SALISBURY — They come from a simpler time, when bikes had only three speeds and kids played Capture the Flag in their neighborhoods after school dressed in plaid pedal-pushers or Bermuda shorts.
They represent an era when families took vacations in 13-foot campers costing less than $1,000, not in 50-foot recreational vehicles with price tags comparable to a small house.
The campers of the '50s, '60s and '70s were distinctive, often painted turquoise with round corners and shaped like canned hams or teardrops.
Out of fashion for decades, replaced by more luxurious, block-long motor homes, the vintage campers have made a comeback, so much so that manufacturers are reissuing them brand new.
But for purists, the vintage Serro Scotty and Shasta "canned ham" campers remain the rage.
A bevy of original campers and their owners began arriving at Salisbury Beach State Reservation campground yesterday afternoon for a weekend of enjoying the weather, the beach, a huge turkey dinner and a bit of nostalgia.
According to event organizer Heidi Rowell of Billerica, the weekend drew trailer owners from all over New England, New York and Michigan, where Nancy Kroes leads the National Serro Scotty Organization.
Kroes traveled to Salisbury with her 1959, rear-entry, aluminum, 13-foot Serro Scotty. She bought the unit in 2008 and refurbished it herself from the steel struts up, complete with custom oak paneling and tiny kitchenette. The model cost $695 new in 1959. She calls it Serro 7.
It isn't Kroes' first Serro Scotty — that one came in 2004 — and it won't be her last.
"John Serro was a man with a vision," Kroes, a Web designer at Western Michigan University, said. "His intent was to make a camper that was affordable to most people, light enough to be towed by almost anything and that could be stored in the average garage. Serro Scottys all cost under $1,000."
Serro's first campers, manufactured in 1957, were in the shape of teardrops and featured only a place to sleep inside, she said.
"They had a hatchback that opened up, and that was where the kitchen was," Kroes said. "You'd cook at the kitchen standing outside."
After that came the 13- and 15-foot long, canned-ham-shaped campers, a staple of Americana in the middle of the last century, she said.
"Until 1963, they all came in unpainted aluminum," Kroes said. "Then, after that, you could choose to have the top (quarter) painted, and the color was always turquoise. Then, they all came painted in white and turquoise."
The traditional canned-ham design continued until the mid-1970s, she said. After that, the trailers featured a more square-corner design and got quite large, continuing that way until the factory burned in 1997.
It's a 1968 traditional, turquoise-and-white model that captured the heart of Dominic Werrbach of South Berwick, Maine. He had his first new Serro in 1978, but sold it in the 1980s. As the years progressed and life got more complicated, nostalgia drew Werrbach back to the halcyon days when small Serros ruled the roads.
"We're recapturing our childhood; that's really what we're doing," Werrbach said. "You know, when you're in this trailer, you go back in time. It brings me back to when I was a teenager. We're all baby boomers recapturing our youth.
"Reality today can be overwhelming, but when I'm in here, things are so much calmer. Sometimes, I come in here just to take a nap."
The Serros aren't the only vintage campers with a loyal following. Wayne and Lorene Lenington pulled into Salisbury from Connecticut yesterday with their 1968 Shasta camper, complete with its turquoise wing tips. The Leningtons spent years with a teardrop-shaped Serro Scotty before graduating up to their current Shasta.
The return to the vintage trailers has spawned new versions, with teardrop-shaped campers regaining popularity, Rowell said.
"They're named 'Take Back America,'" she said. "The idea is to go back to a simpler time."
Rowell and her husband, David, picked up their first Serro Scotty in 2003. They bought the circa 1963, 13-foot camper at an estate sale.
"They actually offered to give it to me for free, but I paid $150 for it," Heidi Rowell said. "We spent a couple of months fixing it up. Then, as soon as it was finished — before the paint was dry, actually — we took it camping with our daughter, Katie."
A 1968, turquoise and white, 15-foot Serro Scotty followed for the Rowells. And there's a '62 at home awaiting restoration.
"They are addictive," Rowell said, laughing. "They're funky, and they're old, and I like vintage things. And you meet such really nice people at events like this."
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