5 to 10 million cars
were being used for camping
The Aero Car
Prairie Schooner
Warner Auto Trailer
The Prairie Schooner is an early representative of the tent line of auto trailer
development. Little more than an expandable tent, towed behind
the car in on a platform, the Prairie Schooner was designed as a temporary
domicile for recreational travel.
Wheel Estate, Allan Wallis, Oxford University Press, 1991
Image Credit: National Auto History Collection, Detroit Public Library
During this period the automobile was seen as integral to the camping experience. The "freedom of the outdoors" was characterized by mobility, rather than an escape from technology. Hence the use of the car, and its aesthetics (as seen in the Aerocar) became bound to notions of individual independence.