The Yellow Camper

This post was written with 20/20 hindsight – the yellow camper just wasn’t meant to be. So here it goes:

We found a camper!  It turns out this part of the country is perfect for vintage camper hunting – they are everywhere.  This one is a 1959 Fan “Twinkle”, and it is located just an hour up the road.

We drove up to check it out, and Noelle instantly fell in love with the yellow color.  We are looking to buy a camper that is essentially camp ready, and that is exactly how this one is being advertised (and priced…).  The exterior is in decent shape, the yellow and white paint job is recent and looks well done.  The camper is just a little 14′ footer, and doesn’t even have a bathroom.  The interior is actually pretty rough, lots of previous water damage to the walls and cabinets, some roughly made panels installed to cover the bad spots – I think some people’s definition of “camp ready” might differ from my own!

We decided we could work with the interior, and offered a lower than asking price.  A deal was struck and we handed over the money for the title – well on our way to owning a cool vintage camper!

We headed down to Florida with the title in hand to get plates for the trailer, and Noelle’s jeep.  We’re also getting our driver’s licenses updated to reflect our new status as Floridians.

The trip down was beautiful.  We started out taking the slow route down highway 52 through South Carolina.  Saw some beautiful old houses and went on the “Wildlife Drive” at the Pee Dee Wildlife Refuge.

We got to the Florida DMV office the next morning, ready to finally get this show on the road!  Then the DMV lady decided to pour a lot of rain on our parade.  She really burst our collective bubble.  I mean she really took the wind out of the sails and killed any buzz that was to be had.

We thought we had everything ready. I had confirmed with like three different people what we needed: old ID’s, passports, social sec. cards, insurance, titles, etc.  The DMV lady takes one look at the piece of paper that I had been given when I handed over all of the cash for the trailer. “Well that’s not going to work” she says before moving on to get our licenses and Jeep plates done.  We finally get back to dealing with the trailer, and she explains that this piece of paper is actually an application for a duplicate North Carolina title that means absolutely nothing.  Oh, and we need the trailer present for a vin check and weight check…

So now we freak out.  We just drove all the way down here, and are leaving empty handed.  I just gave this guy a big chunk of change for the trailer, and we are holding a worthless piece of paper as a result – such an idiot! Noelle drives on the way back up while I start calling the applicable DMV offices between North Carolina and Florida. Trying not to panic too much, I eventually ascertain that we will need a good title for the trailer to get plates, and that will be extremely difficult if not impossible in NC.  They have some court process, and you have to post an indemnity bond or something.  I kept getting conflicting info between the local florida DMV office, the central Florida DMV help desk, the local NC DMV, and the central Raleigh office. I finally got the central Florida office to agree that I could get plates if I get the NC DMV to issue a letter stating that the trailer has never been issued a title (it’s from 1959 people!!!)

In the quest to get such a letter from the state, I was transferred to like 4 different people, the last of which said something like “Well you shouldn’t buy things that are old”  and then she proceeded to tell me I need to talk to some “inspectors” who are actually just state troopers that only work from 8 to 10AM weekdays (its 4:30PM on Friday).  She says they work at the interstate weigh stations in the evenings, but when I asked if I could call one of those stations, she said “No.” So with that definitive answer, I told her thanks, and quickly looked up the number to one of said stations.

I got a hold of someone – we’ll call him Deputy Dan – he was crazy.  Like bat-shit crazy.  So I bantered back and forth with him until this other guy who called himself Trooper Cooper came on.  He told me he can’t really help me, but that I should call the central Raleigh office – the same office that sent me down this path to begin with!!!  I’m glad I didn’t wait until Monday morning to hear this.

Sooo… after a very disappointing day at the DMV, a bunch of calls to some very unhelpful government drone-like humans, we are going to get our money back from the seller asap. He said he had the “original title” but this piece of paper is not even close, and we need to extricate ourselves from this whole situation.

We’re staying positive though.  The seller seems like a good guy, and is sorry we weren’t able to get the plates.  We’re going to keep looking for a suitable camper, and will be extra sure that we have all the paperwork ducks in a row!