1957 Ford Fairlane camper

In my old photo album, right after the photos of the July 1958 Horribles parade (which I posted in the entry below), I found a few photos of Niagara Falls. That was at the beginning of our family's 6-week camping trip across the country.  

We traveled in a 1957 Ford Fairlane stationwagon that my father adapted into a camper.  Here is a photo taken when we visited my uncle Dick and his family in Milwaukee.

Our family of four, two parents and two teenagers (13 and 15), were able to sleep inside that wagon, thanks to sleeping platforms my father constructed.   In this month's column, I'll describe the preparation of that car for our trip.

An important part of the camper design was the special roof-top luggage carrier, which could be opened from either side.   You can see it propped in open position below:

1st stop on our trip west,
visiting the Stevens family in Rochester, NY.