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S
E R R O S C O T T Y
H I S T O R Y L I N E page one ______________________________
John Serro from PA began the legacy of the classic Serro Scotty Campers ! " Travel Right, Travel Light, The Scotty Way !! " was John's saying. John was the first manufacturer to develop a campground exclusively for his trailers ! 1956:
![]() John Serro started building the Scotty trailer, a 16 1/2 footer, in his barn at Rockwood, Pennsylvania. It is still on displayed at Scottyland. It was big and bulky but luxurious. It included an all wood interior and many extras. Unfortunately, it was not received well by the motoring public. So, John went back to the drawing board. 1957:
This year he created a 10 foot teardrop and it didn't go over big either. In July an idea comes to him, while on vacation, for the 13 foot Sportsman. He cuts the vacation short in order to get home and build this NEW idea. He brings his 13 foot creation to the MidWest Trailer show in Elkhart, Indiana on the final day and steals the show with orders for 18 trailers. He secures manufacturing space in Irwin, PA. 1958
and 1959:
A 10 foot model with a rear
door was
called the Sportsman, Jr. and a
"New design", the 13 foot
model called the Sportsman, Sr., included the now famous "Step
down
interior". His idea for an
affordable, lightweight, garagable travel trailer that could be bought
by the average homeowner of the time was
a success.
They were a hit and the rest is
history. Thousands were sold over the years with the
originals being
polished aluminum-today lovingly called the Silversides.
A rare Scotty, which appears to have been offered only during 1959 and
1960, is the 12' version with a door in the rear instead of on the
side.
![]() The above is a picture of the
rare
Serro Scotty Rear Door model believed to
be only built in the years of 1959 and 1960.
1960: They added a 15 foot model.
Floor
plans included a front kitchen with a
bathroom/closet and large dinette, or substitute a side table rear
couch for the commode. And in the ads, an option on the 13 foot was
wings ( the
trailers wheels cut outs ) attached to the upper rear. These wings were
offered until 1961 when John lost a
lawsuit with rival Shasta Travel Trailer and could no longer put wings
on his Scottys.
1961:
The
Sportsman, Jr. was discontinued but Scotty continues to
offered both a 13 and 15 foot silverside models now called the Gaucho
and a 15 foot
"Front Kitchen" model. In 1962, the 15
foot "Front Kitchen" model was
no longer
offered.John opened the Bristow Okla. plant in 1961 and they started making the making of the 13 ft. silverside being built at the Bristow plant. This is as far west as the Scotty plants go. Compliments: Jerry Freitag From: The Pittsburgh Press: Date unknown: By Bob Batz Jr. Title: Hitching Up to a Dream Subtitle: His Scotty helped launch the boom in RV industry. . .the below quote: "... Serro himself led a caravan from Irwin to Mexico City, via Bristow, Okla., where he'd built a second factory. What a sight it must have been: Serro and his first wife, Anna, up front in their finned Dodge Imperial, their gleaming Sportsman right behind, and behind that, 60 cars pulling 60 gleaming Sportsmans. "There was 20 in a group," he says, "and they had to be 20 miles apart because we tied up too much traffic" ..." This
history line was composed from
many sources:
Jerry Freitag, Donna - Kevin McCarthy, Nancy Kroes Bob Harts of the Pittsburgh Press. [
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Web page created by Larry Bush: Sept. 17.2007 --- Edited: 2.27.2010 Serro Scotty ~ Vintage Campers © - Let's Keep Em Rollin All Rights Reserved _______________________________________ |