercedes Streeter